Developer Update

I felt it was time to update what I've done in development lately. Sadly, it's not as much as I had hoped. My current plans are to enroll in Western Governor's University and continue my programmer education there, as well as these pet projects on the side. The requirements for enrollment are a little strict, though. I have to have either an Associate's degree already in the area of study or better, or I have to have 3 years experience in that field. I have six months in the area right now, but I worked as a tech liason for about 10 years in my customer service position. I'm hoping that will help.

Here's the unusual part at the moment: I cannot reach the enrollment counselor. We've spoke, been introduced, he was going to read my resume over and discuss options, and we were supposed to get back together on the phone that Friday (two weeks ago). I missed the call due to a meeting at work, but called back an hour later. I've left three voice mails since. I'm hoping he's just out of the office.

Currently at work, I've finally met the development team I've been working with for the past six months in person. We're together for three days this week at a hotel. Great group of people. Since Tuesday, we have been going over the year, things we can do better, things we've done right, and learning new skills. Keep in mind, I'm a software Tester, so much of the detail that's been involved is over my head for now, but the past couple of days have been awesome. I actually got to see the entire group debug and refractor code on a projector screen so I can follow along. Even though I don't understand 100% of what's going on, simply seeing it done, and the developers asking similar questions that I also quietly have in my mind is the most educational and encouraging part of the last few days for me personally.

I'm going to keep this blog relatively short. I'm writing it on my cell phone just before crashing, but I wanted to let others know that, although I'm not where I want to be yet, I am still moving forward.

Comments

Bigger Picture

I've learned a big part of development since I've been a part of this team. We have meetings. Some seem long-winded, some seem unnecessary at times, but I've gotten something from all of them in every case. There's a lot of communication involved in this role. I focused on a lot of technical, but there are many soft skills involved to make it successful. Below is a summary of some of the things I've learned in just a few quick months. 1. Know When You Don't Know There's nothing wrong with not knowing. There are developers on this team that I've heard everyday say, "I"m not sure how to do that, I need to ask 'so and so'." I feel I'm part of a great team, and maybe this type of honesty isn't the norm. In any case, it's refreshing to see that type of behavior. It's also encouraging to see someone who has been here for many years not afraid to admit when he/she doesn't know something. No one is going to kn...

New Pet Project

Okay, I've got my next great idea for my pet project. It's a little more complicated, but not terribly. My biggest complaint I had when I transferred from the Detailing Department to the Customer Service department was the loss of my trusty HP48G calculator. This thing was awesome! You calculated feet and inch calculations with formulas. The format was feet.inches and sixteenths. For instance, 14.0608 = 14'-6 1/2". The formulas removed parts of the inputted number and converted them from a foot to a number to add and subtract, and then reconverted the number to a foot answer to display. I and a colleague created several excel sheets that essentially did the same thing, but it just wasn't convenient and didn't flow very well. So, I'm going to create a program that looks close to this calculator. In addition to the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of feet-inch numbers, there were formulas that calculated roof slopes, weights, and...

Pet Project Progress

Well, I've started my pet project, and I've got a GUI laid out. It's a little slow going, but it should work well in the end, I think. I'm sure there's going to be lots of feedback and many different ways I could do things. Right now, however, I'm limited to what I am learning in the text. As promised, here's the screenshot of my first program. Help? I'm trying not to ask too many people how to write any of the code yet for a couple of reasons. First, I haven't learned any code yet, and I likely won't understand a word of what's being told to me. Second, I'm afraid that what I'll be told I'll understand at that moment, but since I didn't have to work for it, it won't get burned into my memory like the knowledge I have to seek out. Those long hours searching usually scar you to the point you never want to forget those lessons again. Function Since I don't have too much to show, I'll just explain what th...

Path 2 Developer

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