Accidentally in Code

Reflections

Reflections

Homesick

There are many things that make it difficult to move to another country. Finding somewhere to live and dealing with not having a credit rating any more are two that spring to mind. Ikea is another. Then there are smaller, but still annoying things – like the fact that your DVDs won’t play on your…

November 19, 2009
→: Homesick
Education, Reflections, WISE

Women in Engineering Task Force Report

This was discussed at the WECS meeting this week, there’s a new attention to it as the number of women enrolled in undergraduate programs from a high of 20% to 17%. See the full report here. Recommendations are as follows: Raise the profile and improve the image of the profession. Explore how engineering curriculum and…

November 18, 2009
→: Women in Engineering Task Force Report
Reflections, WISE

Different Points of View on the Gender Gap

I don’t know what to think anymore. Too much information from all sides, some positive, some not so much. Today in the space of 10 minutes I came across these two things, one positive for equality – the other, not so much (although the video is charming). Positive – Marcus Buckingham writing in the HuffPost…

November 18, 2009
→: Different Points of View on the Gender Gap
Reflections, Social Networking

It’s Hard to Sell a Newspaper

There are two things that are almost guaranteed to bring out the giant ***** in me. One is people who accost me in the street trying to convert me to one religion or another (it’s amazing none of them have punched me for suggesting they’re mentally ill). The other thing is sales calls. I think…

November 17, 2009
→: It’s Hard to Sell a Newspaper
Programming, Reflections, Usability, Visualization

The Difference Between People-Speak and Programmer-Speak

After I gave my presentation the other week, someone asked a question. It was: So, basically what you’re doing is data-mining? And I said, no, well yes, but that’s not how I think about it. I see it as creating something that will help people understand their use of Twitter. The fact that I achieve…

November 17, 2009
→: The Difference Between People-Speak and Programmer-Speak
Networking, Reflections

A Great Example of Blogging Helping Your Career

I’d never heard of Don Dodge until about a week ago, until he was one of the people laid off in Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs. He took it with great class, you can read the blogpost here. I didn’t subscribe to his blog before, but his blogpost about his departure went viral on Twitter.…

November 17, 2009
→: A Great Example of Blogging Helping Your Career
Education, Reflections

The Accidental Programmer

So far this is the best new name I have for my blog. I’m still brainstorming, but this is a story I want to tell and now is as good a time as any. I wrote, a while ago, about how I don’t have Imposter Syndrome any more. Perhaps it would have been better to…

November 16, 2009
→: The Accidental Programmer
Organization, Reflections

When 1 Week = 7 Steps Back

Last week, and at the start of this week I was feeling really worn out and disillusioned. Things were taking longer than they should, and despite working a lot and effectively I really wasn’t making the progress I wanted to be. I felt like I wasn’t achieving anything. What this really means, is that on…

November 15, 2009
→: When 1 Week = 7 Steps Back
Education, Programming, Reflections

10 Tips for Beginner Programmers

This week I’ve spent a lot of time debugging other people’s code, and we had some fun bugs in class too. This was my favorite bug (I refused to fix it, but she worked out how). I’ve helped people in C, VB, and Maple – none of which are my favorite languages (I didn’t know…

November 8, 2009
→: 10 Tips for Beginner Programmers