Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category
My personal growth – sustaining it
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under Personal
My manager asked me today to give him some insight into the things I would like to learn more about, with a particular focus on my own development, and I thought it a good idea to spend a few minutes posting a blog on the topic. My personal interests lie in a few areas at the moment, and when I say personal interest the context is work, and more specifically the technologies that I work with. One area I really want to focus a lot on in the coming months is the C# language itself and in particular:
- Generics
- Delegates with the specific aim of better understanding Linq
- Linq to Objects
- Linq to XML
I would like to know and understand the C# programming language in a comprehensive manner. In addition to the language I would also like to understand design patterns and overall system design, with a very strong OO flavour. I think if I can spend the next 6 months learning C# I would be a better developer for it. In addition to C# I would like to learn a second programming language and I have been thinking Python is a good candidate in this regard. I would like to apply the knowledge directly into what I do though. So if I learn Linq to XML now, I want to start using it now. If I learn the yield keyword now, I want to use it now.
Other aspects that I would like to incorporate in my learning of C# would be areas of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. I really enjoy SEO (search engine optimisation) as well, I love the metrics and the art that goes with it. I believe I can develop many aspects of this in C#. I also believe I can develop a total marketing solution that encompasses email and social media.
I am interested in topics such as ASP.NET MVC and Silverlight, but I am also interested in developing full-blown client applications in WPF.
My manager also mentioned that each new thing that we learn should be set as a target for each day. You have set yourself some goals and stick to them. One way to determine a few goals is to reflect on yourself and see what you do each day, and through that reflection set some ideals and goals.
We are at work for a purpose after all.
A week in review
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under Personal
On Monday I started my new job, excitement and anxiousness abound. I came from a job I had for 4.5 years to one where I got a 3 month probationary contract, which makes for some nervous times, because you don’t know what will happen in 3 months from now. That being said I had reached my cap at my previous job and I had to find a job that had the promise of catapulting me into the career I most want to see myself, a C# developer.
A week later, and a few sleepless nights, I am on my way, dunno where yet, but I am going. I started out the week by writing a C# class that took a Dataset, created a Microsoft Word Document, added a 24 cell table and filled the cells with data from the dataset. The result from this is a printable sticker area, so you can use it and print labels on it, and it must convert that document to PDF as well. I have never done anything like it and felt a bit apprehensive because clearly this was a test of what I can do. I got a two week time line for this project as well. All I can say at this stage is that I did not expect to be able to do this project, but I have and it looks great so far. There are still a few tweaks that need to be done but its almost there. Every day this week I stressed about doing a particular bit, but after each day I managed to make everything work, for which I am very grateful.
I’ll write some more tomorrow, my brain is fried and I need the weekend.
A happy new year and 2009 greatness
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under Personal
I liked even numbers for some reason and always felt I achieved more in them, because I was born in 1980. But I do find that uneven numbers have been better recently, so with that in mind here is to an awesome 2009. Personally I cant wait, because I am starting a few new challenges. My goals for this year are to become a mid-level to senior c# developer for more than just the web platform.
My goals for this web log is to develop the C# page further and divide it into concepts with practical implementations. Polymorphism for example, is a concept but also has a specific implementation in C#.
Starting a new job…and setting goals for 2009
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under General, Personal
I resigned earlier this month, the 1st of December 2008, to be exact to go join a group of .NET developers. I have been going for interviews for the last six or seven months, and honestly it has not been an easy trip. Simply because I realised the amount of time I spent working at my current job (4.5 years) didn’t relate as well to hard core experience, but I felt I had to make a move into an environment I wanted to be and where I see myself. I fell a little short in a view technical interviews, but also managed to outstrip a few guys with way more experience than me, but I just didn’t cut it for those employers. But eventually I found an opportunity, and I start on the 5th of January 2009 at this new job, which is both exciting and nerve racking at the same time, because I will not be permanent.
My goal for 2009 is to become a proficient to intermediate/advanced C# developer for any platform (mobile, desktop or web).
What keeps you positive
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under Personal
I realised today that moving forward in life does not always involve immediate positive decisions. Moving forward in life often involves taking decisions that take you away from comfort zones and into less known areas. It happens.
Its also important as a professional to continuously strive to get better at what you do, and often you have to face brutal facts about yourself and the work you are doing. You have to constantly measure yourself.
So what keeps you positive, as a working professional?
Mummy 3
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under Personal
Last night I watched the Mummy 3, hoping on a movie that would help me escape the real world for a while.I got that, but the reminder that the movie was far fetched came back quite a few times. I got the feeling that some of the ideas and concepts in the movie were at times separate from the main flow of the movie. It didn’t feel like The Incredible Hulk, where the flow of the story and the events that happened were too far attached from each other. Some of the scenes seemed to combine humour and action, and it failed in my opinion. The action scenes were not of the same quality as those in The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight in my opinion was the best movie of the year so far.
And it seemed to me that the character played by Brendan Fraser, as a father, was not much older than his son. Its not a movie I will watch again.
I will never visit this moment again
Posted by fr3dr1k | Filed under Personal
Have you ever thought about all the people you have known in your life, those that were closer than others, and you find yourself thinking that the times you had with them will never repeat them self again, ever? Isn’t it amazing how songs can bring out the memories? Songs are so powerful.
Sometimes I sit back and I realise that the moments, the good times, I shared with someone were meant to be cherished for the moments they were. The irony is that I always think I will revisit that scene somehow, yet it only replays in my memory, not for real. In this time I’m thinking of a family member whom I last saw at least six months ago, maybe a year, and their life has undergone such a dramatic change that the times I remember with them seem so distant. I remember the year I turned 21, back in 2001, the day before 9-11, when they came from Pretoria for my birthday. Its been 7 years.
