Latest Posts - Page 159 of 201

May 9, 2018May 1, 2018 Podcast

Use Written Communication To Improve Your Standing And Career

Written communication is a significant part of how we work in business. It is obvious when you look at how much of an MBA program includes writing. Many companies even push business writing classes as part of their employee training. Let Us Count The Ways We write emails every day. This is an excellent place to work on writing fundamentals. These include spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and even flow. Short form platforms like Twitter and text messages use a form of shorthand and do not emphasize spelling or grammar, Nevertheless, try to stick to proper writing standards with these where possible. It will serve as challenging practice to try to maintain these skills. There will also be a marked difference in your communications... Read more

May 7, 2018May 1, 2018 Podcast

Database Job Roles and Vendors – Databases Overview Part 2

This episode takes us through part 2 of the databases overview series. We spend time looking at the major players in the industry and then some of the job roles typically seen in this area of technology. The Major Players We start with a tour of the most significant players in the industry. These are almost all familiar names with IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft all in the top five. The other names may not be new to you either. MySQL and Postgres round out the top five. These are solutions you need to be familiar with if you want to advance your career in this area. You can focus on the niches, but big money in the database world is... Read more

May 4, 2018May 1, 2018 Podcast

How Team Sports, and Group Activities Make Your Life That Much More Enjoyable

We can get through life on our own. However, it is better when shared with others. This fact is one of those secrets to living a better life. It applies to team sports, groups we work with and any group activity. Great peace and enlightenment may be attributed to a guru on a mountaintop. That is not the same as true joy. In fact, do we ever picture a joyful experience as a person by himself? No, our pictures of happiness may be a single person, but when you think of greater satisfaction, other people enter the picture. The Greatest Punishment We all know that one is the loneliest number that there ever was. Depression is often attributed to people... Read more

May 2, 2018April 21, 2018 Podcast

Evaluating Vendors and Selecting Solutions – More Than an RFP

Even the lowliest of developers will come to a point where they are asked to look into a potential decision. Their role may only be as an advisor. However, evaluating vendors to some extent falls into our lap as a task to perform. There are “big” approaches to these evaluation requests, but proper use of free tools can be as valuable. The Vendor Is as Important as The Tool A typical error in evaluating a tool is minimizing the vendor that created it. Yes, tools are more than just the vendor. However, an unstable vendor is more likely to build a questionable product than one that is a financial success. Issues with the vendor often can be harbingers of hidden... Read more

April 30, 2018April 27, 2018 Become a Better Developer

Stay Practical When Learning a New Language And Build Experience

One of my goals early on that I often attribute to my lengthy resume of development languages was to learn two new ones every year. This achievement may seem like an unrealistic goal. However, it is not as hard as it looks. Learning a new language can take months, but it does not have to. When you stick to the core language and practical applications, it can all be done along with your typical workload. The Beauty of Utilities The best way I have found to get to know a new language is to write an application with it. Not necessarily a big, full-featured one, a utility can often be a great start. Think about what most utility programs contain as... Read more

April 30, 2018April 21, 2018 Podcast

Logging Your Work – Best Practices in Learning From Mistakes and Reproducing Success

There are a broad range of reasons for logging or tacking the work we do. In technology work, we have such a varied bunch of tasks we perform that this becomes a crucial habit for avoiding re-inventing the wheel. At a high level, logging your work is a good habit. Thus, let’s look at the ways this can be a benefit that more than pays for the time spent. Trial and Error There are times that we fall into the trial-and-error approach to solving problems. We know that this is not the best practice. However, sometimes the brute force approach is the only one we can think of. These times are the ones where logging your work is critical to a... Read more