Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Half-way

I am half-way through my masters classes. I am working on my MIS degree. Currently in a Project Management class where I am learning a lot. But today I saw a job posting at EffectiveUI that I would love to have. But I don't have the skills they want. And to get them I need to get a PC, argh. I have been a Mac guy for a long time, even though I have had PCs at work for several years, now. I should finish my classes in August. I currently have a 4.0 average. So far, it has been basic stuff like programming concepts and business analysis. Stuff I have been doing for years. I hope this is the right thing for me.

I enjoy coding and technology. But I also enjoy gaming and other stuff. Wish I could combine all of this into a job I truly love.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Successful Teams

I have been on successful teams in my career. I have tried to analyze why we were successful. My teams worked well together. I knew everyone's strengths and I had really good clients. But this article does a very good job explaining management's view of a team. Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Update

Just finished my third class working toward my master degree. I think I did OK. I got A's in my first two classes. Hope to get the same in this last one.

Friday, May 1, 2009

My beliefs

I consider myself a conservative atheist. I looked it up once and found that I am in the smallest group. Smaller than liberal theists. I also try to be a good skeptic which is hard as I some come across as a cynic. The atheist part is obvious but the conservative part bears some explanation. I view conservatism as being responsible for your actions and not expecting anyone else to bail you out. I also follow reciprocity. This is not quite the Golden Rule but I treat others as they treat me. I like small government and free markets. I guess I lean a bit Libertarian, too.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Jobs Lost and Gained

Well, I was laid off twice from USWest/Qwest/Dex Media/R. H. Donnelley, Inc. and now I am working as a contract programmer for National Renewable Energy Laboratories.

I was out of work for six months the first time since I was in college. It was a new experience for me. I was pretty depressed for a long time. I finally got a gig through a former co-worker. That one lasted for 5 months. I still do little stuff on the side for them. It only took me 3 weeks to get my new gig.

Now two pay cuts later I am coding in Java 6 with Hibernate and Google Web Toolkit. I picked these up in my last job. Not a bad bit of refactoring, if I do say so myself.

I, like many others, decided to go back to school to get my masters degree. I thought I might get an MBA but I couldn't take all of the touchy-feely stuff. I am now in my second class for an Master of Information Services degree. Should finish in 2010.

I also started playing World of Warcraft (WOW) during my six months off. A very good waste of time. Have a few friends on WOW from my days at Dex.

We also get together semi-weekly for a game of Dungeons & Dragons. I run a 3.5 campaign while my friends alternates with a 4.0 campaign. I really enjoy getting together with the guys.

Well, I guess that was a good update.