Having personal projects.
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jith - iii wrote:
I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Documentation isn't a waste of time buddy.
brahmma wrote:
I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding. Documentation isn't a waste of time buddy.
Damned straight. At the same time, though, developers shouldn't waste their time on documentation, and tech. writers shouldn't waste their time on coding/testing/debugging.
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Periodically, I work on pet projects. Usually to learn something new. My employer has no say in the matter. While at work, I do the work I get paid to do. While at home, I do whatever I please.
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil Peartbrianwelsch wrote:
While at work, I do the work I get paid to do. While at home, I do whatever I please.
Watch out for "intellectual copyright" clauses.
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Hi there, my first post in this forum ;-) I'm spending lots of time on "personal projects". I.e. I started learning C# by own proects. My boss says it's okay, as long as I don't forget doing my work ;P But it also benefits my work in our company. Until now, I had to program in "Visual Basic 6" *ashamed*. And now that I'm familiar with .NET, the projects are finished in less time, finally I can do exception handling as I'm used to in Java, and not just "hunt errors" :-D And on the 2nd subect, I wanna say: Documention is a good thing. And should be done by the programmer(s) who wrote the software coz he knows the app best. Sure, it steals lots of time for the project, but saves a lot for further apps. Coz you don't waste time for support. And you also can find a handful of bugs, by just making screenshots. Because you gotta go through the whole app.
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Good documentation is worth a lot. Documentation done just for the sake of having documentation... not so much. The essence of good communication is understanding your audience - kinda hard to write anything of value if you don't even know who, if anyone, will ever read it.
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It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.
--Raymond Chen on MSDN
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
I do lots of it, esp. when u use RAD tools as VS2005. Infact, that is where I got to learn a lot on those MFC, ATL hippies which could be done all night, but nevertheless, I do it at home, don't want ur boss sending u query emails, would u.:laugh:;)
Jesus Loves U
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Actually the Tetris Clone[^] was made, as part of my game developer self education, during the extra hours I spent at work. Few coleagues knew about it, don't know about my manager ;P.
Asynchronously daydreaming...
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I have to agree with Shog. Just started a project with no documentation what so ever, not smart. Even flow diagrams will help, you don't need massive lines to text to convey a message.
bywin wrote:
I have to agree with Shog. Just started a project with no documentation what so ever, not smart. Even flow diagrams will help, you don't need massive lines to text to convey a message.
Picking up someone else's project with no documentation is even worse, especially if your fixing/adding to and the original developer is no longer at the company!
Never argue with an imbecile; they bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Have no personal projects buy do have many ideas for personal projects; the fiancé won't let me do coding at home though :-( As for personal projects at work :-):-):-) No chance! A few companies I've worked for even frown on learning at work (zero personal development attitude!)
Never argue with an imbecile; they bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Hee hee, I have many pet projects - Some which pay, some which don't... At the end of the day my employer knows I freelance but my time is my own. I work at least 10 hours a week on freelance work and end up with enough cash to buy extra geek gadgets (PS3, new PC bits, etc) every now and then. Mostly I do it because I'm a geek and sometimes to help friends though :-D
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Have no personal projects buy do have many ideas for personal projects; the fiancé won't let me do coding at home though :-( As for personal projects at work :-):-):-) No chance! A few companies I've worked for even frown on learning at work (zero personal development attitude!)
Never argue with an imbecile; they bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.
I managed to trade the cost of my ladies wedding dress for a website for the deisgner...That and a few other bits meant we could spend our wedding fund on the other details :-) Also designed www.marriage4you.com based upon wedding experiences - Have not finished it yet but it is my fave pet project of the moment.
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jith - iii wrote:
I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Documentation isn't a waste of time buddy.
At CMM Level 5 it is!
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
If you do personal projects you're going to be improving your skills a lot more than if you just stick with work stuff. But then you have less personal time, so really you got to think of the big picture. I wouldn't publish anything in a fake name. No company has any say about stuff you do in your personal time. Even if it's written in your contract, if it came to the test it wouldn't hold up.
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I usually do stuff for the fun of learning. If I were to copyright ANYTHING my employer would get the credit.
__________________ Bob is my homeboy.
That's one contract clause I'd only accept if I was a) desperate for work and b) had no outside interests. The latter hasn't been true for me since 1999 or so, so it's pretty much a moot point now - even more so since Riverblade took off and I got the ISV bug. :-D
Anna :rose: Linting the day away :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
jith - iii wrote:
How many of you do spend time for personal projects?.
I do.
jith - iii wrote:
And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?.
Why would I ask for permission for something I do in my own time?
jith - iii wrote:
I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names.
Meanwhile, I get my personal projects mentioned in the company newsletter.
jith - iii wrote:
Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer
No. I'd get board with that anyway. I need to be trying new things. That way I can suggest better ways of doing things for the next project.
jith - iii wrote:
I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
But do they do the documentation for to comply with CMM Level 5, or do they actually do something useful with the documentation.
Upcoming events: * Glasgow: Introduction to AJAX (2nd May), SQL Server 2005 - XML and XML Query Plans, Mock Objects, SQL Server Reporting Services... Never write for other people. Write for yourself, because you have a passion for it. -- Marc Clifton My website
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After 40 - 60 hours of programming a week I could'nt think of anything worse to do with my spare time.
Slacker! :-D :rolleyes:
Upcoming events: * Glasgow: Introduction to AJAX (2nd May), SQL Server 2005 - XML and XML Query Plans, Mock Objects, SQL Server Reporting Services... Never write for other people. Write for yourself, because you have a passion for it. -- Marc Clifton My website
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
My boss has no problem with me having my personal projects. I can even publish some of them online, which I rarely do. I think it's a great resource for new knowledge and getting experience.
WM. What about weapons of mass-construction? "What? Its an Apple MacBook Pro. They are sexy!" - Paul Watson
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
jith - iii wrote:
How many of you do spend time for personal projects?.
I do. Personal projects (I assume you mean coding projects, not things like quilting) are how I market myself, because I can write about my personal projects.
jith - iii wrote:
And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?.
One of the reasons I became a consultant. That intellectual property clause can be pretty ridiculous. I've turned down an offer from Microsoft because "no manager will sign a moonlighting waver".
jith - iii wrote:
Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer.
I don't think so. As a consultant, I've experienced diverse industries and diverse technologies. As an employee, I've experienced being locked into tech support after releasing a product and watching the world move from DOS to Windows. In that particular job, I learned Windows on my own and through "moonlighting", as Microsoft puts it.
jith - iii wrote:
I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Most programmers I know don't bother writing a line of documentation. :sigh: Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith -
At CMM Level 5 it is!
I agree with you. CMM Level 5 companies stretch this documentation stuff too much more than what is actually required. I actually work for a small company and we document what we feel is essential for another developer to understand our project. Numerous times documentation has given me a hand, when required.
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero
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jith - iii wrote:
How many of you do spend time for personal projects?.
I do. Personal projects (I assume you mean coding projects, not things like quilting) are how I market myself, because I can write about my personal projects.
jith - iii wrote:
And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?.
One of the reasons I became a consultant. That intellectual property clause can be pretty ridiculous. I've turned down an offer from Microsoft because "no manager will sign a moonlighting waver".
jith - iii wrote:
Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer.
I don't think so. As a consultant, I've experienced diverse industries and diverse technologies. As an employee, I've experienced being locked into tech support after releasing a product and watching the world move from DOS to Windows. In that particular job, I learned Windows on my own and through "moonlighting", as Microsoft puts it.
jith - iii wrote:
I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
Most programmers I know don't bother writing a line of documentation. :sigh: Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh SmithMarc Clifton wrote:
Most programmers I know don't bother writing a line of documentation
Actually thats what many programmers used to do:-D. Even if we document ,we put it in such a way that nobody would easily understand it. But if we intent to publish it,we would care to make enough docs.
Marc Clifton wrote:
I've turned down an offer from Microsoft because "no manager will sign a moonlighting waver".
:):) But not many will be as courageous as you.
Marc Clifton wrote:
As an employee, I've experienced being locked into tech support after releasing a product and watching the world move from DOS to Windows.
My last project was in .Net 1.1 and it longed for 2 years (from 2004-2007) . I did my first sample application in visual studio 2005 only last month.
Marc Clifton wrote:
I do. Personal projects (I assume you mean coding projects, not things like quilting) are how I market myself, because I can write about my personal projects
I know,your site itself would be having descent hit ratio.
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How many of you do spend time for personal projects?. And how many of you are getting permission from your company to do personal projects ?. I know many of my friends do spend time for their personal projects and publish them in fake names. Do a programmer get sufficient knowledge,if he sticks only with the tasks assigned to him by his employer. I know, most of the programmers in CMM Level 5 companies waste sufficient time in documentation rather than doing coding.
I am a Progam & Project Manager. In my earlier career I was (and still am) a hard-core techie. I [used to] work on personal projects outside of assigned scope. Most past supervisers turned a blind-eye or tolerated. Only one ever threatened to fire me. For many years I've openly encouraged my teams to have a lil' project on-the-side, even when deadlines have been tough; with the proviso the day job gets done. Why? Everyone needs a distraction and moreso when the pressure is on or the task is mundane (to the individual). It helps relax the mind and re-energizes for the next sprint (for me as Program Manager, that translates to better-than-average individual velocities; win-win). It also attracts creativity and innovation - you can't really buy that at any price; it's either there or not. I know other Program Managers who feel the same way, though many wouldn't so openly admit... On the subject of documentation: I find many programmers hate it or are not very good at it. So the practical approach for me is to task those who are good at it and enjoy when that option is available. I try (not always successfully) to get programmers to change their mind-set and see documentation as a programming task; another language, another syntax, something to become skilled in, and something that _adds_ value. Whether documentation is for customer consumption, CMM, ISO9000, or whatever, it's there like code for a purpose. My job is to make sure we're clear on that purpose and to see the purpose fulfilled. It's better if we can make that a fun and enjoyable task, distractions included :)