I’ve had the opportunity over the last few months to lead some developer focused training sessions on SharePoint 2010. For those who have not begun the process and are interested in being SharePoint 2010 developers/architects, I must warn you (even if you have previous SharePoint and/or .NET expertise) the task is quite daunting. I mentioned this in a conversation with a fellow SharePoint enthusiast early this week and shared with him the syllabus for a recent developer onboarding training experience I led (see below). This does not even include supplemental knowledge (PowerShell is one example; configuring a proper development environment is another) that I think is critical for full appreciation.
I absolutely believe that while the new development features with SharePoint 2010 will allow developers to do more with less (code) the burden on the SharePoint architect is now far greater. Picking the “right” architecture has become harder (given all the options). In my opinion, SharePoint developers, especially those that work in teams, will become specialized (i.e. workflow, BCS, etc.) to allow them to “go deep” in their development expertise. The SharePoint architect, however, will need to understand and appreciate all options to best align a design with known business requirements. So, if you haven’t started looking at this stuff, start! There is some great material available online, including labs supplied by Microsoft. The learning curve is steep but the power of the toolset is much too big to ignore…
· What's New for Developers in SharePoint 2010
· Introduction to Sandbox Solutions in SharePoint 2010
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Services Architecture
· Introduction to LINQ and SharePoint 2010
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Client OM
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Web Services
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 BCS
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Developer Dashboard
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Security Enhancements
· Upgrading SharePoint 2007 Code to SharePoint 2010
· Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Workflow
· Summary of Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint
· Next Steps - Getting Started with SharePoint 2010 Development