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by Robert Schley
As a SharePoint training instructor, I occasionally run across postings for SharePoint
positions as I cruise the Internet reading up on SharePoint information in
general. This sometimes inspires me to
take a look at what kinds of positions are out there and what the current trends are for hiring. I look through job postings, not necessarily
for myself but because I’m curious about what companies are interested in.
I’ve noticed that a lot of SharePoint positions out there
have a funny little sentence in them.
I’m not just talking about positions that are marketed as programming or
development positions – this requirement seems to be in about 95% of SharePoint
positions I look at:
This may be a case of asking for the stars so that you get
the moon, but this one little requirement in most job postings seems unnecessary
for at least two reasons:
1.
Custom
Solutions - .NET experience implies (IMO) that you want to code custom
solutions for SharePoint. SharePoint
can honestly accomplish at least 75% of what companies want without having to
insert a line of code. In general, the solution is more about knowing what
SharePoint can already do rather than trying to build a new solution. When it comes time to upgrade to the next
version of SharePoint, custom code always gets sticky if not flat out broken.
2.
Higher
investment - .NET experience will, generally, require a higher salary
commitment than someone who is simply familiar with all of SharePoint’s
out-of-the-box capabilities. This is
generally due to the .NET’s coding background, which will probably lead to more
problems being solved with custom-coding solutions. And that brings us back to
issue #1
I’m not against .NET experience. If you have it, flaunt it. But for the majority of positions out there, education in what SharePoint can already do
is a better choice than searching
for that .NET coder. That’s why in our
classes, we tailor our SharePoint training to do that 75%+ for which most people
think they need a custom coder.
Whether you need to create custom input forms with InfoPath
or are looking for the right tools for your document management, SharePoint training can be just as
effective as finding that .NET developer.
