May 05, 2006
Geeks in Business
I studied both Business and Computer Science in school and have a good appreciation for both. Why Business Needs More Geeks, highlights why geeks (like those who studied CS) can also be successful in business, assuming, of course, that they also have the skill of dealing with people. I have seen many of the items described in the article at work in some of the large corporations I have worked in. Instead of using the term geeks though, I might insert "Hardcore Employees"! People who are really interested in succeeding and objectivity and not just surviving and defending turf.
Spock out.
Posted by harris at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2006
MCSD/MCAD Certification Books For Sale
.Net Books for Sale: The complete set of books required for either the Micrsoft Certifed Solution Developer or the Microsoft Certified Application Developer certifications. Specifically the books on building:
1) XML Web Services
2) ASP.Net Web Applications
3) Windows Applications
Price: $15.00 USD
Will ship any where in the US.
Update: Here is what the Microsoft Live Expo Listing looks like.
Posted by harris at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
Cringely on Google
The weekly pulpit articles by Robert X. Cringely of PBS are typically interesting if you care about the blurring of the media and technology industries. His latest piece speculating on Google taking over TV advertising is classic. Not quite as good as his prediction about Google developing portable data centers that would house terabytes of data and massive processing power in the equivalent of a large dumpster (SWEET!), but still very good. His predictions are always out near the edge, but still realistic enough to incite credulity.
Posted by harris at 07:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2005
Entrepreneur of the Year
Venture Voice has announced its "1st Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Award". Of those currently on the ballot I'd really like to see Joel Spolsky win. Although several excellent choices have been nominated, I like Joel for two reasons:
1) By all appearances he has built a successful software company on his own terms, and
2) He has opened his mind to the world with Joel on Software, providing unprecedented transparency into his recipe for success.
This second point is interesting for yet two more reasons:
2.1) The content Joel has produced has significantly helped large numbers of people be better developers and/or business savvy technologists, and
2.2) I am 100% sure that any and all competitors to Fog Creek Software read his material voraciously. Nonetheless Joel can still sleep peacefully at night knowing that completely duplicating what he has done is sufficiently difficult, even with an open manual, that he can maintain an advantage.
It'll be interesting to see who wins. Maybe next year I'll vote for Mr. Fried. The year after that I am going to try to win it!!! :-) LOL... I guess I need to get started building a company!! Soon.
Posted by harris at 08:59 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 09, 2005
A Letter to Terrell Owens
I enjoy sports but have decided not to talk about them in this forum. Instead I am trying out WordPress for a sports related weblog at Armchair Athletes. If you are an armchair athlete yourself feel free to check it out... the first post is an irresistable letter to TO.
p.s. WordPress is *super* easy to set up!
Posted by harris at 01:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 11, 2005
Four Years Later
Today is September 11, 2005. Cheryl and I just finished watching "The Flight That Fought Back" on the Discovery channel. Seeing the reconstructed rendition of what happened on United Flight 93 was quite sad. However, it was also encouraging seeing heroes emerge. People who knew that there lives on earth would soon be over and that the best they could hope for was saving the lives of others.
Nearly everyone of the previous generation remembers where they were when JFK was shot. For my generation we all have indelible imprints of where we were on September 11, 2001 when we heard the news. For me I heard it from the radio station on my alarm clock at approximately 9 AM. I was laying on the floor at my trailer in Auburn, AL, waking up so I could head to Human Computer Interaction. After watching the news for several minutes I left to go to class; however, after hearing that the first tower collapsed on the radio, I never made it. Instead I spent the day stunned in front of the TV with friends.
Four years later it is still sad to reflect on those events, particularly when watching programs that discuss the real people that were involved, the fathers, husbands, wives, daughters, etc. And, equally as sad, is the realization that likely many more will die in this conflict... that despite all the advances of humanity in terms of technology and civilization, peace still seems as elusive as ever.
Posted by harris at 11:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 04, 2005
How many Blogs would a Blogger Blog...
How many blogs would a blogger blog about if a blogger could blog about blogs? He would blog about what blogs a blogger would blog, if a blogger could blog about blogs.
If you understand that then you will understand this blog entry, "Bloggers blog about blogging".
The beauty of blogging is you can blog about whatever you want... even if that means blogging about how bloggers blog about blogging!
Gotta love it.
Posted by harris at 05:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 02, 2005
Attrition at the Alma Mater
I am kind of wondering why my name wasn't mentioned as one of the "Nine Quiet Departures". :-) It is interesting though that one of the few technical leaders webMethods had on the payroll is no longer with the company. To be competitive in the software industry requires several key attributes, not the least of which is technical leadership. This is one of the reasons why Google is so successful... THEY GET IT. Over the past couple years, even after their celebrated IPO, they have attracted significant technical leadership. In addition Google is proving that there is not always a linear relationship between size and dysfunction. How? An aggressive combination of technical acumen and some good old fashioned discipline.
This is not to say that webMethods is not a good company. I believe they are. But there is a difference between being good and great, and the market can always tell one from the other.
Posted by harris at 10:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
Last Day at webMethods
Tomorrow is my last day as an employee of webMethods. "The last day" of various endeavors (school, jobs, etc.), are generally bitter sweet and this transition will not be an exception. I have enjoyed working with Graham & Co. at TME as well as the engineers I worked closely with at webMethods after the aquistion. It's a bit of a bummer that my manager won't be there for the farewell lunch, but he'd say it's my fault for leaving tomorrow and he'd be right. Nonetheless after tomorrow my work at webM will fade into history.
The next step in my career will be as an Architect/Developer with Object Systems Group. With OSG I'll be working at Fannie Mae helping implement an ESB like system that will utilize JMS as the messaging backbone and be responsible for processing data from various systems within the organization (at least that is my current understanding). While I enjoyed product development very much I am looking forward getting a little "closer to the metal" in terms of understanding how software is used and developed within a corporate IT shop. This is actually the world that I grew up in, so I'll feel right at home.
To all my webMethods buddies, including Ben, Luis, John and everyone else that doesn't have a blog to link to: GOOD LUCK & BEST WISHES in the future. I wish you every success!
Posted by harris at 08:47 PM | Comments (1)