11.30.05
Posted in Software Development at 12:00 pm by BestFriendChris
So, while wandering around the net last night, I stumbled upon Rent-a-Coder.com. While I had heard of this service before, this is the first time I had ever actually looked at the site. Initially, I thought, “Sweet! Now I can pick up some money doing odd coding jobs.” While I still may do that, I did find a more useful byproduct of the site for entry level developers, such as myself.
I was browsing around, looking at the jobs to bid on, when I found a simple request that I totally felt I could do. The task asked for somebody to write a VB(possibly .Net) app that would read in two files, compare the two, perform some logic, and then write the output to a third file. Seems simple enough, although VB will never do. Rather than bid on it, I decided to just implement it. If I finished before anybody won the bid, I’d bid on it (I didn’t), and if not, at least I’ll learn a thing or two about Ruby on the way (I did).
Ultimately, I think the best part is it gave me a unique problem to solve. I feel, in general, I have two issue when practicing coding. First of all, I tend to stick to problems that I’ve solved way too many times before (This means you, CyberPet). While it is useful to reimplement old designs when learning a new language, this can only take you so far. Second of all, when I’m not using toy examples, I have a tendancy to use problems that are too large to finish (my hardrive is cluttered with half-finished projects). I get frustrated with a problem, and set it aside. I usually do come back to these projects, with varying degrees of success, but it is still frustrating to not feel the sense of accomplishment at solving a problem. By looking throughout the cheap bids at Rent-a-Coder, I find fresh problems to tackle and stay sharp in Ruby!
Out.
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11.24.05
Posted in General at 12:46 pm by BestFriendChris
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m just about to head to my Great-Grandma’s house now. We’re having Thanksgiving on Saturday, but I like to go and help out. You know, I’m a good grandson like that. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, at least to her, I’m a Great-Grandson. teeheehee 
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11.23.05
Posted in Buddha at 10:24 pm by BestFriendChris
So, I’ve been thinking today about disappointment. Specifically, how a week ago I had no expectation of finding out if I got the job by the end of November, found out on Monday that I would, and then finding out today that I won’t. Exactly nothing has changed within one week, and yet I can’t help feeling slightly down about it.
From my understanding of Buddhism, this is kind of the point. All real suffering in this world is created within ourselves. It was my conviction that I would find out next week, and then discovering I was wrong that has led to this feeling. It’s funny, because I have felt these past few months that I was getting pretty good at not letting my insistence that things are a certain way matter more than reality, but that seems to have formed it’s own set of blinders.
The enemy of learning is knowing. Once you know something is true, your mind doesn’t bother trying to learn more about it. The truth is, however, that we can never completely know anything. Who I am today is not the same person I was 5 years ago, or even 5 minutes ago. Once you decide, “I’m not the sort of person that gets bent out of shape over silly things,” you don’t notice when you gradually become that sort of person. And when it does happen, a realization comes over you that you might not have yourself figured out all that well at all.
I think that I’m OK with that. I need to have my beliefs and convictions shaken up once in a while. It keeps me on my toes. Ultimately, the only thing you can do is say, “Today, I’m going to try to not let the little things bug me. If they do, I’ll look at those feelings*, work on understanding them, and try to do better tomorrow.” (rinse, wash, repeat)
*While “feelings” is normally a four letter word to me, I’m trying to work on that as well…
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Posted in Thoughtworks at 1:18 pm by BestFriendChris
So, I just got an email from my “Recruiting Enabler” Tracy. Aparently, the normal “you will know within the next 5 business days” does not apply for now. It seems the higher ups would like to run several candidates through the selection process and choose from the best. Essentially, this is exactly how I thought the hiring practice was before Monday. Now they’re going to be doing interviews of other candidates until mid December, and decide by the end of the year.
I’m not very excited by this turn of events, not only because it means that I wasn’t so freaking awesome they wanted to hire me on the spot, but also because I had just finished psyching myself up to hear by next week. Now’ it’s more, next week + 1 month. I slight difference.
I’m still optimistic, just to a lesser degree than before.
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11.21.05
Posted in Thoughtworks at 3:15 pm by BestFriendChris
So, have I mentioned how much I rule? The first interview was with two developers. I rocked their socks off. They said they really liked my code exercise, so that’s good.
Next up was the interview with the system designers. It was a good interview, although interesting. Especially when they both realized this was the other person’s first interview as well. There was an uncomfortable silence here and there. It’s all good, though.
Finally, I found out that I should know if I got the job within 5 business days! 5! Holy Quickness, Batman!
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Posted in Thoughtworks at 12:45 pm by BestFriendChris
So, I just finished up the tests to see if I’m the stud we all know and love. The logic test was supposed to take an hour, but I did it in 30 minutes. That gave me plenty of time to double check every question. (7 stud points) Next was a 12 minute test to see how good you are with words, math, problem solving, etc. It wasn’t made to be finished. I got 2/3rds of the way through it. (3 stud points, making for a grand total of 10 out of 10)
All in all a good time. The only downers so far have been the aforementioned lack of sleep (although I am in the middle of a killer second wind) and that I forgot to get a receipt for the $40 cab ride, so I’m not sure if I can be reimbursed. Ouch.
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Posted in Thoughtworks at 5:48 am by BestFriendChris
So, I didn’t get any sleep last night. None. I was way too excited. Hopefully it won’t mess up my interview. Yes, in just two and a half short hours I’ll be on a plane headed to Chicago for my interview. Needless to say, I’m pumped. I still need to pick up some cash for the cab fare, but I’d say that I have plenty of time for that.
Well, I’ll try to post something from Chicago, but don’t hold your breath. I might have more important things to do.
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