Work

Who you calling an alpha geek?!

Jeff Certain — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:11:07 GMT

I really like the core comment made by Jeremy Miller here. Really, this is similar in flavor to the comment that Alan Cooper borrowed from Drucker. (Summary: good people are worth the cost.)

Good developers tend to migrate to good shops. JP Boodhoo phrased it well. Many good developers eventually get to the point where they realize the truism "if you can't change the place where you work, change the place you work."

I came to this realization several months ago. I was tired of being told things would change, but having no support when I tried to make those changes. I eventually came to the conclusion that I didn't have the energy to effect change throughout an entire organization that had no understanding of software development.

I don't claim to have that great understanding. If I thought I did, the past week (MVP summit plus the ALT .NET conference) would have cured me of any such delusions of grandeur. But, at the end of the day, I have to agree with Jeremy -- there is a core of software development fundamentals that transcend language, but are essential for the professional developer to understand.

The challenge is to instill this understanding in the average developer... and it's the responsibility of the "alpha geeks," as community leaders, to attempt to convey this knowledge to their peers. And you don't have to be an "alpha geek" to get out there and learn.

Takeaways from ALT .NET Conference Seattle (Day 1)

Jeff Certain — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:23:02 GMT

Now that I'm a (woohoo!) bona-fide architect, in a shop that I'd categorize as agile (although I don't know enough to be able to say what flavor of agile we follow), I now have an interesting task ahead of me... taking meaningful lessons and concepts away from the ALT .NET conference and applying them to development in a team environment.

Everyone at CCI is, I think, convinced of the value of agile. They're doing some pretty interesting things, including having a bunch of subject matter experts (SMEs) on staff. Since we produce shrink-wrap products, the SMEs essentially act as our clients internally, giving direct feedback on the work the development team has done.

Now, the question is how leading-edge agile thoughts and techniques, such as mock objects, NHibernate for persistence, fluent interfaces, DSLs, and the like get rolled into this process.

New job

Jeff Certain — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:51:23 GMT

As of 10 April, I've joined the architect team at Colorado CustomWare.

This is a big change for me. A much bigger company, focused entirely on software. A team environment with lots of process in place and support structures in place. Lots and lots more interesting differences, but I only managed to get two days in the new office before heading out to Seattle... so there will be lots more interesting paradigm shifts to come.