Cirque du Soleil & Development Teams

bigmadkev — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 07:10:53 +0000

On Saturday night after ColdFusion Summit 2014 I decided I would treat myself to a show. I’ve always wanted to see a Cirque du Soleil performance namely because how good they look but also one of the trainers to Speed Flex Leeds used to perform with them.

Having given my session on

CFML Developers Hardest Tasks

bigmadkev — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 17:07:12 +0000

Following on from my sessions at ColdFusion Summit this year, I have created a simple survey to get the hardest tasks that CFML Developers have.

This is in relation to the PIE Chart I’ve used in a few sessions of late – the original article from October 2013 is here.

I thought it [...]

ColdFusion Summit 2014

bigmadkev — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 16:58:22 +0000

I’m proud to announce that I have been chosen to speak at ColdFusion Summit 2014.

Again this year it is being held in Las Vegas and will be held on Thursday 16th & Friday 17th October 2014 at Aria Resort & Casino.

I was also selected to speak last year, which really was great fun and [...]

CFML Craftsmanship

bigmadkev — Thu, 15 May 2014 21:48:47 +0000

Today I did my Software Craftsmanship talk at CF Objective, with some great questions from the audience.

I also felt a huge feeling of people wanting to change how they work, to be better code smiths (Not to make it gender tied)

I also did an ad hoc session of TDD with [...]

CukeUp London 2014 – Day One

bigmadkev — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 08:46:12 +0000

After attending CukeUp for the first time last year and seeing the early early early bird price for 2014 it was a no brainer to attend again this year and the added bonus after the purchase that it was extended to two days. The conference is at Skillsmatter and like most of their events it’s [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part Seven – Reading

bigmadkev — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 19:57:22 +0000

Read, Read, Read and Read some more.

We all know that working in technology that things move very fast, by the time a book is published on a technology it’s out of date. There are some books that are timeless, as they don’t relate to a technology / platform. They’re on general topics and subjects [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part Six – Interlude – Passion

bigmadkev — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 18:43:52 +0000

First of all I have the apologise for the gap in the series of postings, with the new year at work cracking on with stuff, the changes we’ve made to the old UKCFUG (Now London CFML & Web Community) and an operation to decompress the carpal tunnel in my left arm continuing this series [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part Five – Meaningful Names

bigmadkev — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 08:00:19 +0000

Naming in software development is in just about everything we touch: variables, arguments, functions, the name of files and folders. In most cases developers don’t pay the naming of things the respect it should be given. The second chapter of Clean Code is all about this.

A (newish) pet hate I have with anyone [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part Four – Clean Code

bigmadkev — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 08:51:24 +0000

At this point I’ve set a lot of the groundwork required to understand what all this Software Craftsmanship is all about. I hope you’ve picked up some of the books I’ve mentioned and had a chance to flick through them. At this point I’m going to start to cover the areas in the Clean Code [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part Three – Books

bigmadkev — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 08:07:36 +0000

One of the big things I’m a real fan of is my Kindle especially now that I have purchased the latest Kindle Paper white, with these dark mornings and evenings it makes it easier to read while waiting at the bus stop. I will also admit that I like a good paper book as well, [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part Two – Learning and Practicing

bigmadkev — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 08:00:31 +0000

In part one, I spoke about how a developers career is their own, not their employers / managers. An extension of this, over the last year many of the conferences I have attended I’ve paid for out of my own pocket, I was given some of the days as training. I felt it was a [...]

Software Craftsmanship – for CFML Developers Part One

bigmadkev — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 08:00:01 +0000

Since meeting Sandro, I have given what and how I code a lot more thought and actually the respect it should be given. Like many developers I get paid to do something I love, something that otherwise would be a hobby. Some developers I’ve met do treat it as a hobby even though it’s [...]

Upcoming Blog Post Series’

bigmadkev — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 22:46:29 +0000

Over the last few years I have been picking up a lot of useful information and experience and none so much as working for General Electric, working with a great management team that just get how development should be done and being able to go to some great conferences like Lean Agile Scotland. (

Adobe ColdFusion Summit 2013

bigmadkev — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:53:42 +0000

I am currently sitting in the Airport Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 waiting for my final flight home to Leeds. Having started my trip almost 7 days ago to the hour, The first annual Adobe ColdFusion Summit was a real blast and really did have the Adobe Max vibe as already mentioned by Jason Dean.

[...]

UK SPAM Text Messages

bigmadkev — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 07:59:08 +0000

After having a quick chat with Brian Wernham (@BrianUkulele) on twitter about Spam Text Messages, he mentioned he replied with STOP and it hasn’t helped. I replied saying that IMHO that if you reply STOP then they know they have an active number and will more than likely sell it on.

So rather than [...]

Big Mad Kev