
Is working on Outsystems platform good for developer's career? - eren_jaeger
I accepted a job offer where their project requires using Outsystems platform, and will be starting soon. At the same time I received another offer working as ReactJS developer, which is my top choice. I am in dilemma now, I am afraid working as Outsystems is going to bring down my career. What should I do? Need experienced ones to give me advise.
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pjmlp
Working with Outsystems you will discover the enterprise world, discover RAD
tooling for doing Web applications (low code framework) and get a skillset
that is usually in demand by big corps, similar to SAP, because one only gets
into OutSystems working in such kind of environments.

[https://www.featuredcustomers.com/vendor/outsystems](https://www.featuredcustomers.com/vendor/outsystems)

It is not something to learn during long nights and weekends, rather with
conferences, projects and certifications.

OutSystems is in business since 2003.

ReactJS, well everyone is doing it, it is a cool kids Facebook framework, and
open source.

It boils down to which kind of work environments you want to be on.

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eren_jaeger
Thank you for your input. Very helpful indeed.

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codingdave
You'll find that knowing different systems helps your career. Every new
bootcamp grad knows React. You can learn React on your own, and know React +
Outsystems, making you more unique.

It is counter-intuitive, but knowing non-trendy platforms makes you more
valuable. When projects come up needing to integrate with the newer platforms,
or if they drop Outsystems to move to node/React, you would be one of the few
people who know both sides.

I've spent most of my career on platform transition projects, migrating Lotus
Notes to .NET and SharePoint, and building web front-ends over them to replace
their old UIs. Now, I am modernizing older .NET MVC and jQuery apps to React
running in cloud environments. The tech list I work with would make most
people run away screaming, yet I'm extremely valuable to my team because I
know every piece of tech on both the old and the new platforms.

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taurath
> It is counter-intuitive, but knowing non-trendy platforms makes you more
> valuable

Yes, but knowing only non-trendy platforms (especially if they're not really
in demand and have a large diaspora such as PHP) is a good way to struggle to
find work - except in the later phases of your career as you can leverage your
experience in consulting, if you have managed to make the right connections.

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eren_jaeger
Thank you taurath :)

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xiwenc
I have worked for a RAD platform similar to Outsystems. As I was building the
platform I had the best of both worlds:

1) engineering with general purpose frameworks and programming languages on
the platform and

2) the RAD toolset itself as we were eating our own dog food.

Today I’m not doing anything with RAD. But the experience is invaluable and I
know what enterprise is like.

Bottom line is, I don’t think this harms your career. It’s all a learning
experience and worse case you find a new challenge if you really don’t like
it.

I think it’s worse to stay comfortable over exploring what else is in the
world.

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eren_jaeger
Thanks for your opinion. Much appreciated :)

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jasonlhy
Knowing a little bit is good, building your entire career around it is bad
except you work for it as a consultant.

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tech_savy
Once i too got opportunity to work on Outsystems but i refused to do because
you won't gent in-depth knowledge in language instead you just learn their
product. Better to go for ReactJS.

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dean177
> working as ReactJS developer, which is my top choice

Why didn’t you go for it?

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eren_jaeger
I have accepted the offer and starting soon. I dont want to back out because
it will ruin my reputation.

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quickthrower2
I think you have taken the better job opportunity. You’ll be more valuable
with that sort of tech than the usual stacks, although there may be fewer of
those jobs.

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eren_jaeger
Are you saying this because lesser people know Outsystems than the usual tech
stack like react, and it makes them look vaulable?

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quickthrower2
Yes and enterprises have more money to spend on their staff. In general. SF
tech bubble excepted!

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eren_jaeger
Thanks a lot quickthrower for your comments. Much appreciated.

