Colin Angus Mackay wrote:

Because you need to be able to simulate the live environment. You cannot do that on your PC because it has a lot of other things that you need like Visual Studio, Office and so on. Also, if you are developing on Windows XP and deploying to a server then the versions of IIS will be different. (XP has 5.5 while Server 2003 has 6.0) There are subtle differences and you need to have tested in the correct environment.

Great points thanks! I have MSDN so I know the issue is not licensing. But I should make this very clear to IT, it might be part of the resaon they are blocking me on this.

Colin Angus Mackay wrote:

IT are probably dragging their heels because they see it as something else they need to support that's going to have lots of software on it that they don't understand. For some reason they hate that.

Yes. It definately feels like they aren't familiar with the software and would prefer not to be! :) Thanks for this feedback. The IT guys had made me feel that I was being over the top and unreasonable in requiring a local web server for testing etc.

Saw that I after I posted this. :) I will check it out. Thanks

Colin Angus Mackay wrote:

If IT are worried about their servers then get them to install it. Unless of course they won't install anything they are not trained in. In which case they are a bunch of numpties.

lol Yes I had started to think that. :) We do want IT to worry about servers, but there is a line wich maybe going too far. Maybe I should push this back at them and ask them "why not?" If they want me to justify my case I should get them to justify theres! Well, I will try to find a nice way to ask that though, of course. :)

Great point thanks. I don't really want to setup full debug environment on a public facing server either.

Aw.... Marc thinks I have brains! Thanks! :) When I took this job I underestimated what it would be like to work with a group of non-developer tyes. Explaining and justifying are now parts of my job. So you have a server off site... this sounds like something that might fit in the environment I have here. So you use a distributed source control system? The bandwidth works ok for you?

Thanks Marc. Yeah the VPC was a big part of it for me too. So source control not a big selling point? Would you suggest running source control locally?

Electron Shepherd wrote:

Personally, I would never store source code on a (probably not backed up) PC - that's what central servers are for.

Good point. IT are probably worried about the back-up requirements. At the moment I am running my own back-ups of code from local PC to central file server wich IT current run back-up. (They don't want me to install anything on the file server)

Electron Shepherd wrote:

Why do you need Virtual PC for cross-browser testing? You can put IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome on one PC without

For cross browser testing I mean different versions of browsers, IE6/WinXP, IE7/WinXP, IE7/Vista. After once spending ages debugging a problem I found on IE6 under Windows 2003 only to find that it was not reproducable on IE6/WinXP I like to be able to double check things. :) With Virtual PC Server you can run your virtual PC session in a browser so it does not have to take resources from your local machine. Also with clean installs you can test Flash / Silverlight installation etc. Yeah I am still trying to sell this idea. I have management in on it. Just need to make sure I can put the case to IT.

Every place I have worked at I have had a local server (or virtual PC on a local server). Now I am working at a new place where I am the only web developer and the IT guys are asking me to justify why I need a local server. Management have given me a PC I can use as a server but IT are asking me why I need one. Do you think I need a local machine with Windows 2003 as a test for deployments, UAT, a place for source control, maybe even to run Virtual PC server to help with cross browser testing?

Thanks. This makes a lot of sense. It has been feeling like chasing fads for fads sake rather then for productivity (or even common sense!) but underlying this are the core technologies (development tiers) you have mentioned. It makes me more focused being conscious of these, rather then just a victim of a of a fad. :)

Thanks for this. I have done a couple Microsoft exams on SQL and C#. They make me look into areas I might not otherwise have covered. I am often surprised how often I can use this information. This week I am using another javascript library which has less documentation then the last one I was using, so this probably fed the Monday-ist I was feeling when I made the OP. :) What books would you recommend?

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. :) At Uni I did my third year project in prolog. It was a scheduling application so prolog was a good choice. Prolog very different to a lot of other languages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolog[^] I guess its a matter of the best programming language for the job. It is good to know that you have more then just a hammer in your tool box. :)

Rocky Moore wrote:

Anyway, your career path should be based on what "you like to do". If you are a coder at heart, why push the management end unless you want that resposibility.. If you are only money, then Management is where the bucks live. It is really up to what your goals are and how much stress you like.

So is coding a stressful option? :) I was considering project management as a less stressful option. Everything feels out of control, maybe as PM I would have more control? Though really I think I am just going one of those-were-the-days things you sometimes do on a Monday. :)

Hamed Mosavi wrote:

Anything the reason is, I totally agree with you that spending everyday learning new things is not interesting. I want to have enough free time to use what I learned.

Exactly! I think what I am missing is the chance to get to know somethings to the point where I can be confident I am using it the best way I can rather then as a quick way to fix something.

Ok, I am not alone. :) Probably just at the wrong point of a less then fun project. Dealing with the "hell of web dev" seems to be about attitude. Maybe I should download some code from some cool articles here to play with... always a good way to re-find the fun again. :) (Didn't use SQL directly in C++.)

Is it that I am wearing rose colored glasses or were things much easier when it was just C++ and MFC? Now that I have been doing consulting / contracting with .Net for a few years I find myself missing the days when I was working with C++/MFC. It seemed you had more control. There wasn't the disjointed mix of C#, SQL, HTML, CSS, ajax, java script, etc etc to debug. Then I had worked with C++/MFC for a few years, now it is all about the "generalised specialist", and I tend to feel like I am struggling to learn new things all the time. Maybe I should go into Project Management as the programmer career path articles seem to say you should, or should I try to specialise in something again? Just hard to know what to choose when everything changing so much.