Dev Diary 5/20

So, I finally got over a hump in the application today with some help from a friend. I was going nuts because I'm used to many projects under one application easily communicating within and without with a few references and that's it. Well this app has a few projects and two separate web sites. I wasn't able to reference the user controls that existed in the same website, something I am not used to. There were circular references from control to control, and it was really frustrating to not be able to just reference them anywhere I wanted. Ended up having to extract the class that was being referenced to the App_Code folder.

 The structure that is being used right now is indigenous to the first release of VS 2005. Apparently, the way it is compiled it is put into multiple assemblies, so even though its one project, it can't refrence itself easily. Really frustrating, I hope to reconstruct the app into a more normail (something I am used to) construction, if for only the reason that it will be a faster way to get things done. Hopefully after a bunch of bug fixes I will have time to make changes like this.

 In other news, my dev office is done! I will post pictures later tonight. It's looking awesome.

In even other news this website is posessed by the devil, it keeps eating my posts. This was much more interesting before, take my word for it.

I'm going to be a rock superstar....

Or, maybe just a bigger nerd.

In the "cool news" category, I sent my last post to the author of the original peice I read here. I got this in return:

 Sara,

Thanks for the well written response to Mike Elgan's column about women in IT. You make some good points.

One of our bloggers, Chris Nerney, will be blogging about your post later today, and will be linking to your blog. You'll see his blog here:

http://blog.datamation.com/blog/

Two questions for you:

1) We'd be interested in reprinting your "Open Letter" article on our site, but only with your permission.

2) A fairly large chunk of our readers are software developers. Would you be interested in writing about life as a software developer? I ask because you have such an upbeat, energetic style, I think your articles would be popular. The pay would be ***edit*** for an article.

regards,

James Maguire

 

Never expected that! Very cool. Here is the blog response. My peice was published here., It was dugg? Then reddited? Then ... well, whatever you get it. Anyway, got a bunch of feedback. My favorite one was "Well, whatever she's still a bitch" my least favorite one was the guy who said I looked like an "average girl". 

Also, this girl, put me on her blog. I don't know what a Smithian is, but I agree, I sound a lot like one. (assuming they are awesome).

So, stay tuned! I would really appreciate some ideas on what to write about! So much pressure to be funny...  Also, I wonder if I'm going to be able to publish articles in two places, or if my GD posts will have to be separate?

In desking news my desk is done!! Hurrah! It took my dad 8 hours. He is a hero in anyone's book. I will be posting pictures as well as dev updates later today.

rock on!

An open letter for girls considering I.T.

I was reading this article the other day and here is the quote that really got to me:

“Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy and fashionable, we should be telling both girls and boys what we really believe to be true: that focusing on being trendy and fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and that a career in IT is interesting and challenging. The kids who dismiss that argument aren't cut out for IT and shouldn’t be persuaded to devote their careers to it.”

 

 I love being trendy and fashionable. Fashion after being a developer is one of my biggest passions. I am not hollow or irrelevant, I make being a developer kick butt. I put on my BCBGs in the morning and I sit down and program for the rest of the day and both of those things are very fulfilling.

So girls, here are some reasons I think it’s awesome to be a developer and I think you will too:

 

Smart is Sexy- There is nothing like being out with your girls on the weekend and having some hot guy talking to you and the whole “What to you do” question comes up, whether I ask or they just feel like sharing it always goes the same. There is a pause, they look me in the face like they are wondering if I understand big words and say something like “I’m an Architect” or “I’m a Business Analyst”. “Oh” I usually say, “That’s really cool.” Then we will talk about that for a minute then usually they throw the question at me. So, I look them in the eye, and while maintainting contact I say “I’m a software engineer.” Then, when their jaw goes slack a choir of angels in my head sing “BOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.” Usually I can whip out something relevant to their career like “I guess you must use AutoCAD?”, or if they are in IT as well we usually have great conversations about different systems and concepts. It never fails, I always get, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m talking about this with a girl!”

Nerds are funny-So, remember the guy that sat behind you in High School that made you laugh till you cried all day? Well, he’s a programmer now and he’s still hilarious. Oh yeah, and he’s grown into his nose, got some confidence, and diversified his investments. Think about it.

It’s an art – There is more than one right way to do things usually when designing systems and writing applications. You have to develop your own style and make it unique. Take pride in what you are doing and make it your own. That’s satisfying, you can really express yourself.

Nerds are nice- Listen, these guys actually care about you and your wellbeing more then their killer calves and great tan. When you say something in passing like “I freaking love kobe sliders” they will  make sure there is one left for you when you come out. When you are sick they will bring you Kleenex, lozengers, AND clean your apartment. They wont take advantage if you’re sad and just want to talk. They sincerely want you to be happy.

You’re worth it- It’s an accomplishment when you type a bunch of lines, compile, and it does something awesome. It makes you feel like you’ve made something great, especially when it’s something you’ve never done before.  It makes you feel better about yourself when you’ve made a career out of your knowledge and passion. When you have great developers surrounding you passing on their skill you know they think you can do it too.

 

So girls, I still have a long way to go and a lot of things to learn. I am not on the top of this mountain yet, but I have come really far. Looking back I wouldn’t trade it for the world and doing this was the best decision I have ever made. Girl developers don’t always wear baggy pants and Birkenstocks. They are you, whatever you enjoy, whatever you like. You don’t have to change yourself to be a developer. You get in there and make being a good developer being like you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Developers are People Too

First of all, before anything else, am I the only one that's noticed that gmail is still in beta? Man those guys are thorough. I can't wait for RC1 I hear it's going to be really awesome.

So, tonight I was on the intar looking for some blogspiration (yeah, ok you can use that, but you gotta give me the credit) and I happened upon this blog: Gmail Blog I don't know about you, but when I picture the team of people that work for google I see something like this:

I was pleasantly surprised to read the  article that I posted. It was definitely a refresher in basic troubleshooting for slow loading pages. I think this stuff is invaluable for good developers, everyone needs to be reminded sometimes, it's so logical. Caching, monitoring HTTP transactions, and using tools like fiddler is something I would do in my trusty office. To think that Google developers think of the same things I do when trying to make their app speedy makes me like them a lot more. Maybe that's the plan?

This is sad:, there has GOT to be a way to make this profitable and scalable! Even if big companies with bad raps sponser it, like Microsoft or IBM. How much different is it than ball parks sponsered by Citibank and Cisco? Someone do this, please.

Today while working, I realized how dumb it is that you can't insert multiple rows with one insert statement (without a subselect). Then I came upon this article on reddit and saw this will be fixed in 2008. Good going Microsoft, why do so many people hate those guys? Anyway, some educational comparisons in there as well.

Anyway, thanks for all the great feedback, everyone, I really appreciate of your help.

DD Kinda cool...

So, I am still running with my little bug/dev items list. Learning about the application. Basically it takes a dataset with paths to different images and puts them on a PDF by coordinates and a program called SwiftView. The SwiftView program then takes the files and converts them into .pcl files to be printed.

I can imagine that being a difficult engine to write. Also, the comments in the code are very helpful, however there are some things that seem well intentioned but don't make sense. Like the fact that each class has an interface (that only refrences that class) in the same assembly. Maybe one of you can tell me what design method that is, but I can't think of a rational reason to do that. This is in a web service,  that only gets referenced by a local application. Some of it is designed in this manner to be scalable. Some of it because the requirements kept changing. However, some things I just don't get.

There is a balance between bug fixes and dev items. I have often seen this in larger IT departments. I will find this balance for myself. I have also seen it stress out managers.

Still truckin! Project Desk is coming along well too.

Good birthday weekend this weekend. Tell me I don't have some beautiful friends, no???

Dang Dev Diary

So, I have hit the point of real frustration with this project. I always say that “life isn’t about how you act when times are good, it’s about what you accomplish when times are bad.” Does the same apply to programming? Ok, so this isn’t the worst application ever. It CAN do what needs to be done (kind of). However, I have come to realize it’s only half finished, and never was completely functional. It’s a little unnerving because I was excited about making a great application greater, it looks like I have to make a sub par application… par? I have to say this isn’t a knock to the original developer. I know he tried and get done what needed to be done in the time allotted to him.

I really need some serious time to get this project together. I am looking at something called Dev Track for bug tracking? I don’ t have a lot of free time for this stuff because I am quick and dirty hacking it up to get everything operational by the 20^th. So any improvements I’m making on the environment are slow and steady. I have been learning a lot, but it’s hard learning because once I figure one thing out something else is broken.

I’m trying to take a step back and just get whatever progress I can done right now. Once the deadline of the 20^th is past we are meeting to get a list of priorities as far as what comes first. The hard part is that not only are there bug fixes but a backlog of development items. I may need someone else on this besides myself. Debating talking to my boss about that, I know he has the assets and there is this developer that I’ve been working on with short term stuff that seems good at what he does. I have a feeling that with him and I together we can get this thing back on its feet.  

On a different note, Monday was my birthday. I spent a really nice night with a friend and it made me almost not hate getting a year older. Let’s just say I’m getting to the age that “So, are you planning on having kids?” Is a customary question.  As if it takes SKILL to birth children. Me and the ladies are going out tomorrow, I have a killer dress. I will post pictures on Monday.

Have a good weekend!!!

Dev Diary 5/06

Well, its been a few days since I have written anything. I have a lot on my plate the past few days, but thanks to a big break from the original developer being able to identify what was going on with a bug I have a little downtime. YAY TEAM.

I am setting up a rockin home office. I bought a desk and a 22” monitor and an awesome leather chair and speakers and wireless keyboard/mouse. Right now it looks like this:

 

why you ask? Well, I buy this desk from Staples and had it delivered. I don’t know why I expected them to deliver it all put together, but it would have been nice of them. So anyway, I get this big cardboard box delivered into my livingroom, I open it up and there are 2349873247890 pieces and all different types of screws/fasteners/glue/scotch tape/twine….  There was also a 26 page document (that not an exaggeration, there are literally 26 pages) detailing the steps you need to take in putting this together. So, since I don’t have my doctorate in Mechanical Desk Engineering I called my dad who is an architect, therefore more inclined to be good at these things. He came over tonight and spent two hours on it and got it MAYBE a third of the way done. So, hopefully sometime this century it will be finished.

In development news, I was given a list of development items that need to be done in the next week, the PM is very good at organizing these things which is good because of my object oriented cluttered thinking process. They are just small adjustments to the existing model that will allow me to better understand the application. The production and staging servers are still in the process of being created as we have to wait for technicalities and purchase orders to clear. We decided to go with a virtual server for staging. All our work is now being done on the VPCs so with no dev environment and no source control it’s an adventure in creativity keeping things together. This will be remedied soon, though.

As soon as staging gets up I’m throwing the RAM in this baby and making the Vista switch. VS 2008, maybe even SQL Server 2008 if I’m feeling courageous. I’m waiting for staging to be up just in case I’m without an environment for a while. I wonder how hard it is to bring an application from 2.0 to 3.5?

Actually, the biggest challenge I’ve run into has nothing to do with development at all. The biggest challenge for me is the big company tedium of documentation, and detailed emails, and status reports. I’m used to sending emails that say things like “Hey, douchebag, check in your project file” (startups - acctually I think it's more accurate that I may have received that email) . I come from wearing ponte pants, tee shirts, and sneakers to the office. MAYBE showering. Now there are collared shirts and PC humor and Dockers. I really can’t get my mind around how someone decided that your development skill can be determined by the type of pants you wear. However, I guess development skill isn’t what’s important here. “Corporate Image” is. Now, I’m not complaining. I work from home most of the time anyway, it’s a great gig. I was talking with a former co-worker the other day and we were discussing just this. He said that a stipulation he made before accepting his current job was to never have to document, or gussy up, or be forced to do any of these things. I am a bit jealous, I would actually rather just be a code monkey, but I suppose a little structure in my life wont kill me…. I don’t think.  Are these things important for a good career? I don't want to limit myself by not developing that part of my skill set. However, I also don't want to end up as a manager who fills out paperwork and never develops.  

 Anyway, so that’s that. Cat update: his little jaw is healing well. LEETLE JAW. He is wired on the bottom, and the wires come out in 6 weeks. He is being a champ and we make daily trips to the vet for his antibiotic shot.