Looks Like War Ahead

I've completed my training program well enough. And I'm committed to that cause.

And yet, in the last two months I've had to fight for myself. All things considered, when someone tries to make a scapegoat of me, I'd refuse. So I've done.

There was a time when somebody spent a year developing something. I wasn't invited because that somebody wanted all the credit. Then they thought involving me was not worth it. Now, after a year, when the heat is up, and the delivery date is round the corner, they realise their mistake. And now they want me to take over the failing project. They want me to be responsible for somebody else's crap.

Well, no darlings. I shall not clean up your mess. I shall not be your scapegoat. Find someone else for it.

The coming Monday I'm supposed to talk to my manager's manager. Perhaps that would be my last working day. If so, so be it.

Edit: I've worked 10 hours a day since last three years, only for the product. I never played games. But if you play games with me, I'll be sure to respond. And I assure you, you won't like my response.

Going Easy on the Eyes

Keeping in harmony with my longing for dark themes in applications and apps that I use, it is only fair to my readers that I apply a dark velvety theme to my blog. If you notice that the text color of any of the old posts conflicts with the new background, please bring it to my notice via the comments or mail, and I shall fix them.

On a related note, wish MS had not removed the option of customizing the thematic windows colors in Windows 8. Now that I have most applications working with a dark theme that is easy on the eyes, having to switch back to see a prickly white Windows Explorer or another system window that cannot be customized is just plain annoying.

Update: An Opportunity to Teach

The classes have gone pretty well. I've rediscovered the trainer in me. Perhaps that is why I have promised my participants one more, final session on the coming Thursday, March 14, 2019. That's when I'll be introducing them to some advanced concepts.

I'll talk at length about Reflection in .NET, and provide them with a sample program to demonstrate its use.

Finally, I'll talk about dynamism -- the ability to dynamically create, compile and execute programs at runtime. In layman terms, the ability to make your program write and run another program on the fly! I've decided to discuss this only because I know these trainees may well be expected to use the concepts in their project. And while I'd have loved to provide them samples, I've been told not to.

Of course, they need to learn, discover and implement some things for themselves. That's when they would really learn, enjoy developing, and gain from the experience.

If they really walk that path, and ever hit a dead-end, all they have to do is turn around, and they'll see me. And if they've really done their homework, I'll propel them around the wall as best as I can.

An Opportunity to Teach

Over the last few days I've been basking in the warmth of a unique opportunity extended to me: training new recruits in a programming language I've come to love.

I call it a unique opportunity not because it is a novelty for me. In fact, I've been a corporate trainer for quite some time in my IT career since 1996, when I was also a consulting developer. I've also trained students, who came out fresh from varsities, in practical nuances that their scholastic syllabus hardly addressed.

I call it a unique opportunity only because this is the first time my current employers (from 2005) have ever asked me to take some time out of my otherwise hectic yet monotonous schedule to officially train four new recruits fresh out of their varsity, in a programming language I've recently taught myself and come to love.

Over the last week, I've really enjoyed myself teaching, preparing notes, and creating fully functional sample programmes to support my lessons.

I'm glad I took this opportunity when it came, and I'm glad I made the effort I did, because it has helped me as much as it may have helped my students. For one, it has given me time to reconcile and consolidate my knowledge.

I only hope that my current students have been enjoying the classes as much as I've been enjoying preparing for them. I hope they take home more than just knowledge, I hope they take home my experience. And I hope they use it to their benefit.