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SQL
Many things revolve around database technology.
Member number three million seven hundred seventy two thousand nine hundred sixty three
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Courses related to the discipline you're developing software for.
If it's GIS related, learn more about GIS fundamentals, standards etc. If it's records management related, learn more about records management fundamentals, standards etc. And so on.
In other words, pick courses that will give you a better understanding of the problems you'll use your IT skills to solve.
Cheers,
Drew.
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bn3m wrote: Are developer conferences good to attend?
Yes, those can be good. Sometimes they give out really cool door prizes 
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
"Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon
"Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise, three times a week. I run and bicycle myself. Weight training is good too, on alternate days from the aerobic stuff.
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Ask your company for projects that will broaden your skillset.
Todd Smith
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In the USA, Spanish.
MrPlankton
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well a lot of people in here are self-employed.
i have some developer friends and we are think about merging our separate "sole proprioritor'ships" (sp, possibly not real word) into a software "firm"? where we will make firmware?
only i have no idea what we should do? LLC? business type etc.
is there a way of legally merging 3 entities? im sure there is but i dont know if it is a good idea or way out of the realm of things.
or should we just start a firm brand new? and is it a firm? or is it a garage company.
as you can see by now, i am lost on what to even google.
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"When I first saw it, I just thought that you really, really enjoyed programming in java." - Leslie Sanford
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You could perhaps start up a partnership and all become partners?
Regards,
--Perspx
"The Blue Screen of Death, also known as The Blue Screen of Doom, the "Blue Screen of Fun", "Phatul Exception: The WRECKening" and "Windows Vista", is a multi award-winning game first developed in 1995 by Microsoft" - UncyclopediaIntroduction to Object-Oriented JavaScript
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An LLC is the most appropriate form to merge three sole-proprietorships ; however, you will need an iron clad work agreement drawn up be a lawyer, often some partners do not carry their own weight. Also, an LLC allows better distribution based on effort whereas a S or C corp is distribution based on ownership, not effort.
Having created a start-up and closing it because my partner was less than willing to fulfill his part of the deal after starting the business; MAKE SURE YOU TRUST THEM. The wrong partners will ruin the right business.
Get a lawyer.
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway
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Well said, Ennis.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
"Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon
"Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote: whereas a S or C corp is distribution based on ownership, not effort.
Thanks for clarifying the difference! When I took Business Law (three times - college, MBA, and post grad) there was no such thing as a LLC. Now it seems everyone is using that form of business. I can imagine, though, just how difficult it might be to quantify effort contributed without a "good lawyer" to explain it for you. I'd also ask a unicorn and the Easter Bunny for an opinion. 
Good advice!
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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jgasm wrote: into a software "firm"? where we will make firmware?
that was a joke right?
led mike
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 apparently not a very good one.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"When I first saw it, I just thought that you really, really enjoyed programming in java." - Leslie Sanford
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jgasm wrote: some developer friends and we are think about merging our separate "sole proprioritor'ships"
You had better fire-up MS Excel and see if the financials look satisfactory, for at least the first 12 months of trading, and, preferably 12 to 18 months figures would much better satisfy your business bankers. Make sure your written business plan (including marketing) is a reflection of realities.
jgasm wrote: should we just start a firm brand new? and is it a firm? or it is a garage company
Talk to a lawyer. Get opinion on the legal entity any such organisation will have - the pitfalls and benefits of the various types available. Also have drawn up legal papers defining who are the owners of such a venture (including proportions/percentages) and that would include a statement of what happens if any of the parties choose to leave the venture or the venture goes "belly-up", and that includes any resources (monetary/properties/etc). And don't forget the small issue of taxation and how it is to be proportioned.
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Talk to a lawyer.
Then get a real job to pay for the lawyer. 
Citizen 20.1.01 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
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For 3 people, I highly recommend an S-Corp. Don't Google - open your phonebook and find a business lawyer in your area and schedule an appointment. Then, find an accountant. Both should provide a consultation for free.
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It's pretty simple to merge/convert SPs into a corporation or LLC. I sefiously suggest getting advice from a decent attorney beforehand. There is a lot of minute details that are easy to miss until you are faced with dealing with them.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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In addition to voting Ennis up, I reiterate his advise to get a very good lawyer (shop around) to create an agreement between the three of you. An LLC has become the most common form of doing this, but it is more vulnerable than C-Corps to internal squabbling over how to report earnings and distribute profits. Part of this agreement must govern who owns the intellectual property going in and what will happen if the company fails and/or some partners leave.
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine.
- P.J. O'Rourke
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Opening a new firm and keeping the old one opened is a good idea... just i case the adventure is not going to finish OK you will be able to go back...
You should get legal advice on that, as (at least in my country (Spain)) depending on the kind of company you want to create, you will have to place a different sum of money.
The legal responsibilities will be different: if something goes terribly wrong depending on the kind of society you have founded you will be prosecuted personally and depending on the kind of the society you won't.
Keeping secrets between you is not a good idea so you should go to get some legal advice together. But first you should decide the % that each one will have (this is very important) and all this kind of things...
Think on the "contract" that you will sign down and as I suppose that both of you are programmers, think on the part of the confidentiality and non competence (possibly you will be breaking the last one even before starting...  ).
>> Please:
** don't make the initial steps thinking that none of your friends will do something only because you wouldn't. in the business world the best thing you can do to be successful in anything is to write everything down and (as my legal advisor always tells me) to be as much enemy as you can from your friends, this is the only way to continue being friends.
** Make the things thinking big... the time and the business will place you in the place you deserve, but once again, please think in big and don't place limits to your new company...
I think I've taken too much coffee today... 
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You actually need two lawyers.
One who sets up whatever business entity you decide upon.
The second (which you should already have) is there to protect your interests.
Ideally these two should not work for the same legal firm.
Software Zen: delete this;
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In that case, in South Africa you'll need three lawyers. The third, should be hired first, is a labour lawyer, to protect you if you have to dismiss anyone else.
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The sad thing, I get the feeling we're both serious (at least I am  ).
Software Zen: delete this;
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Brady Kelly wrote: a labour lawyer, to protect you if you have to dismiss anyone else.
I wonder if that applies here in California. We are an at-will state when it comes to jobs. Being so, has it's goods and bads.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
"Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon
"Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Paul Conrad wrote: We are an at-will state when it comes to jobs
What does that mean, exactly?
I'd interpret it as your employer can hire/fire you 'at will'. Similarly, you can stop working for them 'at will'. Is that the case?
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Yes, exactly so. They don't need to give you reason for termination, and likewise one doesn't have to give reason for quiting or resigning.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
"Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon
"Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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