Education

Technical User Groups – The Tribe of Passionate Geeks

The bug got me in the mid-70s. My math teacher in junior high, Mr. Blumenfeld, introduced us to a fascinating contraption on a tall stool that appeared, at first glance, to be an adding machine of some sort. But the thing was programmable, and came with this very nifty manual showing all the instructions you [...]

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Re-Education Action Plan – Learning Process

In my last post, I continued my saga about the re-education of a software developer by introducing the technologies I’m looking to (re)introduce myself to.  In this post, I’ll talk a bit about how I learn.  Everyone learns differently, so “your mileage may vary.” I’m a visual learner.  That is, for an introduction on a [...]

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Re-Education Action Plan – The Lessons

In my last post, I wrote about my next life phase, which is mainly a return to my former self – software developer.  In order to get back in sync, I need to develop an action plan.  Thankfully, I’ve kept a very close eye on the stack I’m most familiar with (the Microsoft development tools), [...]

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The Re-Education of a Software Developer

I’m in the process of re-directing my career back to hands-on development. This is the start of not only one of the most exciting phases I’ve ever embarked upon, but it’s also one of the most gut-wrenching and sometimes paralyzing. I’ve been in software development professionally for over a quarter century, at least a third [...]

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There is Always a Need for Good Software Developers

What I’m about to say does not pertain to everyone having trouble finding employment in software development during this difficult time, but DO NOT fall into the trap of automatically believing that you’re one of the exceptions.  It’s likely that you’re not. People have been asking if I had any advice for software developers who [...]

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Self Taught

Scott H. Young is one of the wisest and most intelligent self-help writers I’ve read, and the fact that he just started college makes this even more impressive. It’ll be interesting to follow his writing as he matures, and to see how he reacts as he experiences life as an adult. I have a strong [...]

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Why are Kids Not Choosing a Software Career?

Last month, I commented on Scott Hanselman’s blog about his Hanselminutes podcast in which he interviewed interns who worked for him at his now former company, Corillian. Listen to the podcast and see my comment in that post. Basically, I stated that I was concerned about the lack of students interested in programming these days, [...]

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