For all of you that read candidates' sample code: Please provide some examples of what people are looking for when they ask this. Most of the code I've written in my professional life (C#, Java, PHP) has been pretty domain specific, and I rarely run across something I have to solve using things I learned while earning my computer scien...
Hi, I want to get into web development but that fact of the matter is I don't really enjoy doing the design work and IMHO CSS and the like seem overly complicated and not something I'd really feel like investing my time in, it simply does not capture my interest the same way the business logic side does. Can I get away without doing the...
In your opinion and experience, what's best - working full-time and long-term for one company, or part-time short-term on many smaller projects or parts of projects? What do you think are the pros and cons of both? I heard that being a consultant is more profitable and one would pick up more experience. Does that beat an 8 hours by 5 da...
Say you're in a contracting developer role at a bank that pays well and will probably be extended. Then you get offered a permanent role at an IT solution provider as a Senior Developer/Technical Lead. Would you stick with the contracting, or go to the permanent role? The contract role: pays well will probably be extended provides f...
Wikipedia describes five stages of technology lifecycle: Bleeding edge - any technology that shows high potential but hasn't demonstrated its value or settled down into any kind of consensus. Early adopters may win big, or may be stuck with a white elephant. Leading edge - a technology that has proven itself in the marketplace...
Java and .NET seem to have a great number of parallels especially in the web application area. Both languages have many of the same technologies especially in terms of open source libraries (JUnit and NUnit, Hibernate and NHibernate) but there are also plenty of differences and different approaches to solving certain software development...
I found this question on the issue: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/129508/when-did-you-know-it-was-time-to-leave-your-job. But I would like to get more "under-the-skin" on the responses. The other question's answers included commuting, personnel conflict, when you are not getting anywhere professionally speaking. Let's say I meet w...
I was wondering how useful a MCAD certification would be. Looking at the exams, it looks like I could get one of the exams (70-316) done pretty easily. Do you think that this would be a good idea? I don't have a whole lot of programming experience. I went to college for "Game and Simulation Programming" (worse college program ever, f...
What advice can you give to someone who is going to assume a role of software development project manager for the first time? Please list up to 7 things in order of importance and focus on quality and relevance of every piece of advice, rather than overall quantity of tips given. Less than 7 is perfectly OK. ...
There are clients of mine who are content with their VB6 and SQL 2000 applications that I have written them many moons ago. The applications run fine, require some maintenance, some bug fixes from time to time but really run OK for the client. There is no reason in their mind to upgrade (or have my rewrite these in the current version...
I'm a senior developer and consider myself very good at what I do. I have high expectations for how I believe software should be developed. I'm having a hard time finding a place to work that shares a similar view on the software development process. Here's my modified version of The Joel Test that I ask potential employers during a...
I'd like some feedback regarding how to begin learning ASP.net (C#) and SharePoint development. What have you found useful to jump start your career? Any particular books, videos, boot camps, college courses, web sites, etc. that have helped to shorten the path to becoming a developer? I've gone through a couple of books and begun par...
Our organization recently separated support and development, and it looks like I've landed on the "support" side, since the application I work on has been in production for some time, even though there are many enhancements planned for it. Our team also likely be taking over support for some other applications. I am concerned that rema...
I know CIS is more business oriented and CS is more math based, but what specific developer related classes/skills are taught only in CS? I currently have a CIS degree and am trying to understand the typical "gaps" in development knowledge that exist for CIS degreed developers vs CS. ...
A lot of us developers who are passionate about technologies do this. Read technology experts' and fellow developers' blogs Follow technology news Listen to tech podcasts, watch screencasts etc Do part time pet projects to assimilate know-how Take proactive steps at work to produce more valuable software Fine but all these activities...
I'm a 21 year old University student studying Computer Science. I have been using Linux throughout the whole of my degree so far. Now that I'm nearing the end of my degree I've started looking at graduate software engineering/developer positions at various companies. I notice that the vast majority of companies I'm looking at are strict...
Hey, I've been working as a programmer for the last few years - different companies and freelancing, mostly developing internal-business web applications (well, that's the current model of development, it seems). Besides simple coding I was working on specs, designing applications, and all those around-like things. My question is, wha...
With the economy not getting any better, how do you prepare yourself for layoffs? Even if it happens, how do you deal with it? Would love to hear your experiences or stories, if you have any. ...
What types of programmers tend to be attracted to full-time positions and what types are drawn to contract positions? Which type are you, and have you swapped between one to another? Does there come a time in a programmer's life when he/she typically switches from one to another? Do you find one more challenging than the other? ...
What are some good programming skills to learn or focus on to future-proof my career over the next ten years? By this, I mean what do you see as being the popular languages, tools, and software technologies in widespread use over the next ten years that having experience with could make a person more highly employable. I pose this ques...