The Honest Truth: EJB Is Your Scapegoat

First rule for IT survival is "cover your ass". That is always have a backup plan, a plan B or in nice management-speak, a contingency plan. The true and honest reason why one chooses EJB (aside from resume-driven design) is to have a scapegoat if things fail.

IBM made a ton of dough in the days when "nobody ever got fired for choosing IBM". Well same goes with EJB, know anyone that's been fired for choosing EJB? I'm sure there's plenty who got canned for writing up their own container!

Now, don't get confused in what I'm saying. I'm not saying that the simple act of choosing EJB gets you reliability and scalability. That's obviously not true, but IT is truly littered with gullible stake holders. It's the stake holders who get you fired, and if you can tell them that its IBM or BEA's fault that you screwed up, well then you might just have a second chance.

Now, if you have the wherewithal to choose a complete open source stack. Well, I don't know where you can find your scapegoat, you know, your contingency plan? Best bet then is to offshore the work, afterall it's all the latest craze. Doesn't mean it's going to work, but rememeber, your priority number one is to manage risk. That is manage the risk of you getting fired.