Make yourself more useful

Last month, I asked if the recession in much of the world economy was affecting techies, or if it is someone else's problem. Since then, we've seen a big layoff at Sun, cutbacks at Palm and Apple, and concerns that U.S. unemployment could be particularly bad if it represents structural changes to the economy.

So... maybe we're in this mess with everyone else after all.

How do you make sure your job is safe? A lot of experts will tell you to make yourself indispensable to your employer. But what does that mean? Does it mean that you know GlassFish better than any of the other engineers? Maybe, but Robert J. Miller says that instead of focusing on code, maybe you should look at your company's big picture, and start following business news and insustry trends. In Recession Proof Java Programmers, he writes:

Recession proof learning includes a mix of technology and business such that an understanding of industry trends and profitability can be gained. If you are a technology-only learner like I was before, then I recommend easing yourself into business with the subsequent action items...

Granted, we've heard some of this before. What's a little different about Robert's prescription is that he says you should develop an overall awareness of how business works, while some of what we've discussed in this space previously is the value of developing awareness and interest of your business' specific industry -- finance, medicine, transportation, government, whatever -- and marketing yourself as a coder who "gets" that industry.

Offering another outlook, Jay Fields has posted a Javalobby editorial arguing that developers should Specialize In Something Relevant. This follows up an early blog on Language Specialization and, in turn, Scott Ambler's ideas about Generalizing Specialists. Jay and Scott agree that it's valuable to have deep knowledge of something (Java coding, database administration, testing, whatever), and then pick up other topics that you eventually become an expert in. "Becoming a Generalizing Specialist takes time, but the first step is becoming a Specialist. Once you deeply understand one language/tool, you can move on to the next relevant language/tool." This gives you the ability to be highly productive by being able to provide unique value in your specialties, while also having a deep enough understanding of multiple topics that you can collaborate with peers who are themselves specialists in those other areas.

So what do you think? Do either of these offer a practical roadmap to get you through the recession? Or will clinging to your favorite API from five years ago get you through?