Accountability log, 11 October

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A quick update for my second accountability log entry; which, to be critical, is a couple of days later than promised. Bad squirrel, bad!

What I’ve done: I’ve met the three main points from the last log; the blog’s technical prerequisites are setup for the MDBP site and it’s registered; and have decided how much time I can devote.

What I learned: I’ve yet to really free up time to do this. It takes a lot longer than I thought to write blog entries, but more importantly, it will take time to find my “voice”. I also learned that I don’t seem to have any problem at the moment coming up with ideas for blog entries, it’s just that I haven’t noted them down properly.

What I plan to do over the next two weeks: Decide on a WordPress theme and implement it. I want to end up with an attractive looking blog that hasn’t come out of a cookie cutter. I also want to start a backlog of blog entry ideas. Finally I plan to write at least one blog entry each week.

A first look at the squirrel’s nuts

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So, here’s an initial rough list of subjects I feel I want to cover. There are a bunch of reasons for including subjects in this list: some career-enhancing; some because there is a certain buzz around them; and others because I’m just curious.

(Curiosity is underrated.)

NoSQL. Can I chuck out my relational database knowledge in favour of the various NoSQL implementations I keep coming across? (A rhetorical question as I well know that it’s a case of the right tool for the right job). But I do need to understand enough from a design and architectural standpoint when to apply NoSQL technologies vs SQL, what different tools are available, and what their sweet spot is.

HTML5. I’ve heard so much buzz about this but to my shame as a web developer I know very little about it and why it’s a big deal (or even if it is a big deal – for me at least).

Python 3. I’ve used Python for over a decade on and off, but for the last four years I could describe myself as a Python-head. Love the simplicity and elegance of the language, its wide applicability, and how productive I’ve become using it. The upgrade to the language is coming and I need to keep my skills current. I also needs to understand the impacts to the current Python frameworks that I use, what migration if any is necessary, and on what timescales.

CSS frameworks. I’ve used CSS for many years as a core part of my role as web developer and am pretty competent, but I have a nagging (no, make that a strong) feeling that I could be doing better. There are a number of CSS frameworks that might make my job easier and allow standardization possibilities across projects. Part of what I need to do is find out what exists.

I am aiming to devote five hours a week initially to digging deeper into these, although I don’t think my initial list is exhausted yet and I may have more to add in my next few posts…

Accountability log, 26 September

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I’m following ThinkTraffic.org‘s “Million Dollar Blog Project” challenge, as a way to learn about creating a good blog and stay motivated. In a nutshell, the challenge is for ThinkTraffic to create a blog that generates a million dollars in revenue over its lifespan, and for all the new blogs started by those who take up the challenge too, to make another million dollars collectively over two years. I’m skeptical about how realistic the challenge itself is, but I’m enthused by the opportunity to learn about blogging from guys who are obviously very successful at it.

Anyway, one of the requirements for public participation is to keep an accountability log, to publicly track my progress against my goals. As per the challenge, the format is simply: describe what I did since the last report, what I learned, and what I plan to do.

I intend to do an accountability log every two weeks for the first few times to get into the swing of it before moving out to monthly logs.

As this is the first entry, I don’t have a “what I did and learned” report … but here’s what I plan to do:

  • Register the blog officially in the challenge website and carry out the technical prerequisites (GetClicky, FeedBurner etc.)
  • Determine how many hours per week I can devote to this project and setup a system to track it
  • Draw up an initial/draft of the learning plan
  • For extra credit: customise the blog design. Looking at the Thesis theme but may choose something else; may also get a logo designed. May carry this one forward to the next reporting period.

Another baby blog is born, in the ghetto

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Howdy everyone! A short post to introduce myself and my first blog. I’m Francis (Fran for short) and I’m a pretty experienced senior software developer, with a lot of years under my belt, and a corresponding wealth of technologies and skills acquired right across the life cycle and all that jazz. Note to self – this is not your resumé …

Anyhoo, I really like the work of making software when I have latitude to learn new stuff and apply it productively to my work. If the current project I’m working on doesn’t permit much of that, I will often scratch that itch myself in my own time (yes, I am sad) or try to find ways to “shoehorn in” some new and interesting stuff if it makes sense.

I’m sure most good developers feel the same way.

But the issue for me is that I accumulate awareness of a lot of these impressive and shiny new technologies without actually taking action to learn them and integrate into my mad skillz.

I’m sure most good developers also end up doing this. Unfortunately.

So, this blog is all about documenting my journey to put structure on all this and actually putting together a proper learning plan, for once. I expect there will be a lot on the detail of what I’ve learned, but also I expect to post about what helps me achieve these goals. I also will publish a public accountability log – there’s nothing like putting your goals out there under public scrutiny as a motivator.

I also want to learn a bit about blogging, which is something I have wanted to do for quite a while but never found a good enough reason to.

Happy squirrelling, and talk soon.