Tag Archives: consulting

A Return to Normality

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Today marks the first day of getting back to my old schedule and routine.  The transition turned out smoother than I imagined.  Hopefully, no new quirk will appear and I get back to working on all my overdue tasks.  As things stand:

  • Writing the first part of the first chapter in the novel.  Had tweak it a bit to avoid a plot hole.
  • Working out the plan of attack to restart justCheckers development.  I’m woefully unfamiliar with bzr and Eclipse integration is not working well.
  • Some initial plans for the new justCheckers website theme.  Again, new to Drupal theming.
  • My consulting work is back to a regular, sane pace and my own expectations have fell into place.
  • My expectations and goals in general are more aligned with reality and my own position in it.
  • Small urgent tasks keep on stomping on my larger plans, which is a bit trying.  Hopefully this will all settle down soon.

I’ll continue blogging in short irregular bursts, until my projects start moving forward under their own momentum.

Some Thoughts About Life and Consulting

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Some thoughts to think about:

  • Set expectations early. It avoids confusion and hassle in the future.
  • Assertiveness instills confidence and helps achieve what you need.
  • Smiling helps keep everyone positive and repels negativity from you.
  • Show progress cause it encourages people.
  • Review your goals and schedule time lines. This will make them concrete.
  • Break up goals into manageable tasks. This will make your goals achieveable.
  • Be patient. Nothing will improve in your life overnight.

At Least I’m a Full Employee

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I’m not feeling particularly creative today. Or rather the hustle of both my professional and personal life is taking a toll on my creativity. Also sorting out stuff and figuring out a road map for immediate goals takes time.

At least one of the stresses of whether I’ll work for my current employer more or less disappeared. So it looks like I’ll get to keep growing in my current role as a software consultant. Development in real life differs greatly from the sheltered realm of university. Gathering requirements is more difficult. The code base most likely won’t win awards for breivity, simplicity and elegence. And a perfectionist approach to engineering, will drive you insane or into pessimism. Finally consulting requires one to be diplomatic nearly all of the time. For an asocial (not anti-social, I just need solitude more than others) individual, this can be quite a challenge. So far I think I’m achieving this, more or less.

Writing and blogging at least gives a nice way to unwind. But unfortunately this week is so hectic, that I have very little time. In fact, I got to end right here.

A New Hope

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Ok, I just had to take that title. While I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, light sabers and X-wing fighters are cool. So why the title? And why the enthusiasm?

First, I have a job! Thats right, I now work as a software consultant for VisionMAX Solutions. I get to build neat web applications in Java for clients. Its not exactly open source, but the mode of work is very similar. I am pretty excited about the job. I just need to get used to the new schedule.

Second, I started writing again! Yup, I am working on a science fiction novel. First chapter done in rough, and the second chapter progressing well. Lets see if I can keep it up to finish the novel.

Lastly, Ubuntu 8.04 came out recently. I have been running the KDE 4 desktop on it, and its fairly stable. Recently I’ve had some issues with the performance KDE 4. So its back to KDE 3, which is still rock solid. I might get into KDE 4 development and help progress KDE 4 towards the same stability as KDE 3.