As I was learning more about Bowery Farming (which I'll blog soon about), I learned that the founder Irving Fain had created another company called CrowdTwist beforehand.
CrowdTrust
But what really caught my attention isn't the company or the product (at least not for CrowdTrust), but the story entrepreneur Irving Fain in starting his first company. He was working a good job in a corporation and had an idea with one of his colleagues. Together they took a risk and got accepted into the TechStars NYC program where they actually got funded for a few months to *prepare* to pitch their prototype.
TechStars NYC
Wait? They possible accept teams with new ideas but without even a prototype of their product? Well, that's what I understand, surprisingly. See, here's a snippet from the TechStars NYC website:
I like this article although this message seems to never get old. I like this author's point that could help businesses with socially-conscious cultures. #transparency
"A better first step could be providing more transparency to consumers, with publicized details on testing standards and processes for various new tech products. In other words, how was this product tested, and how many iterations did it go through? What were the results? This way, if consumers choose to buy a poorly tested product, they at least know the risks going in—and companies that do spend the extra money and take the extra time for more thorough testing get rewarded with higher customer appeal, even if they’re late to market." https://thenextweb.com/podium/2019/07/30/better-testing-could-solve-most-tech-problems-so-why-arent-companies-doing-it/
I'm coding up another backend application for an outdated system and using the recommended SpringBoot since the client's demand is in Java. I don't know a lot about any specific framework, but I'm learning a lot about SpringBoot during this project. Having already worked on other frameworks and creating my own fun samples at home in JavaScript and Python, I can't help but wonder why this Java framework doesn't already have something so essential during today's programming: a component generator.
Most frameworks that I've used in JavaScript, Python and even Ruby (Rails), have a component generator via CLI. I notice that SpringIO has a Spring Initializr, but it's GUI doesn't provide options to create a standard web application with security for users. I won't go too deep here, but the point is - I'm tired of creating an MVC (where the View is actually just a API page). I just want to generate components from a list of known models and be done (so I can start having design meetings about what the client really wants me to program).
Anyhow, I just wanted to say this on a black and white page. It's another reason why I think need to look for software development opportunities outside of the Java world. But then again, I just need to do some more research. Hey, maybe even try JHipster and see what the hype is all about!
Many developers, technical hiring managers, and even recruiters have heard of "Cracking the Coding Interview" by Gayle Laakmann McDowell. From my experience of interviewing for coding and testing jobs, I've learned that the recruiting process will change as the demands for talent also change. Naturally, it's time to see this process change with the landscape of new talent (even if big businesses continue to lag behind). With many new start-ups and small businesses looking to take their share of the market, the next generation of talent should consider their opportunities and no longer feel intimidated by recruiters or the recruiting process. In my opinion, the interviewing process has always been talked about mutual benefits but in reality have mostly, if not always, benefited the interviewer. But, how would talented interviewees shift more of the benefits to their side of the scale in an interview process?
Taking quizzes on HackerRank is cool. Throwing up all over a Whiteboard to showing code matching algorithms for problem solving is classic. Flexing a GitHub of finished projects is nice. However, none of these show a developer's team chemistry on a new feature which is now essential. And, many technical interviews are now happening online (rather than in-person). Teams don't automatically increase productivity due to talent alone. So, could Byteboard be the answer that talented teams and developers are looking for? Time shall tell.
This is a good article from a Security Engineer at Microsoft. I agree with this author that any security in an application should be the responsibility of the development team and not the security team. The security team is to *help* and *guide* network implementation, application development, and programming of operating systems. Now, if we can only get users to be aware of this.
The University of Washington's Computer Science School is already well known. Having a strong partnership with Microsoft (thanks to Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft) has been a tremendous boost to this institution's recognition as a prestige and innovative. Once again, this incredible school blazes a new trail by promoting internally a new director: Dr. Magdalena Balazinska
Beautiful insight into Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) development and one's career in software development at Microsoft sparking a new shift in advancing technology for developers! Thanks, Tara!!
I know this isn't related to software development, but I think this journey ought to be studied in comparison to lifting up minorities in a field dominated by the majority. In this case, the majority is men; minority is women. See my thoughts after this video clip which does a great job in summarizing the reason behind US Women's Soccer. The same needs should happen within the world of technology. But like women's sports, minorities in tech will only prosper by taking the initiative and building platforms that the next generation will grow well.
Why the US Women's Team is Great at Soccer
But, the US Women's Soccer team aren't the only ones who surprised the world. There were plenty of other teams in the World Cup 2019 that amazed the fans from Sweden's Jakobsson to Brazil's Marta (a legend!).
Netherlands vs Italy
Take for instance the Italian Women's Soccer team. They actually dominated the field against the European Champs, the Netherlands, but lost the game. In my opinion, they didn't lose the game due to lack of skill. On the contrary, the Italians lost due to lack of patience and lack of strategies. Italy's mistakes on the field in scoring plus attitude with the referees gave the Netherlands the opportunities to score - and, with great composure like Johan Cruyff, the Orange did! More blues for the Blue.
France vs USA
Take another instance with the French Women's Soccer team. In my opinion, they had more talent than the US Women's team. However, the French lost due to lack of coaching and strategy. Majri was getting stopped easily by the US defenders. Renard should have been used like Klose (in German Men's Soccer team). After all, Renard was the tallest player on the field and could have scored some easy headers (if coached well). Then, there's the skill and quickness of Diani, my goodness! They should have played her at attacking midfielder, not on the wing!
World Cup 2023!
I watched almost all of the World Cup games and could give my breakdown of each team, but nobody has time for that. The point though I hope is clear - European soccer clubs for women are also on the rise. The next World Cup will be even more exciting and perhaps even more exciting than the Men's World Cup.
Professional Players at Home
So, why haven't these countries compensated these talented players like their male counterparts? #equalpay? If they created these programs and events, doesn't it also makes sense to pay them professionally too? On the Jimmy Kimmel show, Jimmy makes a good point that these champs should actually be paid more than equal - right? And why is the NWSL still having games during the Women's World Cup? Same with the men's Cups (from African Cup to Gold Cup)? Yet, despite the disrespect that these talented players receive, they still show more passion for soccer than any other player. Thank you, soccer queens for never giving up!
Wow, look at FB becoming more involved with the developer community eco-system! This makes sense because FB is more concerned about their mobile app experience for users. So, they are doing whatever it takes to make their mobile apps the best for all users no matter the device used. Specifically, they seemed to be focused on mobile devices, smartphones in particular. Hence, why they are creating code solving mobile app issues on smartphones including ReactJS and GraphQL.
Just in case you are like me and still wondering how long public schools (or any school in some states) will take to catch up with restructuring their schooling system to the workforce demand, here's a resourceful website by Google on Education.
Google isn't the only one, however. Microsoft has their own resourceful website focused on One Hour of Code. Apple has Everyone can Code. For young students specifically, Apple also has an education site called Teaching Code. Even Amazon is aware of the educational crises and creating their own online schooling resource: AmazonInspire. Of course, the other tech giant Facebook has their own with Facebook Education.
Rather than wait for our government or public sector to provide the skills and education that our world demands, I think I'll take the initiative with using resources from such leading companies and encourage my family, friends, and neighbors to learn ahead. After all, home schooling is on the rise and many families are supplementing their social education via faith institutions, sport clubs, city clubs, etc.
In Addition
From this GitHub post, I can even see how hackathons boost the learning levels of students better than coursework in computer science. If students begin to take on this project-based assignment (i.e. learning skills through projects rather than test-based assignments), then students will end up not only learning more but also remembering more. This could spark a new kind of homeschooling or custom learning path. Why not just learn on your own at your own pace and then pass a universal, online high school exam for a degree? Wouldn't that be nice?!
In a field that continues to grow and gain lots of media press, I found this article very interesting. Like, why would a top tech institution create a new programming language for artificial intelligence when other tech giants have already worked hard to perfect existing programming languages for artificial intelligence? Perhaps I need to play with these programming languages more to understand?
If I ever begin writing software for embedded systems, for example a spaceship, then I probably want to give serious consideration to Google's new Fuchsia. I'm not at the level yet, but making note of where to find the Getting Started guide.
3D printing technology for the common man. This industry will continue to grow and this technology will continue to advance in ways that will surprise us. There are already major companies in China taking advantage of producing hard products quickly, especially for specific software makers in robotics and machine automation.
This article was cool to read. I'm glad to see that the new Microsoft continues to support the Linux world. More so, to see that they support the open source communities. This provides great insight that any Microsoft Servers will eventually be no longer supported. On the other hand, if developers (and IT) don't already know how to work in a Linux environment, then it's time to start learning and practicing.
