Articles for category: Initiative

September 1, 2015

Greg Thomas

Know your Platform

Learning a new coding language or API is not easy – some you can naturally gravitate towards, especially if that API or framework has an interface for your favourite language du jour. And it is always frustrating because despite all of our knowledge and experience we are starting at the same old examples to get up and running quickly. “Hello World” It can be deflating and demoralizing – you have built such wondrous inventions on C# now must go work on Ruby Rails, or the PHP machine must now do some defunct ASP programming on a legacy application. It has happened

August 28, 2015

Greg Thomas

What Dream are you Chasing?

It is very easy to become entranced in the magic and mysticism of a new venture – whether it be a new startup or project.  We tend to focus on the carrot – what can we get and be if we are successful – and the carrot is always something of the physical variety. Listen to anyone speak on the topic when the offer is in front of them and 9/10 times (based on my own experience) it goes something like this… If I put in x effort, I will yield y reward.  If that happens it will have been ssssssssooooooooooo worth

August 25, 2015

Greg Thomas

An Argument for Self-Training

If you really do not want to become a great developer or team lead, avoid doing anything and everything on this list; Spend time learning and staying on top of new technologies. Join a local user group focussed around a specific platform for technology that allows you to network with your peers. Join groups on LinkedIn to stay abreast of industry trends. Setup Google Alerts to receive emails to your inbox focussed around certain technologies and trends. Watch videos upload to YouTube that walk you through the How-Tos many different ways. Read some (not all) of the blog content out there to get ideas

July 18, 2015

Greg Thomas

Go Deep

One post I wrote about a few weeks ago whilst doing my altMBA was more of a reminder to myself, but I think it bears mentioning across everything we do. When the problems are large and heavy, we all have a tendency to glaze over them at first glance, perhaps become – “knowledgeable in a lot of things, but not really having deep understanding in a few things” – you know, get a gist for what is happening, not fully delve into it. In everything you do, go Deep, dig down, take the problem and twist it on it’s head

July 15, 2015

Greg Thomas

altMBA – It’s Shipping Time

Thirty-One days ago I joined the altMBA class and today it ends.  It started off with a bang and end with a loud KABOOM! Every week I felt like this gif of Kermit, typing furiously to ship once, twice and keep on shipping, day in and day out.  On top of that, I worked to keep up with all the reading on my plate as well as reading and contributing to others.  I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of work, a lot of great work, and it was so worth it.  I have met some incredible people and