Web Tech / Development / Reviews

MacBook Pro 13" with Retina UK Delivery / Shipping Times (Updated)

2012-11-19T16:08:00.001+00:00

So as there is not much information up online about the shipping times I thought that I would share my experience so far.

I ordered a 13" retina pro, upgraded to the 2.9ghz i7 processor on 13/11/12 at around 9pm for UK delivery. Apple estimated the delivery for 21st/23rd of November.

Currently the shipment is in Germany, with UPS giving a delivery date of 22/11/12. So that will be a 9 day turn around time for a customised order, which I guess is not too bad when you see it is shipped from Shanghai!

I will post another update once it actually arrives :)

Koeln, Germany	11/19/2012	12:11 A.M.	Arrival Scan
Dubai, United Arab Emirates	11/18/2012	9:50 P.M.	Departure Scan
	11/18/2012	8:52 P.M.	Arrival Scan
	11/18/2012	8:50 P.M.	Departure Scan
	11/18/2012	7:39 P.M.	Arrival Scan
Shanghai, China	11/18/2012	1:41 P.M.	Departure Scan
	11/18/2012	12:32 A.M.	Export Scan
Shanghai, China	11/17/2012	5:40 P.M.	Arrival Scan
	11/17/2012	4:10 P.M.	Departure Scan
	11/17/2012	1:44 P.M.	Origin Scan
China	11/17/2012	12:22 A.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

UPDATE:

Just a quick update, it arrived on the 21st, but UPS decided not to actually try and deliver it, so I got it on the 22nd.

I will be posting some reviews of how I am finding using the machine for development work :)

Want to get an Awesome Tech Job?

2012-08-17T11:45:00.002+01:00

So while working on the NerdAbility platform we have been talking with some of the top London start-ups to understand what they are looking for in an employee and also a colleague. This really showed that yes a great resume is still important, but what they really want to see is community engagement and contributions. On the web this can take many forms, whether it is joining in discussions on forums, helping out with StackOverflow questions or commiting to projects on GitHub.

Over at NerdAbility we have decided to summarize some hints and tips into a quick blog post.

You can read "6 Steps to Getting an Awesome Tech Job" here:

http://blog.nerdability.com/2012/08/6-steps-to-getting-awesome-tech-job.html

The Quest for Better Tech Recruitment

2012-08-14T18:20:00.001+01:00

No one is really at fault with the problems in the current recruitment process. We know it's really tough to hire tech people, as its a specialist skill blended with a touch of creativity and art, so how in the world can a potential employer/recruiter realistically asses whether we can actually do what we claim? Enter NerdAbility. NerdAbility is online resume builder that allows users to sign up, and then connect their resume with their blog, stackOverflow profile, GitHub account, etc - the end result being you have a living CV, everytime you get up-voted on StackOverflow, or commit to an open source project you are working on in GitHub, it gets reflected in your resume. So now, you can share a resume (all users have a publicly facing url that they can tweet/facebook/email to recruiters) that really shows what you have achieved, and employers can go ahead and see your code you have commited, or see how you solve problems by your answers on StackOverflow.

There are plans in place to continue building more awesome code repository integration, integrate with social sharing and networking sites and do other cool things to help you pull together all the cool things you do. The interesting thing is that all of this data is already public, but its just spread across a ton of different sites, a NerdAbility profile allows you to go "here's my stuff, check me out".

We also want add an opportunity for companies to make profiles and start pitching why they are great, what they are doing and why people would want to go work for them (plus of course, they will be able to list job openings).

We are based in London, we will be first targeting the UK and Europe to get wicked-cool startups and hi-tech companies on board, but if you are based outsite the UK still come on over and join the party

http://nerdability.com
So much awesome, so little cv!

2011 Reading List!

2010-12-26T18:15:00.005+00:00

Well with my reading list growing at a rate of knots I thought that here would be a good place to put down what I plan to read over the first few months of 2011. Over 2010 I have started / skipped through a ridiculous amount of technical books, some of these for work and tons for my final year project. So as well as posting some brief review of the following books I will post up some of the other great technical books I have found.

Grails in Action
Started this one already! Having gone through several other Grails books / articles I still haven’t fully grasped all of the ins and outs of grails development, mostly because of the tedious examples in other books.

Groovy in Action
Seems like a logical choice to enable me to take full advantage of grails.

What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography
A Christmas present, hardback is a bit of a beast to carry round, but I will preserver. I have read the first few chapters and impressed so far.

97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts
Self describing really? Maybe more of a flick through than a detailed read.
There are tons of others I want to go through, but I will stick with four for now, otherwise they will all become left on chapter 3 when a new one comes along.