It’s 2008…

…so it really is time for me to stop writing ’06’ on the end of my dates…

Happy Christmas

First of all – "Hey look, the Internet!"

Second…

Playing with colours…

…Unless you’re American/a Web Developer in which case the title should be "Playing with Colors". Anyway, my point is that I’m been messing around with colour schemes for the site cause there seems to be a general indecision about the Orange. So, click below for…

• BensHouse.Net in Orange
• BensHouse.Net in Brown
• BensHouse.Net in Blue
• BensHouse.Net in Grey
• BensHouse.Net in Purple
• BensHouse.Net in Red/Green
• The original BensHouse.Net

Until I have a change of mind, Orange is still my favourite, followed by Brown. See what you think and let me know your preference. Or suggest a new scheme and I can quickly draw up a link that’ll show you what it’ll look like…

EDIT: I should mention that some of these are clearly not competitors for the main colour scheme (Seriously? Purple?). However, I included them to give an idea of how easily the site can now be changed. I actually use a link of my own to test out new colours, so as an example http://www.benshouse.net/index.php?ss=custom&l=003366&d=006699 links to a darker blue version of the page. Unfortunately, that link will only work in IE and Safari; Firefox doesn’t seem to cope with CSS extensions that end in php…

UPDATE2: Got it working in Firefox. A mixture of setting the http headers correctly and something wierd that must have happened when the code file got edited.

What are your weaknesses?

I just want to quickly expand on something I wrote in the last post because I’m not sure it’s as well explained as it could be.

…you have to ask yourself if you think you’re really suitable for a job at Microsoft. I mean, us MS fanboys really put Microsoft on a Pedestal here, with the guys in Redmond being Software Gods and in my mind the guys in the DPE Team in Reading (or at least the ones I’ve seen present) are the Jesus’ and Holy Ghosts of this religion (Daniel Moth and Mike Taulty can fight over which they want to be). Each time I’ve applied to Microsoft, I’ve looked at these sorts of people and thought "what do I need to learn/do to become better than them?" The important word there is *better*, because when Microsoft already has people who do the job fantastically well, why would they need more? And doesn’t everyone aspire to be better?

I think there’s a possibility that that paragraph comes across a little defeatist and I didn’t mean it to at all. My point was that when someone applies, they should be thinking about how they would fit in and what thier strengths/weaknesses are in comparison not only with the other candidates, but also with the current employees. For example, I know that to get onto the DPE (Developer and Platform Evangelism) Team I would need both brilliant presentation/communication skills, as well as some good technical skills/experience. I also know that whilst I wouldn’t call presentations one of my weak areas, it certainly isn’t a strong point either. So whilst I could apply for a position, in the meantime I had better be thinking about how (or even better, actually doing something) to improve in this area. That might mean thinking about presenting at DDD7 and other events, or it might mean giving short grok talks to other groups.

 

It is my belief that when applying for a job anywhere, you should know your weaknesses and have a plan to deal with them. Your interview might not focus on your plus points…

What Interests You In Technology – Question Tips

So, on the 4th of January 2006 I wrote an entry entitled "What Interests You in Technology?" and almost 2 years later I still get emails about this. It might be obvious that I didn’t get into Microsoft, but then again I did get a phone interview that year, so maybe I can add some extra advice to help those applying relax a little. Or at least get them thinking…

 

Top of the list is don’t email people asking them what you should write as an answer to "What interests you in technology?" They don’t know you and even if they did the answer they write isn’t going to be in your style. If you can’t write your own answer then you have to ask yourself if you think you’re really suitable for a job at Microsoft. I mean, us MS fanboys really put Microsoft on a Pedestal here, with the guys in Redmond being Software Gods and in my mind the guys in the DPE Team in Reading (or at least the ones I’ve seen present) are the Jesus’ and Holy Ghosts of this religion (Daniel Moth and Mike Taulty can fight over which they want to be). Each time I’ve applied to Microsoft, I’ve looked at these sorts of people and thought "what do I need to learn/do to become better than them?" The important word there is *better*, because when Microsoft already has people who do the job fantastically well, why would they need more? And doesn’t everyone aspire to be better?

 

I’ve gone off on a tangent there, but I don’t mean to sound harsh to anyone. To those who have tried to answer this question and still can’t quite word it properly, here are three simple tips that might help –

1. Do a brain dump of everything that comes to mind when you think about the question. That’s what my original post was, and my actual answer stemmed from that to become a slightly more formally worded reply. At the same time, I didn’t want to go too formal with my answer because that wasn’t representative of my style of writing.
2. Bounce ideas off people who know you. Don’t let them write your answer, but feel free to ask them to review what you’ve written and make comments about anything they think you might have missed. They can also help with wording a little, but only after step 1 and remember that the answer has to be yours. If you’re not happy with it, why are you sending it?
3. Take your time to answer it. Review it and review it again. Check its length and make sure that when you read it back to yourself you are happy with the impression you get from it. Ask yourself if you’d hire a person who wrote this answer. If not, then work out what you need to change to make it a yes.
4. And a final fourth tip in this list of three; make sure you check for spelling mistakes. One of my own pet peeves is when I go back to a document I’ve written and I find a spelling mistake in it, whether it’s in this blog or in a formal document for work and yet I still make them.

What the hell?

Seriously? A few months of barely anything and then 3 posts in 24 hours? What’s up with me?

 

Might as well continue it and do another post later with a review of Bioshock. We’ll see if I get time.

Dreams

Why the hell am I dreaming so much recently? That’s the second one in 2 days, except this one woke me up for some reason. Or the milkman going past outside woke me up (does he have to be so early?)

 

Anyway, what I really wanted to say was that for the first time in 7 months and 3 days, I miss Aber. I felt like I had to write that down now (5am, I woke up at 4), cause by 9am I won’t be missing it anymore. Expect a post in 6 hours or so saying "What the hell?"

The MoD Grand Challenge

 It’s all publically available information, so I’m not spoiling anything by saying that Reading University is part of a team for the MoD Grand Challenge!

The Imagine Cup 07

Yesterday was the final of the UK Imagine Cup, in which Aberystwyth had 3 teams. Comp-U-Teach, I.C.E. and Aperio presented their posters to the judges before I arrived yesterday, since I was really only there as a "groupie". After a quick look at a couple of the other posters, followed by a couple of presentations about what the Imagine Cup is about (including a talk from two of the guys from last years winning team, Three Pair) eventually we learned the top 3. In no particular order, these were –

Comp-U-Teach from Aberystwyth

Herts of Code from Hertfordshire

The Seedlings from Hull

Excellent, Aberystwyth had a team through and for once it looked like Hull could be beaten (previous winners of the Imagine Cup include Hull, a Team from Microsoft, Hull, Hull, a Team from Microsoft (with a member from Hull) and Hull). So for those three teams it was off to prepare for their prestentations and for the rest of the audience it was time to watch Jon Harris and Mike Taulty do an excellent presentation on User Experience. I do like watching those 2 at work.

Eventually, after a short Korean lunch, the three teams returned to give their presentations. The Seedlings went first and presented an idea called My First Programming Language which would help teach school children to solve problems and to program. In all fairness, the microphones didn’t seem to have been set up quite right, as there was an annoying squeaking coming from the speakers throughout the first 10 minutes of their presentation – I can’t imagine how off-putting that might have been.

Next up were Comp-U-Teach (Matt and Simon) with their presentation about World Class, an application which uses video conferencing technology to enable children in one country to learn from those in others whilst giving the teachers in either class the ability to fully control the classes.

Finally, Herts of Code (sorry, I only know Ben on this team) presented weLearn, an interactive reading application which allows the user to read text and highlight it, add text or "ink" notes to it, or search wikipedia for it. Obviously being used on a computer the pages of these interactive books may also include pictures, video or many other kinds of multimedia (like an embedded map from Windows Live Local).

 

A short break later and we’re sat down again awaiting the announcment of the winners. The prizes awaiting the winners included Creative Zen’s for third place (originally they were to be Zune’s, but since they aren’t out in the UK yet…), XBox 360s for the second place winners (with Gears of War and a few other games) and the grand prize were HP Laptops and advancement to the Imagine Cup World Final in Korea. So, the winners were…

 

3) Hertz of Code

2) Comp-U-Teach

1) The Seedlings

How the Hull do they do it?

 

Well it was a fun day for all and I think everyone can be pleased for making it to the final. On a personal note (and something a few other noticed as well) the whole event seemed a little scaled down this year, even though the prizes themselves were more evenly spread. Slightly embarrassingly I already had most of the swag that was up for grabs, but I still needed another Vista/Office bag to carry the things I didn’t have. And I’m not entirely sure why the water bottles have the Windows Embedded logos on them, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy somewhere. 🙂

Dot Dot Dot

So, my remaining things are packed into boxes and an awful lot of those boxes are now in the car. However, it’s now time to pack the laptop, so this is officially my last blog enty from Aber.

 

To everyone in Aber – Bye. I would miss you if it weren’t for the fact that I’m seeing some of you next week in Reading, some of you in Budapest in September, and the rest are equally allowed ranom visits whenever they fancy a night on a couch. And there’s always messenger making the world smaller.

 

To everyone in Reading – Hello! Hope to meet you soon if I haven’t already and if you come round, try not to throw up on the couch.

 

To everyone in America – Just to explain, Reading and Aber are about 4 hours away from each other, so in your terms I’m only moving next door. And since I can only think of one person I know in America (hi Huw) I don’t know why I’m explaining that.

 

Needless to say I’m looking forward to the next few months. I don’t plan much further ahead than that, but I’m sure the rest will be fun as well.

 

Bye Aber!