Kelly Cassidy

Community Credit

2008-02-21T20:47:36-06:00:00

Recently, I started participating in a site called http://www.community-credit.com. It's really good, because it holds accountability to the individuals who participate in their community. I highly recommend that anyone try it out if they are in the Development Community and want to try getting some "freebies" while all participating!

Partial move

2008-02-09T15:24:23-06:00:00

I haven't updated in a while. I have been quite busy of late, and have tried my hand at my own domain and blog. I may continue to post here for a while, but have recently set up http://www.mindfulsanity.com - sounds like me, no? You're right, no. But so what - it's mine. So, you can follow me over to there but I will return here from time to time to post as well.

Challenge Update

2007-05-31T23:51:52-05:00:00

OK, so I am changing bits of my personal challenge slightly. I am going to look beyond the MS certs for some coding ideas and also to hold off on building my own personal website system until I have a much stronger grasp on things that already exist so I don't reinvent the whole wheel. So, modifications to my personal challenge begin now and go here:

Books
Head First Design Patterns (Currently Reading) {edit} Here is Justice's review of the book.
Professional XNA Game Programming for XBox 360
Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture
MCTS Exam 70-536 Study Guide (.NET 2 - Application Development Foundation) Training Kit

Software Studies
Review the CMS design for DotNetNuke, PostNuke and PHPNuke to garner ideas
Learn Community Server
Learn how to write plugins and controls for DNN and Community Server
Write at least one application plugin for Facebook (although it has to be PHP-based, I think, I am addicted... contact me to find out my Facebook login)

Technologies To Learn
Windows Presentation Foundation
Silverlight
XNA
CMS Design

So, a modification, but things that are somewhat different. But probably useful to me at work (CMS stuff) as well as some items that are just for fun (XNA, Silverlight).

I still don't know who to challenge... Trying to think of who has a blog so that I can properly do a challenge...

{edit} The reason my challenge changed (which was asked via email) was because of my experience at DevTeach Montreal, which got me more excited about coding again than I have been in a long time. To that end, I have given myself a more geeky challenge than I had before.

DevTeach Update

2007-05-15T12:10:58-05:00:00

It's now Tuesday lunchtime here in Montreal. Day one of DevTeach for me is now done, with the user group summit taking all day. Some really good information was learned by all, and then the keynote this morning confirmed another DevTeach in November, but now on the west coast in Vancouver. It will be nice to have 2 such conferences annually, and not just piggyback on the shoulders of an american tour,

But, today's sessions so far...

Introduction to WPF

Interesting discussion about what it can do and what it can't (yet). Covered mostly desktop apps, but some talk of Silverlight (WPF/E). There will be more on Silverlight as the week goes on. But they did show Blend and what it can be capable of and what it and XAML can do. Pretty neat stuff, especially as I move forward with some UI-based projects at work.

Generics

Saw a nice introductory talk about generics that explained the concept, along with some code examples of what is possible and what is not. Showed a non-generic example and then modified it to use generics, and then generalized it even more with constraints, etc.

So, still going on for the day, but the first update done. :)

It's not tech, but amusing!

2007-05-02T10:38:20-05:00:00

You gotta love how, in the US, you can sue for ANYTHING!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502763.html

Challenge

2007-04-28T15:16:31-05:00:00

A challenge has been made.

It started off with someone named Justice, whom I do not know; the challenge was then extended to me by D'Arcy, who has described his own personal goals. I do accept the challenge, with some caveats. First off... what is it?

The challenge, in summary, is how to become a better developer in 6 months. I have certain obstacles with this right now prevent me from going full-blown into it as D'Arcy and Justice:

I am currently a software manager, not a developer
My time is spent in analysis and organization, not developing
I have my wedding social in early May, my best friend's wedding at the end of June where I am a groomsman, and my own wedding at the end of July

So, that being said, here are my own personal goals laid out, with the above items (which are priorities) in mind, and with the knowledge that post-wedding I will have more time to do so (since this challenge will take me to approximately the end of October):

Complete the self-study for the .NET Framework 2.0 foundation and take the exam
Begin and complete the self-study for the .NET Framework web development and take the exam
Read further on design patterns and gain a larger understanding
Begin work on designing and building an application system for a personal web site, but without utilizing or looking at what has already been built (like in the starter kits). This will allow me to FINALLY get my personal website up off of the ground, which has been floundering for almost a year with nothing to show.

There we go. Not as extensive as D'Arcy or Justice, for sure, but I know what kind of time constraints are on me with the wedding and some items coming up with work. I wanted to challenge myself, for sure, but also be somewhat realistic. I do have some nice-to-haves to add to this as well, time permitting:

Further in-depth understanding of SQL Server 2005 and how it works and what it can do with the reporting services
Stronger knowledge of what is available with CSS as it has grown leaps and bounds
Detailed implementation of some AJAX items as I have only had a limited exposure to actually using them
Build further on the above-mentioned system for more functionality, generality, etc.

So, whom shall I challenge in return? I will have to think about that and post back... Hmmm....

It harkens back

2007-03-24T16:14:00-05:00:00

A friend posted this to her blog and I felt the need to repost here:

http://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/The_Evolution_of_a_Programmer.html

Although meant as a joke, it can be so true. And the fact that I am now in management... it still seems so true.

Interesting...

2007-03-21T06:26:00-05:00:00

I find this article I found pretty interesting, partly because I am a project manager at a software company, but also because until recently I was on the verge of mental collapse and breakdown.

http://www.itworldcanada.com//Pages/Docbase/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=idgml-5d4931c0-2a0a-4883-a66f-a6e769a20d48

My time has been spent working due to unreasonable projects being handed to me, and after discussion with several others that is now being addressed. My workload is now being shared, efforts are being made to assist, but problems still remain, some of which are really unavoidable.

Within the last 2 weeks, 2 individuals who were on my team no longer are - one from being let go, the other due to a resignation. This brings the restructure of my team and another (new) project team being built off of mine to be in a rather precarious state in terms of the number of resources alongside the number of active projects, and a sales team who will not really care about that as they had made promises to the client and promised a launch date without even getting the scope of our projects nailed down... but that is nothing new. I digress.

Add to that, the late hours, the endless working... my fiancée can even see it wearing me down and has mentioned it to me on several occasions. I am taking a week off of work to attend DevTeach in Montréal in May, partly because I need a vacation but mostly because I want to attend. It's now something more for me than for anyone else. Is it a work activity? No. Will I take some of the knowledge I learn there back to my job? Most definitely.

There are many out there who criticize where I work. I will admit, it has its bad points, most definitely. But the company is no longer the company it was several years back. It has grown, there is now an executive management team that does not consist solely of the ownership of the company, and things are changing for the better, for the most part. Is there still a road ahead? Most definitely. Are some of the same obstacles there? Again, most definitely, and most of those are individuals (read again: sales) who are resistant to change unless it directly benefits them.

Is it any wonder that I can see myself in many of the cases in that article, not just one?

And yet I know this: people will ask "Why stay?" Because I honestly do like the people I work with and I enjoy the work itself. It is a good job, with interesting people and some challenges along the way, but there is still a long way to go before we can truly see the whole company as a team. There are certain teams that are solid - each development team, for example; the creative team; the tech support/network operations team. Those groups are a small, tight-knit, cohesive group that can build off of a similar skill set. Within other teams, though, and across teams, that is where some work still remains. So why do I stay? Because I know it is possible to achieve a stronger-knit team, and I would like to be part of forging that.

I have ideas. I express them. I don't just up and say "this sucks" for the sake of it or out of spite; if I think something sucks, I say it, and I justify it, unlike some others. My team change will have me overseeing a team who will be working on building a web application framework for number of our projects. Hopefully we will build it so it can be extensible across multiple projects and maybe even to other teams. I am starting with the domain knowledge that I currently have and will proceed from there, but I can definitely see some growth and changes as the company continues to grow. I am excited again about working on a project like this, and it has been a long time since I was actually excited to go into work (movie day last week notwithstanding).

But will that excitement remain? Time will tell. If it starts to wear off (and the last couple of days, it already has and we have not even begun yet), hopefully I can find a way to bring that level of excitement back up again. Take on some other framework-type projects to assist across the board. Anything that can help. But at least I am no longer dangling over the precipice of mental breakdown; now I am standing back a little ways and seeing if I feel like walking away from it or turning and running off the cliff at top speed.

Time will tell.

Vista issues...

2007-03-01T21:29:00-06:00:00

Does anyone else have some problems with their network connectivity with Vista?

If my computer goes into sleep mode, or I leave it on for a significant period of time (or even just randomly), thet network connection seems to die. I have to disable my network connection in Windows, then re-enable it. Then I can get connectivity back. That is gettign slightly tedious, though; does anyone know any resolution to that? (I cannot seem to find the same question asked after a google search.)

Vista ready

2007-02-24T19:50:00-06:00:00

I picked up my copy of Vista Ultimate this week (purchased edition!). The installation went by fairly smoothly with no hassles. The only problem I have had now is that VS 2005 seems to have had some issues installing on Vista, which is weird. But, we shall see what happens when it finally finishes its installation.

Back to the tech

2007-01-11T23:49:00-06:00:00

So I am going to now divert myself from the previous gameplay of NWN 2, and beyond my Christmas present of my Wii, to head back to the realm of the technically inclined. I will digress from time to time to comment not directly on tech but discuss some project management things as the urge arises (as I have now begun my foray into coursework revolving around the PM field, which is good since I am a PM at my work), to discuss what I think is one of the pitfalls of the IT world:

Buzzwords.

From far too many people, I have heard that "What do you mean you haven't used AJAX? You have to!" This is from both non-technical individuals, such as software sales people, to the technical who have heard about it at times from said non-technical individuals. My father, for example, heard about it through a colleague and asked if he should install it on his machine. After the look of "what the bleep are you talking about?" left my face, I went on to explain that AJAX is not a piece of software to install, per se, but a combination of technology along with a methodology to do things, used primarily on the web. This resulted in a blank look coming from him.

Some of the technical people who said they wanted to use it were no better. I have asked "Do you know what AJAX stands for and what its purpose is?" Few knew what its purpose was and fewer still knew what the acronym stood for, but they wanted to use it because they heard it was so cool. Depending on who you talk to, drugs are "so cool" as well, along with jumping off bridges... I don't see them rooting for those at the workplace.

I think the problem is that there are too many people who hear buzzwords and want to jump on them right away without a clear understanding of what it is or does. I myself have never used AJAX, but I know what it stands for and what its intent is. I am reading up on how to use it as a project of mine going forward is going to require the use of it, and as the manager of said project I should have an understanding of the technology that I will ultimately be responsible for.

For those who read this blog, which are far and few between, your comments on buzzwords and how people jump on them without knowing anything about what they are?

Java is now open source?!?

2006-11-14T03:22:00-06:00:00

It's amazing. Sun announced today that key elements of Java are being placed under the GPL. Don't believe me? Here is the press release.

How long is it now until there is a true implementation of Java .NET? J# is the MS version, and from my understanding of various blogs and posts, it just doesn't cut it. I know MS cannot do it, as it is GPLd, but does that mean that someone else is not free to create an implementation of Java that will run on the CLR and take advantage of the classes available? (I really am not sure - if anyone knows and could comment on this, that would be cool.)

I am not a big Java developer, but this is such a strong move that it just kinda shocked me and I was wondering if anything would be affected .NET wise. I know that Mono is realeased under the GPL (the unofficial port of .NET to Linux) so just curious.

What the bleep??

2006-10-22T04:44:00-05:00:00

OK. So this week, I got my new machine. (Finally, something where I can do some proper coding at home and is powerful enough to install VS.NET 2005!!) Today, I completed many of the software installs I wanted, including IE7. (If I really need IE6 access, I have my work laptop where I can use that.)

Today as well, I was asked to help out with the web page of the local .NET user group. Cool! I mostly do web stuff, so maintenance of that is not a bad thing at all. I get to help out in a way that is somewhat familiar to me, and hey! it's just a CMS system to control content.

So, I log in. And I go to modify the content. And the rich HTML editor in the version of DNN that is installed doesn't work under IE7. I try my laptop - works fine in IE6. I try Firefox (both the current release and the version 2 RC) - both work fine. So, the text editor built with Microsoft VS.NET does not work in Microsoft IE7.

What exactly does this mean, to me? Well, it means I must now use Firefox to do any updates to the local user group site instead of IE. Granted, IE7 has only been out about a week or so... but still... I know that it follows some of the standards much more closely than IE 6 did, but it works in Firefox which is standards compliant!

Ah well. Not a big deal, but still a head shaker...

Winnipeg .NET User Group - Web Services

2006-10-09T17:25:00-05:00:00

I attended another .NET User Group meeting here in the 'Peg, this time my first in helping out with the board. Not a lot for me to do just yet, as I am still getting the hang of things there. However, I did have the opportunity to listen to a presentation on Web Services developed by Amazon.com (they aren't just books anymore!!).

Basically, with some of their web servicwa, Amazon is attempting to sell space and bandwidth in the ether instead of requiring every user to pony up the bucks to update their home systems. They realize that a lot of companies don't have the cash or resources to maintain an extremely large IT staff as well as maintaining the cost of the machines, software licenses, etc. So, with some of their web services, they have moved the information over to Amazon to process, maintain, and serve.

A few valid questions that I recall off the top of my head were posed...

1) Can I serve dynamic web pages from your data store?
The simple answer received was no. The data storage systems there can serve static HTML pages (along with javascript which isn't really dynamic content in my mind, but to each their own), but cannot serve up dynamic systems such as ASP.NET pages.

2) What happens to my data if the system goes under?
The answer received here is also quite simple: it won't anytime soon, if ever. Amazon is a huge company worldwide now, amd the chances of it vanishing in a puff of logic are next to nothing. That being said, it's always best to ensure that backups are available of your system in several locales. The data store here can be used to store backups, but if that is your only avenue of backups investigating a secondary method may be in your best interest (cost factor inhibiting, of course).

More information is available at http://aws.amazon.com

- K

First Post

2006-10-09T17:13:00-05:00:00

All right. I am now joining the official realm of geeks with their thoughts online, instead of using LiveJournal or MySpace. Yes, I continue to use both of those, but this site is a little more... “geeky” than the others, for lack of a better word. It will let me post my techie thoughts (even though I am not as much of a programmer as I used to be) and keep them separate from the countless number of “Which !!!!!! are you?” posts on LJ and MySpace.

That's not to say I won't post non-geeky things here, and this may become my central locale for posting, but you never know...

- K