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• Transitioning from Internal to Public Speaking

  - by TJB

  For whatever reason, I've always enjoyed giving presentations. As a developer, I've grown from giving the rare presentation when asked to frequently doing 'brown bag' talks and other presentations on new technology, projects etc. I'd like to expand as a presenter and start giving talks in public, outside of just my workplace, and I'm looking for tips on how to get there. At a high level, I'd love to know a good path to take & useful tips to help me grow from just giving internal talks to my group (10-20 people) to eventually be a presenter at medium-large sized conferences. Here are some specific questions, but I will take any advice you can offer: 1. How much experience do I need to speak at user groups etc? I've been in industry for around 5 years, which pales in comparison to most speakers that I normally see. 2. What is a good venue for my 1st public talk? 3. What surprises can I expect when transistioning from speaking to a small group of friends to presenting in public to strangers? I live in southern California and my background is mostly .net / web, so if you have any specific user group / venues those are also greatly appreciated.

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• Why is the use of abstractions (such as LINQ) so taboo?

  - by Matthew Patrick Cashatt

  I am an independent contractor and, as such, I interview 3-4 times a year for new gigs. I am in the midst of that cycle now and got turned down for an opportunity even though I felt like the interview went well. The same thing has happened to me a couple of times this year. Now, I am not a perfect guy and I don't expect to be a good fit for every organization. That said, my batting average is lower than usual so I politely asked my last interviewer for some constructive feedback, and he delivered! The main thing, according to the interviewer, was that I seemed to lean too much towards the use of abstractions (such as LINQ) rather than towards lower-level, organically grown algorithms. On the surface, this makes sense--in fact, it made the other rejections make sense too because I blabbed about LINQ in those interviews as well and it didn't seem that the interviewers knew much about LINQ (even though they were .NET guys). So now I am left with this question: If we are supposed to be "standing on the shoulders of giants" and using abstractions that are available to us (like LINQ), then why do some folks consider it so taboo? Doesn't it make sense to pull code "off the shelf" if it accomplishes the same goals without extra cost? It would seem to me that LINQ, even if it is an abstraction, is simply an abstraction of all the same algorithms one would write to accomplish exactly the same end. Only a performance test could tell you if your custom approach was better, but if something like LINQ met the requirements, why bother writing your own classes in the first place? I don't mean to focus on LINQ here. I am sure that the JAVA world has something comparable, I just would like to know why some folks get so uncomfortable with the idea of using an abstraction that they themselves did not write. UPDATE As Euphoric pointed out, there isn't anything comparable to LINQ in the Java world. So, if you are developing on the .NET stack, why not always try and make use of it? Is it possible that people just don't fully understand what it does?

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• As a self-taught programmer, how do I get the academic foundation without attending school again?

  - by hal10001

  I've made a pretty good living as a self-taught programmer, but when I find that I discuss some low-level fundamental topics with my peers who have a CS degree, holes appear in my knowledge. I'm a big picture (architecture) guy, so for a long time this hasn't bothered me, but lately I've wondered if there is an approach I can take that will help me learn these fundamentals without going back to school? Are there books, websites or videos that you can recommend that would give me a ground-up perspective as opposed to a learn it as you need it mentality?

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• Will learning programming be as fundamental as learning reading/writing to the kids of the future?

  - by pythagras

  It seems I encounter more and more economists, scientists, and miscellaneous other professionals that have jobs that involve programming on some level. More and more, the jobs that my peers have in many many technical professions involve at least some simple scripting if not something more involved. It seems it used to be that "software engineer" was a distinct profession, now its becoming just another skill like writing -- something that any serious technical professional should be able to use for their job. I see a future where programming is essential to getting any kind of technical/mathematical job. Extrapolating on my anecdotal view of my colleagues... Will the kids of the future become literate in programming in the same way they become readers/writers? Will it become so fundamental to our economy and society that it will be taught at an early age? Will interacting with computers be as important as interacting with other people?

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• Will an online degree get you a job that requires "CS or equivalent 4-year degree"? [on hold]

  - by qel

  I'm a nerdy slacker type who didn't get my life together till I was 30. I've had a real job for a couple years doing C#/SQL. I've gotten several raises, but I'm making less than most developers, and the atmosphere is ... not positive. Looking for a new job, I think my applications get thrown out because I don't have a degree. And I want to finish a Bachelor's just to feel like less of a loser. I have a lot of college credits from 1996-2003 and a low GPA, so I don't know if that's worth much. An online degree looks like a good option, but I just don't know what I should be looking at for online schools because they all look like fake degrees. If they had programs equivalent to a real Comp Sci degree, I don't think they would have weird sounding names like they do. University of Phoenix has a B.S./Information Technology-Software Engineering. DeVry has a B.S./Computer Engineering Technology program. But that's not CS, and most other things I see have even more fake-sounding names. Are these useless degrees? Some people say DeVry and UoP are acceptable, some people say they're a joke. I have enough experience now, though, that maybe all I'm missing is being able to check the box that I have a 4-year degree. Harvard Extension seems like a real degree, even if it isn't a real Harvard degree, but I'd have to live there at least 3 months, which kinda defeats the purpose of an online degree fitting around work.

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• Is having your own website important?

  - by Josh K

  How necessary or important is it? I try to keep a running list of blogs or sites to follow, but a lot of the time I pull up someone's profile and notice there isn't anything there. Is it really important? I understand are different levels of programming (from C/C++ system programmers to Rails and even Haskell and J) and not everyone works in a language easily worked with for web based applications. Not everything is web-centric, however with the advent of many popular and sometimes free services I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a majority of programmers to have a personal site.

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• What to learn for a pure practical developer to get better?

  - by ChrisRamakers

  I'm a self taught developer that currently has more than enough experience to hold up against my colleagues waving with their degrees, yet I feel that I'm lacking some important skills to advance further into being a senior level professional in a leading role. More specific in the engineering, planning and designing aspect of software. I've touched the surface of UML, ERM/ERD, have experienced both waterfall and scrum projectmanagement, ... yet I feel there is something missing as every time I start on a new project I don't know where to begin. Should I start diagramming and how? should I start writing an xx page document describing the project on a technical level first, should I dive head first into writing the first tests and code or pseudo-code? I would like to know what, in my case, would be the best way forward, to learn how I can tackle this problem in the future and get better at leading and starting a project. There is not much i don't know about my technical tools and languages but when it gets abstract i'm in trouble.

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• Job selection between (.net) or PHP [closed]

  - by Swapnil Gondkar

  Hi am Swapnil I am just a fresher passout of 2011 batch of engineering from Mumbai University I have developed dynamic websites on PHP and have quite a good experience working with php for 2years. Now When I went for interviews I got selected for a company that manifolds into PHP and its technologies to create websites.The other company in which I also got selected offers more than half the higher package than previous but I have to work here on .net platform and all the Microsoft Technologies which I do not merry. The work environment of php company is quite cool with 400employees(onli 10 php developers) and the .net company has only a strength of 20employees Now the thing is I do not know about Enterprise Application Building and other stuff so guys If any advice that may help me select my job would be appreciated.

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• Layout of experienced programmer Resume? [closed]

  - by mob1lejunkie

  What layout of resume works best for experienced programmers? Currently my layout is: Contact Details Focus (goal) Technical Skills Professional Experience (Responsibilities + achievements at each job) Education Interests I feel my current layout uses up too much valuable space. Most of the online templates feel like junior Resumes with emphasis on education so I am not sure how I can improve it. I wonder how many hiring managers actually care about goal/objective? To me it looks useless. Also, is it necessary to have summary of technical skills/technologies? If so, would it not make more sense for it to be mentioned later in the Resume rather then at the top? Finally, do you have separate section for achievements? Many thanks.

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• Breaking in to Programming

  - by Kevin

  I've noticed that there is a gap between getting formal education in computer science as a student and entry-level/junior programming jobs. Obviously entry-level programming requires that you know some programming but how much do you need to break in? I'm in a QA non-coding role with basically a minor in CS, looking to improve my own programming skills to eventually switch industries. However I'm completely at a loss as to what I should be focusing on learning and am curious as to the steps other people have taken to get experience post-undergrad.

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• Creating a portfolio of projects [closed]

  - by Ryan

  As I pursue the path of becoming a programmer, I would like to build up a portfolio of projects I worked on at my current job so that I can eventually get programming work elsewhere (either as an employee, contractor, one man consulting shop, etc). Some of these were things I coded myself, others I was instrumental in the architecture, design and functionality (ie, not as a programmer but more of a BA). How do I show the work that I have done to others on the projects that I have produced for the company I work at? This is all internal software, so it's not something that the outside world would be able to use, and some of our products contain proprietary financial market tools and it would not be prudent to share those with the outside world. My guess is that screenshots would definitely be out of the question, as well as functional descriptions of the software.

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• Dropping the full-time high-pay gig - I need help choosing a smart path that I can rely on to produce enough to survive comfortably ($2,500 per month)

  - by Jeff V

  I have about 6 years of full time experience developing web applications and tools. I know perl, python, PHP, ruby, and a good deal of SQL and relational theory. I have never had to choose a self-employed path as I have always had full time work or a bank account (credit cards) to support a big project. I'm planning to move out of the country to an area that will not offer local employment, and need some advice on what to focus on. I want to move in no more than six months, I have enough savings to live for an additional six months, but I would like to conserve it as much as possible. I enjoy taking risks, so I'm not looking for discussion of whether this is a good idea or not. I want advice on the most reliable solution given my skill set. Some paths I'm considering: Learn objective-c and build quality Apple software. Develop subscription based web tools for SEO, or other Marketing applications Attempt to acquire freelance projects by developing a reputation within open source projects, freelancer.com, and other online communities The last time I left my job, I was building a startup (that went under), and missed out living in a beautiful place due to the amount of time I worked. I would like to work 30-40 hours per week max. I can dedicate 10-15 hours per week while at my current job to prepare and learn. A preemptive thanks for the advice...

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• Software development company business plan

  - by Navi

  I apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum for this question, so please forward me to the right place. I have about 10 years professional experience as software developer. Mostly on the Java platform doing server side programs. I have picked up a bit of Linux skills on the way as well. I know HTML and Javascript, so I can make a website that would not be too ugly, but I am not going to win any prizes with it. In fact I think I am pretty terrible in the user interface department. My initial plan is to do Android development. I read a few Android books and tried making a few apps. Since it is Java based I think I got the technical side down. Lately I have been thinking about iphone and Mac development, because of the relevant app store/development programs. The trouble is I don't know Objective C. As a side question, how long would it take me to become proficient in Objective C? Considering that I am working on my own and could hire somebody to help me for a short time for low wages if necessary what are my options? What are the pro and cons of the development programs app stores of Android and Apple? Which development/app stores are out there beside the ones I mentioned? Do you think it is necessary to find funds to get me started or should I just use my savings? If you have positive/negative experiences in a similar situations can you please share them? Thanks for your help.

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• There are 2 jobs available - which one sounds better all round [closed]

  - by Steve Gates

  I am currently employed at a company where we scrape by each year breaking even, sometimes having a little profit. The development environment is very relaxed and we have a laugh. My colleagues are not interested in improving their knowledge unless they have to, so trying to get them to adopt things like TDD is a non-starter. My development manager is stuck in .Net 2 land and refuses to use things like LINQ. He over complicates architecture and writes very unreadable code, heres an example SortedList<int,<SortedList<int,SortedList<int, MyClass>>>> The MD of the company has no drive and lets the one sales guy bring in the contracts. We are not busy all the time and this allows me time to look at new technology and learn. In terms of using things like TDD, my development manager has no problem with it and can kind of see the purpose of it, he just wont use it himself. This means I am alone in learning new things and am often resorting to StackOverflow to make sure I get things right. The company has a lot of flexibility, I can work from home if needs be and when my daughter was born they let me work from home 1 day a week however they expect this flexibility in return often asking me to travel occasionally on a Friday afternoon for the following week. Sometimes its abroad. We are also pretty much on call 24/5 as we have engineers in various countries. Also we have no testers so most of the testing is done by us developers and some testing by engineers. Either way no-one likes testing! I have been offered a role at a company I worked at 5 years ago. They were quite Victorian in their working practices but it appears to have relaxed now although I suspect still reasonably formal. There is a new team of developers I don't know and they are about to move to new offices. The team lead is a guy that was there when I was and I get the impression he takes his role seriously and likes his formal procedures and documentation. I think some of the Victorian practices may have rubbed off on him. However he did say if things crop up then as long as I can trust the person they can work at home although he prefers people in the office. The team uses SCRUM, TDD and SOLID design principles so they are quite up to date in technology. They are reasonably Microsoft focused. It appears the Technical Director might be the R&D man and research new technology on his own not allowing developers to play with new technology. He possibly might be a super developer and makes all the decisions that no can argue with. They are currently moving to Entity Framework away from NHibernate based on issues that their queries seem to fail sometimes and they feel NHibernate is stagnant. They have analysts and a QA team. The MD is focused and they are an expanding company making profit each year. I'm not sure what the team morale is and whether they have a laugh. When I had a tour around the office they were there in dead silence. I'm really unsure which role is the best for me and going with my gut instinct is useless as I'm not sure what my gut is telling me. Based on the information above which role would you choose and why?

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• How can I know if programming is right for me?

  - by user66414

  I have an IT background and was pretty confident until an opportunity came up at work to go into programming(C#). I have never programmed before this, and the software I am programming for is a program I have never used before (a 3D modeling software). It has been 6 months since then and I feel like giving up. I didn't get much training... about 3 weeks of training spread out over the last 6 months. I think I would be good at programming but this experience is kinda making me rethink my decision. I'm not sure if it's just me, or if this frustration is normal. How can I tell if programming is right for me?

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• What is the most professional way to deal with another programmer who has checked out mentally?

  - by hal10001

  Lead... same project I'm on... shows decreasing interest in project work, especially lead activities. This has been going on for awhile now, and some animosity is starting to grow between us based upon decisions made and overall attitude toward client interactions and tasks. This person is not necessarily a bad programmer, but I can tell is mentally checking out and shutting down. Generally speaking, how do you deal with this behavior?

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• Changing jobs and leaving a project without a leader (aka, me)

  - by AnonUntilAfterTheEvent

  I'm the lead on a project that has been underway for about a year and a half. Two of us have been working on it. One is the database guy. I'm the javascript/ui guy. Which is to say, essentially no overlap in code knowledge. Here's the thing. Someone is about to offer me a sweet job with a nearly 30% bump in pay. Though I am perfectly happy with my current job and love the project, the new one would be better and I can't imagine saying no. The big problem is that my project is supposed to go into production starting in a few weeks. I will consider the new guys to have disqualified the new job by being bad people who would ruin my life if they won't cooperate and let me start after deployment. Since they seem like decent, ethical people, I don't expect that to be a problem. The current project will be brutalized by my absence. I take some comfort in the fact that I have emphatically requested an understudy for at least six months. That puts a little of the responsibility on the boss's head, but still, it's going to be a really bad thing. What do others of you do when you are a critical to a project when it's time to move on? Do I owe any obligation to stick around even though something better shows up? I know my spouse would object if I found someone else. Does that apply to work? I do have an understudy now, though he's fresh out of college. He's not going to replace me anytime soon. It's a small shop and the boss is going to be crushed. I am traumatized in anticipation of telling him and feel guilty about the practical consequences. I'm looking for some solace and some strategy about how to deal with this transition. Thank you for listening. =========================Subsequent notes ========================= @ChaosPandion, Chance: No, I can't stay to finish the project. I will insist on a compromise where I finish the current sprint (about a month from now) but there is at least a half year, probably a year of solid, full-time, work still to be done. I wouldn't expect the new employer to hold the job that long.

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• Which specific programming activities do women, on average, perform better than men? [closed]

  - by blueberryfields

  Following a recent discussion with female associates in hiring positions for software development/engineering positions, I found out that this kind of information would be incredibly useful to helping make sure that the workforce shows a gender balance. So I went looking. I've found various literature speaking about risk-taking behaviour and patterns, and other statistical differences between men and women when it comes to work performance. See for example this article related to hedge fund management. I have yet to see any such comparison in the computing field. To restate the question: Which specific programming activities do women, on average, perform better than men? Please back up your answers with specific details, preferably by linking to relevant research or, failing that, explaining what you're basing the information on.

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• Costs/profit of/when starting an indie company

  - by Jack

  In short, I want to start a game company. I do not have much coding experience (just basic understanding and ability to write basic programs), any graphics design experience, any audio mixing experience, or whatever else technical. However, I do have a lot of ideas, great analytical skills and a very logical approach to life. I do not have any friends who are even remotely technical (or creative in regards to games for that matter). So now that we've cleared that up, my question is this: how much, minimally, would it cost me to start such a company? I know that a game could be developed in under half a year, which means it would have to operate for half a year prior, and that's assuming that the people working on the first project do their jobs good, don't leave game breaking bugs, a bunch of minor bugs, etc.. So how much would it cost me, and what would be the likely profit in half a year? I'm looking at minimal costs here, as to do it, I would have to sell my current apartment and buy a new, smaller one, pay taxes, and likely move to US/CA/UK to be closer to technologically advanced people (and be able to speak the language of course). EDIT: I'm looking at a small project for starters, not a huge AAA title.

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• How much does it cost to develop an Android application?

  - by raychenon

  Following the same iPhone question. How much can a development team charge for an Android app like the official Twitter Inc ? In general how much amount of time is devoted to build the likes of Google Goggles , Google Skymap, Gmail with server side applications included :) Now if you're a solo developer and proud to show your app. How much time have you spent so far ? What was your background GUI desktop in Java, C#, web developer, started from zero programming experience ? Disclaimer : I've developed Android apps ( 10 000 downloads) on my free time and one commercial to be published. Just to know the amount of efforts needed to catch up :)

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• When does a programmer know when a new job is not right?

  - by Mysterion

  I believe that the interview process is a selling of both parties - what can the employee offer the employer and vice versa. Assuming an individual has been careful in selecting their new employer (via thorough questioning in the interview process), however when they arrive at the job they find the employer has not been honest about certain aspects of the job. Examples of this dishonesty could include: The employee making it clear that technical excellence is an important factor, which is promised by the employer, but is not fully delivered or a good technical structure does not exist. The employee states they want to work on well architected and short (lets say less than 1 yr) long projects, yet when they start they find they are placed on a poorly architected older project. The employee being told of a pair programming environment to get him up to speed on the project, but being left to his own devices/questioning on arrival. The employee is promised a culture that encourages innovation and technical excellence but finds that this is not the case (eg. using technology for knowledge retention is laughed at). I know that a lot of famous developers feel that you make the place you work at. Is it realistic for a new employee with limited experience in the industry (say less than 5 years) to be able to join the company and change attitudes or even challenge the employer on the perceived dishonesty? Should they stay in this job or cut their losses?

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• Stuff to read up on pricing applications

  - by tux91

  I'm about to release an app and I have no idea what would be the ideal pricing point. I'm not sure how pricing high and selling few copies will compare in revenue to pricing low and selling lots of copies in my case. Can somebody point me to books/articles/blog posts/etc that elaborate on the subject, preferably taking into account stuff like competition, number of features, being the first one to the market, research if this kind of app is even needed, etc?

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• Should I give up my cushy job to be tech lead for a startup? [closed]

  - by Katie

  I'm in my mid twenties, and I'm in a safe, comfortable job as a Software Developer. The work environment is great, I'm well paid, the benefits are good. I enjoy my job. Some friends passed my name on to some guys starting a new company. I had some informal chats with them and they liked me. They've asked me to joint their start-up as tech lead, designing and building their product from scratch. They're fully funded, and they know what they're doing. Taking the job would require giving up my safe, enjoyable, relaxed job for a risky, stressful, hard one, albeit with the potential to be really great in future. Should I take the job?

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• You've been working on a platform for as long as you remember. Not anymore. How does it feel?

  - by Shinnok

  How does it feel to work on a platform for as long as you remember, you've been encouraged to innovate, to improve and give all in day and night for that platform, be it either an operating system, a hardware architecture or a software framework/library and then be forced to switch bases because that platform has been abandoned over the night? It has happened before, many times, for eg. to SGI/IRIX and more recently to SUN/Open Solaris and now Nokia/Symbian. Have you been part of such a shift? If so then please share the story and describe your feelings at that time and if it is the case, how did you manage the situation? Reorientation? Giving up on the field and turned to other things you've been constantly putting aside like family? Many did so(for eg. people at Netscape). You may not think of it being such a big deal, but it is, after you've been working 10 to 20+ years on a platform/technology and then be faced to switch your expertise and mindset, the feeling tends to become really strong and some people really give up this crazy field and start enojoying a normal life. Would love to hear your stories.

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• How to tackle an experienced C# Programmer?

  - by nandu.com

  I am a noob in c# and asp.net developing. I have spent 6 months in design and another 6 in sql and asp.net programming. I just know the basics of asp.net and C#. I was programming as per the instruction of my tech leads and all good things changed in a day. :( All my tech leads (2+ experienced) left the company complaining about salary. And instead of those, company has recruited a 5+ experienced programmer cum tech lead (who is very strict), he is expecting me to code anything he says. Previous seniors of me, would say 'use ajax for this, use query for this instead of coding' and so on. I will do it exactly. I am not experienced enough to perform it myself. Now I am in a dilemma. I want to stay in the company and learn some more, but this new tech lead is expecting me to learn everything myself (he is telling me to learn jquery, javascript menus, session and chart in .Net, and so on and do things myself without asking him anything...I mean anything) :(((( PLease suggest to me some good tips to handle him. I think all programmers world wide would have faced a similar problem atleast once in the big programming life. So please..help .. 911

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