Roles in Software Engineering and Other Ramblings

Yesterday I was reading another blog and it lead me to a wonderful site, Software Engineering Radio. Now how many people know this even existed? I never heard of it before until yesterday! A great site! Every 10 days they do a podcast where they talk about software engineering. This interested me because I have a Masters degree in Software Engineering from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). A great school and the most reputable online school. For people like me who WORK full-time and do not live close to Carnegie Melllon or MIT, then UMUC is the school for you. Alright enough of the UMUC promotions, back to my thought.

On the Software Engineering Radio website you will find part I of a great series: "Roles in Software Engineering". It's for everybody, Recent Graduates, Junior Developers, Sr. Developers and Software Architects. They discuss the skills, experience and the mindset needed for SW Engineering positions in large companies, not Mom & Pop places. I found it very interesting to hear what it takes to be a Jr, Sr, and Technical Lead (Software Architect) in a large corporate environment from a noteworthy individual. I tell everybody when you graduate, target large companies to work at because even at the worst ones you will learn essential skills and the attitude to survive in any workplace.

Please don't forget to Donate! It's a great site. Look out for Part II!

Other Ramblings

I was emailed a link to a webcast about a week ago from MSDN Magazine. The topic was "Putting It All Together, SW Development Environments from the Ground Up". I watched the webcast because I figured it might give me a few tips on improving my Software Development Environment. The webcast was fairly decent. The presenter talked about things and ways to increase productivity in a SW Development Environment. And one of the things was, PAMPER YOUR DEVELOPERS! I'm all for that! Give us the right tools and work environment and we will be more productive! Another interesting part of the presentation is that he listed some books every developer should read. It was a fantastic list. A couple I read in graduate school. I will blog about Books Every Devloper Should Read later. But my favorite book everyone should read is Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tim and Tom (Like I'm really on first name basis with these people). Read and Enjoy It. If you are managing a team or hope to be managing a team, you will want to have read this book. Trust me.

Until next time....