Forum Discussion
Reserve your spot at PAUG Conference April 28-30!
Mark,
when i last mentioned my conferences and activities in Europe in the LI discussion group you answered "Now if we can generate buzz here on this side [of the pond]".
So there is sth happening inside your small country ;-) and now you are pinning to "North Carolina". Come on, move a bit!
:-)
Karl
Hey Karl! Good to hear from you again! I guess I'm just jealous of those areas where Access seems to be a thriving enterprise. Here in the Research Triangle Park area of NC, we have a lot of tech companies and other businesses as well as 3 major universities and tech community colleges, but Access is laughed at and shunned. Everyone is excited about those technologies for creating a business to sell. As an Access developer who got his start in the 1990's there was a lot of need for Access developers then. Now, the recruiting agencies report about 1-2 request a year for an Access developer, but hundreds of request for Excel VBA, .Net, SQL Server/SSIS/SSRS, Office 365, and SharePoint. Excel/Access/VBA developer rates are $35-$45/hr, SQL Server/SSIS/SSRS rates are $50-$60/hr and .Net are $55-$65/hr. Higher for mobile and big data. Trying to find people interested in Access/VBA development just gets you some funny looks in this area. But I'll keep plugging away. Hopefully there will be some development in Access capabilities that will grab people's attention again, but I'm not holding my breath.....
Hi Mark,
in Middle and Northern Europe you would have to double (or almost triple) these rates (not only for Access) to get a really good consultant.
Concerning "Access a thriving enterprise": I think Access has a difficult position in all parts of the world due to its aged technology fundament, its position as part of Office, the 5 year AWA standstill, not too great of an image, death rumours, not being liked by IT etc. etc.
However it has its indisputable strengths and over here in Europe is still present in a great many enterprises of all sizes, e.g. today I advised a big bus company that uses Access heavily about 32/64 bit and the situation/future of Access. A growing number of companies has difficulties to find skilled developers/admins for their "legacy" Access applications and Access consulting companies don't find fresh blood to employ. I know this from my conferences and because I have a small forum platform for this at my website.
Of course the product featureset and policy is important but I strongly believe that the ecosystem (image, PR, communities, usergroups, events etc.) is of similar importance, especially in hard times like the AWA years. That's why I consider this place here an essential initiative. I hope it will help to increase your rates soon. ;-)
For my home market (the German speaking countries) some local usergroups and my annual conferences are a reference and exchange place for professional Access developers (>200 attendees, 600 e-mail contacts, many more script downloaders etc.) to know the markets and rates, be self-confident, improve skills, integrate modern SW development methods in their Access work etc. So try to build sth up in NC!
Karl
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