Working in the multi-code environment…
At Technability, currently we are facing the age old issue of multi-code environment, which does make for an exciting and robust workplace. One of the main reasons for this is we inherit projects from clients where they had a terrible experience with the previous webmaster, web developer or designer and the current code base is either in ASP, PHP, Perl, or something else. In many cases the client does not want to pay for the conversion of their existing site to another platform, so we have to bite the bullet and refresh our minds of some PHP or ASP (worst case). This does make for some challenges, since we mainly code in ASP.NET (C# flavor) and Ruby now days. Having to take a “step-back” and refresh our minds for PHP syntax or some other langauge can be a bit rough at times if we are currently slammed with work or just in the middle of a new site deployment.
What I have found that works best for jumping over this hurdle is to focus on the core languages that your firm supports. Now, with the other languages that you will have to come in contact with, don’t run away, but develop a team that can adapt quickly to the syntax changes or, better yet, network with a few individuals who have backgrounds in those languages and that your team can work together with. One, this lessens the requirement that your team needs to know or have limited knowledge of the language and secondly allows your team to continue to focus on what they know best.
With the current state of the economy in the United States, small businesses need to find ways to leverage and work with other small businesses in order to keep in business and network building business relationships.