On 27/05/2010, at 4:34 AM, Justin Carter wrote:

> Adobe could solve
> by getting their (existing) CF educational materials into colleges and
> universities.

This is easy to say, and much more complex in reality.  Firstly I would be 
worried about a University that listened to vendors to decide what languages 
they were going to use to teach their students computer science and basic 
programming - and CF is not the language for this. Luckily I didn't come across 
one when I was at Macromedia trying to do this with CF.  

TAFEs have a different problem. Teaching specific technologies is part of their 
brief. There is some limited curriculum material available (based on the 
commercial courses) for vocational colleges to teach using the Adobe products, 
but what TAFEs need are teachers with the skills to teach these languages. For 
instance Crows Nest TAFE used to teach ColdFusion because they had someone 
there (I think Warren Finch?) who could.  

Adobe can't magic these people into being - they have to come from the 
community.  If you're a contractor or a full timer looking to moonlight as an 
evening instructor, have you considered approaching your local TAFE or 
community college and offering to run a web development course?  Emma Jones 
(nee Steer, some of you may remember her as the Canberra Macromedia UG manager 
for several years) has been having some success with Flash and the local TAFEs 
around Wangaratta. Maybe someone with some pedagogical bent could start a wiki 
for lesson plans and extra course material and ideas for people who wanted to 
get into this. 

> If the reason isn't due to a lack of available CF
> developers then it's really something that is out of our hands as a
> community (I think?)

No, it's definitely something the community can do something about (if it 
really wants to)

> Adobe either needs to get Evangelists or Sales
> people talking to more CEO's/CIO's
> or to spend some cash in relevant
> publications to get the ColdFusion brand out there again.

This is not how CEOs and CIOs make decisions, and Adobe don't put ads in papers 
because they know they don't work - it's a great way to spend a marketing 
budget, but not a good way to get results. I know, I tried with Macromedia's 
money once and it was rather embarrassing.

Having active user groups and big conferences makes a big difference.  Our 
presence at events in the broader web community helps. It's constant cosmic 
background radiation to reassure people that we're around.

Robin
                 
ROBIN HILLIARD
Chief Technology Officer
ro...@rocketboots.com.au
www.rocketboots.com.au

RocketBoots Pty Ltd
Level 11
189 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
Phone +61 2 9323 2507
Facsimile +61 2 9323 2501
Mobile +61 418 414 341

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