me talking out loud

Been noticing on the Planet MySQL feed a lot of these. Seems that someone at Info World (Dave Rosenberg) put out a request to see how people work.

Now I fully admit to being a nub in the IT world (I’m only a lower level coder), unlike many of the others doing this. But I still found the concept interesting… So here it goes.

What is your role?
I am a programmer for a small company. I am the only one at my site - the other coders work on different island and in Japan. I deal primarily with with the LAMP stack and do everything from making simple graphics to coding - with plenty of research (personal and the company’s) thrown into the mix.

What is your computer setup?
I have a Windows machine at the office and a Compaq lappy that has Ubuntu on it at home (slowly learning more about how to do things in it).

What desktop software applications do you use daily?
Thunderbird, Firefox, Open Office, gvim, WSFTP, Chatzilla, Photoshop, some kind of IM, and the mysql client
Edit: God - Can’t beleive I forgot putty…

What websites do you visit every day?
RSS feed for many of the personal blogs of PHP people, PlanetPHP, and PlanetMySQL. Actual sites I go to every day - google (couldn’t live with out it), google news, codewalkers.com, php.net manual, mysql.com manual, theDailyWTF.com

What mobile device or cell phone do you use?
Yeah - I have one of those… Don’t know what it is since I never use the dang thing… I like being out of communication sometimes - and my job doesn’t require that I have to have one.

Do you use IM?
All the time. Primarily MSN, though also have the Y! IM and Skype. This is the primary means of communication with the other coders.

Do you use a VoIP phone?
yes and no. I have Skype but I hate talking into the microphone/headphone (always feel funny since I am the only one doing it in an open office). Everyone pretty much at this point has figured out that to talk to me - it is better to simply IM or email me.

Do you have a personal organization/time management theory?
When needed I am big into scheduling.. color coding to help organize a schedule, early planning, finalizing the big stuff - but leaving wiggle room for the little stuff. And making sure I have time to simply stop. When it isn’t needed - simple lists work for me.

Anything else?
As a “lone coder” at my site - I absolutely couldn’t survive without IRC. Being able to ask a question and usually finding an answer is indispensable (boss typically isn’t available and many of the other coders either do not speak English well or aren’t interested in discussing multiple ways of doing something to find the “best” - they just want to get it done). That is where I have found my mentors. And I thank goodness for them every day.

      

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 at 6:04 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.