Align windows in osx

January 25th, 2010 No comments

http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/twoup/

while it doesn’t do cascade of windows, it does a lot for being free. It can send a window to the left/right/top/bottom half of a window. The full paid version allows a little more. Seems to work fine, after I reset the hotkeys.

Useful when trying to view two windows/apps at the same time.

Exchange protocol comes to google mail/gmail

September 25th, 2009 No comments

Exchange protocol comes to google mail/gmail.

Meaning the iPhone can use it!

gmail iphone exchange how-to

Categories: General Tags:

how I’m using software now, as opposed to a few years ago.

August 22nd, 2009 No comments

I’ve used Firefox for a long time… since version 0.6 if I remember right.

The main feature of firefox is it’s flexibility and expandability of extensions.

I’ve now realized, that the majority of the applications I used, are web based.

  • Google Calendar and Gmail has replaced MS Outlook.
  • Google Docs has eliminated my need to carry a USB key around for documents. Having a single repository of documents is great! Also has journaling.
  • I’ve even allowed Facebook to integrated itself with Firefox. At least on my home computer…
  • Ping.fm has allowed me to send updates to all my social network sites.
  • Google Reader and RSS feeds, allow me to read all my sites quickly and easily.
Categories: General Tags:

DOs and DON’Ts for Technology resumes.

August 22nd, 2009 No comments

NOTE: I’m not claiming this is true for all career fields. These are only my thoughts on that matter… I am not an expert nor do I claim to be one in the matters of this post.

At work, I’ve been scanning through resumes that come across my desk to help fill positions.

There are some of the things I’ve noticed when scanning lots of resumes:

  1. Make it SHORT and to the point. 2 page MAX.
  2. Get to the point, my time is value. If I don’t see something quickly, you’re in the “NO” pile pretty quick.
  3. Get someone to proof read your resume. Don’t have spelling or grammar mistakes on your resume. This is supposed to SELL yourself to future employers. This doesn’t mean you’re automatically in the “NO” pile, but it doesn’t help your cause.
  4. Help me like you. I want to like reading the resume. Present your resume in an easy to read format. An easy to read format includes clean formating, and fonts.

I enjoy short, to the point resumes.

Different sections:

Objective: Everyone has an Objective… why, cause everyone has one. “To work in a fast paced environment… yadda yadda….” All objectives are the same to me. Keep it short, to the point, and move on to the meat of the subject.

Skill set: Highlight what skills you have that will be applicable to the job you are applying for. I don’t need long lengthy sentences, where I’ll miss your skills. For me, short to the point information. You know how to use Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Excel, Linux, yadda yadda. If applicable versions that you know. NEVER EVER LIE on your resume. Why would you lie to your potential employer?

Job History: Show here, your employer name, location, start time to end time… Keep the job listings relevent. I do not need to know you were life guarding when you were 18 years old, while you’re trying to apply for a tech position. If you want say you know how to swim, put that in your “Interests” section.

If you have lots of job, put down the jobs that relate. If that causes you to move over the 2 page limit, I suggest TRIM the older jobs to fit the 2page limit.

Education: I find this section useful. For tech I want to know your data structures are sound.

Whatever training you have is also good to know.

Interests: If you want to seem a little more human. This is the spot where I gleam a hint of your life.

References: Never just give references in your resume. Say “References available upon request”. We won’t be contacting your references till after an interview anyways. So why waste the two page limit with stuff that does not matter at that moment.

I’ve seen some immortal disasters that people have done. Epic even.

Keep it brief.
Relevant.
Accurate.
Fluff it if you need to, but don’t lie.
Employers see enough resumes to know fluff.

I welcome your thoughts on tech resumes.

Categories: General Tags:

find svn directories and remove them

June 17th, 2009 2 comments

find . -name ".svn" -print0 | xargs -0 -n 1024 -r rm -rf

-n prevents rm too many arguments error
-r prevents execution if none found (and prevents error!)

originally from:

http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/902/delete-all-.svn-directories-from-current-path-recursive

Categories: General Tags:

Finally! Some kind soul made facebook a little better.

June 9th, 2009 No comments

Remove those silly quizes, that everyone is doing… “what type of X am I” type apps, that splatter your feed.

Author’s page here

Categories: General, Personal Blogs Tags:

Using Google Chrome? Why not try Chromium instead?

February 15th, 2009 No comments

I’m playing with chromium… not chrome, but chromium!

http://code.google.com/chromium/

Chroimium
2.0.163.0 build 9836

Is it fast, hell yeah!
Categories: General Tags:

Consumerism?

January 3rd, 2009 2 comments

I find myself in a midst of buying for the sake of buying. Do you remember buying something because you needed it? What ever happened to make due with what you have?

There’s a fine line, of being a consumer hound, being consumer savvy or even frugal.

I found myself in a local computer store, thinking I needed one or two new hard drives (to put them in an mirror raid solution). Then I realized, why am I storing old information that I’ll never look at again. I should just delete it. It’s not like they’re life time worthy moments like photos, or work that I’ve done. It was meaningless data, that had no future worth.

Delete, delete, delete…

I now have enough storage to last me a lot longer.

Trying to be smarter with my money… just because you have it, doesn’t mean you need to spend it.

Categories: General Tags:

public speaking issue?

December 5th, 2008 No comments

Adrian made a comment about public speaking… i’m not sure how i would react if i was speaking in front of people I’ve never met, as opposed to the telephone conference call I had with these same people I’ve never met.

When I was up in montreal, I think I had a good meeting with peers then. Being able to read and react to people is huge with me. I could tailor my presentation a little more… allow for q&a through out the presentation, or just at the end. See if i’m loosing people, or if they’re bored… reading an audience is huge… while not having any metrics on the audience is very difficult. I wonder how radio hosts do it…

oh well, it’s over… at least I’ve shown the architecture committee what else is out there.

Categories: General Tags:

Loving your job and only wanting to do only ones best

December 4th, 2008 No comments

Work has given us some what 10% days… like Google’s 20% days, but more work focused endeavours. So, today, I spent most of my time, trying to show off the virtues of Symfony Framework for certain parts of a work product, over using Zend.

My analogy is this, you have to paint a big wall, and you are given a single paint brush (Zend framework). Why use a paint brush when a paint roller or a spray gun (Symfony) would be a much better alternative. I’m not saying you can’t use the paint brush at all. Use the paint brush for the corners. Get the bulk of it done with the paint roller. Alternatively, tape the walls, floor, and ceiling, and spray everything. The choice should be use the best tools for the job.

In the end, people looking at the wall will not care how the wall is painted. However, if you’re a customer looking at paying someone to paint it… the customer will care. Said customer is looking at the quality of the workmanship, how much it will cost / the bottom line, and how long will it take? All of which leads to the choice of using better tools.

Categories: General Tags: