Getting your programming/developer team up to speed

Question

I recently left a large university hospital for a much smaller one because of the pay increase and because it was a career booster. Of course these two things would generally be something to be excited about and a great accomplishment (esp.for someone my age) but I have found myself pouting on the inside as I drive to work every morning, and here is why. The new t=eam I joined is dreadfully behind in the times with coding practices, latest technology (yes they still use classic .ASP), and software - leaving me in a backwards time warp from using VS2008, .NET 3.5, and SQL Server/BIDS 2008 to using ancient SQL 2000/ VS 6.0 relics.

At first, not so bad, I figured not all companies are on the cutting edge right away and are just waiting for that right spark to send them in the direction of change and improvement - nope - I started suggesting (in a professional and non-condescending manner) some new tools and what benefits they'd have for our company on both our side and client side but they (as in the team I am a part of) looked at me like I was an alien and gave me the simple, why would we need that stuff, even after I had made my case.

This has led me to believe that I may not be going about this in the right manner and was hoping some more senior developers/engineers would share their experiences when they were younger and just starting out. I know times have changed but I feel it'd be useful nonetheless and any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

It's pointless adopting new technologies unless they resolve actual problems in a easier and more efficient manner then previous technologies. (Including the learning curve.).

It may be that your university has a huge amount of legacy code, which relies on those old technologies. Moving to later ones can be an extremelly costly and tiresome process which is quite hard to justify.

The way to introduce new technologies would be either at a step change in architecture, like the university as a whole decides to move to SharePoint or whatever, or in a new project, where you can demonstrate the advantages of the new technologies, and let the existing developers have time to get some understanding of them.

Something to bear in mind with all of this, is that most people do not like change, and by changing the existing technology you are going to step on people's toes. For example, the experts in particular systems or technologies.

Answer 2

First, understand that suggesting major changes when you are new is almost always a bad idea. First you get them to respect you through performance, then you suggest changes. Then you may also understand the cost to the business of making those changes which is why they haven't made them.

IF they told you they were using these tools before you went there, you should accept that this the environment you choose to live in and work there for awhile beofre bringing the subject up again. If they told you that they wanted you because you have the skills they lack to move forward, then the person you need to talk to is the hiring manager not the team. Note that this will not create friends for you on the team.

My main suggestion to you is that you start to do some reading on office politics. Build some alliances before you try this again. Possibly there are other people who also want to work with newer stuff. Maybe the dba doesn't like being stuck with ten-year-old skills either.

As far as changing from SQL Server 2000 to 2008, you can point out that 2000 is no longer going to be supported and that when SQL Server 2010 comes out there is no longer a direct upgrade path. This is what finally got us to start upgrading to 2008. Better to convert before that happens. Research the Microsoft web site for the exact details of what happens when.