You know I was talking to Rob Howard after my interview with him and he gave me some good advice, which is the same as he said in the interview. I need to specialize in 3 main areas and become proficient in them. Once I am specialized in 3 areas, mainly, just add on something more, and it won't be that much harder.

I find this reasoning to be superb, but I have one problem with it. I don't know what to specialize in. I love to do all of it almost equally. I have determined however in order to be successful at data driven apps then I need to know how to access a database very well. So I do know I need to specialize in at least data access.

So from there where do I go? I need to know at least a little bit about everything, but I am lost at where to start. This is something I guess I need to figure out.

In the Linux world there is a site for newbs to understand some of the technical things in Linux. They call it GrokDoc What this is a site that you can go to for a basic manual on how to do common Linux tasks. The biggest problem with learning Linux is understanding the new terms that are thrown at you. That has been solved by GrokDoc..

Well, what does that have to do with ASP.NET? Glad you asked. Like every good technology a lot of new terms and concepts are introduced which can overwhelm the new user. I know when I started I had no idea what this .NET thing was, and no matter how much I read I never really understood it because of all the .NET specific terms were being used. I was lost. I currently know several people that want to learn ASP.NET, but they are lost because they don’t know how the framework works to even start ASP.NET.

There are plenty of tutorials out there, but they are usually written by experienced competent programmers who know ASP.NET. This results in using hard to understand terms, which easily loses a beginner.

Because of all the problems beginners can run into the ASP.NET community needs a GrokDoc site for ASP.NET. If someone is willing to start it up and administer it I would be happy to write articles. I think as a person that has recently gone, and still going, through a huge learning curve I think I could help.

Ok, it is official I have an interview with Rob Howard for next Monday after our .NET User Group meeting. I can’t wait. That means you should be on the look out within the next couple of weeks for a show with him in it. I am hopeing to discuss telligent systems with him some, and also what his opinions and thoughts are regarding ASP.NET 2.0. Stay Tuned.

Ok, http://www.aspnetpodcast.com is up and working now. Sorry, it looks like crap, but at least there is something there to take up the space. It looks like there is a slight possiblity of the most minuteness I should probably not even mention it, is that I might be able to get and interveiw with Rob Howard. So keep your fingers crossed that I get the interview because it would be a great addition to the show. I mean we started out with Scott Guthrie the to follow soon after with Rob Howard would be awesome.

Ok, I am also working on an update for the podcast site to get it past the horrid looks that it currently has. I must warn you that, since I am a beginner, it might be a little while before something actually good gets put up. So please stay tuned and keep listening.

Again the address is:
http://www.aspnetpodcast.com

I am part of some online forum based communities, and I must say that I find them very interesting. Not for the fact that they are communities I be long to and enjoy, but the fact that they are communities. A place where active members learn who are most active and start to see personalities, make friends, and develop enemies.

The online aspect is no longer a hurdle in understanding other people. 3dbuzz.com and BodyBuilding.com, the sites I am a member of, have enough active users that you can clearly see the number of people help to shape the usefulness of the site. You can tell who is knowledgeable and who isn’t.

This is a very interesting phenomenon because people are no longer limited by where they live. People join forums from all over the world. 3dbuzz.com, for example, has members from every hemisphere and time zone, and I am friends with most of them. Just from reading some of the posts I am able to distinguish who they are.

I am still a new member to BodyBuilding.com, but I can already tell who the experienced and most active members are by the types of information they give. I am already starting to see some of their personalities.

One of the best parts about online communities is the willingness to help. On 3dbuzz.com if I ever have a question I know where to go to ask it. I know some people well enough I know who to give the question to.

The communities that are forming on the internet I believe are a social extension of our world today. It shows how people act across the world, and it shows the reliance the world is starting to show on computers.

Now don’t get me wrong there are plenty of communities like xanga, ASP.NET, and linuxquestions.com. There is almost a community for everything that exists, and I see this as a wonderful thing to have because of the expansion of knowledge to the world.

It was said that our knowledge has doubled in the last 2 or so years. I must say that I can definitely see this because the Internet is a new medium for giving and sharing information with everyone. I don’t see them going away soon, and I hope they don’t because I love them and believe that there is a lot of good that comes from them.

So go find a community to be active in and let the world know what you think.