I Am A Cheater
You cannot be good at everything. I admit that I am not a designer. I have forced myself to achieve a level of competence, but that is all. I can imitate the design of others. Perhaps my biggest shortcoming is my limited ability with graphics programs. However, I comfort myself by patting myself on the back about my many other skills. Rather than saying that a lot of designers are better than I am, I tell myself that many programmers are worse.
In order to get by, I cheat. For example, I am building a prototype of a web application and I created rounded corners by using a rounded corners tool on the Internet. I also need help with the hex values for colors. I also use widgets and controls in my applications – why write that code, if someone else has already done a great job? I am particularly fond of the Rico accordian widget.
I try to produce compliant xhtml, and to comply with other standards. Accessibility matters, too. I rely on the web developers toolbar to check my work. There is always something I forget.
As a consultant, I am often interviewed by technical people in government departments. They frequently arrive with a gun loaded full of questions. Then, they aim at my head and fire as quickly as they can. They believe that they are measuring my ability, knowledge and competence. To a point they are, but often, the area of expertise they are testing me on is a very small part of what I think I know. Much of it can be looked up if I need it.
Lately, technical people have asked me about design patterns. Typically they ask me to name three, and then ask a few detailed questions about one of them. I usually refresh before these interviews by reading a general article at Wikipedia. I also like this C# specific resource at dofactory. Next time I do one these interviews, I am going to pick three design patterns, and I am going to teach myself how to draw the UML representation of the pattern – that should impress.
The other question that I get asked is to describe a time when I have used one of these patterns. This is difficult because I often work on code that was written by others – and they do not use design patterns. The other way I cheat is that I find a place in the code to implement a design pattern so that I have something to say at the next interview. Often, the use of the pattern was not necessary per se, but it does ME good to be able to describe the work to get a job later.
Using techniques and approaches because they are hot can be good for your career, but you owe it to your client to learn on your own time. Also, use the technique in a conservative way to solve a real problem. I have been called in on projects that were disasters because the developers reached beyond their grasp. Once, I worked on code that was extremely confusing because the developer thought he was applying the model-view-controller architectural pattern. Boy did he blow it!
Many job interviewers put emphasis on being able to demonstrate skills and knowledge on the spot. For example I have been asked about the syntax for creating inner or outer joins. Come on! I use a tool to build my views and queries. I often forget how to write the sql when asked on the spot. These things do not matter.
It would be great for an interviewer to ask a resource how he or she cheats. It might also be great to say, “You knew this was going to be a technical interview. How did you prepare?”
All day long, I forget things, and I cheat. I reuse the work of others regularly. All the time, I prepare for technical interviews by studying stuff that may not even come up once the job starts – it’s about jumping through the right hoops to get the job. Sometimes, I cheat a little by using a technique that is not strictly called for just to be able to put it on my resume. For example, I recently used an Ajax toolkit in part of a web application because Ajax is hot. My client did not care one way or the other, but now I can sell that skill to the next bidder. I am a big fat cheater.
Using Goolgle To Convert measures
My family and I woke up to snow this morning, lots of it. My five year old was thrilled when she heard that today was a “snow day” – no school! This is her first ever snow day, and she wanted to jump into her snowsuit right away to go outside and play.
I on, on the other hand, was wondering how much snow was going to fall. In the days of my youth, I can remember times when we would get 13 or more inches of snow. (I’m showing my age. Canada converted to the metiric system years ago.)
Therefore, while my step-daughter was dreaming about hoping into her snow suit, I jumped onto my computer and found out that we can expect 20 to 30 centimeters of snow. How does that compare to the days of my youth? Then, I used the Google site to convert centimeters into inches.
Making the conversion is easy. In the search tool, simply type: “30cm in inches”. The answer comes back: 11.8110236 inches. Isn’t Google cool! If you are Canadian, you can use the tool the next time to use an old cookbook and you need to convert imperial measures to the decimal measures used by your measuring equipment.
Installing OpenOffice 2.0 On Ubuntu
For those who are interested, I continue to feel better. I am walking a lot, and taking whatever exercise I can. I seem to be tolerating the activity; therefore, I continue. I believe that I am getting better, and that my heart is getting stronger. I am thankful to God, and I look forward to my next visit to the cardiologist so that my belief can be confirmed.
I am installing OpenOffice on my machine today, and I realized that some people may not know how to install an RPM on a Debian based machine. I do not have time to write at length, but if you are already fairly able to manage a Linux installation, but you know more about RPMs than about apt-get, this will help.
Basically, follow the installation instructions you find at the OpenOfiice site, but instead of typing “rpm -Uvih *rpm” type “alien -iv *rpm”. Alien will convert the RPM packages to DEB and then install them. Good luck. I hope this helps.