O’Reilly: Inside RIA

You've been looking into the world of Rich Internet Applications for a while now but how do you make the jump? Whether you're a developer working in Java or C++ looking to get on the web or a designer working in an art department wanting to do more interactive, the RIA world is a fast-growing and exciting field many people are looking to transition to. Unless you're lucky enough to have some personal connections into an RIA firm, the decision to move requires hitting the pavement and convincing an RIA company that you're worth hiring. This article comes from my experiences as both a former interviewee and current interviewer at a mid-sized RIA company.

When you finally do find a company that is a home, it's important to recognize that and invest time with that company. As I detailed in the first part of this series, there are many benefits to jumping from company...

Beyond the obvious questions of: am I paid fairly, is the company stable, do I like what I do and the people I work with, there are a number of questions that you need to further ask to easily identify a home. One such question is, "Are there working managers?" In some companies the manager of application development is not actually a developer and never has been a developer. Most of the times when this is the case the company has no career path for developers beyond senior. Or there may be titles created beyond senior but no path that leads to VP or a C-level position. In those companies that path is reserved exclusively for "managers".

One of the things I love about what we do is that it's possible to do it as effectively from the comfort of your living room as from an office. Working from home makes it possible for me to have...

The current economic climate notwithstanding, developers tend to change employers quite a bit in comparison to other professions, at least according to my own anecdotal evidence. From my own experience I've been at six different companies over the last ten...

Here are the results of a query on RIA job trends on indeed.com: One naturally has many questions about the data: what geographic area does it represent? How are duplicate postings handled? ... and so on, however the trend lines...

Given that I believe RIA technologies should only be used to improve usability and user experience in web software, I'm ecstatic that the role of the usability specialist is getting wide spread attention. It gained a spot in the U.S News list of Best Careers for 2008.