Review: Facial Recognition by Airlines via Government Data

I'm sparked with many thoughts from reading this article. I would have been shocked like, the passenger in the article, if asked for my face to confirm my seat to on-board the flight. From a technological perspective, does it resolve the seating conflicts that sometimes still occur due to the facial recognition technology (i.e. two faces can't have the same seat)? From an ethical perspective, what other data is known about me with the airline and how else is the airline using it?

As I think more about it, what laws are in place to protect my rights as an American citizen upon my re-entry into the country (via Custom and Borders Protection).

Furthermore, is the government making money using my personal data? What are the security protocols for passing my private, personal data across government organizations? Will people start lying about their identity because of this data exposure without individual's consent?

The author makes some powerful points here that should be heavily considered. We need to apply the same questions to all organizations storing our personal data, and not just Facebook. Especially, the government. And, Congress needs to upgrade their process in getting things done for the people. The people can no longer tolerate Congress's slowness and ineffective methods used to protect the people of America.

Read Article

https://www.zdnet.com/article/facial-recognition-creeps-up-on-a-jetblue-passenger-and-she-hates-it/

Lastly, I'm thankful for JetBlue being responsive and transparent in answering MacKenzie's questions. This is the kind of customer service and trust that people need from private companies.

Review: Great Developers are Raised

"By building mentoring capacity at work, you can hire newcomers, broken toys, impostors and turn them into the loyal, high-quality workforce." - Eduards Sizovs

I wish this was only a tech workforce issue, but it's an issue for every industry unfortunately. And, it goes back to how the education and workforce was built long before the computer revolution.

Anyhow, this Latvian author does an excellent job on summarizing so many thoughts of developers in the tech industry worldwide especially those who reject the tech culture of living at work and programming their life away.

Read Article

https://sizovs.net/2019/04/10/the-best-developers-are-raised-not-hired/

Review: Evolving Role of the Modern Developer

Read Article: Evolving Role of the Modern Developer

In this article, I have come to realize that my initialize thoughts on the direction of a development between the role of a developer and a QA engineer (or tester or whatever you call the person who verifies your code works as expected) is actually correct. I was confused and thought that perhaps the role of a tester evolved into just software engineer in test (SET) because of the positions that the tech giants were creating. In addition, because I see the evolution of AI testing.

But, on the spectrum of the SDLC the roles are becoming more integrated and in some respects these roles are merging into one. This doesn't mean the SDLC is going way. How a product or service is built will still need the basic engineering principles and cycles applied. However, who plays which role while creating or updating the product via SDLC will become more versatile and need a greater understanding of the customer's expectations of the product (and not just a function or feature). And, since no single developer can remember everything about a product, developers will need to know how to kindly work well with others.

Review: Microsoft's AI Class for B-Schools

If you're in supply chain management , business operations, or logistics, then this is a must-read.

Here is another amazing milestone by Microsoft especially with publishing this article as a marketing strategy to shape all kinds of industries that need to start looking into AI implementation now. Just like the Web was coming in the 90's to businesses whether they liked it or not, businesses will need to be ready for the coming AI culture shift. Those not ready - well - will go out of business.

Microsoft launches business school focused on AI strategy, culture and responsibility

Review: Putting Comments into Code

Good reminder on coding documentation. Many thanks to the author.

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/code-comments-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-be9cc65fbf83

Review: Future of Quality Assurance

I agree with this author.
https://thenewstack.io/quality-engineering-the-future-of-qa/

Quality Engineering within each Development Life Cycle phase

Since 2005, I could see "software tester" being eliminated from teams. It's the reason why I shifted from "tester" to "developer" back in 2008. I didn't expect the need for a test automation team to emerge. However, I still think that even such teams will no longer be necessary as development teams grow with understanding on how every part of the development process impacts a product's quality.

In addition, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will create a new path for developing automated "testers" who can simulate the behavior of product users and provide instant feedback to developers. In manufacturing or other assembling facilities, robots will become more like droids.

Regarding quality engineering, the biggest challenge I see today is with the technical leadership having a slow adoption of implementing this "quality" mindset into development teams. This leadership issue is one of the reasons why excellent developers (who already have this mindset) tend to leave and start their own companies. "Quality" developers see an opportunity to create a product (or service) that is better than an existing one. So why wait for technical leadership to see these opportunities?

Test Teams to Test Companies

Some development teams are already leading the charge with implementing the quality engineering principles and leveraging test companies instead of employing testers (or creating their own test teams). An example of an organization to leverage is TestProject.

Here's an example of how they help developers get up to speed with testing their applications (particularly web applications).
https://blog.testproject.io/2018/12/18/net-core-test-automation-selenium-page-object-page-factory/

Here's another company to leverage: TestIM

Going with this development strategy (of leveraging test companies instead of creating own test teams) will save time and money, but with savvy technical leadership.

Expert Users - the new Quality Experts

In the near future, the "User" will be the Tester, Quality Assurance Engineer, or whatever title you want to give to a person who makes sures that a product is working as expected (or beyond expectations). Rightfully so, a product is only as valuable according to the measure given by its user. It's just logical to move towards lean-agile development methodology where it's basically the developer (innovator) and user (expert) creating and maturing the product.

Closing Thoughts on Our Future

Our world will shift from a "buy-sell" model to a "use-improve" model. Therefore, relationships will no longer have a clear line between "business" and "personal" types, but all relationships will carry both types. Every relationship will be "personal" and "business". All experts will need to specialize in developing something and all innovators will need to be experts in using something.

Review: Write Simple Code - Fast

I like how this author points out the difference between a senior developer and junior developer.

"But code is human language. It has to communicate the who, what, when, where, how, and why of a task, as well as instruct the computer. It has to make sense five years from now after the company has been acquired and a new team who has never seen this code before has to crack it open and make an enhancement or fix a bug.

Yes, writing dumb code is hard. ...I know that the best thing I can do for my team, and the future maintainers of the code, is to write dumb code."

https://hackernoon.com/why-senior-devs-write-dumb-code-and-how-to-spot-a-junior-from-a-mile-away-27fa263b101a

KISS

Basically, a senior developer writes the most simplest code - think KISS. Even better, s/he creates the simplest designs and then directs her/his team to code simply according to the simple design.

But, we do live in a real world and almost every developer is trying to gain points over another.

Good luck.

Review: Tech moving faster than skill development

IBM highlights Skills Gap (World Economic Forum 2019)

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty makes a splendid point here in this article.

For most, "technologies are moving faster in time than their skills" and I agree. This adds to my belief that we must upgrade our public schooling system. Waiting until our kids become young adults and relying on companies to train up our kids for the workforce will hurt us all in the near future.

I like this highlight by the article:
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said at the World Economic Forum's 2019 annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that the most pressing issue of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" is the "skills crisis" that would leave workers behind.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-ceo-ginni-rometty-talks-new-collar-jobs-at-davos-2019-1

Microsoft agrees (to a degree)

In addition, here's an article by Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott with a quote that supports the outlook by IBM CEO. Scott goes further than employment into gently suggesting our duty as citizens.

“It’s challenging, because even if you’re a person with significant technical training, even if you’re an AI practitioner, it’s sort of challenging to keep up with everything that’s going on. The landscape is evolving really rapidly,” he said.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/20/microsoft-cto-understanding-ai-is-part-of-being-an-informed-citizen-in-the-21st-century/

And, just in case that's not enough to convince you of the dire state edging our economy, here's another article showing just a snapshot on the timeline of the increasing skills gap.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/two-in-five-technology-job-applicants-dont-have-the-right-technical-chops-survey-finds/

Public Thoughts

Here's what the public thinks, before I conclude my point. And, I wish the public survey by Udemy Research had smaller categories especially for those Over 40 to give insight what the older generations think. Because, I believe those who witnessed more technology impact over more years should have more insight and well thought out solutions.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-do-attitudes-toward-the-skills-gap-tell-us-about_us_5a31af5be4b04bd8793e9714

And here's a quick look at Udemy's 2018 Report.

My Conclusion

Companies must become responsible owners of reducing the skills gap. Our government and public institutions have a greater responsibility in driving the skills gap reduction and even eliminate it.

Cheers,

Review: Open Dialogue about Open Source Software

I really like this author and article. I'll be keeping an eye on the roadmap laid out. If you like Open Source Software, then I strongly suggest that you fill out the form as well.

https://github.blog/2019-01-17-lets-talk-about-open-source-sustainability/

Review: Easier developing isn't actually easier

Here's an article I agree with. The speed and ease of application development doesn't make development actually any easier. The biggest concern from my perspective is developers coding while being mindful application security.

https://www.itprotoday.com/devops-and-software-development/why-easy-software-development-making-things-hard-development-careers

Review: Is C++ faster today?

This was an interesting article. If I ever get back to coding in C/C++, then I'll need to revisit such blogs and catch back up.

I appreciate this author's breakdown and insight.

https://zeuxcg.org/2019/01/17/is-c-fast/

Review: C Programming Language status

The article I read today -
https://insights.dice.com/2019/01/14/state-of-c-programming-language-in-2019/

This was useful to know. Although C is not among the popular languages because other programming languages are more attractive and programmers don't need to worry about low-level coding or resolving performance issues on the application lower layer, C is still useful to understand. Like the author says, it's useful to know for IoT development (or any kind of development related to devices and to robots). Basically, if you're getting into the hardware side of development, then you really need to know C programming language.

Sounds like I too need to brush up on my C understanding! Well, when I get into programming devices or robots. :D

Happy Learning!

Review: Bonus pay hacking Google API

I wish I could get the time to hack away at Google products, especially those with an API.  I'm sure this guy got lucky with this specific product though.

Else, I am sure there would be a lot of pressure on the Google Test teams.

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/messing-with-the-google-buganizer-system-for-15-600-in-bounties-58f86cc9f9a5

Review: Microsoft Open Source Stories - Starting the .NET Open Source Revolution

I really appreciate the author (and his reference to the other authors) on telling this story (and continuing to tell the story of open source revolution).

Quite interesting to see how legal teams slow down tech teams. Even more interesting that legal teams seem to work more independent unlike many tech teams that work more interdependent (because no one likes to re-invent the wheel). Someone's going to need to change the legal system. Well, at least for the tech industry.

https://medium.com/microsoft-open-source-stories/starting-the-net-open-source-revolution-e0268b02ac8a

Review: Microsoft changed the way they Interview

This is great to finally hear! Not because I can't pass such technical difficult interviews, but because such in-depth technical interviews do not reflect how people actually work in tech environments. There's a lot more to developing a key product pushing the industry's tech edge than a random research conclusion or unrealistic (useless) technical solution.

The "Alternative Interview Framework"
https://blog.usejournal.com/rethinking-how-we-interview-in-microsofts-developer-division-8f404cfd075a

P.S. French is a very useful language in the tech world, as I'm starting to see.

References

• https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/microsoft-new-developer-interview-process-2018-12
• https://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-2013-6

Review: Exploratory vs Manual Testing

@fwmoyer states the difference between Exploratory Testing and Manual Testing is a mindset. And I agree with him. Here's a quick article on explaining why.

https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/exploratory-testing-vs-scripted-testing/

Overall, context is always valuable when driving something purposeful. In order to reach quality results (i.e. results that matter and add value), context is required especially to help to create productive roadmaps whether designing, developing, and/or testing.

Review: Traditional Developer vs Cloud Developer

Another interesting article.
https://blog.bluesoftglobal.com/cloud-developer/

I need to do more research on the argument made in this article about the need to become a Cloud Developer. There will just be too much technology to learn if we keep thinking that a techie needs to learn stack development, deployment, tech support, translation of business domain knowledge into technical feasibility, and more.

Teams will continue to grow and not with an all-in-one talented techie. Developers will continue to need to specialize, in my opinion. But, if the cloud handles all the deployment and support issues, then maybe a developer can just focus on - developing?

Review: 10 Critical Tips to Learn Programming Faster

Today's article, I'm focusing on something practical and essential for all people working with technology: 10 Critical Tips to Learn Programming Faster

I like what the author does here and her explanation is straight to the point. But, if you want to know some of the practical challenges accompanying each tip, then here's what I'll add (based on my experience).

1. Start With the Basics and Spend More Time There

• This is fundamental to learning any skill. So, don't learn just because you feel like it or it sounds cool, but learn with purpose; learn with the intent to master the skill.
• This takes time, lots of time! So, start early as possible.
• These basics can become boring if you're learning by yourself (like playing any sport by yourself). So, learn with friends and enjoy the course(s).

2. Coding by Hand is Highly Recommended

• This is a great tip for interviewing, but is practically useless. With so many programming languages to choose from and so many companies using multiple languages to suit their product development, practicing in one language might not be helpful with understanding and using another language. However, practice coding in a way to understand the programming language. Pick a few languages like industry standards such as Java, JavaScript, and SQL. Pick languages that a full stack developer would require.
• Know how to write pseudocode. With the computing industry changing quicker than ever before, it's important to switch between programming languages and still carry the function definitions and application structure over. 
• In addition, other people should be able to read and easily understand your code.

3. Fiddle Around With the Codes

• Don't just fiddle, but start exercising your creativity and figure out how to update the code. This is also called "refactoring". Learning to made code updates is a lifelong skill since most programmers must work on teams which means eventually you'll need to update someone's code - including your own.

4. Reach Out to Others for Guidance

• Make mentors that are tech gurus. It's difficult to find tech gurus, but not if you get involved in open source project like in Apache Software Foundation.
• Take advantage of online mentors (that you may never meet).
• Take advantage of community forums online like Reddit and StackOverflow.

5. Take Breaks to Get Refreshed

• This is not a critical programming tip, but a good tip for every hard worker out there.
• This is much easier said if you don't have any social responsibilities.
• I guess the gist here is to do what you need to do to work smarter and healthier.

6. Use Online Resources

• I thought I would see some reference here to StackOverflow or useful sites where programmers learn to "debug" and "troubleshoot", but I didn't. Thus, make sure you bookmark sites that help you not only learn to code, but learn to decode/encode (so to speak). :)
• There are hundreds of online tutorials. So, go through some sites, pick your top few, and be sure to add YouTube to that list. There are great channels on YouTube offering free tutorials and resources. Also, tech giants offering tutorials use YouTube. Note: I haven't seen many tutorials on Vimeo (or any other online video library site).

7. Read Relevant Material

• What's funny to me about this tip is that the statement with  the "majority of real-life situations...the client's team will possess complete knowledge of their business". From my experience, this is not really true. As a software developer, or aspiring software developer, you'll learn that the business experts eventually become outdated (due to lack of vision and improving current processes rather than focusing on disrupting processes for greater ROI) or they become dreamers (and provide unrealistic visions and predictions).
• Before becoming an expert in a business domain, you'll need to ask yourself about the direction that you want to take your work. Do you want to start your own business one day or invent something? Or, do you want to become a tech guru within the company or industry you're in? After you choose the question to answer (and you can't choose both), then you will learn to understand how to code in ways that will take you to your career destination.

8. Learn From the Bugs

• This is another tip which I find interesting to lack the advice on specifically leveraging online community forums. One particulary online forum that is picking up attention is GitHub. So much code is not being stored in GitHub that one can pick up lots of knowledge on how to create by leverage.
• Again, leverage sites like StackOverflow for debugging.
• Understand the limit of tools used for debugging as well.
• Better yet, learn to write tests (e.g. unit tests, end-to-end tests) before you write your program and then you'll pick up a better habit than debugging.

9. Never Get Tired of Practicing

• Practice with other like-minded coders.
• Practice to innovate, not just to improve - because you'll never reach perfection.
• Problems are neverending, and you'll need to discover how to become quicker at finding or creating solutions. This takes practice, too, and can be practiced outside of coding like with puzzles, understanding economic impact on local developments, studying psychology and quizzing behaviors, and learning different parts of society by volunteering and traveling.

10. Keep Your Cool

• I actually thought this tip would address the politics in a workplace. Every developer not only needs to know how to "play with others", know how to code according to customer satisfaction, know businees needs and where the development team fits in, but also how to challenge bad ideas without offending people as well as add value to an organization's mission.
• Never think your work life is about your life; it's about work. Never bring "work" to your life. Bring "life" to your work.

Good luck, newbie!

Gartners Top 10 Tech Trends 2019

Here's a good article to read for any person who works.
https://sdtimes.com/softwaredev/gartners-top-10-technology-trends-for-2019/

Reference on Test Tools of 2018

As we come to close the year 2018, here are a few articles on the test tools shaping the industry (tech and all others) and that will continue to add value into 2019.

Notice that one of the rising stars is TestIM.io. Keep an eye on this company, its tool(s), and its service(s).

Software Testing Help - Top 20 automation testing tools (Dec 2018)

https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/top-20-automation-testing-tools/

Actually, this is the only article I found online that was recent (aka relevant) and didn't seem to have a bias toward any tools (i.e. promoting commercial over open source, etc).

More importantly, let's keep an eye on the AI automated tools. Just like robots are replacing people in factories, AI will replace the mundane programming jobs. Therefore, humans will need to learn how to establish more roles in the R&D industry (which ironically was almost wiped out by corporations in the early 2000s due to foolish business cuts).