Which open source technologies are Enterprise ready?

4 points by technojunkie 13y ago ↗ HN

I just started a contract job as a front end developer with one of the larger financial services companies in the US. My primary responsibility will be to convert the website over to Responsive Web Design.

Considering all the regulations that financial companies must adhere to, the technology choices available must be proven to be secure and mature. If I have any chance to influence the work environment there, I better also have data and proof to back up my claims.

The first thing they will do is choose a CMS that's either based on Java, such as Adobe CQ5, or something else developed by Oracle. Considering Java's continue problems on the client side with security, I'm not sure this would be the smartest move.

More importantly, as a front end dev, I have started playing with technologies like Node.js, Git, Sass, and bundles like Yeoman. I know there are also some Server-Side Javascript packages such as Node.js, Backbone/Underscore, Ember, Angular and others. I'm not quite sure if most of these could work in the Enterprise environment considering the compliance and security regulations.

I am pushing for an investigation to use more open source like the above, and I hope to get this company to create a Github repo where we can give back to the community as well. I think it would be amazing to create an API for the customers to use to create apps to make the services better, although I realize this might not be a smart idea considering it's people's financial data or the likes.

This is probably a little too ambitious for me to take on alone, but I'd love to hear your opinions and experience about what I could legitimately push to aid this transition. The department manager is very open to new ideas and really hopes I can step up and lead the way so I'd like to get your feedback. Thanks!

mindcrime 13y ago ↗

Considering Java's continue problems on the client side with security, I'm not sure this would be the smartest move.

Java in the browser, and Java as a server-side runtime, are pretty different things. As far as I can tell, the various SecurityManager flaws that have been in the news lately, have little or no impact on Java when running on a backend server. But if you are considering applets or JWS as part of your system, that's a different story.

technojunkie 13y ago ↗

I will be getting to know the systems better soon, and hopefully they aren't using JSW or Java applets! Considering I don't have any Java experience, it's good to hear that backend Java is safer.

ytadesse 13y ago ↗

A few questions:

1) Why are they adamant they they use an "open source cms"?

2) What is the primary use of the website? I don't imagine that "one of the larger financial services companies in the US" would leave the restructuring of the website design to one individual. Is this simply an internal site to serve one function of the business?

3) I'd lean away from the Github idea for now. Financial institutions are typically last in line to try and lead others in that regard.

technojunkie 13y ago ↗

1. Why are they or why am I? I won't be pushing any certain CMS. As long as the right tool is used for the job. Management is against open source for the stated reasons.

2. Website is informational as well as used for typical financial services. Go to any top financial institution, whether banking, insurance, or investment to get an idea. Obviously my coding will have to go through many channels, but I also realize that before I even get started I could help modernize their workflow. It would be kind of radical but I don't see any reason why the workflow couldn't match that of the more interesting tech companies.

3. Right, I totally get that. Maybe there's nothing to be gained in this regard, but I want to be creative in giving back to the community if it's even possible. I see startups like Simple Banking and their use of Github and I don't see any reason why the same couldn't be done in larger companies with the lead and support of the development teams.

ytadesse 13y ago ↗

So, from my understanding, you're actually tasked with re-working their internet site as opposed to their intranet site. This is obviously a bigger undertaking than I had understood. I've worked with banks and insurance companies that have had teams and teams of people working on intranet sites hence my amazement that they'd leave such a task to an individual.

Having said that, especially considering it's a financial institution (i.e. you're standing between people and their $$$), I would highly recommend you select a tried and tested CMS that multiple internal people have extensive knowledge of. The fact that it's "open source" should probably not play a big part in your decision making.

technojunkie 13y ago ↗

I get what you're saying. When I initially met with the department manager, he was excited about the potential of what we could do to make the website more progressive. He sees what other competing companies do and realizes that if this company wants to stay in its position atop, it needs to jump the gun on staying with the times.

I think it would be an important and interesting step to see a financial institute actually encourage and stand by the decision to help out the development community. The best analogy I can offer is when Comcast started using Twitter to directly talk to people. It was inconceivable that a large, faceless corporation would do this and now it's mainstream. In a similar regard, it would be amazing to see more large enterprises wanting to reach out to the development community and give back in a public way.

They will ultimately choose a proprietary, mature CMS platform. I'm crossing my fingers it's not .NET since it's pretty much a nightmare for front end developers. But, hopefully we can find a balance that allows an agile approach to development but also gives us the flexibility to use forward-thinking technologies to improve the workflow.