Why I Love Both My Job and Flex

I wasn’t at Javapolis and I’m not the person who talks to the Java community (that would be James Ward, who needs a raise). However this post by a Javapolis attendee captured really well why I love my job and why I came to work for Adobe:

I think everyone should learn at least one lesson from this keynote: evangelists are good for courses, are good for teaching people the basics of the technology. But at a keynote you have to do much more, you have to make people dream of what they would be able to build using a new technology. And to do that, you have to find out people who actually use the technology to build something great, like Stephan did.

It actually bums me out that I haven’t been able to do more Flex. I was talking with Tom and John at the Ribbit Platform Release Party and they mentioned that I wasn’t talking as much about Flex. That sucks because Flex is awesome and after traveling around with the Thermo team I know we have some cool stuff planned for Flex 4. But the best part of my job is that I get to see what other people build. I’m not the best developer (by a long shot) but our technology enables some really fantastic things. I get to see those before everyone else. When I’m lucky I get to show them. I’d much rather put customers in my place when showing off cool things, but I get paid to travel around and show off things, so when they can’t I’m more than happy to do so.

As the Thermo evangelist I’m hoping I get to plug back into the Flex community. You guys kick ass. And we’ve got good things planned for you.

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  4. Microsoft and Web Standards: A Love Affair
  5. Mr. Chizen or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Acrobat
  • http://www.emaxsoftware.com Shimju

    Thermo presentation looks cool!!
    We Emax Software Flex team are waiting for the release of Thermo.

  • http://www.peterelst.com/blog/2007/12/13/adobes-christmas-presents/ Peter

    JavaPolis really was a fantastic event and you could sense the excitement about Flex and AIR with a lot of the Java developers there — bummed out I didn’t make it to the keynote.

    “Thinking in Flex” with Bruce Eckel and James Ward was a great session, the guy definitely deserves a raise!

    Make sure you’re there next year to evangelize Thermo!

  • http://www.infakt.pl/faktura Faktura

    Is it possible to connect ruby and flex?

  • http://blogs.msdn.com/msmossyblog Scott Barnes

    Ryan,

    Advice :) get back to basics.. I spent far too long away from the keyboard so to speak and well it pays to walk a mile in the customers shoes. I spent the last 3 months working with both Adobe & Microsoft’s technologies and it’s unlocked a lot of things that I’d love to comment on but can’t .. suffice to say, one can find clarity in the very things we evanglise :)

    -
    Scott Barnes
    RIA Evaneglist
    Microsoft.

  • http://www.richapps.de Benjamin Dobler

    Hey Ryan,
    Javapolis was really great for Adobe. The blog post that you`re refering to is about the keynote I and Stephan Janssen gave right after the Adobe keynote. I`ve compiled some screencasts from the applications (Flex/AIR) here: http://www.richapps.de/?p=115

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    Faktura, yup, you can. There are lots of ways to do it. Email me at rstewart@adobe.com if you want pointers in the right direction.

    Thanks for the link Ben!

  • http://www.canoo.com/press.html sandra

    I heard good reviews on the Flex sessions at Javapolis.

    Esp. Benjamin’s Parley demo must have been impressive.