If you think it’s magic, you need to learn!
One of the key differences between developers who will grow and take leadership roles and those that merely ‘get by’ doing the minimum is commitment to learning. At a minimum, this includes frameworks and changes to the languages you work with. Developers unwilling to learn will struggle with their jobs and argue with other developers when adapting to project development requirements. Though developers tend to think they are constantly learning, they need to be honest and watch out for certain behaviors.
A simple example of this is when a developer refers to something as ‘magic’. This occurs when they don’t understand how the technology works, particularly when it uses advanced methods (aspects, byte code enhancement, etc). I’ve seen developers simply shut down, horse blinders firmly in place and say that it shouldn’t be used. They’ll make every argument possible and derail meetings by constantly arguing about the technology. Yes, Hibernate can be complicated. Yes, Spring can be complicated. However, they are not impossible and can be learned over time. If you tend to think of annotations as putting in some keywords proceeded by an ‘@’ symbol at the top of a Java class so that something will work, you will never be comfortable with them. Do yourself a favor–learn them. Get yourself comfortable by having a basic understanding of the technology. Most of the time you don’t need to peel through Java JSR specs or read a whole book. You can simply do some Googling and read through an article or two. If you have further questions, discuss it with other developers. And remember, it’s not a race, take your time. Put a few topics to look up in your favorite To-Do application and get to them when you can.
Don’t shackle yourself by keeping your mind closed and only using the rudimentary elements of the programming language. Learn the advanced features. Learn new frameworks. It’s far easier look up articles through Google and read books than to write everything yourself from scratch. Not only will you run across all the same problems and struggles every other programmer has, you will be left behind when applying for your next development opportunity.
Rebirth of the Portal
As part of my regular development duties, I work with portal technologies and portlets. I’ve been working with these technologies since 2005. From the start, I heard about the benefits of being able to assemble software from existing components along with a custom written portlets that would communicate with each other in order to create cohesive portal applications. Like most technologies, you’re promised the world and that it would take care of all the tedious parts of software development. While some of those promises were true, I ran into limitations like handling JSR 168 portlet communication which either had to be handled through session variables or in vendor specific ways. I did get lucky in some respects — Spring had just come out with their Portlet MVC framework and the amount of available information was starting to become plentiful. However, the overly complex configuration of behemoth sized portals dwarfing the web application servers they ran on was daunting to say the least.
As part of a recent assignment for a client, I researched a number of portal solutions which would replace an existing portal. It was at this time that I had started to work with Liferay Portal 6.0. I had heard of it, but I never spent the time to experiment with it. What I found was a lightweight and powerful portal that was only a couple hundred megabytes in size and easy to use. After the downloading and unzipping it, I fired up the startup script and was off and running complete with sample data for an easy evaluation. Installing and starting this portal took minutes rather than my whole work day.
Up until a few months ago, I considered portal to be a dying technology. It seemed that vendors treat it as an afterthought only taking care of it until their customers finally replace it with the ‘next big thing’. After reviewing Liferay I can confidently say that portal technology is not only alive and well, but is thriving with a community of open source developers. With enterprise level support available, it becomes a viable option for companies wanting to invest in portal technologies.
Last month I attended the Liferay West Coast Symposium in Anaheim, CA. I attended some great workshops for effectively using Liferay including web service caching and creating plugins as well as lectures highlighting the upcoming 6.1 features which build upon the platform changes made in 6.0.
One of the new updates is the improvements made to content management. A revamped staging environment complete with branching and versioning allows content managers to create and preview different stage implementations for their site. Versions are created from the changes so that rollbacks are possible.
A new feature that was added is the ability to create Dynamic Data Lists. These are similar to Google Apps Forms allowing for the creation of user filled forms with the results aggregated in the database viewable and exportable with a convenient spreadsheet view. These lists can also tie into the workflow engine.
One of the boldest additions is the new Liferay Marketplace. The marketplace allows Liferay developers the ability to buy and sell software solutions for Liferay. A new hot deploy package type has been introduced (lpkg files) which completely package solutions containing portlets, plugins, etc. which allow for easy installation. Given Liferay’s large user base (over 4 million downloads), this has promise.
I’m definitely looking forward to using Liferay in my future portal work. In upcoming blogs, I will share my experiences migrating to Liferay and developing new solutions using their tooling.
04/29/09 - PHXWUG - WebSphere Portal in the Cloud
Agenda:
- 5:30 - 5:45 - Networking, Food and Beverages
- 5:45 - 6:45 - Keynote Topic: The Forecast is Clearly Cloudy, Presented by Mike Culver, Amazon Web Services Evangelist, Via Webex.
- 6:45 - 7:30 - Real World Topic: WebSphere Portal in the Cloud, Presented by Sonny Coccera, Managing Director, Isos Technology
Keynote Speaker: Mike Culver, Amazon Web Services Evangelist
Mike Culver joined Amazon Web Services in 2006 as a Web Services Evangelist in the Developer Relations Group. He is responsible for working with industry leaders and software developers to help them understand the principals and benefits of what is popularly known as Cloud Computing.
A 20-year technology veteran, Mike was previously at Microsoft where he helped launch the .NET platform, among other roles. In that capacity he managed a team that evangelized large companies to help provide them the tools and knowledge to become successful early technology adopters.
Prior to that he was president and founder of Extencia, Inc.; which was an early innovator in the eCommerce vertical. He also has almost a decade of experience running an IT organization in the wholesale distribution industry, and even experience as a developer using many popular programming languages.
Mike holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
Real World Topic:
Cloud Computing is most definitely a buzz word; however there’s a reason why everyone is suddenly using the term. In this talk Mike Culver from Amazon Web Services will take a look at what the characteristics of Cloud Computing are, and the trends that he’s seeing in the Real World as organizations implement one or more Cloud services. He’ll also provide an update on what Amazon Web Services is up to; and why people are so excited about what most experts agree is a major inflection point in computing. Finally, you will hear about the details of some of IBM’s offerings in the Amazon Cloud.
Amazon.com spent well over a decade and billions of dollars creating an online technology presence of unprecedented scale and reliability. Many of the key learnings and best practices were rolled forward into a new business unit called Amazon Web Services, which delivers these benefits to software developers and IT practitioners as a set of foundational Web Services.
Real World Speaker: Sonny Coccera, Managing Director, Isos Technology
With more than 10 years of consulting experience, Sonny possesses with a unique aptitude for understanding and communicating advanced technology. He has held positions such as Chief Architect and Project Lead with previous employers AirToolz Software and Unity Software. Today, Sonny’s technical expertise provides his clients with an advanced quality of services and solutions. He is focused on the pursuit of better solutions through emergence of enabling technology.
Real World Topic:
Since 2006, Amazon has made their scalable, reliable and cost-effective cloud web services available to customers for running their IT infrastructure. Consequently, a number of companies have made their software available to use through the Amazon cloud including IBM. Learn about Amazon Web Services (AWS) and how you can take advantage of using their global computing infrastructure to run your IBM services. Don’t get left behind–find out what all the buzz is about.
During this presentation you will learn about Amazon’s Web Services featuring the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). You will also find out what IBM software is available for use and see a demonstration of how to setup a WebSphere Portal instance using these services.
Please RSVP for this by Thursday, April 23rd - http://spreadsheets.google.com/a/isostech.com/viewform?hl=en&cfg=true&formkey=cFVTN2RYVGdtanFkejJZWXZvMXBNR1E6MA
Bending the Rules
Rules engine software has been a boon to the businesses that have embraced the technology. Once in place, a good rules engine implementation transfers control of the business rules in a system from the developers to the business users. This departure from the traditional model allows for greater flexibility and response time, a necessity in the modern business environment. › Continue reading
A Healthy Foundation
Healthcare Service Company Partners with Isos Technology
When the stakeholders at a major healthcare management and services company initially conceptualized their new management portal, they envisioned a centralized view of all environment events, business processes and configurations that would serve as the hub for the portal platform. The goal of this “centralized portal” was to bring clarity and responsiveness to the company’s clients and application configurations while providing real time snapshots and historical reporting for their system business processes. › Continue reading
Head in the Clouds
What kind of computer should I buy? What software will I need? With the growth of the computer as a necessary appliance in many American homes, these questions are common. These questions are daunting to the average consumer, whether the intent is to purchase a first computer or upgrade an existing system. The issue becomes more complex when the system is being used to meet business needs for the growing number of small businesses. Add to this the angst that many consumers feel when considering how long it will be before their system is obsolete, and the task of buying a computer system quickly becomes overwhelming. › Continue reading
CSK Auto and Isos Technology - Partners in Portal
The focus of CSK Auto’s Portal Strategy is the integration of personnel, business processes, information, and applications. The company needed a way to provide managers and executives with flexible and customizable views of the company’s key performance indicators. CSK selected IBM’s WebSphere Portal software as the platform for the project. This ambitious technology goal also required portal experts to design, install, configure and develop the vision. To accomplish this, CSK Auto selected Isos Technology as their portal experts to exploit Isos’ portal knowledge to help ensure the project’s success. › Continue reading
Isos Technology presents “The Power of Google Apps” 9th Jun 2008
Isos Technology Presents - “Leveraging the Power of Google Apps”
When: 6.26.08 - 8:30-9:30 am
Location: Isos Technology (60 E. Rio Salado Parkway, Suite 900 Tempe, AZ 85008)
Workshop- Free Event With Helpful Tips on How to Increase Your Business Productivity and Professional Image Through Google Offerings!
Cost: Free
Learn helpful tips on how to increase your professional online presence, client and employee communication and collaboration as well as your overall business productivity. As a small business owner and operator there can often be more work to accomplish than hours in the day. Give your company an edge by learning how to use Google Apps business tools that can reduce the clutter with increased simplicity. Come network, enjoy lunch and check out this helpful workshop focused on providing small business solutions that will indeed cut the chains to your business limitations!
To learn more about Isos Technology’s Small Business Solutions please visit our Small Business Solutions page.
Please RSVP for event at Meagan@isostech.com and include the following:
- RSVP in subject line
- Your Name
- Company Name
- Number of Attendees
Isos Technology: Leveraging The Power of Google Apps
(8-22-08 Tempe, AZ) - Isos Technology, an Arizona based IT consulting and solutions company, is pleased to announce the expansion of their service offerings into the small business market. Isos has partnered with Google as a small business solutions provider of Google Apps Setup Services. These web based Google Apps tools are extremely useful for small or medium sized businesses who are looking for cost effective, simple and easy to use business tools. Google Apps enables businesses to increase their client and employee communication and collaboration, with an overall increase in their daily productivity. › Continue reading
A Retrospective on Handheld Development
Developing robust applications for handheld devices is a difficult task. From limited screen size to lower memory and processor thresholds, the constrained world of handheld devices places restrictions on embedded developers that are often ignored or easily worked around by their more traditional kin. Additionally, developers in traditional or server environments have greater flexibility in their choices of operating systems, programming languages and tooling. › Continue reading
