by Bozho | Nov 15, 2011 | Aggregated, Opinions
Linux evangelists, please don’t read this. It is entirely my opinion and my experience. So, I will be talking about Linux as aн end-user operating system. Well, end-developer, to be precise. And yes, I know, since I’ve used mainly Ubuntu, I should definitely switch to Debian/Slackware/your-favourite-distro. But I won’t. Ubuntu is said to be the most end-user-oriented distribution, so I started with it. I have used 3 versions on 3 different machines (I won’t tell which, because you’ll say “oh, yeah, those had these nasty things, check [another version]” ). And all of them sucked. I had to reboot quite often, the UI got stuck when there was intensive disk I/O, there were no compatible drivers for (W)LAN cards, often it just lost the border around different windows when doing alt+tab, alt+shift+tab actually didn’t work for some time. And some more minor inconveniences that stacked up to build my quite negative opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it is workable. I’m still using it at work (perhaps because I don’t have the time to install Windows again). But even for a developer it is tedious. I know I could google for an hour, find an answer, go to /foo/bar, remove a line from some file, and suddenly something starts working better. But that’s the problem. No end user will do that. Even I am reluctant to do it. And all these things kill productivity. And perhaps neurons. So I’ll be using Windows 7 on my machines, which works like charm (yup), and only use Linux on servers. Yeah, it’s the best there. But for end-user machines – not yet. Linux...
by Bozho | Nov 2, 2011 | Aggregated, Opinions
It’s going to be my 2nd Stack Overflow anniversary on Saturday (the 5th of Novermber, I know, it wasn’t on purpose). A quick summary: I (profile) just entered the top 20 users of all time, and I just provided my 5000th answer. Ranked 3rd in the Java tag. But enough about me – what’s so cool about stackoverflow, that it has become the most popular Q&A programming site so quickly? Many things. I haven’t changed the views that I expressed after my first month, but here are a bit more details from the perspective of an experienced user: learning – there are questions that you can’t answer, and when you see others’ answers, you learn something new. There are questions that you research before answering, so you improve your knowledge. Why do people ask questions that they can also research? Because you have a higher level of general programming knowledge that allows you to look at the right place and find the information. Even if you already know the answer, you get a better understanding when writing it down. Answering questions on SO can be compared to reading blogs that discuss common technical issues. you see where you stand – if others agree with your answers (and upvote them), that makes you feel confident in the topics that you follow. Which is a good thing (if it’s not overconfidence). Questions that people ask show you areas that you probably didn’t know about, but that are important. That way you get a more adequate view of where you stand with your programming knowledge. improving communication skills – (I should have...
by Bozho | Oct 15, 2011 | Aggregated, Opinions
First you send a CV, or a recruiter contacts you. Then there’s the interview(s). And then the employer has to decide whether they want you onboard or not. And you have to decide the same thing. But I have observed that some employers (and they are certainly not a minority) are rather reckless in the way they give their response to candidates. The most annoying thing – they are not saying anything. You write an email or phone them and if you get an answer, it is “we are still in the process of deciding”. It can be due to several reasons: they are not quite sure you are their man, and the decision is postponed so that they can see some more candidates for the position. This may be due to a not-so-great interview, due to an incompatible salary expectations, or simply because they want to see more people before they hire. In that case it’s likely that you are also uncertain whether it is “your company”. And the delayed response is not a step in the right direction some companies are gathering CVs and even interviewing people “just in case”. It’s not that they are looking for someone right now. Screw them. And be sure not to recommend them to anyone. there’s a slow decision and hiring process. If that’s the case, it is very likely that there will be such bloated processes in the actual development work. they are not quite positive they need a man right now – seen that a couple of times, including a company I’ve worked for. They “kind of” need someone,...
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