Category Archives: General

My company has been considering hiring another developer.    It got me thinking about some concrete things to do in preparation for an interview.  This is not an exhasutive list, just some ideas I jotted down at lunch.

• Think about stories that demonstrate your experience and successes
• Ask questions in the interview to learn what it is really like to work in the company.
• Be ok with saying “I don’t know” instead of being vague or making things up.  On the other hand, having an idea of where to start after “I don’t know” seems like a good thing.
• Rember that the interview team is listening to you talk and comparing that to your resume.  Be consistent!
• Remember to look around at interview participants – not just one person
• Ask questions to learn about the viability of the organization
• Listen to what is said and not said during the interview conversation to better judge the organization culture
• Assess the interview pace – fast, medium, slow.  What is that telling you?
• Know what you want – for example, intellectual challenge, opportunity to make a certain amount of money, risk aversion.
• Work style – collaborative, competitive, dysfunctional, individual

Like I said, this was the output of some lunchtime thinking.  There are tons of good resources out there – a little bit of awareness during an interview can help out alot.

Who do you trust?  Your family?  Significant other?  Your colleagues?  Your client? Your dog?  Your goldfish?  The somewhat wilted potted plant in the corner?

The “who do I trust” perspective is common to all of us.  But it is really only half of the trust equation.

There’s the “Other Trust” I sometimes forget about.  And when I do, it smacks me in the back of the head and giggles.

Then, I stop and ask myself  “Who trusts me?”  and “Why?” or “Why not?”.

I’m working on doing this before I get whacked in the head.  I recommend thinking about the “Other Trust” once in awhile.  It’s a good way to check on the quality of your relationships – and how you are doing with them.  Before you get smacked in the head 🙂

There are several different encryption options for Wi-Fi devices.

 These include:

• WEP – uses RC4
• WPA-Personal – uses TKIP encryption
• WPA2-Personal – uses AES encryption
• WPA2-Mixed – uses AES or TKIP encryption
• WPA-Enterprise – uses shared key
• WPA-Radius – integrated user authentication

I’m jotting this down for future use.

Steps:

1. Domain model
2. Functional requirements
3. User stories/use cases
4. Robustness analysis
5. Sequence diagrams
6. Code

This is based on some initial reading of the ICONIX process.

Other

• Class design
• Class implementation
• GUI design
• GUI implementation
• Database design
• Database implementation
• Refactoring of all system elements as required
• Unit testing
• Continuous integration
• Keeping cost of change in system low
• Architecture – identification of major blocks – hardest to change

“I’ve made peace somewhere between my ambition and my limitations.” – (from the movie, Teahouse of the August Moon.)

Getting it right the first time is not nearly as important as getting it right the second time.

Wide experience makes for deep tolerance.

It’s easier to pull down than to build up.

The most important events are often the results of accidents. (Polybius)

Action is the antidote for despair. (Joan Baez)

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. (Proverb)

The shortest way to do many things is to do one thing at once. (Samuel Smiles)

If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one. (Mother Teresa)

Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand. (Chinese proverb)

Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of. (Geri Weitzman)

Ideas won’t keep; something must be done about them. (Alfred North Whitehead)

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. (John Wooden)

The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going. (Author unknown)

You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live. Now. (Joan Baez)

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated and the desire to be important. (Dale Carnegie)

It is useless for us to reason a man out of a thing he has never been reasoned into. (Jonathan Swift)

Start with what you can do; don’t stop because of what you can’t do. (Author unknown)

Whatever you are, be a good one. (Abraham Lincoln)

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. (Henry Ford)

Be the change you want to see in the world. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Great wealth and contentment seldom live together. (Bob Phillips)

For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. (Mary Kay Ash)

Have you got a problem? Do what you can where you are with what you’ve got. (Theodore Roosevelt)

Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them. (Henry Ford)

When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail. (Abraham Maslow)

It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t. (Martin Van Buren)

“Only the ideas that we really live have any value.”
— Hermann Hesse. German novelist and poet, 1946 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1877-1962

Stockdale Principle – You have to be realistic bout your current situation and yet stay optimistic about the future.

Project manager walks up to you and asks “Is that task done?”. How do you answer?

My experience is that most people assume that they know what done means to the asker – and answer the question based on that assumption.

But – often, what “done” means needs to be discussed and possibly negotiated.

Among the soft skills I believe developers can benefit from improving are Leadership – Play – Improvisation

Leadership
Leadership is all about change. IT is all about change. Solution developers are therefore agents of change. Nobody every says “Hey – let’s build a new system that does exactly what we do now!” New systems have new features, new workflows, new objects – new, new, new, new, new. Having a basic understanding of how change happens in an organization – and how to help facliltate it will serve developers well. If nothing else, it can help to moderate the frustration born from over-optimistic hopes for change to evolve. It’s hard – it requires everyone to put their shoulder to the wheel. Nothing helps change happen than a good and hopeful attitude.

Play
Hopefully you enjoy developing software systems. If so, then take the opportunity to go play with something that is fun and excites you. One of the biggest complaints people have about their jobs is that they get bored with their work. To have a successful and satisfying career, play! Take and hour and play with Ruby or Python or Excel or Javascript.

Improvisation
Improvisation to me is using leadership and creativity on the fly to solve problems, create new understandings, facilitate conversations and to form and maintain relationships. Organizations don’t work – but they’re the best we have right now. What makes organizations work and be effective are the people inside the organizations who try every day to fill in the gaps and smooth over the bumps to get something done. Organizations are tools for people to accomplish results.