Training, Working Life | April 29, 2013 | 0 comments
Since discovering Pluralsight just over a year ago, I’ve been bowled over by its quality, value and ever increasing range of instructional videos. I first became aware of the site when I watched a free ASP.NET MVC 3 video course, … Continue reading
Websites, Working Life | April 11, 2010 | 0 comments
Almost ten years ago, I started work at a small software company developing web based software for WAP-enabled phones. It was an exciting time, and when the technical director asked me to design and develop a website to support the company’s mobile content catalogue and delivery network, I wasn’t particularly enthused. It didn’t take long, however, to relish my new task, and really love my job. I’d always liked server-side stuff, but here I was, caring about the organisation and presentation of information.
Unfortunately, the company suffered financial problems, and I left in 2004, shortly before the site was taken down. The internet archive’s wayback machine has allowed me to go down memory lane and see the site that I made all those years ago.
The wayback machine has archived over 150 billion pages, dating back to 1996, so there’s a good chance there will be an old version of a site of your choosing. Simply type in the URL in the input and click ‘Take me Back’.
Incidentally, the site used tables for layout, some CSS for typography, colours and element widths, Flash and the Windows Media Player plaugin for previewing polyphonic ringtones. Funny to think how far both websites and mobile phone technology has progressed in the last few years. Technically, the site served ASP pages, with content generated largely from a custom content management system using XML and COM objects. Continue reading
Working Life | December 30, 2009 | 0 comments
A new year is on the horizon, and so it’s natural to look back on the previous 12 months, take stock, and plan for the future. So what kind of year has it been?
Overall, it’s been a good year. My background as a software developer is with Microsoft-based technologies such as Visual C++, and since 2003, .NET and C#. Although my technical mainstay is still .NET, this year has seen me work more and more with open-source, PHP-based solutions such as CodeIgniter and ExpressionEngine. I’ve continued to work with Wordpress, and in the second quarter, completed Biking for Bones, a site for my mother-in-law, who rode over 3500 miles in aid of the Arthritis Research Council. Continue reading
Working Life | February 10, 2009 | 3 Comments
Having registered with various job boards and spoken to various recruitment consultants in the past, it’s no surprise that I get a few ‘job’ emails from time to time.
The vast majority of these emails are of no more interest than spam. Despite me entering details about preferred location, experience and daily rate requirements on job websites, I often get mails that are for the wrong end of the country, junior jobs and low rates.
I just got a mail from a recruiter that contained the following text:
Dear Shane
PUT PARAGRAPH ONE HERE
PUT PARAGRAPH TWO HERE (Or delete if unneccessary)
Put PARAGRAPH THREE HERE (Or delete if unneccessary)
{Name of person removed}
Microsoft .net Consultant
{Name of agency removed}
I didn’t feel the urge to deal with somebody who needed reminding that an email can be separated into separate paragraphs if necessary, and that if it contained less than 3 paragraphs, the text should be removed.
Unbelievable. Still, at least they got my name right. Continue reading
Working Life | January 25, 2008 | 0 comments
No doubt most developers are in favour of coding standards, but something that has annoyed me of late is ‘coding baggage’. For example, former Visual Basic programmers using VB style in C#. Such style pollutes the purity of a language … Continue reading
