Training

[BillR]

Hi. I have an existing VB.net application that I have been selling commercially for the past eight years. My programmer is retiring and rather than replace him right away, I would like to learn how to write code myself.

i have taken a couple of college level programming classes and have learned enough to appreciate just how difficult this will be. I have a great respect for programmers. However, I really do need to learn how to write code for myself.

While I have found some interesting sites that offer VB.Net training, I would like to find a site that also offers additional live training. Even if I am able to learn the basics of VB.net, I have no doubt that I will need additional assistance when it comes to writing code for my existing application. If needed, would like to be able to get together with a trainer in an online meeting where we can see each other’s screens and receive guidance on how to proceed.

Does anyone know of such a service that offers extensive VB.net training as well as additional personalized assistance?

Thank you,

Bill

 

[Herman]

I would take university courses online, it offers everything you need for about 350$ per course per semester, including access to a tutor via Skype or similar usually.

 

[BillR]

Thanks for your reply Herman. I have taken a couple of University courses and was not really satisfied. The problem with University courses is that most classes have prerequisites that have nothing to do with VB.net. I also need to get fully immersed into it. I need something that I can study at my own pace rather than being held to an instructor's weekly class plan. If I had more time, then University classes would be okay. I need to learn VB.net as soon as possible in order to work on my own commercial application and continue to move my company forward.

Thanks again.

 

[BillR]

Quick follow up question.....

Do you know of any sources that are available to help with writing code on an as needed basis? Kind of like a remote tutor? For example, if I were to run into a problem, we could get together online via GoToMeeting, etc., and work out the problem together? By all of the help questions in various forums, I would have to think there is a need for remote coding assistance.

Thanks.

 

[Herman]

To be honest Bill, crash coursing through to pretend to be a good enough programmer to maintain a commercial product is a bad idea to begin with. You could hire a freelancer when you need something done in the short term, if you find one that is good and produces what you want, you will likely develop a long term lucrative business relationship with that individual, and it will cost you a fraction of the time and money you would push into an intensive VB.Net formation.

In the long term, the only advice I can give you is start by picking up a good book and read it twice. Scour this forum. Hunt for tutorials on the net, read and understand as many code samples as you can. 50% of the secret to being good in IT is to know how to get the information you need. And write as much code as you can, use MSDN inside Visual Studio, etc... Eventually most programmer just naturally start thinking in code, it all flows out the same as speaking English.

 

[BillR]

I totally agree with you Herman. I'm figuring it will take a number of years of dedicated learning to be able to do anything on my own with my application. I do plan on using a freelancer in the meantime. To be honest with you, that part is really intimidating. There are so many to choose from. How do you know who is good, who you can trust, etc. I guess it's just a matter of due diligence and checking references.

Thanks again for your input herman. I really appreciate it.

 

[gchq]

Another consideration - if you are going to be spending time developing your own applications who will be doing your job?

The only reason I got into writing software in my mid thirties (1985) is that at the time developers understood how to write the code, but didn't have clue about a given business model. It is so much easier to get a commercial idea, open Visual Studio and produce something than explain the concept you have floating around in your head to another person who has to translate your thoughts into a working model.

I have to agree with Herman - you will learn far more from a hands on approach. Google is the developers best friend. If you hit a problem, chances are a lot of other people have as well. It is learning a foreign language - very confusing at first and then the light just switches on. You certainly never stop learning as there are always nuances and concepts that stop the flow for a while.

 

[BillR]

You're exactly right. I love designing my application with Visual Studios. I just wish writing the code was as easy as designing the Windows forms. I'll design what I want and then pass it off to my programmer. I'll include very detailed descriptions on how it is to work and then my programmer writes the code for me.

My main weakness at this point is that I can't write my own code. I am held hostage by someone else and that drives me crazy. I know that becoming proficient at writing code will take awhile but it is something I think I should know regardless if I end up writing the code myself or if I hire someone else to do it. I'm not afraid of putting in the time and effort to learn how to write code. I'm use to working 16 hour days, 7 days a week. Regardless of what some politicians think, I did build it.

In the meantime, I need to find a good freelancer and that is proving to be very difficult. I have a number of programming tasks that I need completed but I don't have a programmer to do it. Not having the ability to write my own code has put me in a position where I have to rely on someone else to move forward and that's never a good thing for a small business.

 

[gchq]

I am held hostage by someone else and that drives me crazy.

I understand that - I won't ask anyone in the organisation to do something I can't do (or haven't done). From a personal point of view I don't like the designer in VB but prefer to build everything code-behind - usually because the apps can get so complex designer becomes a total mess.

As you have a working model to go at why not just open up the code behind page and follow the logic through - that way making changes is less arduous. You know what it does so follow through to see how that was achieved - did the developer leave plenty of comments?

If you need to involve someone else I can only suggest you look for a person that is familiar with your business type. In the meantime I'm sure you will get quite a bit of support from the VB community, either in this forum, or the others that are out there....

 

[BillR]

Thank you for your thoughts and comments. I appreciate it.

 

[gchq]

:nevreness: You're welcome..

By the way - what size is the project (how many lines of code)?

 

[BillR]

I don't have the source code to check so I asked my programmer. He's using VS 2005 and said that the lines are not numbered. He just said there are "Lots".

 

[gchq]

If you are going to approach a developer to help they will need to get a handle on the size of the project - 'lots' will not really help much

If you go to the DPack site and download their add-on for VS you get get all the statistics at the click of a button (like the screenshot below). I once read that the average American developer writes 6k lines of code a year - I know I can do up to 2k a day depending upon the complexity, so it's a useful tool to gauge performance as well.

 

[BillR]

That's a great tool. I'll be recieving the source code soon and then I'll run the stats.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to bring this to my attention.