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So I am in my mid thirties and a COO of a small business. Way back when in High School I took some programming classes and loved it. VB6. Fast forward to college and started in computer science before I hated a few professors in a row and switched to business school.
So In ever followed through on what was my intent at that point of being a programmer / developer.
Now, I see a real need for my business for a centralized application that can handle a multitude of things. Basically, we are a very unique company and not out of the box software fits all of our needs.
I am realistic and I know I am not going to create an end all software application for my company. I totally get that. This is a side hobby for me (and I have kids too so we'll see how much time I have). BUt I have always loved problem solving, computers, and the thought of programming really intrigues me.
Since I knew VB6 (based on high school classes, far from an expert) I am inclined to think VB.net is the best place to start and learn. But for me to learn through a project, if you are recommending to a newbie who wants to dabble with one application and never do this for a living... What would you recommend to them studying, learning, and playing with? It would need to be a database application too so that factors in.
Web or desktop I dont know. I am inclined to think web takes so much of the complication out of connectivity and end user experience. But is it powerful enough to really do thinks.
Here would be my start:
Right now we take meeting minutes manually in a word based template. This software would have data entry for the minutes, keep it organized, and automatically distribute to all participants after the meeting. First feature.
Second feature is a shop drawing log and submittal tracker. So when we make something custom, we prepare a detail drawing. Send it to an architect for approval. When it is approved sned to the manufacturer to release into production. Track all of these submissions etc.
That would be number two.
I would start with those two small features and continue slowly to add one at a time. Just a slow release of new functionality as our team realizes they need something.
Recommendations?
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If you have learned VB6, then I'd suggest that you learn C# rather than VB.NET.
VB6 and VB.NET are too similar, and it's easy to get into old habits and use things you know instead of the newer, more flexible versions.
C# avoids that by having a pretty different syntax.
Get a book - or better a course - and give it a go! The tools are all free, just google "Visual Studio Community Edition" and download direct from Microsoft.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
modified 7-Mar-17 14:18pm.
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Not only that: VB.NET has come capabilities less than C#, which means that when he will progress enough he will still have to learn another language, with an entire different syntax from VB. C# is the .NET language, and its C-like syntax eases the passage to most languages. And there are way more examples/guides/tutorials/whatsoever.
* CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF
* GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
* Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.
* I'm a puny punmaker.
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I concur. The jump from VB to C# is not only a fairly simple transition in the grand scheme of things, you will find that as coding has evolved the days are gone where you have a small stack of reference books and therein you have all your tools.
Your greatest asset are the references that you'll gather from online resources (vast majority without fee) and others who wrestle with code segments. While your business may be unique, your code requirements almost without fail will have been accomplished and documented by someone and published on the net.
When the exception to this become evident, the knowledge and experience you gained from these references will generally show the path for your to accomplish the objective you seek.
There are some exciting language options out there and many might prove to be helpful to you as you go along, but the transition between VB to C# will be not only liberating, but provide a good basis on which to potentially explore other options later as well.
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Member 13044355 wrote: Right now we take meeting minutes manually in a word based template. This software would have data entry for the minutes, keep it organized, and automatically distribute to all participants after the meeting. First feature.
Use Slack. Set up a channel for the meeting, people who need to know about the meeting subscribe to the channel, distribution isn't an issue, as that's what Slack is all about.
Member 13044355 wrote: Second feature is a shop drawing log and submittal tracker. So when we make something custom, we prepare a detail drawing. Send it to an architect for approval. When it is approved sned to the manufacturer to release into production. Track all of these submissions etc.
Use Git. You get version control, people can post issues, other people can submit changes that fix the issues. A particular drawing can be tagged with custom tags for where it is in the workflow, and I think Git even has some sort of workflow "thing", if not them, someone surely does.
Member 13044355 wrote: Recommendations?
Basically, before writing a line of code, look at what amazing tools are out there already that you can use. Maybe they don't meet your needs 100%, but you can certainly start with them and leverage their API's for any custom functionality you might need.
Marc
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I appreciate the quick response but unfortunately that is a major part of our issue now as a company. We have so many different tools and technologies (some of which we need external users to be part of, not just internal) the common response from our team is there is just too much to keep track of. We cant update our CRM, our PM tool, our accounting tool, our chat, our email, our file subscriptions, etc.
So I am trying to find a platform that can bring all of this under one roof. I looked at tons of PSA software, but they are soooooo complicated and many out of the box have so many features we would never use.
Just looking to slowly integrate our tools into one platform so people one day could have one place to go for things.
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I don't understand your logic. I use Chrome for web browsing, Outlook for emails, Lync for calls and screen sharing, Visual Studio for writing code, Teams for team chat (used to use Slack), Word for writing documents, Excel for spreadsheets and so on - there's no need to combine it all in one app. There's no need to combine even some of it in one app.
Where tool proliferation can cause a problem is if you have multiple tools that do the same job. For instance, for communication we have email, Lync, Teams and Yammer, which is too much. The solution is to agree on just one of them for the main method of communication. We have settled on Teams for most stuff, with Lync for calls and email for stuff that doesn't really fit within Teams. We mostly ignore Yammer.
Regards
Nelviticus
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If they were clear and unconnected services I would agree.
Today we have several major platforms. We use a CRM, a task/project management software suite, a file sharing application, a chat program, and email etc.
For right now the file sharing, chat, and email are individual needs I have no intentions of trying to change over from.
However, the challenge is we are a project based company. So our business development team has to log all types of information about the CRM. And our opportunities have several different phases all of which have different revenue opportunities attached to them. I have yet to find any CRM that can handle this so we have to duplicate tons of information.
When the deal is signed it flips over to our project management / task management platform. All of that history, all of that data, all of that information is essentially lost or has to be recreated. The systems dont talk to each other. It is like trying to learn the project all over again.
Our bus development team has to CONSTANTLY be updating and uploading and modifying and tweaking in both. On top of all of their other activities. It is a bear for responsibility. Nothing out of the box starts to merge those two pieces.
Seperately, we are not an architect or engineer so software geared for those individuals does not work out of the box for us. But much of our process is replicated from them so we need the functionality of certain tracking elements. but again nothing out of the box has this since we do not fit into a typical industry platform.
It yields a lot of inefficiencies and duplication of data and information.
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Solve the problems, don't write code.
Based on this post, you might investigate SalesForce.com. I am not sure which CRM you are using. I have not used SF. You could probably contract someone to help you implement what you do need on SF if it does not have it. Having business development and business execution on two different platforms sounds like a WTF.
As a COO, hire someone to help you figure it out and design a solution for your company. If there is sure ROI, then execute it.
If you do want to learn to program, write a few projects for a hobby or something. I would not experiment on your company. Check out MIT App Inventor for a way to get something up and running quickly on Android platform. My kid implemented a sports statistic tracking program with uploads to Google Fusion Tables (combined stats with queries) in 30 hours. They also implemented a 100% non-code solution for a medium complexity problem given as a homework assignment. The school rolled out the solution for teachers to use.
As a side note, someone mentioned using GIT for versioning documents. If your file sharing service does NOT support versioning and history, then ditch it for a service that does.
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microsoft access database.
you have some vb knowledge so this could be a good bridge. start with this as a tool. (i'm with the posters who caution against writing (too much) code before trying a few things.) you can create a database with a front end for users (yourself only, to start) then decide if a db/ui is a good approach. experiment with data models to see if a db will hold what you need, the way you need it. i bet it will. access can be very underrated. but you do have to understand data table relationships. even playing around with tables with no ui/forms, etc could be very beneficial.
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Member 13044355 wrote: Just looking to slowly integrate our tools into one platform so people one day could have one place to go for things.
Ah...one app to rule them all!
Sounds like a noble cause, perhaps a decent web front end that talks to everything else via web services. For some services, that might be easy, for others, good luck! But I get what you mean now. 
Marc
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TBH, I think you should start by studying how your data should be stored in a database or databases (the "back end").
Starting by looking for ways of entering and processing the data (the "front end") will leave you staring into an abyss full of complications, if you don't get your database structure right, before you begin.
I'd suggest that you have a google for database tutorials, until you find one that you like.
MySQL is free for the kind of requirements you're talking about, and the amount of MySQL usage information on the Internet is immense, in varieties to suit all tastes and needs.
Once you've got your database structure(s) sorted out, the front end will be a lot less stressful -- it's a lot easier working out how to get data in and get data out if you know where and how it's going to be stored.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: MySQL is free for the kind of requirements you're talking about, and the amount of MySQL usage information on the Internet is immense, in varieties to suit all tastes and needs.
It's free, but that's about all that speaks for MySql. Why does nobody use a postgres database? In my opinion it's the better database that you don't need any money to buy. Add PgAdmin, so that you don't need to configure it with the console and then you are ready to go. There also is a .Net database connector, but I must look what its name was.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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Postgres, then.
I ain't here to advertise anything; it's the tutorials element I was waffling on about.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I did not mean to advertise. Many years ago I grew out of MySql and ended up with Postgres, Since then I have written a lot of code that uses the database and have not hit any restrictions. It supposedly also stick close to the SQL standard, so that there should be no trouble finding tutorials or literature.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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Downloaded.
I'll give it a whirl on my next new project.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Great! Don't forget PgAdmin and I will look what the .Net connector was called. I think the installer will suggest some tools and download them for you if you want.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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Their own web-site was an absolute nightmare to use, so I downloaded it from a freeware site. I'll probably do the same for any non-automatic extensions.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So....no Mongo love?
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
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I'm tempted -- I mean I just adore the default high-security settings!
It needs a good poke.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Default settings are for victims.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
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Nathan Minier wrote: Default settings are for victims.
Literally, given the number of bots poking mongo installations.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So the general thought is PostGres or MySql for a database back end?
If, and that is a big if, this ever became something we really were able to roll out and use we could be talking about 40 people accessing data. So not thousands, but not two. I have done visual basic connections to access in the past, and thought about that route (as this is a simple application at least at the onset) but figured if I start with a bit more capability, I might be WAY better off long term in terms of conversion.
I also was tempted to just look into azure or something like that so it is a hosted scenario elsewhere and I pay Microsoft to handle the BS. I just need to connect to it and that way people that travel dont need VPN to connect to the software and if I get web based I dont have to deal with hosting and security issues.
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 You still have to deal with security issues, regardless of where your data is hosted.
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Member 13044355 wrote: Recommendations?
If you think it's expensive to hire a professional, wait till you hire an amateur.
Great that it's your hobby - keep it that way and get a real pro in to do a proper job - it will save you money and heartache in the long run.
If you do insist on going down the road, use c#.
Good luck.
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