Popfly How To- That was easy

Wow!

So at the .NET SIG the other day, one of Jeff's demos was of Popfly and wow was that simple. For the last couple of days I've been walking around the office here talking about how cool Popfly is. So I'm posting some of those same points here (as well as pics of the cutest kid on the planet).



I've got to say that Microsoft's Popfly is the coolest free online app I've seen in a long time. It's
ridiculously easy to create cool and powerful mashups. So easy a 10 year old could do it, yet still fun and powerful enough to make geeks happy.

In fact, I've included a spinny thing (that is a technical term in my offce btw):


What are the steps required?

1. Open the popfly site and log in with a Live Id
2. Drag a few "blocks" into your workspace
3. Drag connections between the blocks
4. Set a few configuration items

That's it, all there is to it. So, how did I create this cool spinny thing? Simple

1. Added a Flickr block
2. Added Photo Carousel
3. Draw line from flickr to photo
4. Set flicker type to Photoset and give the id
5. Run It, you're done!

That's all there is, nothing more. It's really that easy. Popfly is already getting a ton of press, I think it's only going to grow. I'll definitely be using it more.

We should all be Evangelists

Wouldn't it be great if we were all evangelists for the technologies we care about?  Going around telling other technical types about the benefits of the tech and the 'how to' you need to get started.  To be the person that people come to with questions about technology X.

Well why aren't we?  We should be.  I will be.

I'm not saying that we all quit our day jobs and try to get hired on by Microsoft or Sun or whomever and do it for a living, what I'm saying is what is stopping us all from staying up on the most current aspects of something we feel is cool and 'preaching' those items to other people.  If you don't try to know everything about everything then it doesn't take a huge time commitment to be an expert on some aspect of technology. 

So how do you do it?  I've got a few suggestions.

• Read relevant books.  All technologies get books published about them as soon as the tech is announced.  Many times before platform / tool / technology has been released.
• Subscribe to and read relevant blogs.  It's amazing how much information you can gain just by reading the blogs of the technology makers and implementers.  There are a ton of blogs out there dealing with pretty much every topic you can think of.
• Play with it.  Download the betas and trial editions and work through samples.  Look at open source projects on the topic.  The best way for most people to learn something is by using it, so do it.
• Attend events.  Microsoft and most other technology makers sponsor user groups, SIGs, technology overviews and other types of events where you can see real people talking about the newest technology.  Many of these events are small enough to ask relevant questions and talk one on one with the experts.
• Speak Up.  Whenever there is a conversation about your area of concentration, let your voice be heard.  No one will no you are an expert if you don't let them hear you talk about it.  This can happen in person or in online communities, wherever you feel comfortable.  But remember, if you hope to gain respect at your place of employment you need to speak up in person sometimes.

This list is far from complete but it's a start.  Add to it, do only a subset, whatever, just do something. 

So get out there.  Be an Evangelist and let people know it!

Cleveland .NET SIG 1/8/2008- Silverlight 101

Tonight I attended the Cleveland .NET SIG hosted by Bennett Adelson with Jeff Blankenburg as the presenter. The topic was Silverlight and was basically a test run of the same presentations that Jeff will be giving at CodeMash later this week. In fact, this is part of the reason I'm not attending CodeMash, I got the content I wanted most anyway.

So on with the review.

Jeff was pretty well prepared, he had his slides put together professionally and his demos accomplished their goals of showing various features of SilverLight and of building upon each other nicely. He did have some trouble with some of the demos the first hour but while he was frustrated / embarrassed by it I don't think came off bad. Really all of the issues came down to the fact that this was his first real run of the content with an audience so he forgot a couple things that I think he knew, just was a tad flustered. I don't want it to sound like it went badly because it didn't, a couple little hiccups but overall a good pair of presentations.

The only complaint I would have, and this isn't a real complaint, come in the second presentation. In this hour he concentrated more on cool implementations like Tafiti and Popfly than on "how to". Now that may have been the goal the whole time but well, I wanted more meat :). And also, it did feel like, and Jeff actually said at one time, that he was staying away from the demos after the pain he went through during the first hour.

Still, overall, I think it was a good meeting and I'm glad I attended.

Atmosphere: The pizza was good and greasy, the room was full and Mr. Annoying was there as usual. I'm not going to name him because he's probably a nice guy but the person to whom I'm referring has been at every event I've attended for a while and ALWAYS asks loud, grating, almost confrontational questions of the presenter. I'm sure many readers know exactly of whom I speak (well, type). Really, I think Jeff did a good job of handling him, even got him to shut up for a while, but not until he had completely derailed his train of thought. Really I think that's probably what knocked Jeff out of his rhythm in the first hour.

Oh, and my losing streak continues. Still no door prize. For those keeping score, a few years back (like 2001ish) I won a few things from MSDN events and such. Since then: NADA. Zip. Zilch. A month ago I was at an event with about 12 attendees and 5 giveaways, still nothing. I'm hoping that I'll win a 'metric ton' of goodies on Thursday (hint, hint).

CodeMash, Well, maybe next year

Well, not all good things come to pass, or something like that.

As you know I had planned to attend the Codemash conference this Thursday and Friday in Sandusky. I was pretty psyched about the speakers and content but mostly about the networking oppourtunity. Clearly I'm in the midst of working through how to move forward with my career and I was looking forward to the chance to speak directly with people who have taken their career to the next level and get their advice on what to do next.

Well, not gonna happen now.

One on the downsides of being a contractor is no paid vacation. So after 1 1/2 weeks of no pay, facing another 2 days without pay plus the expense of the conference itself, while low, is still too much at the moment. I was still going to go anyway until it was announced that Jessie Liberty is not attending and that Jeff Blankenburg is giving his talks. The same Jeff that is giving the same talk at the Cleveland .NET SIG tonight.

So, much to my dissappointment I will not be attending codemash. This year. I suppose there is always next year.

Certification - Is it worth it? - Part 3

I've done some research on what others feel about Microsoft certifications. Here are the results.

First is the perspective of a development manager:

I spoke with a former manager of mine who has been hiring developers for a number of years, some good, some not so good, and asked his feelings on this topic. He was very much in favor of certifications (he does not have one that I know of btw). Basically in his opinion certifications tell him two things that increase the chances that the candidate will get an interview.

1st: The candidate probably has the initiative and drive to achieve this for himself (or herself). He stated what we all know which is that no matter what most employers say at hiring time, they will not give you time to study nor will they provide an incentive strong enough to make it "worth your while" to achieve a certification with great personal effort.

2nd: It does indicate a certain level of knowledge in the candidate. He was quick to point out that knowledge and competency are not the same thing as he and I both know a former hire that had a certification and was less than stellar.

Next we have someone who has managed to set himself apart:

A former Microsoft consultant, Patrick Santry of wwwcoder.com, last year posted his advice on how to get ahead in this field which had some decent information (read: his thoughts are similar to mine). This is more geared toward the consultant role but I think it is relevant for most people in our field. Included was a bulleted task list, notice the first item:

• Get certified! You have to start somewhere, and getting certified helps provide some credibility for you on a technology area. [bold added for emphasis]
• Never turn down an opportunity; you never know where it will lead.
• Always follow up and build from your experience. If you write a book, then promote yourself as an expert.
• Participate online. Build a website, be active in the forums, and get your name out there. Opportunities will arise just from being out there.
• Create a career plan. You need to set goals and objectives of where you want to be five, or ten years down the road and try to stay on the path to those goals.
• Stay current! Probably the hardest aspect of being a consultant, but necessary.
• Work with your local Microsoft reps. Go to the presentations, and free training opportunities in your area. This helps build your knowledge and your network.
• Support the local user group community. If you don’t have a SIG locally, start one. Contact INETA for more information about your area.
• Build the network. Contact every user group, or organization to see if you can promote your book, presentation, or whatever it is you want yourself to be recognized with.
  

Finally, we have the words of someone who has been in the field longer than some of us have been alive. I won't call him out by name but my co-workers should know who he is.

While he worked at a consulting company a few years ago, this gentleman was asked to get his certification by the company he worked for. He was told that this was mostly so the company could retain partner status with Microsoft (I too have been asked for this reason at a previous position). At first he was excited about the supposed benefits of certification including access to software, exclusive messageboards and other items.

So he studied and tested and eventually achieved his NT certification (see, I told you he was older). He took the test seriously as well, instead of just memorizing the information he truly understood the WHY of things, not just the HOW. Still, he was disappointed. The access to 'exclusive' materials was underwhelming and the messageboards were full of people complaining about how even after achieving certification they still couldn't find a job.

In the end he was glad he went through the process but was quick to caution that the end results may not be what you dream of them to be.

So basically all three of these perspectives back up what I was already thinking. Now I'm sure if you dig into it you can find opinions that directly contradict these but this at least gives me confidence that what I am thinking is valid. I probably won't post any more in this series until I have achieved something, I really need to stop typing and get to studying... I mean working :).

What do you want to be when you grow up? - Response

In response to Dave's post on this topic, I thought I would jot down a few of my own thoughts as well.

I have also struggled with this same question for several years and have even made some bold moves in response to what I 'thought' I wanted to do. I've bought self-help books on the topic, signed up for college classes and created a reputation among my friends as someone who changes their career path monthly. One month I'm going into Aerospace engineering, the next it's GIS, followed closely by architect, robotic engineer, landscape designer and then as the frustration increases I land on ditch digger. Maybe I should have just stayed as an Infantryman, at least there the goal is clear (point gun that way and shoot).

In the end (well, currently at least) I think that radical changes (like switching fields entirely) is probably not something I want to do, mostly due to the time involved in getting qualified in the new field as well as the time I have invested in this one. So what I am pursuing at the moment (sure to change in a month), is to figure out how to move to the next level in the field I am in currently (which happens to be creating web applications for those joining late) and acting on those items. Maybe that way I can at least feel satisfied in my career.

I'll be posting shortly about how I'm trying to advance my career from average ho-hum developer to super programmer extraordinaire, or at least to happy respected developer.

Certification - Is it worth it? - Part 2

Since my last post on this topic I have received mixed feedback from various people. In general the responses tend to vary based on the person's expectations.

If someones expectation was that by having a certification they would magically get a better, higher paying job, then they were usually disappointed and don't feel that certifications are worth it. On the other hand, if a person already had knowledge and experience and achieved a certification more for their own professional growth (with no pre-conceived notions of salary increases), they were happy with the results.

I don't have a certification yet so I can't speak to the aftereffects of achieving it but I can say that during my studying I'm learning that my 'expert' knowledge of ASP.NET web development isn't as all-encompassing as I thought it was. I knew that I didn't know everything but there are things that I thought I knew pretty well where I'm learning new things. Methods and attributes on controls that I didn't know about but have had occasion to use.

So for me, even if my getting a certification doesn't translate directly to better job/pay, the increased knowledge will help me do my job better, which will make me more employable at a better rate and so on. Basically, I think achieving a certification is a good thing professionally.

Just do it.