When Do You Have "Enough" Design Time?

How do you know when it's time to stop staring out the window... and start coding?

The department had been given a new project. It was a bit like earlier projects, but had a few unique needs that made the application interesting. On the plus side, the software was built using the same framework that the team was used to. So the developers interviewed the users, gathered requirements... and that's when things went astray.

Maybe.

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7 Lessons for Software Developers from Heinlein

Robert Heinlein wasn't really a programmer, of course. But in his writing career he said or wrote several things (in his own voice or that of a fictional character) that can help any software developer improve her code... or her career.

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Several Tech Blogs Worth Exploring. Oh Yeah, All by Women.

Rather than whine about the low numbers of women in technology, I'll turn the spotlight on several geeky women — in programming, design, or other techie circles — whom you might like to discover.

I try to ignore gender in choosing the people to admire, really I do. But sometimes — well, it gets to me.

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Looking Forward to Being Wrong

Here's one quick way to tell how good a colleague is: How does he respond when he finds out he made a mistake?

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I knew it was time to look for a new job when they said....

Or, Phrase Translation: Get Your Résumé Out

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What HR Professionals Look For in a Programmer's Resume

Last week, I wrote about the resume mistakes that can give your job application a short trip to the recycle bin. That was mostly a list of DO NOT DO THIS, and I had plenty of leftovers in the DO THIS category. This week, as promised, I share the opinions of professional HR staff and tech recruiters about what they want to see — and too often do not.

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How to Make HR Dump A Programmer's Resume

We all like to think that applying for a job puts your résumé in front of your prospective new boss: a hiring manager who understands the technical background you carefully explained in your career summary. But most programmers apply for new jobs through the Human Resources (HR) department, which exists to eliminate candidates rather than to find them. If HR decides your background isn't right for the job, the hiring manager will never know about you.

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Taking Time for Appreciation: Jerry Weinberg

No matter where we are in our careers, we are influenced by other people. Sometimes the people who teach us do so consciously, one-on-one; we call these mentors. Others have a wider impact. We call them leaders.

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Learning Job Interview Skills from Actors

People comfortably tell you that every job interview is an audition. Well, yeah, sure. But few people tell you how an actor gets past the audition to get the part. Here's a few lessons from a famous acting book that just might help.

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Four Ways to Get Burned by a Computer Consulting Contract

What lessons can you learn from these horror stories?

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Judging the Corporate Culture During the Job Interview

You don't need me to tell you that your job satisfaction is based less on the tools you use and the skills you learn than it is on the team and company culture. But how can you tell, while you're going through the interview-and-offer process, if these are folks you want to hang out with?

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Microsoft's Regular Expressions

Programming communities and corporate culture naturally encourages the development of peculiar nomenclatures and in-the-know jargon. As a demonstration, here's several expressions and terms used only — or primarily — by people who work at Microsoft... and not used, really, by anybody else.

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There Goes the (Programming) Neighborhood

It's healthy and good for a software development community to take care of itself. But when the community begins to imagine that its experiences are just like those of people outside the community... it's time to worry.

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The Development System You Really Want

Developers claim that their productivity is hampered by employers who force them to work on old, slow hardware. Just how old is the development system you're forced to use?

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Software Development and the Pink Pony Backpack

Because talent is no excuse for arrogance.

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