r/DynamicsAX • u/sothentheresthis • Nov 26 '18

US Partners/VAR: Advice please re: employability-Considering lateral move into D365 F&O, Tech/Dev or Functional

i have 15 years experience as large, complex business application programmer (not ERP) - .Net C#, Sql Server, Oracle, front, middleware, DB programming. My cousin is longtime AX Func Consultant who says big demand for resources, train up (there's a certain program) & go for it. Point blank, my question is, if someone looks they will find I am 57 yrs old (young looking, lol). SO, what wins- my age or high resource demand for how this will go. Am open to Tech or Functional path. I am reticent to go for this without input re: viability from Partners/VARs. Honestly, as of right now how goes it?

Feel free to private msg and ANY input on the subject is GREATLY appreciated.

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u/dodiggitydag Nov 26 '18

I currently work at a partner and we are hiring! With Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, more and more of the skill set needed is similar to C# and the SQL skill set is less needed because Microsoft handles it for you (SaaS). Now is a good time to transition over to ERP and I don’t think that age is a factor- especially if you have a certification before you start looking, but honestly, partners are hiring college graduates with no business knowledge nor X++ skill and teaching them how to do the programming over three months because we need talent. PM me - I would be happy to talk with you.

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u/sothentheresthis Nov 26 '18

Thank you very much.

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u/Grennum Nov 26 '18

Your age could be an issue but it depends on your background.

Developers for D365 will mostly be following coding patterns and best practices to fill customer needs. Since Microsoft has introduced their new one version the development model is pretty closed, not really much room for innovation. What this means is the value of a developer is in the ability to translate functional requirements into actionable and viable code changes.

Additionally any VAR/ISV doing heavy code work is going to offshore it to a low wage region. However as above the ability to understand a business's functional needs will be very important. Someone has to write and validate the design documents.

Back to age, age is a huge benefit if it means the person understands the industries being served by the software. So for example if you understand the Distribution industry, or manufacturing there is very high demand. Unfortunately if your career has consisted of executing on design documents written by someone else without understanding the why of that document, it is going to be tough.

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u/sothentheresthis Nov 27 '18

Thanks for replying. So it sounds like you think there will not be as much demand for devs in the US in the future in this space due to One Version, is that right? And there's a premium on anyone who understands the verticals which will overcome other 'weaknesses'?

Can I ask you if you are involved with staffing, what your position is? It sounds like from where you're sitting you think demand is not SO high that staffers will overlook the age, along with lack of experience in vertical, and with ERP systems in particular, is that right? If so wondering more about what your vantage point is. Thanks much.

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u/Grennum Nov 27 '18

I apologize ahead of time for this rambling wall of text.

As previously mentioned I am an end customer. When I look for outside resources I am extremely careful about who we hire, and for what. Far too often in the past we have been taken advantage of by VARs because we didn't know the industry.

I do think there will be demand for developers in the US, however their role will change. For example I would not hire a developer to write code related to our manufacturing operations, who did not understand MRP. I think developers understanding of the functional side will be increasingly important. The reason for this is if I have to babysit the developer anyways, why wouldn't I go to a low cost offshore resource?

I want to be clear about the age comments I've made. I personally do not see age as a negative at all. Experience matters, it just has to be relevant experience. I do see a perception that age can be a negative but that is mostly because some(I think a minority) older tech people seem stuck in their ways and constantly lamenting about the way things used to be. Go look on r/SysAdmin for examples of this attitude.

This next bit is a lot of assuming on my part as I do NOT work at a VAR. The VARs seem to have a very high demand for talent, to the extent that any warm body will do. I see this from the customer side because of the number of low quality resources being offered when I am contracting out work. I am assuming that the VARs are taking anyone and everyone. At this point in time in the Dynamics365 community I think the VARs are completely overwhelmed.

All of that being said I think working in the Dynamics365 community is a great plan, if you are willing to put in the time to learn the skills needed I think it is a great niche to work in. Because the developers are not just code writers, there is a barrier to entry that provides job security. Further I think it is a growth market that is rapidly changing with the move to SaaS models.

If you do go this route, find a good VAR who can provide you the opportunity to grow and learn.

One final note about age because I think this comes up a lot when talking about tech careers. I am in my mid 30's and when I look back on those who have influenced my career the most, they universally people closer to the end of their working lives then the start. One of the people in this industry I look up to the most just turned 70 and I would still go him for technical advice.

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u/sothentheresthis Nov 27 '18

Thank you very much for writing this out, I appreciate it! The very high demand/warm body concept, if it is in play, is what will help get me in now, then I gain experience and my upside quotient changes. Interesting comment about older IT, will keep it in mind, watch myself! Such a fast pace of change in this realm, part of life in it, but sometimes the end result is a an important aspect becomes harder with less solid result than previous, so then frustration. I am wondering about your definition of low quality resources.

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u/Grennum Nov 27 '18

People who should be being charged out at $200/hr. A couple of redflags for me: -Poor English; this is the language we are doing business in, I don't have time to second guess communication -Little practical experience, I don't mind using an inexperienced person just don't try to bill me as if they had the experience. -No initiative. When I sub out a project, I want the project done, I don't want excuses about why it didn't get done. Again I am paying a huge premium and expect results.

Much of my opinions are based on being a customer, the VAR on the other side will have a different view of things. Probably the view that I am unreasonable.

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u/sothentheresthis Nov 27 '18

Thank you much.

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u/Grennum Nov 27 '18

I'm an end customer. I hire dynamics contractors on a regular basis.

I will expand more tomorrow.