Specialization and diversification
I've read several questions asked about this topic here on StackOverflow, but most of them focus on different areas in the computer science field.
I am currently working in the start-up division of a large finance company. Our entire team has just graduated from our master. or PhD. however, in our various fields, none of us have much experience in the real world.
I am currently faced with the choice of either diversifying my education by completing various financial courses to catch up with what actuaries know to help them in their financial modeling; or I can specialize in business application development (i.e. business application software architecture, fully aware of the various systems, technologies and languages we use to develop and maintain the latest software models and practices).
I would like to hear your opinion on this topic.
thank
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Languages come and go. Technology comes and goes. Today's hot new tech silver bullet will be a distant memory in five or six years.
But core business practices have stood the test of time. Study them. Learn the jargon, learn how to communicate effectively with clients, managers, executives and people in the trenches. This knowledge is worth much more than the world's fastest sorting algorithm.
But that's just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
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I would take the course of financial courses.
Knowing the business is extremely important when developing applications, and the more you know about how your customers work, the better the solutions you develop for them will be.
Also business application development is something you are likely to learn as you go. (Depending on your current skill level. This is not that important.)
I would kill right now to have a deep knowledge of accounting.
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Anyway, you specialize in financial applications, I suppose. Funding courses could help provide some domain knowledge so that if someone talks about something very specific within the accounting package, you know what it is, while another option would force you to look at the finance specialization of various systems, as I would imagine the development of business applications will focus on applications for financial companies, and not on general software.
I guess if I had a choice like that, I would look at it in terms of whether I plan to stay in software development so that the business application path can be better, something like wanting to stay technical no matter or I want to be more rounded and learn about various financial concepts and terms that may be part of my vocabulary in the near future.
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