Freakonomics, Regulate This!

Some people create and innovate, some people follow the innovators, and some do everything they can to keep innovation down. This is a great episode of Freakonomics Radio. Freakonomics Radio: Regulate This! 

Computer Programming, High School

To argue that computer programming should be a required high school course is absurd. But I’ve learned that many high schools still don’t offer any kind of computer programming/computer science classes. This is surprising to me, because even my high school, a mostly rural school with children of blue collar families and farmers, offered Computer Programming I…

On Publishing and Writing and Documenting

Reading I was telling my daughter the other evening that it is important to know how to spell, and just as important to know how to write (and write well). She’s going into 5th grade, so such a lecture may be a bit premature. No worries. This lecture will be a repetitive one. As I…

Fiber to Wake Forest Residents (Hopefully)

Wake Forest: Public Meeting Sheds Light on ‘Fiber to the Forest’ Pre-registration Hopefully many people show interest and this can actually happen soon.

What’s The Value of College?

Not long ago I found myself working alongside a brilliant college dropout–A young junior programmer who was just plain gifted when it came to software development. I was very surprised that he hadn’t completed a degree of any kind. It made me wonder why I had, without much consideration, put such high value on a…

SSH User Annoyance & Solution

I’m in an environment where whenever I ssh to a machine I have a different username than that of my main machine. For example, the username on my desktop of “Some.Desktop.User,” whereas all the Linux environments I ssh to use the username “Some.Linux.User.” I’ve typed “ssh <host>” countless times, only to be annoyed when I…

Obligatory Social Media Advice to the ‘Younguns”

I’ve seen a few good posts and articles that make attempts to explain to young ladies—teens and preteens—the consequences of their posts online. Many of these are very good, with many great points. This is my own attempt. Don’t get me wrong: I love social media. I’m a fan. Thirteen to eighteen can be strange…

“New Math”

I’ve heard about new math for a long time now, but only recently have I been impacted by it. This evening I was attempting to help my daughter with division homework. The best way to explain the frustration we both endured is with an example. New doesn’t always mean improved. Old ways of doing things…

From STUPID to SOLID Code

From STUPID to SOLID Code

William Durand: From STUPID to SOLID Code

Working Oneself Out of a Career

This is going to be a tough question, and I suspect many won’t like the anwer. Are you working yourself out of a career? If this question confuses you, chances are you are doing just this. Perhaps you’re the main guy or gal on your project, and your company values your work (for now). What…

No Rock Stars Either!

Speaking of the “Ninja Programmer” silliness, I stumbled about this ad today. Ug. If you’re company is looking for a “Rock Star Programmer,” you may be misunderstanding a great deal.

Numberphile

I stumbled upon these videos from “Numberphile” on Youtube. I’ve never been much of a math geek, but these videos are really interesting.

Coding Horror/The Software Career

I don’t like to just post links to another blog or article. Anyone can do that, and there are far too many blogs out there that create no original content. So I try to write original thoughts and articles. That said, sometimes this is a rule worth breaking. Jeff Atwood has a great post over…

The IBM Tank Keyboard

Look at this beauty! This is a clear case of “They don’t make ’em like they used to.” I found it laying around the office one day–free for the pickin’! It’s over 20 years old, and not unlike similar keyboards that are even older. It’s heavy. It makes a satisfying click noise when I type…

No Ninjas!

Many of us have seen them: The job posts claiming to be seeking a “Ninja Programmer.” I presume that these are companies that are: Looking for a well-versed candidate with diverse skills and the ability to tackle any project. A candidate that will find more value in the way he/she is perceived than salary. (Reading…

Mac Startup Chime/Badfinger’s Day After Day

The other day I had an epiphany. Okay, epiphany may be a bit of a strong word for this little discovery, but I did suddenly realize why I often get the song Day After Day by Badfinger stuck in my head many mornings at work. It all has to do with the first note of…

Where Are the Females?

I have an idea for an article, but I’m not entirely sure how to approach. It’s a subject that I believe some have written about, but as a male, it isn’t a subject that I have given much though to until recently: Where are all the female software engineers? I suppose the only reason I’ve…

The (un)Healthy Developer (Part 1)

Assertion #1: You may not like me. (Not immediately.) My Fellow Software Developers, Architects, Designers, Engineers, Leaders, Quality Assurance Analysts… Whatever your job title (and whatever your real role, as a job title says little). I have a prediction: You will either read this article and agree wholeheartedly or read this article and take offense.…

My Fellow Software Developers (we’re in bad shape!)

As a group, we’re out of shape. I’m working on an article on this subject, but I want to do so in a motivational way, not with a lecturing or accusatory tone. More to follow.

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! I’ll be celebrating by eating too much, watching fireworks, and staying up late to work on a new article for SDJ!

RedHat/Downtown Raleigh

RTP is cool and all, but, honestly, there’s lots of space around here, and we don’t all need to be driving the same direction.  I’d love to see more companies build in downtown Raleigh. Hopefully the RedHat move gives it a kick-start. NewsObserver: Red Hat workers bring energy to new downtown Raleigh headquarters

How About a Book Club at Work?

The other day I had a thought–Why not start a book club at work? I read a lot, and I generally like to have two books going at a time. One book is fiction (just for fun). The other book is something related to my career, whether it is technical/software, business, or leadership related. A…

Cutest Text Ever

Not long after my daughters got iPod Touches for Christmas (from their grandparents), I received this text message from my youngest. It’s difficult to get your sister in trouble when being so unintentionally cute.

Mistakes

The other day my daughter wanted to heat up some soup in the microwave. She insisted on doing it herself. The lid of the Campbell’s Soup can the type with a tab that can be opened without a can opener. She stood in front of her mother as she attempted to open the can, wrestling…

Computer Science Starting Salaries

According to this recent article (Canadian HR Reporter), the high starting salaries are still in fields related to software and other fields of engineering. The careers with the highest starting salaries for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in the United States are software engineering ($71,666) (all numbers US$), industrial engineering ($62,245), chemical engineering ($57,500), electrical/electronic…

Google the New Microsoft?

Techspot: Microsoft Launches Youtube App, Google Demands it Taken Down Come on, Google. I thought you were bigger than this.

Wired: Tech Time Warp

Fun. (Found via Eric Crane.) Tech Time Warp of the Week | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com

The World’s First Web Site

Here is the world’s first web page. Much has changed, and much hasn’t. We are still making HTML do things it was never designed to do. But we’ve done some pretty cool stuff with it. http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html  

Interview Advice

I’ve been on countless interviews, and I’ve learned a few things along the way. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means, but I’ve learned how to interview well. It took a while to figure it out, but I’ve learned that interviewing isn’t difficult. On the contrary, if you are focused and willing to…

YouTube to MP3

I’ve gotta plug this tool: MediaHuman Youtube to MP3. A while back a friend sent me a link to a video of this guy, Shakey Graves, playing a song called Late July. I immediately loved the song, as well as all the other Shakey Graves songs I found on YouTube, and I purchased both of…