ColdFusion / JavaScript Genius? Join Me, And My Growing Team At InVisionApp.com!

Ok, so I have a question for you about this position. The title mentions both ColdFusion and JavaScript. I know we have talked about this before, and I'm not trying to be asinine, dumb, or hard to get along with, but since a big part of the description is JavaScript and it sounds like a big part of the job is JavaScript, does that mean that you develop for guys in a controlled environment? What I mean by that is...when you develop for people, are you able to be assured they have JavaScript turned on? I'm sure the person would have to know how to program around in an environment where they couldn't be sure if the JavaScript of the client computer was turned on, because that really is so basic, but I was mainly just asking because at my company, we program under the assumption currently, that every user will have JavaScript turned on. It's a very controlled environment, and to use the apps I design and develop on a daily basis, the users must have JavaScript turned on, or they simply can't use our apps. So quite a bit of JQuery/JavaScript development is required of me daily. Anyway, just curious. That, and I decided to take away the sad face you have up there because no one has commented on this article yet. :-/ Just kidding -- sort of.

Anna,

We're in that boat, too, and it seems to vary for customer. A year ago I was working for a solely CF e-commerce shop, and there was design convention around no-script users, if only because a significant portion of their purchasing demographic could be grandmas with the circa 1990s Packard Bell.

Now I do ERP/CRM integration mostly in .NET, and the script generated by some of the ASP.NET solutions makes newer solutions almost unusable for anyone without JavaScript. In fact, the new baseline seems to be mobile vs. grandma browsers, which on some levels is really happy, because of the wide adoption of webkit.

We are all in thrall to the inexorable grind of technological progress!

@Ben: Very cool! It's pretty awesome when you can control your environment, especially when you enjoy that type and level of development. But I can see the usefulness in being able to do both/either.

Don't get me wrong...give me all day, or in other words....a HUGE amount of time...and I could do anything the client wants! (Just about). I could develop robust solutions that takes into consideration javascript/noscript, Firefox, Explorer, the current versions and all of the versions that came before, going back 5+ versions and beyond. The challenge I run into, so to speak, is when the requirements don't quite meet the amount of time given to fulfill those compliments. I guess that's when you need to strike a balance and figure out what that balance is and try to execute it as best you can.

For my current situation, I am required to develop in script when I can, meaning I develop in script every day, practically all the time. I also develop, currently, exclusively for explorer, not firefox. If it works in firefox, that is considered a plus, but I use firefox for actual development often because of the development tools that come with it. I just run into issues sometimes with something that had been working in firefox not working in ie.

So complexities in environment isn't where I run into the issue of time. I develop using ColdFusion, and javascript/JQuery when I can, but the complexity is that I also have to do quite a bit of the backend and database side, as well. I have to write and/or modify very complex sql. I have to use both Oracle PL/SQL and Sql Server T-SQL, and I have to also create and update the tables as well. I also have to do optimization, and that in itself can take quite a bit of time.

@Brian, btw....this is a bit off-topic (sorry @Ben), but the other day, I was fixing this dish, and I thought I was modifying it to be very Jewish-friendly...in that I replaced the pork with chicken. It was just as yummy as the pork dish as chicken! But then, I was speaking with a guy at work who is also Jewish, and he told me that for Kosher Jewish dishes, you aren't allowed to mix dairy with meat. Oh rats! I guess it doesn't qualify, then! The dish cooks, "braises", the meat in a milk. Not to step on any toes, but it creates this delicious, creamy "gravy-like substance" that is just completely delicious (sorry). But I get the rules and all...I mean that they are there and that there are rules. I'm sure there is reason behind them as well...I just don't know all the rules yet.

Am I a genius? Absolutely! There are a lot of people who would attest to that, too. Am I more specifically a JavaScript genius? No, I couldn't really claim that. I have learned a whole lot about JQuery and JavaScript and how to use it in my current position, but I think you are probably looking for someone who can hit the ground running and do pretty much anything using JQuery/JavaScript that you can, and I'm not quite there yet. You probably don't want anybody who would be learning as they go, and that's kind of where I am at right now. I'm learning a lot of JQuery/JavaScript, but I'm still at a place where I am learning as I go. Plus, I don't have experience with FW/1 and modular JavaScript application architecture (ex. Angular.js, RequireJS). I DO have experience with MVC, but we used a hybrid, a version that was written by one of our architects. And you've probably already filled the position anyway. :-)

@Anna - hah, yeah, the laws of kashrut are intricate and varied. I used to have to do masgiach duties at a military facility where we had a space that was ostensibly to be a kosher kitchen. 9/10 times I was having to explain those rules to non-Jews we shared the space with. For my part, I'm a vegetarian on top of keeping kosher, so I'd have to take your word for it.

I was trying to conceive of a development world without jQuery the other day. It hurt my brain. Some of the problems we're tackling, and not just for traditional browser clients, but for mobile, with these practices, is overwhelming at this time.

It's why when I run into an old-world mentality dev in my current job capacity, it's like being doused with cold water. Working in an industry with thick client expectations of web SaaS, well, several years ago we'd have had to tell them to purchase a web farm or go pound sand to support some of the in-page transactions they want. It's amazing what we can deliver now.

Hi Ben,
I'd be interested as you know I'm pretty good with FW/1.

My js skills though are really basic. Im actively working on improving my JS kungfu but I suspect you are looking for someone who can hit the ground running and I dont think that would be me as far as js.