Category Archives: Career

Work and career related posts.

Gliders, Italy and Androids

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What an incredible summer and it is funny how it all started.  I found myself without a job at the end of April.  A week or two later I started a crazy schedule of fencing, archery and hiking amongst the usual day-to-days at home.  I even got to try out some serious tree climbing and zip-lining.  And I met new friends at a retreat and a number of parties too.  I even got to hang out with and host Anna and Behnaz, two friends from Montreal for over a week.

At the beginning of July, after months of preparation my brother, Martin went for the Air Cadet’s gliding summer camp.  After over 6 weeks of intensive work, training and practise, my brother can now legally fly a glider by himself.  I am incredibly proud of him and we now have a real pilot in the family.  Wow.

The past month and a half I had the honour and pleasure of hosting one of my very good friends from Italy, Laura.  Laura came to visit us, see Canada and learn English.  We did that and a whole lot of hiking, sightseeing and partying in Toronto, Niagara, Tobermory and Hamilton.  And her English became a lot better too.  I am so thankful that you came Laura and I hope you enjoyed being with us as much as we having you over.  Thanks!

After a full summer, I’ve come full circle.  About three weeks ago, I interviewed and got hired as a mobile developer for Web Impact.  I get to work on building Android mobile applications in a great environment with awesome coworkers.  I have always wanted to get into mobile programming.  But I never imagined that I would be doing what I get to work on.  Unfortunately I can not disclose the details of what I am working on and the technology behind it.  However I can say that the technology and the way we apply it is how I envision the future of mobile, web and desktop computing will look like.

This year has been an amazing ride so far.  And from what I can tell there is even more awesomeness in store.

Old is the New New

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Or at least it seems that way. After all the fun that was summer, it looks like I will be going back my old pace of life and digs. So does that mean?

First of all, no real changes in my life at the present. The world changes around me. I feel like I am running around like mad trying to change life. But instead it looks like most of my efforts are resulting in my not moving. Or maybe it is the motions of the universe cancelling out my motions. Either way nothing new on my side. At least nothing new that I can envision. Maybe just a gentle slow plodding toward where I need to get to. Except…

Except that I may start working as a software developer again. And I might get the chance of working on various mobile platforms. I’d like that very much as I do want to move into mobile programming. If not I am pleased that the job market for software developers is hot. Especially ones with experience and modest expectations. I think the era of the very highly paid developer will draw to a close, as the economy tries to readjust. But I am so ready to get back into coding on a day to day basis.

On the tech side, after playing around with openSUSE this summer I realized this distro is not for me. I love the polish and care that the KDE side receives in openSUSE. But the underlying system and configuration just does not match the way my brain works. A Debian distribution feels more natural and works better. Combine that with a focus on ease of use that Ubuntu offers… well I am back to using Kubuntu. Kubuntu 10.04 is a better version and feels just as snappy as openSUSE. While the construction of the system and the popularity of Ubuntu win out over openSUSE.

Interviews and a Taste for the Rising Sun

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Yesterday (today since I haven’t gone to sleep yet), was one heck of a busy day. The kind folks at Hireglyphics managed to setup two interviews today. One with a major interactive agency in downtown Toronto, another with a mobile/web development house in Mississauga.

The first interview could of gone better. But I should of done more programming these past few months. So very much mea culpea. However I’m glad the company thought well enough of me to interview me. And I do know what to improve upon both technically and personally. To celebrate/mourn the interview I dragged poor Caroline for sushi lunch. Great food and amazing company, thanks so much Caroline!

The second interview turned out awesome. I feel I really connected and showed that while I’m not an experienced mobile developer, I am an experience developer who can work in any language, platform or paradigm. The opportunity to get into mobile computing excites me to no end. And the job description sounds compelling. Feeling a bit peckish afterwards, so I went to one of my favourite Japanese restaurants for teriyaki. Awesome as always, and I got the bonus of meeting with and catching up with Rudy afterwards.

So why am I writing all this? This whole day and my career situation has really solidified in my head. I spent a good chunk of the day, recording all of my progress in job hunting. I know where I am at, and where I’d like to be. I like it that quite a few different companies expressed interest in me. Also I am so thankful for having such awesome people as my friends. While I can point to many, many aspects in my life that need work on, I am lucky to have amazing, supportive friends. Finally I am thoroughly in love with Japanese food and coffee.

Out with the Old

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I’m preparing for what I hope will be a new phase in my life.  And one of the things I need for this change is a revised online presence.  I’ve experimented with various ideas and concepts.  And I want to try and implement them in my life.

One of the first to feel the changes, will be my blogging.  I deleted my old Blogspot blog.  All the content exists on this website anyways.   Also I’m planning to make this blog more into a portfolio, than just a blog straight up.  The blog obviously will be accessible, just not on the front page.  Also I’m thinking of doing some ExtJS magic and build a new AJAXy theme.  So if the site breaks, you know what I’ve been up to.

On another note, I’m getting back to developing justCheckers into reality.  And on the side playing around with the newly revived Pyzzle game engine.

Update – A Week in Review

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This has been quite a busy week in hindsight.  I managed to build up my portfolio and work on my professional image.  I managed to restart my coding and writing projects.  And I’ve finished up on my correspondences.  I look back and I’m quite proud of my achievements.  I just wish I could move such mountains on a regular basis.

Building a Portfolio

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Yesterday I started revamping my blog, and building my portfolio. Now I don’t really need a portfolio, since I chose a career of software engineering over graphic design and writing. However just because my current occupation doesn’t need my more artistic talents, that doesn’t mean I don’t have any. And it surely should not imply that I do not like to create art or to display it. So I’m putting up a few pages dedicated to a portfolio of my various works and ideas in: drawing, computer graphics, writing, user interface design and organization. How extensive this portfolio will be, depends on how much time and effort I can dedicate to this. It will definitely take sometime, so I don’t expect to finish overnight. Still, I should of done something like this years ago. More often than not, in a professional setting, people show interest in my talents outside of programming. So putting up a portfolio also makes sense too for career advancement. Right now I’m not too worried about that aspect. Rather I just feel like showcasing what I have done so far, and what I plan to do shortly.

Excuse the Dust

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I apologize again for the silence earlier this week.  I meant to post a few posts earlier on, but I did not get around to it.

Also you may have noticed that I’m updating this blog.  In fact in general I am updating and cleaning up my “Web” presence in a big way.  Hence I’m working on refreshing the look and feel of this blog.  I’m plan on modifying the current theme into something I built myself.  And I’ll building out my portfolio, something I should of done ages ago.  Hence I’ll try to keep updating this blog frequently, but I might be a bit too busy for daily updates.  Also the e-mail subscriptions ARE going way, please switch to using RSS feeds.

Quick Update

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Hmm… unfortunately it seems I can no longer achieve much when pulling an all-nighter, as I did in university.  In fact, I feel I maybe less productive due to the sleepiness that comes with sleep deprivation.  (Talk about pointing out the obvious.)  Anyways this week, I’m trying to catch up on work at home, while learning about Spring MVC at work and trying to push forward my projects.  So far, the effort hasn’t really produced much in terms of progress on my projects.  But I’ll see if I slide them during the day.  Anyways, I’ll keep the post for today short and sweet.  I have a lot of writing to do, and I need to plan and execute a technical demo for a prospective client.  Hopefully today, I can push at least a few things forward.

Move It!

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Today I realized I need to get a move on.  I realize now that I must capitalize on the opportunity that is justCheckers.  Originally I set up as a project to learn and advance my skills in programming Java and project management.  I learned a great deal from that project.  And after the project’s stalling, I assumed that no more real opportunities arose from it.  Today I realized I was wrong.  There are a multitude of possibilities that I can exercise in either this project or a similar one.  I’m debating what would be the better move, but I’m leaning towards working on justCheckers for now.
Also I planning some rather massive work on this blog too.  I have plans, and I see clearly how I can capitalize by achieving them.

The Madness Subsides

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I apologize for the silence of in the last few days.  Things really picked up at work, to the point of insanity.  Fortunately yesterday I managed to get the component I was working on out the door.  Still a good amount of overtime was required by the entire team to get our part done.  Hopefully the client will be pleased with my initial contribution.  I’m sure they’ll be satisfied with my latest work as I’m adding the final touches to that component.  Another reason for my silence, is that I’m transitioning to using my cellphone as my main computing platform.  It can feel cramped at times, but the portability is amazing.  I’m sure it will be even better if I get a nicer device like the N900.

Ok, well all I have time for today is a quick update.  I still have a good amount of work ahead of me, and very little time to do it in.

By the way, the new beta release of Kubuntu is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Definitely worth the upgrade.