Blog Entries tagged 'Charles Burleigh'

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:00:00 +0100

My current role at work is production support of a very large data warehouse. As you may imagine from reading some of my blog articles that not every day is a smooth one. Some days I spend most of the time correcting data quality issues that show up. These issues are generally due to new code being deployed, either in our system, one of our source systems, or the downstream system that discovered the data issue. Sometimes the issue is due to data entry. The [...]

How Much Testing Is Enough?

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Testing is the process to check the changes in code or data to make sure it meets the business requirements. It is the step before moving changes into the production environment. It is probably the most important step in the project life cycle. If you test properly you can detect problems with the code before they become catastrophic issues in production.

Test cases are written to test the changes in the code. A test case will cover the inputs, the p [...]

The Failure of Education

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:00:00 +0100

I have the benefit of being a “non-traditional age” college student. That means I’m in my 40’s and going to college to finish my degree. I also have the benefit of having one of the best teachers I’ve ever had for my Programming 1 class. He is really concerned that we learn what he is teaching. He doesn’t care if we pass the class, if we haven’t learned the material. It is rare to have a teacher like that, especially [...]

Testing and The Real World

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Today I read a comic strip that had to do with testing in IT. In the strip the main character is upset that the test cases they just completed, didn’t have any relevance to the real world. He was lamenting the fact that he had just spent two weeks testing something that was meaningless. The manager in the comic strip said that they would use the test results anyway because it is the only data they have. At that, the main character says something unkind and [...]

A Data Management Haunting

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100

This coming Sunday is Halloween in the United States. It is a fun time for many, children and adults alike. Children tell scary stories and decorate their homes and classrooms with witches, pumpkins, bats and skeletons. My brother has become somewhat of horror writer. I don’t pretend to be able to spin a yarn as scary as he can, but since it is Halloween, I’ll go ahead and give it a try.

Here is my tale. A tale so scary it wil [...]

Undercover CIO

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100

My wife and I are hooked on a television show called, “Undercover Boss”. In this show an upper level executive, usually the CEO, of a company will “go undercover” and perform some of the lower entry level jobs in his company. The show is very well done and the boss always uncovers the human element of what makes his company great.

The part that impresses me the most with the show is that people tell their co-workers things they wou [...]

Simplicity is Efficiency

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100

I am taking a Computer Programming 1 class at Webster University. I know, you’re probably thinking, “Haven’t you been in a programming career for the last 12 years? Why do you need to take Programming 1?” The answer is, Yes, I’ve been in programming for the last 12 years. I even took a programming class when I was at BYU over 15 years ago, and it taught C++. However, the credit didn’t transfer to Webster, and I’ [...]

All Hands On Deck!

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100

On June 13, 2007, the computers on the International Space Station suffered a massive failure. The failure was so critical that if not fixed, it could have required the crew to abandon the orbital lab. During the first days of the computer failure, the atmosphere control system crashed, as well as the ability for the autopilot to automatically stabilize the station and keep the correct orientation. When the computer system failed, teams of engineers, both Russian and U. [...]

Brother, Can You Spare a Terabyte?

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0100

A few months ago I was playing around with the partitioning on my personal laptop and somehow messed up the hard drive so that I couldn’t save any documents to it. This was the catalyst to me finally pulling the plug and installing the Windows 7 Ultimate Edition upgrade I purchased late last year. However, one thing was keeping me from starting the upgrade, I wanted to back up all of my personal documents, files and settings before I wiped the hard drive clea [...]

Computer Programming Is Like Playing An Instrument

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0100

When I was in Jr. High School, I played the trumpet. When I went to High School, my band teacher invited me to play the French Horn. I really enjoyed playing the French Horn because it had such a nice rich tone to it. My oldest daughter also started with the trumpet and now plays French Horn. My middle daughter in 6th grade also now plays the trumpet. As I listened to her practice the other day I thought how similar computer programming is to playing an ins [...]

When Unrealistic Expectations Meet Unchangeable Reality

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0100

When I was younger, I remember one of the great physics questions our teacher asked us was, “What would happen if an unstoppable force met an immovable object?” That was always one of my favorite physics puzzles to ponder. Now that I’m in the business world, and more specifically in IT, there is a new version of this question that I am often faced with. It is a reality of IT that we are often faced with unrealistic expectations when the business wants [...]

When Two Become One

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Mergers and acquisitions are an everyday occurrence in business. A company that may be in trouble, or not performing well, can be acquired by a larger company to acquire more assets and personnel. Or a company could invent a product that they don’t have the resources to market properly, so they are acquired by a larger company which allows them to market their product properly. Or two companies decide that together they can have a bigger market im [...]

How Do I Get Relevant Industry Experience?

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

In my last article I discussed that it is important for programmers to have more than just code writing skills. Among other skills, a programmer these days also needs to have industry experience. In this tough job market a candidate with relevant industry experience will almost always win out over a candidate without this experience. So, one question that may be asked by those starting out in their careers is, “How do I get relevant industry [...]

The Most Important Skill A Programmer Needs Isn’t Code Writing

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Back in the old days, probably 20 – 30 years ago, a programmer was someone who sat in a back room and wrote code. Someone would bring him a set of instructions and he would translate it into a program and turn the results back over to the business. The programs were usually used to complete one task or get one piece of information out of the system. As the systems evolved, the business started making greater and greater demands on the programmers. The [...]

Going Back To School

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

It’s that time of year again when parents across the country rejoice and many children moan… It’s the back to school season. In my home there is a mixture of emotions. My high school sophomore is excited about the new school year because she is taking some really challenging classes like Honors English, Chinese and two math classes! On the other hand my 3rd grader seems terrified. She is very shy and spent the first week sitting by herself [...]

If It Wobbles Don’t Fix It Until It Falls Over

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

The other day I was at Midas getting my brakes fixed. I saw that they had a poster on their wall that showed the progression of damage that can occur if your tires are out of alignment. In the first picture it showed a little bit of uneven wear on the outsides of the tires. The next three pictures showed that this wear, increased and that the axle was starting to be affected. In the fifth picture the axle was bent and in the sixth picture the axle was snapped [...]

Leaders Aren’t Made, They’re Grown

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

In a previous article I noted that one of the possible career paths in an IT career could lead to management. To be a good manager, a person needs to be a good leader. However, leaders don’t become leaders overnight, they have to grow into leadership positions.

In order for you to become a manager, you first need to be a leader. Leadership is the ability to inspire others to assist you towards a common goal. In order to lead, you need to ins [...]

Concerns of the IT Worker

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

This article is posted on CIOZone.com, a site which caters to CIOs. I hope this message is read by CIOs and hopefully some will leave comments about the topic.

Once a quarter our CIO has a breakfast meeting with a group of employees. This is an opportunity for us team members on the frontlines to discuss issues and concerns with someone much higher up in the hierarchy. When you're on the bottom of the pile, it often feels like your concerns are not bein [...]

Why I Love Offshoring

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

In the early 1990’s there was a huge increase in jobs that seemed to be sent offshore. In 2004 a special report was commissioned by the U.S. government titled, The Changing Nature of Corporate Global Restructuring: The Impact of Production Shift on Jobs in the US, China, and Around the Globe. The study showed that U.S. corporations doubled the amount of American jobs that were sent overseas. The study said that between 2001 and 2004 over 850,000 professional service and i [...]

The Impact of Elections on IT

cnjconsulting@gmail.com — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Missouri had their state primary yesterday. Many states have already had their primaries, but for some reason Missouri waits until almost the last minute. There are only 90 days left until the general election, so there isn't much time for candidates to campaign against their opponents if they haven't started yet. It may not seem obvious, but when you think about it, there is a very real connection between elections and the IT business.

During the [...]