Redditech's Blog 2.0

Job hunting once more...

2009-08-07T14:33:00.003-04:00

On my last post I was announcing the launch of GigJunkie's new website, the culmination of several months' gruelling effort by the team and I to deliver a brand new experience for the avid live music fan through a social network. The global recession has sadly led to me no longer being part of that team, as such is the case sometimes with startups. I still maintain a great relationship with all

GigJunkie's new improved website launched, check it out!

2009-06-20T17:04:00.000-04:00

For several months the team at GigJunkie and I have been working on making massive improvements to the GigJunkie website, with a strong focus on improving our users' experiences with it. I am proud to say that the team has just launched the live version of the new, improved GigJunkie website, and I invite you to check out many of its cool features. Some of the (geeky and non-geeky) features

Learning from StackOverflow.com

2009-06-07T01:53:00.001-04:00

Great software developers know how to write code very well. Great business entrepreneurs know their target niche communities very well.When the guy behind JoelOnSoftware.com and FogBugz announced StackOverflow.com I knew it would be an instant hit because his talks and blog posts consistently show him knowing not one but both of these things very well.Here Joel Spolsky gives a talk on building

Git For Version Control - Why Choosing It Can Define You And Your Team As Developers

2009-05-23T11:24:00.001-04:00

The first question one usually asks if one hasn't been exposed it is why use version control software?My first experience with version control within a team environment was just after I came off a project where two other developers and myself were unable to deliver a first cut of a project because each of us developed in our own way and style, and we just could not get many, many ownership and

Wolfram Alpha - How it stacks up against Google

2009-05-16T05:03:00.003-04:00

WolframAlpha launched at 7pm CST yesterday, against much Twitter hype. If it wasn't tweeted by Peter Kim I probably would not have been interested in yet another search engine claiming to have Googly potential. I went through the WolframAlpha demonstration video, and my interest peaked. After having used it a bit with several adhoc as well as recommended search terms, I realise that, as a

Presentation on Improving Web Applications - User Experience and Styles

2009-05-01T19:18:00.001-04:00

After a few design sessions today everyone on the team walked away feeling very accomplished, except me. In the pit of my stomach I felt quite the opposite, and though it could have been the flu that I am still recovering from, I needed to be sure that we were not suffering from blissful ignorance and hence getting ourselves into serious trouble when it came to pending estimations we are about to

Repost of Business Blogging Best Practices from Web Strategy By Jeremiah

2009-04-23T13:21:00.000-04:00

These were originally published at http://jeremiahthewebprophet.blogspot.com/2005/11/learn-from-my-pain-business-blogging.html but the link now seems to be dead. However these are very useful guidelines for anyone who decides to take up blogging, not just for business purposes. Image via WikipediaUnderstand and be able to articulate the concept that “The Participants are taking charge” (Scott

Keeping meetings effective

2009-04-02T09:40:00.000-04:00

Image by http://www.prestonlee.com/archives/67 via CrunchBaseThis summary of Seth Godin's principles is quite useful, and lines up nicely with the principles of effective meetings I've learnt from past mentors. One personal goal of mine has been to get the folks I work with to try some of this framework, or at least adopt some of the habits and see their benefit, but sadly, old dogs and new

Seth Godin on social networking and how to do it right

2009-03-16T07:21:00.001-04:00

I haven't had time to blog in a while, but I've been working really hard with the team here to flush out and develop ideas and firm up features for the GigJunkie website that aim to acheive what Seth talks about in this video.

Will I be working in London come September?

2009-02-23T09:42:00.000-04:00

Being a Trinidadian working in London on the now-retired Working Holidaymaker visa, I became a bit anxious when I read that migrant workers will face tougher test to work in the United Kingdom.This is as my permission to work here expires after a year of full-time work, although my visa allows me to stay in the UK on vacation for another year from then. I had recently planned to apply to switch

Introducing Blurbs - and the Redditech "Ground Zero" blog

2009-01-08T07:22:00.004-04:00

I started a Wordpress hosted blog quite awhile ago as I was considering moving to a hosted blogging platform. I eventually settled on Blogger, and this has been a good fit for me for quite some time.However I have noticed a disappointing trend since I started actively blogging again. I visit many sites, either as learning resources, or just to lighten the mood of the day, but not having time to

Best of the holidays to all!

2008-12-24T08:29:00.000-04:00

As I go offline for the next few weeks on holidays, I'd like to wish all the readers of this blog, my family and friends both here in London and back home in Trinidad, the most festive of holidays and the greatest successes in the year to come. Be safe this Christmas everyone, especially when on the road. The last thing the world needs is another drunk driving statistic.

GigJunkie Search Widgets

2008-12-11T13:52:00.001-04:00

Get great free widgets at Widgetbox!

Non-tech - In Memory of My Mother

2008-12-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

Although I've tried to keep the content technical or business related, I've decided to dedicate this one post in memory of my mother, who passed on November 2nd 2008 after having suffered complications from heart surgery in September this year (about the time of my last blog entry). I've decided to post the eulogies written for her and given at her funeral on November 6th, both as my act of

Selenium and VS 2008 - nice, but watch this pitfall

2008-09-03T11:40:00.005-04:00

One major problem for me with building web applications has always been testing the presentation layer of such an application, that is, the part rendered in the web browser. This not only includes ensuring that when a user submits information or clicks on links on a page the expected behavior happens, but that it happens in all the popular browsers. Making the assumption that because it runs in

Google Chrome - Superior Javascript execution claim by V8 is true so far

2008-09-03T07:17:00.002-04:00

The latest tech buzz created by Google has been about its new open-source browser, Chrome. While browsing the very informative (and entertaining) release done via comic book, one of the features that is touted by this new browser is a superior Javascript execution engine called V8. Firefox users have so far been used to the SpiderMoney Javascript execution engine, one which Brendan's Roadmap

Congratulations to Trinidad's Richard Thompson - Olympic 100m silver medallist

2008-08-16T20:26:00.001-04:00

My congratulations to Richard Thompson on his silver medal in the Olympics 100m Men's race. He and fellow Trinidadian Marc Burns have done my homeland of Trinidad and Tobago most proud with their efforts. The fact that the winner, Usain Bolt, was Jamaican is testament enough to the ability Caribbean athletes have to compete at world class levels in sports. I was lucky enough to be in Trafalgar

Experiences with Google Technology Part 2 - Business Professional Track - Gmail

2008-07-30T02:51:00.006-04:00

My initial experiences in a business professional role with Google technology beyond the search engine started with Gmail. Gmail started as Google's free web mail service and has been incorporated into its Google Apps suite, although you can still sign up for a free email account alone if you want. It set the standard for near-unlimited mailbox space among its competitors, and its easy to use

Experiences with Google Technology Part 1 - The Plan

2008-07-29T08:06:00.000-04:00

Image via Wikipedia I've always been a fan of Google and its innovative applications suite. Despite not having a funky name like the Microsoft Office System, the Google products out there today do form a cohesive structure of applications which can support the technical needs of any business or developer. This series attempts to take a look at my experiences with Google technology, both from the

Building a one page resume

2008-07-05T10:18:00.002-04:00

So my time at Teleios has ended. It was a decent place to work, with many memorable folks and events, but at the end of the day life threw me a curveball which I chose to catch by moving out of traffic-centric Port-of-Spain and working from home for at least the next month or so. The upside is that I now have much more free time on my hand while I build a business pipeline and seek new

On Open Source and Business Ventures

2008-06-17T09:41:00.003-04:00

A question was posted recently to the TTLUG mailing list expressing the opinion that venture capitalists locally would never invest in a business which focused on utilising Free and Open Source Software, more commonly known in TTLUG circles as FOSS, because it was such a risky venture (in the writer's eyes). The following is my response to that post, which I thought I'd share with fellow

Comparing IT salaries across borders

2008-06-16T14:19:00.003-04:00

An email was forwarded to me recently about a Trinidadian living abroad who was looking for a current salary survey for IT workers in Trinidad.Having lived or worked in 2 countries outside of Trinidad for extensive periods (Barbados and the US), my first advice to this person was that a salary survey is not what one would need to make the decision of whether or not to work in a country.Rather one

2008-06-03T13:27:00.001-04:00

From Stacey Blackman Consultancy's latest blog posting:“Do or do not. There is no try.”- Yoda......Trying makes Yoda sad. Please be kind.Even though he’s tiny, wrinkly and green, Yoda’s got feelings too. When you “try”, you shove Yoda’s priceless Jedi wisdom back in his face. Sources tell me his feelings get so hurt that he sits on the couch and eats an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s Mint Cookie

Tip: Using SQL Server 2005 Stored Procedure to return the Top N records

2008-05-12T16:27:00.002-04:00

I had a problem today where I tried to make a stored procedure to return the top N records from a table, where N was a parameter input to the stored procedure.Apparently you can't say 'SELECT TOP @N..." where @N is the parameter.A quick search led me to this article by 4GuysFromRolla which re-introduced me to the ROWCOUNT statement and showed how to use it most effectively in this case by saying

On Lisa's Leaving

2008-05-03T10:05:00.002-04:00

Lisa De Coteau is one of the most famous and well loved folks in Teleios. One of the core team members there, Lisa's been in it since the early days of the company when the offices were non-existent and coding happened in the house of one of the founders. Lisa left the company this week, her new husband anxiously awaiting her return to Washington D.C. for them to start their new life together.