Category: Professional Development

Development Team Relationships

This week I pushed out some old blogs outlining the relationships between senior and more junior developers. I did this because I thought it was very important to listen to each other. We can all learn from old and new experiences. Continue reading Development Team Relationships

Enhance Your Technology Career By Learning To Speak

Have you ever had a customer, co-worker or manager look at you as if you had two heads? When an IT Professional, speaks it is very important that who we speak to understands what we are saying. You cannot sell an idea, explain an issue or develop a project plan if you who you are speaking to does not understand. The use of jargon is the biggest obstacle that IT Professionals face. Continue reading Enhance Your Technology Career By Learning To Speak

IT Professional and Communication Skills

It is a well-known fact that Information Technology professionals are often lacking skills in the communication department. Almost every job posting lately had stated you must have good Oral and Written communication skills. This was not me; at least until recent. I was always the guy standing by the punch bowl or snack table with hands in the pockets that said “HEY” as people walked by. IT professionals often confuse colleagues, friends and customers with their acronyms and tech-lingo – I was one of these people. Then I was pulled out to a Toastmasters meeting. Continue reading IT Professional and Communication Skills

New Year – Fresh Start

2012 is a new year and for many, a fresh start.   I see 2012 as an opportunity to do something new, start fresh on other items and a chance to turn a new leaf.  Often, your colleagues, bosses and friends whom known you for a long time and will not allow you to turn a new leaf; Do it anyways!   Push forward in making yourself a better person this year.  Do not let others hold you back.  This is your chance to rid yourself of bad habits, learn something new, implement new ideas and grow as a person. Continue reading New Year – Fresh Start

Driving to Your Goals

Monday night at London Western Toastmasters, I gave a speech about getting the momentum going. It was geared to getting used to speaking, getting in front of the club and practicing. I had equated it to driving a 5 speed transmission car. When we start looking at our goal, we are stuck in neutral. Continue reading Driving to Your Goals

Be Kind to Those You Meet

You never know when you meet someone what they will be to you in your life. You may meet them in a service club, be a customer of yours, be a friend or an in-law. You just never know when that argument with the sales associate be something that bites you down the road. Continue reading Be Kind to Those You Meet

What Languages do I Use

I was recently asked what I use to develop software and websites. I mostly use DotNet Technologies as it is often interchangeable between websites, web applications and desktop applications. I can often use the same data access classes and business logic between multiple platforms. I find that DotNet allows me to easier structure objects visually and logically.  I prefer to develop using C-Sharp, but I get requests to use VB.NET and J-Sharp on a regular basis.

When I went to college, I had learned C, Pascal, COBOL and some Mainframe language that I cannot remember.  Upon graduating I taught myself VisualBasic 3, RPG.  My first programming job was Visual COBOL.  I had created a company in the Caribbean Islands programming public utility and insurance software in RPG.   I can honestly say since I sold my shares of the company, I cannot foresee myself developing in RPG again.

Why don’t I use PHP?  Well I do use PHP, but for specific purposes and upon request by a customer. A specific purpose is when I create a WordPress site or other content driven sites. I will not often create a website or web application from scratch using PHP as Microsoft made ASP.NET easy for rapid development.

Do I use JAVA? Yes; I do believe there are cases where JAVA is still relevant. JAVA is still a good tight platform for developing small single purpose applications.  I have used JAVA 3 times in the past 2 years for applications that I believe fit the bill well.

Now, I am curious;  What do you use and why?

What is Trending – Are you listening

Do you know what is trending today?   Do you know what is new?  Do you care?

As developers we live in a crazy world where technologies and ideas fly at the speed of light.  If you are not paying attention you will miss out on the new ideas.

Hash-tags, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook; these are some tools of the modern world and they can help define our chosen professions.  If you have not embraced these fore mentioned tools, you will miss out.  How are you keeping up?  Are you relying on your everyday work or are you digging into the realms of social media to see what is trending?  The printed press like magazines, journals and newspapers are not cutting any more because of the pace of change.  By the time you read it, it is history.

Social media is trending the new ideas, tools and techniques at a pace that is baffling.  If you are a developer and you have not embraced social media, you are probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.  Managers are now asking you in interviews; How you are learning new things and keeping in the know?  If you are not saying social media as a tool, you would be foolish.  It is great to ramble of magazine names and school courses, but most of what is learned there I consider as historical background knowledge; you need social media to enhance your knowledge.

Are you looking for the next great idea?

Here are some interesting trends to watch:

There are a million of trends happening every second of every day.  Pick one or two a day and watch.  If you find something interesting dig for it and dig deep.  LinkedIn also has groups that could help you define who you are, what you want to do and how to do it.    There is a lot happening and you will never know what will trigger your next big idea.   Once you have watched, participate and that is the ultimate way of learning what is new.