on the job training
Posted on Become a Better Developer

On The Job Training And Opportunities For Building Your Skills

Once you get started on an IT career with even the lowest end job, you have opportunities to learn every day.  This form of on the job training is critical to keeping up in this fast moving area.  Better yet, you can squeeze some extra training out of your job that allows for more free time and enjoyment of life.  There are some plans to make and challenges to overcome in making the most of these opportunities. The first challenge I want to pose is to create an education plan of some sort.  This does not have to be a formal document of hundreds of pages.  Instead, it can be a short checklist of critical topics and learning targets.  Tackle this... Read more

Posted on Podcast

Building Your Personal Code Repository

Of the countless tips and tricks I have learned over the years, none is more valuable than a personal code repository.  We put so much time and effort into our source code it only makes sense to reap the benefits as long as possible.  That is made possible by keeping track of what we have done and how to grab it for future use. Personal Code Repository Challenges One of the most significant challenges for a personal repository is maintaining access to your code.  When a project wraps up, or a job is left, the source often ends up behind walls.  Those are walls we might be able to overcome with a request, but that takes time.  We do not... Read more

Posted on Podcast

Keeping Things Light In a Hectic World

We spend a lot of time talking about how to squeeze every drop out of each day.  That includes ways to stay driven and avoid distractions.  Although all of this is important, we also need to focus on keeping things light where possible.  We have too much that is unquestionably serious to not take advantage when things can be casual. Keeping Things Light Requires Perspective The hardest part of keeping things light is avoiding the crushing weight of our goals and responsibilities.  Let’s face it, we pile a lot on our backs and then feel bad when we struggle under the load.  The simple answer is to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves.  However, that is not very realistic.  Instead, focus... Read more

Posted on Podcast

Passive Networking and Building Trust

The type of networking where you shake hands and pass out business cards has its purpose.  However, passive networking is a far more valuable tool for building your brand.  This is where you build your network by offering help and support to others with no strings attached.  Let’s look closer at how this can work for you and how to avoid being taken advantage of. Passive Networking Is A Relationship The “friends” and “links” that you have on a social networking site are often a form of traditional networking.  You have contact information or at least a way to contact someone; you also may have a few details about that person.  However, there is no real relationship, and you might even have... Read more

Posted on Podcast

A General Approach To Testing Strategies For Developers

Testing strategies for developers are often seen as lacking import.  To be honest, developers are in their role to write code, not provide quality assurance.  However, that does not excuse the implementers from being part of testing and sharing that work. Simple Testing Strategies For Developers The strength of developers is creating solutions, not testing them.  That is not a knock on developers, we all tend to be weak at verifying our work.  Thus, effective QA work by developers requires a methodical approach that overcomes any biases we have towards our solution.  The methods that work tend to be easy to understand, implement, and repeat for any environment.  In this episode. we look at a common sense approach that will help the... Read more