Salma Saad

When conducting code reviews then you should determine if code reviews are just something you check off your list or have they actually gotten you closer to better quality code? Your motivations and attitudes towards code reviews can greatly affect their effectiveness. When my son started preschool at three years old he was expected to put his shoes on by himself. One of the first directions his teacher gave me was to say nothing if he put them on the wrong feet. I soon came to understand the wisdom of this approach. He wore his shoes on the wrong feet for a few days before figuring out how to get it right all by himself. The important thing is that once he learned he never got it wrong again. People retain information better when they are allowed to learn for themselves rather than if the information is spoon-fed to them. Many years ago I started a new job with a ... (more)

Do You Translate Well from Geek to English?

My son took a bite of his hamburger and immediately exclaimed "it's too spicy!" I knew there was no spice in the burgers (okay there was some black pepper) as I had made them from scratch. I ate some myself and said, "See, not spicy". He took a long hard look at me and then he said "YOU don't think it's spicy, because YOU are not a kid!" Yes I am not a weirdly picky kid who loves seaweed but won't touch his hamburger. I am just the exasperated parent trying hard to figure out the most efficient strategy to getting from a defiant to a compliant five year old. I do realize that to ... (more)

Feeling Valued as a First Line Manager

You were an individual contributor and you were good at your job. Now you're a manager and you've stopped producing something tangible. So what good are you? Why would your team respect you? Aren't they better at the work than you are? The manager job description has a concrete list of things you should be doing. These include some very important activities such as conducting reviews, suggesting training etc. Personally, I need more than what's in the job description to feel like I am providing value to my team. In addition to managing I also need to lead. Leadership is an art m... (more)

Loving Your Work = Losing Out on Life?

Many companies, particularly consultancies believe that anyone who works an eight-hour day is a serious slacker. In my opinion, having people chronically work excessive hours is a sign of poor management. In this article I will share my thoughts on what we should and should not be doing to avoid letting demanding client work take over our lives. I started thinking of this issue while working for a previous employer. Lets call them IniTech (If you’re not a geek and aren’t familiar with Office Space, I apologize). At Initech, I learned how not to manage projects and people. Some ... (more)

Custom Debugging with WebLogic JMX

Maintaining complicated legacy applications is a challenge, which is often made worse by lack of documentation, nonintuitive design, and coding practices. Unfortunately almost all software developers will find themselves with such an assignment at some point in their careers. In the case of any application that utilizes a database, it is very useful to trace SQL statements generated by the application. Such a trace would help with profiling performance bottlenecks, debugging errors, and in facilitating the developer's understanding of the business processes associated with the a... (more)