new environments
Posted on Become a Better Developer

A Crash Course in Learning New Environments

No matter whether we move around jobs or stay with a single employer, there comes a time where we need to learn new environments.  Sometimes these are simple and well-documented.  However, I have found that the more significant number require some research and digging to understand the work of previous developers.  In this presentation and discussion, we take up the topic of how to proceed when you are dropped into a brand new environment. A Best Practices Approach We can not guarantee that prior developers have followed best practices in creating and documenting their work.  However, we can still follow these suggestions to build our knowledge of the systems while also providing better documentation for those that follow us.  If nothing else, following these... Read more

Posted on Podcast

When to Give In When To Hold Your Ground

There comes a time where you have a difference of opinion from your customer.  This may be due to personal taste, or it may be a misunderstanding.  There are even cases where a customer insists on a path that goes against your experience, morals, ethics, or is otherwise non-negotiable.  There is not one answer for all of these situations so let’s look at reasons why you should hold your ground. You Are The Expert, But They Sign The Check I think the toughest of these situations is when you are a paid consultant or expert.  The customer has come to you for expert advice.  However, they decide to ignore that information.  When this occurs, do not take it personally and... Read more

building your skills
Posted on Become a Better Developer

Three Easy Steps Toward Building Your Skills

Practice Makes Perfect The best part about the foundational items of programming is that they cannot be avoided.  Every day you code you will get more comfortable with many, if not all, of the items listed.  Over the years you will write thousands of loops, create millions of variables and use all sorts of methods to read and write to files.  The only worry in dealing with these foundational skills is automation.  An automated solution is not going to be useful in building your skills. There are code generators and IDE utilities that help take a lot of the work out of these items.  They can make your programming skills deteriorate through lack of use.  Of course, regularly working in... Read more

Posted on Podcast

Make The Most of Search Engines

We all like to work through the problems we have been presented.  However, this is not the fastest way to a solution.  When we are in an office, we can pester our co-workers.  On the other hand, we can always use search engines to pester the entire Internet instead. Search Engines Require Thoughtful Questions The first thing to know about search engines is how to properly ask a question.  Although most of them will handle standard English sentences that approach will not always return the best results.  This can cost minutes or even hours of time as you vet the various answers.  These engines work off of keywords and phrases, so it helps to use those in phrasing the search terms or... Read more

Posted on Podcast

Eating the Frog and Reducing Stress

Eating the Frog is a term that may be new to you.  Simply put, this is the idea of getting the things done that you want to do the least.  It is a popular way to improve productivity and get things done.  However, it is also a practice that can help with reducing stress and increasing happiness.  In this episode, we look at how doing what you dislike is a key to happiness. Removing Obstacles is Key To Reducing Stress Depression and lack of productivity go hand in hand.  Likewise, productivity and happiness are often related.  These are all complicated concepts, so the cause and effect of them are also a little muddy.  We can improve productivity through a lot... Read more

Posted on Podcast

Getting The Most From Mastermind Program

In this episode, we take the risk of self-promotion and look at the elements of a good mastermind program.  We put our money where our mouth is in this respect.  The program we recommend happens to look a lot like ours.  However, this episode is more than an advertisement.  We lay out some features that you can add to yours or look for when selecting one. Accountability is Key To a Mastermind Program I have found that the greatest value of a program like this is being held accountable.  It also is what we strive for every time our program is reviewed.  This focus makes perfect sense when the goal of a mastermind program is to make everyone more effective. ... Read more