I’m highly recommend the following videos to any IT person for developing web application. Although I have only watched 2 videos, YouTube and Goolge Talk presentations; they already brow my mind. It is not just because how great the solution, truely there is no one magic solution fits every application/system; it is more about how solution was came out for fixing the performance and scalability in limited resources issues, either short or long term.
Good presentation overall, Enjoy!
Google scalability conference 2007
YouTube Scalability
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6304964351441328559
Building a Scalable Resource Management
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3937025764791991714
Abstractions for Handling Large Datasets
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2727172597104463277
Lessons In Building Scalable Systems
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6202268628085731280
MapReduce Used on Large Data Sets
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=741403180270990805
Scaling Google for Every User
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7039469220993285507
SCTPs Reliability and Fault Tolerance
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=210885113635893162
Cheers!
Learn MoreThis is just repost my last thought on my previous job in Point2 Technologies Inc. In general, I described it by following Point2’s 4 core values:
Exceed expectation at every opportunity
In last 5 years and 10 months, Point2 had given me many opportunities; when I was hired, I never planned to have a chance to learn team and management skills. I never planned to be the technical team lead. With such a unique company culture, you can always exceed expectation as long as you believe in yourself. It was amazing working in heavy equipment team in the last 2 months; it was great success to see acquiring 7 new subscriptions in a month, like a magic. That was the opportunity for me to see how efficient a small team operates together. So I believe you will be able to take advantage of every opportunity in [anytime], [anywhere] and [any size]; it depends on whether you want to exceed your own expectation.
Value the Team above all else
During the job interview in the last few weeks (for my current new job), one thing I’m proud to show to the potential employer is the Point2 technical team picture which was taken in last Sept (2006), about 30 technical people. I put it in my pocket in case I’m asked for a question like “How big is your team?”. As a bonus, it also gives me a lot of confident during the interview. By showing this picture, it already says thousand words as well as demonstrating how great the team which has been built by the team (in particular, from an agile development point of view) and Point2.
Thrill in assertive risk taking and visionary innovation
When I decided to move on for a new career, one of the biggest risks is not sure that I’ll be able to find the same good teammates and company culture as Point2. When time goes longer, human normally feels comfortable and protected in the same enviornment and people. On the other hand, it will take a lot of brave to jump out of your comfort zone. One of my little tip for easily jumping out of this comfort zone is be creative and innovative for your future, this will help to see more interesting and successful future.
Fanatically pursue excellence
I always think about “What’s next?” for my personal life as well as my career. I’m lucky to say that because of my motivation to be excellence (although not always success), I’m able to find what my passion on technology and career. Database and performance is really something I had been working in the last 4 years from time to time. When I saw the posting of my next job, I can visualize what the work is about and how I can handle different tasks and can do it better. What I really mean is to develop a way to visualize what the situation is about will help you purse excellence successfully.
This 4 core values are really what I had learn from my previous company in 5 years and 10 months and I’m able to carry them and use them through out the rest of my career, may be another 20-30+ . :>
Cheers!
| “We are shaped by our thoughts. We become what we think.” | |
| — Buddha | |
http://www.quoteworld.org/authors/buddha
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What do all of these terms mean? Since Sept, after living in Vancouver, I have been taking public transit to work. In about 45 mins each way, I have been looking for way to best use of the time or enjoy my own time. Before I changed to my new 3G Pocketpc phone, I downloaded the music, video and podcast into the mini-SD card to listen which is not bad. However, sometime you have to remember and wait to copy to SD, so is not very much convenient. Lucky me, hee hee, I lost my cell phone; so you know, I upgraded to a pocketpc phone which runs on EVDO 3G cellular network. The speed is awesome and range 400-700 kbps. So, I thought how I can test the download speed is really good. The answer is streaming video, even streaming your favourite TV show from home. That why I purchase the slingbox which allows you to stream TV signal without hooking up to your home computer. You really can’t believe how great the streaming quality is. Now, I can watch TV anywhere (Placeshift), anytime (Timeshift) with my digitial video recorder at home. This week I like to listen podcast again, particular about technology and parenting and find out there is more podcast streaming service (mobilecast or cellcast). this means I can listen to show whenever I want and I don’t need to download before I start my trip everyday. This is very cool! I will tell you more about my mobilecast/cellcast experience later. Have a great mobile + casting day!
More links
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/11/25/the-coming-age-of-the-cellcast-or-mobilcast/
Learn MoreMy son think in front of the big sushi boat. So cute.
I’m already in the WESTern country, what I mean is moving to west of Canada, Vancouver. Here is the message I describe the reason and my feeling for this decision to my teammates at work:
Family
For many times, my wife and I would like to live closer to her family. I said many time, because sometime we want and sometime we don’t want. :> Also, if you didn’t know, we are also expecting another baby at the end of Nov. Yes, will be another cchan, I promise. Actually, I have registered a domain called, http://cchanfamily.com . We don’t know the sex yet, will find out at the end of this month. In Chinese culture, having a senior people at home is like a valuable thing, so we want to try to take this advantage to live with our parents. In particular, I grew up with my grandma and I hope my 2 kids will like that kind of childhood.
Dream
In the past 10 years living in Saskatoon, my wife and I had achieved a lot of dreams (education, job, own family, house), but there is one dream left, living in Vancouver. It is nothing about the big city; it is because we feel like Vancouver is our home town. It was the first place when I arrived Canada and I lived there for 4 years before I came to Saskatoon. Also, my wife and I met there in a college. It is just a lot memory. In the future, may be one day while I’m in Vancouver, I will remember all the good time and good people in Saskatoon and will set a dream coming back to live. :>
Career
I have been working in several types of job in the past, restaurant, sales and software development in few cities. At the end you still need to work with good or bad people. I never actually went through a tough time to find a job, even my current job in Point2. I got this job because my friend had an interview with Point2 in June 2001 but he decided to move to Ontario, so he passed this opportunity to me. Yes, in Point2, there is always a great opportunity for everyone to growth. Initially, one of the reasons I accepted this job is because I want to develop in JAVA programming language, I even had a BC license plate, JAVA, and SK license pate, JAVA SK. I was actually mad someone already took the JAVA in Saskatchewan. So, in early 2002, I had a chance to try VS.Net and that was how I have been working in Microsoft technologies for 4 years. I’m also lucky that I have been leading the talent and hard working people as technical team leader. I have been widening my skills in past 5 years. In the nearest future, I will still work in .Net. In addition, because I strongly believe the potential of current project with LendingTree which is different than other projects in the past, I will continue purse my excellence in Point2 and the great work environment and people.
Thank you for all the support and good work in the past and I wish we will have good working relationship in the future.
Chris C.
Recently, I have been enjoying to read job posting related to my career. It is not that I want to find a new job, I actually do like my current company. However, once a while, you just want to self evaluate yourself, either for your career or personal life. I guess is part of the process of self and continue learning. I’m currently working as Group Program Manager and here is one of the job posting which I recently find is very good to describe this job requirement. How much am I qualified? :>
——————————————————————-
Program Manager
Role:
A Program Manager is responsible for helping to define new Ticketmaster.com products by working with the Product Management, Engineering and Operations teams to define, develop, test and launch these products across the organization. Specific tasks on each project will include authoring functional requirements, developing project plans and schedules, managing tasks and teams, defining and testing usability, and identifying and resolving issues. It is essential that the Program Manager understands the scope and effect of all new or upgraded products, solicits input from all constituents, and involves all appropriate teams. Program Management works closely with every facet of the product and with every part of the organization.
Responsibilities:
· Primarily responsible for multi-cycle projects, or groups of single-cycle projects as part of a larger program designed to release a large product.
· Responsible for scope control with stakeholders, task execution with the development team and relevant upward communication to managers.
· Primarily operates within existing product and technology offerings, working new products into an existing code base through integration management.
· Helps define process improvements and feedback for large, multi-part projects that need creative project management strategies required for timely execution.
· Gathers necessary assets required for development of each project, including but not limited to: specifications, HTML, images, project tool workflow entries, test data and any additional technical documentation required.
· Provide necessary feedback to project stakeholders. Examples include specification feedback, issue escalation to managers or scope changes/clarifications to project resources.
· Manage handoffs at each of the 5 stages in the project life cycle according to guidelines specified in Ticketmaster’s development policies.
· Update relevant project information in the project information database, in real time, when things are happening.
Requirements:
General
· BS or equivalent degree required. PMP Certification a plus.
· Demonstrated ability to manage software development projects in the 5 stages of the project life cycle.
· Successful track record in working with business and technology teams to define, develop, test and launch new products. Must be able to present specific examples where your role required the ability work between technical and management teams.
· Experience in authoring business and technical requirements. Strong writing and documentation skills are a necessity. Must have some experience writing formal technical specifications (i.e., data dictionary, process flows, architectural diagrams, etc.).
· 3-5 years experience in a software development environment, preferably with consumer orientated projects with a regular release cycle. Experience working with Open Source applications a plus.
· Applicant should be a functional web technology generalist without a strong adherence to a specific platform.
Intellectual
· Innate capability to create order out of chaos. Proven problem-solving skills. Demonstrated ability to think out of the box and generate creative solutions.
· Proven ability to communicate effectively with both business people and software engineers.
· Desire to work in fast-paced, multi-task, fluid environment capable of reacting instantly to changes in a competitive business environment.
· Ability to plan, organize and proctor efficient meetings through preparation, stakeholder subscription and an innate ability to guide a group towards agreed upon objectives.
Technical
· Proven experience with UNIX/Linux-based software development. The ideal candidate will have some actual coding experience and abilities, but prefers to see the larger picture and pull together projects.
· A working knowledge of SQL and relational databases is required. Must be able to read a schema diagram and reconcile it with product requirements flawlessly and instantly. Must be able to extract, manipulate, insert and troubleshoot data using SQL without GUI-based tools.
· Solid experience with HTML and other web technologies. Must understand common issues with HTML, XHTML and CSS interaction. Must understand how to read these technologies and provide feedback. Actual development experience in any web technology a plus.
WordPress Gallery2 Integration project is such a great idea. At the beginning, I was trying to find a way to put them together. Now, I have gone through most installation and configuration and I can start to enjoy the beauty of photo gallery and blogging applications.
14657See, my lovely son picture, I can even link a Gallery2 photo inside a post, so neat!
Here are the useful links for anyone wants to build this kind of site:
Wordpress Galley2 Plug-in Installation
http://wpg2.galleryembedded.com/wiki/index.php/WPG2:Plug-in_Installation
Wordpress Galley2 Plug-in Configuration
http://wpg2.galleryembedded.com/wiki/index.php/WPG2:Plug-in_Configuration
Gallery2 wordpress theme installation and configuration.
http://wpg2.ozgreg.com/index.phptitle=Wordpress_Theme_Configuration
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Another good software development from Steve Mcconnell. Although, I only read part of the first chapter, I already learn and agree some things. As a good software estimator, you should aware the differences between tagert, estimation and commitment. Most of the time, project sponsor would like to ask you for an estimation by telling you that they want to finish that many features within a certain time with no additional resource. If you are careful enough, it is actual ask you to commit to a target. As a good software project estimator, you should always remember the 3 key dimensions of the trade-off triangle, as indicated in Microsoft solution framework (msf). The 3 dimensions are resource, schedule and feature. You should go back to ask the project sponsor which dimension is the most important factor and adjust the other two. So if schedule is the most important, then feature may have to cut or resources have to be added. I highly recommend any IT professional to read and own this book.
Steve Mcconnell has others book called: Rapid development and Code Complete.
“Estimation is a process of refinement” from chapter in Rapid development
Learn MoreAfter I week back from the launch tour, I still enjoy to see so many people excited about the new Microsoft products and technologies. Also amaze the how knowledgable for the presenters/experts. May be because that was my first time to attend this kind of Microsoft event.
Anyway, I have used SQL Server 2005 management studio for a week, although still back against 2000 database. It was kind of funny, one day, I have to switch back to use 2000 Enterprise Manager to manage a database emergency issue in my company. The new user interface just too developer friendly, feel like a development tool. It will definitely take a while to familiar, so you anyone else, you should start to use the new management studio even though you still use 200 database. However, one thing I like is allowing you to create a database solution/project, so you organize your favourite db scripts and documents related to database. In my company, going to commit a database projects with useful scripts to version control, so I can share them with my co-worker. Will update my sql server 2005 experience in the coming months.
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