DumpsterDoggy

Pablo, DumpsterDoggy... DumpsterDoggy, Pablo

Just to let everybody who doesn't already know, I've graciously accepted an invitation to blog for Los Techies! I will still keep DumpsterDoggy.com around, but will not be cross posting to both. The posts on DumpsterDoggy will probably tail off, but should give me some oppurtunities to add new "coded stuff", rather than to write new reading content. This means that most of my goals for 2009 will be carried over to my blog on the Los Techies site.

I debated for about a minute, but finally decided to go as my real name on the Los Techies site. My middle ground will still be my Twitter account and this site. My reasoning is that I don't introduce myself as Dumpster Doggy. I introduce myself as Chris, so I thought I should go with that. I know, even Jon Stewart was shocked! Actually I really just wanted to put up an image of Pablo (Los Techies fearless leader). If you want to keep following this site and feed, you're more than welcome, but my posts will continue over there from now on.

I Know Nothing About Software Development Process

The title of "I Know Nothing About Software Development Process" probably doesn't help my credability any, but I think it fits.

I was privileged to meet Derick Bailey in Austin, Oct/Nov 2008 at the Continuous Improvement in Software Development (Kaizen Conf) (among many others). I hope not putting words in your mouth Derick, but I remember you telling a group of us your "problem " of not having anywhere else to go when it comes to development methodologies. What a unique and amazing predicament to be in. The following is a series of blog posts from Derick that I've been trying to pay attention to as much as I can:

I'll be the first to admit that I have anywhere but down to go. I don't follow a proces at all, whether it be at work or in my personal projects or my blog. When it comes to software development methodology, I'm at the bottom of the stack. I'd love to say that I have something figured out, something that works. I've only been in the industry for a couple years now and I never learned anything that has been enforced. It kind of sucks.

There is Agile, Waterfall, Scrum, XP, Kanban, or any other buzz-word you want to throw in there. I don't mean to disrespect anything by using the term "buzz-word", but whether it's a "buzz-word" or old-school, or something that is new and will be around for years to come. I just want to be able to describe the process of software work that I do.

I don't have any pull at work, but I've decided to at least set up something at home so I can put out features in a somewhat sane matter. I was asked if I needed a bulletin/corkboard for any reason and an idea clicked. I figured I could use it for my office and put up tasks on it. I'm not claiming this is anything at all, but for me, it's a step up.

Here's my task board that I'm using for three projects and "What I'm working on"

I feel this gives me some personal responsibility of what I'm working on without the hassle of context switching (of which I hate!!) to slow me down.

Junior vs Senior Developers

Recently, Chris Brandsma wrote about "Thinking only of the Junior Developer". I agree with pretty much everything he had to say, but Davy Brion commented on the same blog about this post. Here is Davy Brion's take on Junior Vs Senior Developers

I commented on Davy's post about this and since this involves me (I've only been n the software industry since 2006) I thought it was worthwhile sharing here:

For the most part Davy, I agree with what you're saying AND I agree with what Chris is saying. It gets difficult since what matters most is talent; not experience or education. If I were hiring developers for a project, my job posting would include what I want them to know; not how long they've been doing "this" and what their degree is in "that". If they can write good software and they understand the concepts that lead to good software, they'll do a good job and they're the fit for me. Just because somebody has "stuck around" for 10, 15 or 20 years doesn't mean they have seniority over anybody else. It just means they've stuck to their profession for 10, 15 or 20 years. A TRUE senior developer (in my still growing book, as I don't consider myself to be one...) is one who is willing to learn, research, mentor, train and discover alternative ways to develop and maintain software.

I feel that the openness to admit there is possibly another way to do it, in addition to being in a field where we're continuously changing what works best, is a virtue that is often overlooked. This takes neither a Junior nor a Senior developer to recognize this. This leads to good software.

Tie it Together using jQuery

Using the rel attribute, you can tie together your DOM elements in jQuery for simple, yet effective code.

Tab-Like Click Toggle in jQuery

This short sample using jQuery shows how you can implement a tab-like click toggle without much work.

Useful String Extension Method

Here is a short example of how to extend the String class using extensions methods in .Net 3.5.