Monday, August 30, 2010

Chowda Chat | Brian Rinaldi

Chowda Chat is a periodic Beantown Web installment that features a conversation with an influential member of the Boston technology community.

The purpose of Chowda Chat is to provide Web technology professionals with information to help advance their careers. The format involves three questions and responses followed by one final thought.

Today's Chowda Chat presents the insights of Brian Rinaldi, applications developer, software engineer and fellow blogger at Remote Synthesis.

You have a Bachelors Degree in History and English from The University of Miami. How did you make the transition to applications development and land that first programming position?

"Well, to be honest, I just needed a job and history wasn't cutting it. I started working for a marketing firm in Miami and messing around with web site development in Dreamweaver. A friend of mine told me he had taken this Fast Track to ColdFusion course, gotten a job at a startup and was making good money. So, on his recommendation, I took the course and he got me hired at his company and the rest is history. Such was the 90's, you didn't need much experience to get hired as a developer. Times have certainly changed."

Is it true that you just joined the Adobe team here in Boston? What is your new role?

"I joined Adobe on August 16th. My title is Web Community Manager for Flash Platform. I work with the Learning Resources team within Adobe that produces things like the API documentation, community help and many other valuable content resources. The goal of my job is to help our team to have a direct channel to the community for contributions and feedback. I'm extremely excited about it as it gives me the opportunity to continue to work closely with the products I love as a developer while staying closely connected to the community that I have been so involved with over the years."

You are passionate about rich internet applications (RIA). How can our readers obtain training in this emerging field?

"First of all, as a developer, RIA's are just too much fun to build and offer so many exciting possibilities. I've been focused on Adobe-related technologies that can extend the user experience beyond the browser to the desktop and mobile devices. Several years ago I got so excited about the potential for these technologies that I created RIA Unleashed : Boston, an annual conference that I coordinate for the developer community."
"RIA Unleashed : Boston 2010 is a two-day event covering general web application development and the Adobe Flash Platform including Flex, AIR, ColdFusion and related technologies and disciplines. We have a full slate of topics and workshops. Best of all, I work really hard to keep the pricing on this event incredibly low so that anyone interested can afford to attend."
"While these technologies may not show up on the Top 20 lists often posted here they are filled with vibrant communities doing amazing things. Not just that but the job demand is there and growing. For instance, the Wall Street Journal recently had an article reporting how demand for Flash developers has been growing."

Final Thought

"Just because a language or technology doesn't show up on the top 20 list doesn't mean there isn't a solid job market in that technology. I personally see the skill set of the future (with the future being measured in months not years) landing more along the lines of someone who can translate applications across the multiple "screens" that companies want a presence in, whether it be web, desktop, mobile, devices, television and in the cloud. However, this will be a skill that is tough to boil down to keyword or two on a job posting. Join us at RIA Unleashed : Boston to learn more."

Follow Brian Rinaldi on Twitter.

Previous Chowda Chats

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