Beyond Compare is the easiest I have used and super fast on large files - cross-platform too. Download Beyond Compare Free Trial[^]

How long is a piece of string - requirements would dictate NF compliance.

We switched over to K2 3 years ago and it works for us (red car rental company). K2 offers a great web-based editor (really works) and VS IDE integration. The Forms product works well for simple, forms driven stuff but it is an opinionated framework. Our solutions are all loosely coupled with UI's developed in MVC / Angular and the workflow is kept clean. Great support, good training and quick to develop in - a decent dev can be up and going in a few days.

I have had some good mileage from Codecademy[^] and Free Code Camp[^] I used both sites to brush up on new concepts such as CSS, LESS and the like - they focus on building an application which helps with relevance and context - the plain Javascript stuff was helpful. Have a ball and welcome to the dark side where everything changes by the second and opinions are everywhere!

Mouse hygiene is critical and cannot be done enough. You should also enlist the help of someone else to assist - dusting someone else's mouse is fun and informative and leads to general contentment and feeling at one with the universe. It is also a great stress relief.

At least I got noticed :cool:

If I was unable to fill a position for a DevOps / Continuous Integration and Deployment person at a company with great benefits, working 8 to 5 and you get to pick the tech and the processes? If I would get banned, I will stop........... it is in Joburg, South Africa

From darkest Africa - 30!!

Team work often brings out the best (and the worst) in people. My peeves are about devs who indulge in: 1. Sending an email to the dev in the next cubicle instead of simply having a chat 2. Refusing to commit code until it is "perfect" 3. Making working code not work in the name of "refactoring" 4. Spending a week perfecting the latest LINQ statement and being unable to debug or optimise the thing 5. Deciding mid-project to change data access 6. Bitching about FXCop 7. Logging? What logging? 8. Hubris 9. Read the spec - real devs don't read specs! My two fav's are: Inline braces and swallowing exceptions

Fantabanabulous

I had to freelance out some web work in MVC 4.5 and Sql server. I used e-lance to find a contractor. After sifting through 25 + "vendors" one was selected - I submitted a specification as well as a complete database and a sample web site to use. The estimate was for 3 weeks of work - 7 weeks later I am still fighting issues like passwords in plain text, hard-coded paths, Sql dumps printed to forms, uploads not working etc etc Has anyone had good experiences with work farmed-out like this?

I am looking for a small dev firm specialising in the MS stack (WPF, MVC etc) Only catch is I require a local presence - Gauteng, South Africa - the work is varied and there's lots of it. Payment is regular. :) I tried SO with no success.

Brilliant! Thanks for the SO link - I saw an ad posted by ThoughtWorks looking for developers in South Africa - I will be posting next :)

Threesome, foursome, moresome :laugh:

For my sins I manage a software dev team and due to volumes of work I have to outsource projects on an ongoing basis. I would like to establish a long term relationship with a small, agile team - not interested in e-lance or similar sites. Where is the best place to place ads - I am a bit slow, I could not find a jobs board on Code Project?

I am not a nerd - I would have just re-started.....................

I recently (6 months ago) took a position that was advertised as a Team Leader. It turned out to be more of a meeting jockey / team manager / spec writer position than anything else. The pay is good, benefits are friggin awesome (new car every 6 months :) ) but the lack of coding and frustrations of dealing with HR issues and managing junior devs to get stuff delivered on time is wearing thin. I have to take work home in order to get any development done. Has anyone else had the same experience or moved from this management crap back into dev? How is this seen on your CV/resume? I may have to take a pay cut but even that is better than this crap.

Is Google mail down today?

I am a really good fighter pilot - top dog. Holding down a lousy programmer job because I communicate well - one day I WILL FLY!

I am considering changing employers and one offer is for a SmallTalk developer in the insurance industry. My only exposure to SmallTalk has been 1 semester of CS and I preferred Java to SmallTalk. The employer is willing to train the new victim into the use of SmallTalk. I have a good grasp of OO concepts and patterns. How long would it take to be comfortable using SmallTalk? Would anyone want to move across from C# to using SmallTalk? (using C# since 2001) What are SmallTalk prospects? Are the tools any good ? (Compared to Visual Studio?) Relevant responses would be appreciated.