So I thought I’d join the twenty-first century and give this “blogging” thing a try… Seriously, I’ve been blogging on my own since 2005, but I never had the urge to do it in my capacity as a longtime Sybase employee. Now I do. Go figure.

One of the things I liked best about being a software developer in my early years at Watcom/Powersoft/Sybase was the close interaction I had with customers. In those years I was working on rapid application development tools, first in REXX (for OS/2), then C++ and Java (both for Windows). Customers were other software developers, who were using our tools to make their jobs — typically application development in an IT setting — simpler and faster. What was great was the interaction we (the tool developers) had with these customers. They’d post problems and ask questions in our newsgroups (or mail us directly, if we had already established a relationship with them), we’d turn around and give them new software that solved their issues. It was very interactive, and messed with the product release plan. But it was very satisfying to know you were fixing someone’s problems.

I’m not saying we should go back to those “cowboy” days, not when we sell truly mission-critical software that entire companies depend on day after day to get the job done. Because that’s what we do at Sybase — we help you get the job done. Whether you need an embedded database in your applications, to manage your iPhone email and integrate it with corporate systems, or mine terabytes of data, we’ve got the software you need.

Does that sound like marketing to you? Well, as the blog’s title announces to the world, I’m not in marketing. I’m a software developer through-and-through. You won’t see me walk over to the Dark Side anytime soon. (That’s assuming they’d want me, anyhow!)

But it’s not like marketing has the exclusive right to promote our products. It’s easy to overlook the fact that most software developers at Sybase are proud of the products they work on. So why shouldn’t we tell the world how great our software really is? We’re the ones who know it for a fact…

That’s why the Sybase blogs excite me. It’s another way for us to reach and interact with our customers without layers of insulation. Without having to be a trained PR flack.

Look at the cast of characters that’s been assembled: we have a query processing expert who can answer all your obscure (and yet important) questions about why database come up with the results you see; a mobile banking evangelist who understands mCommerce; and a data synchronization guru who’ll explain to you why getting data from your big backend database system down to your BlackBerry and back isn’t as easy as you might think (unless you use our BlackBerry database, of course). These are just a few of the smart people we have blogging about the things that are important to Sybase and its customers.

Now, there’s always the chance that any one of us will say something on our blogs that will get us fired. Remote, but it’s a possiblity. No one from marketing is prescreening the content. That’s just part of the excitement, I think, that comes with dealing directly with the outside world.

Unlike the other Sybase blogs, though, I won’t be focusing on a single product. You’ll see me exploring the pantheon of Sybase products. Many of those discussions will revolve around mobility, an expertise of mine and many others in the company, but they’ll also range further afield into essays on programming, recruitment, social marketing, and other fun stuff.

A parting note… John Donne said that “no man is an island” (excuse the non-inclusive language) but many bloggers live on islands of their own making. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The best blog is one that not only gets read by more than the blogger’s family, but that fosters real discussion between the blogger and his or her readers. Please leave comments on this blog, I’d love to hear what you have to say on any of the topics I discuss.

Now to come up with some exciting posts to start things off right… Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking this “blogging” thing is easy, by the way…