Today was my first team meeting, these are held every month and ran by the department manager.
The subject of the meeting was regarding the parameters of job positions in and around development projects, who's responsibility was each task. This seems to part of an ongoing analysis of the partioes involved in the different aspects of the process, ie from design or build, analyst or developer.
From what I have understood, the results of this will be fed back to the senior staff through our manager and this may have an impact on the way future projects are run.
I will try to get a copy of the document used in the meeting and include this in my reports.
Technically, this week is still very much focused on ColdFusion and currently at two thirds completion. I feel this should probably be a bit quicker however I am writing up my own notes as I go along. I will do a small report on this once I have completed the course.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Hello ColdFusion
Today I have been working on the ColdFusion training material. The training actually started yesterday however today was a better day to update the blog as yesterday was generally taken up by some teething problems.
The problems I had were due to the initial setup and as follows:
Now at close of business I have covered a third of the ColdFusion training and enjoyed all of it so far, the CF package does seem to make web development less time consuming as it can dynamically write HTML and JavaScript, similar to the Agile development module in the first year of my degree, only without the Model View Controller architecture.
Tomorrow I will continue with the rest of the CF training and I expect this will probably take up the remainder of the week for me .
The problems I had were due to the initial setup and as follows:
- Although it installed ok there was a database function omitted from the setup which required a re install to fix (RDS functionality)
- CF required a plug in for the Eclipse IDE, the downloads from CFEclipse were temporarily unavailable but was resolved.
- Adobe training material was written for Dreamweaver not CFEclipse
- As a result of the above alot of time was spent learning about CFEclipse and figuring out the parallels between that and Dreamweaver.
Now at close of business I have covered a third of the ColdFusion training and enjoyed all of it so far, the CF package does seem to make web development less time consuming as it can dynamically write HTML and JavaScript, similar to the Agile development module in the first year of my degree, only without the Model View Controller architecture.
Tomorrow I will continue with the rest of the CF training and I expect this will probably take up the remainder of the week for me .
Friday, 16 July 2010
Still establishing an online presence....
Friday and the end of my second full week, as mentioned in yesterdays blog my current project is getting up to speed with web based engineering. I have now completed the W3 HTML tutorials and written an accompanying tutorial for cut/paste code snippets without having to trawl the internet. Yestarday I also started on the CSS tutorials (which is a bit bigger than I expected) and looking to make a dent in the Javascript tutorials by close of business.
Something worth mentioning here is that although I am still in my incubatory phase here I have noticed a big difference in how I am learning, I think I am being exposed to a wider range of techniques in software development and over the last few days I think I have covered more of the database procedures than I did on the databases module at Napier. I understand its pretty big of me to say that while not having applied the skills professionally however the difference seems to lie in that we were taught within the confines of the coursework we were working towards, although we touched on a broader spectrum of topics in lectures some of the methodologies and techniques we discussed were easily placed at the back of a folder since they weren't part of the working set or simply forgotten since there was no practicle application of the fringe subjects.
Given the time and resource constraints at Napier (in terms of lecturer time/workload/resources etc) I would imagine that there is not alot of opportunities for deviation in the run up to a coursework.
Here over the last fortnight I have seen deeper into the capabilities if the technology we use and still only really scratching the surface, whats next......?
Something worth mentioning here is that although I am still in my incubatory phase here I have noticed a big difference in how I am learning, I think I am being exposed to a wider range of techniques in software development and over the last few days I think I have covered more of the database procedures than I did on the databases module at Napier. I understand its pretty big of me to say that while not having applied the skills professionally however the difference seems to lie in that we were taught within the confines of the coursework we were working towards, although we touched on a broader spectrum of topics in lectures some of the methodologies and techniques we discussed were easily placed at the back of a folder since they weren't part of the working set or simply forgotten since there was no practicle application of the fringe subjects.
Given the time and resource constraints at Napier (in terms of lecturer time/workload/resources etc) I would imagine that there is not alot of opportunities for deviation in the run up to a coursework.
Here over the last fortnight I have seen deeper into the capabilities if the technology we use and still only really scratching the surface, whats next......?
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Establishing an Online presence
Good Morning! Today I am working on HTML, through a series of training sessions using the W3 schools and WebMonkey websites, the focus will be on (X)HTML, CSS & Javascript. Up to this point my experience with Web Technologies has been restricted to the coursework given in the university environment, the coursework itself was very good and I learned alot from the two web applications I developed. In my opinion what I am doing now is revisiting alot of that work however it's now in a professional environment and it will pay dividends to learn how these applications are developed in real world situations, I also expect to learn more about these technologies, how they work and how I can create and manipulate them for myself.
I strongly believe that I need to be in a position of autonomy with regards to my technical abilities to be an effective software engineer which is the whole point of my 4 years at university.
Coldfusion was on the agenda for today, I understand that Bill had discussed this with Peter and Mairi and was worried that given the depth of the training material he would rather there was support available rather than leave me to it, a point I understand completely and I find it reflects the departments positive attitude to development.
I strongly believe that I need to be in a position of autonomy with regards to my technical abilities to be an effective software engineer which is the whole point of my 4 years at university.
Coldfusion was on the agenda for today, I understand that Bill had discussed this with Peter and Mairi and was worried that given the depth of the training material he would rather there was support available rather than leave me to it, a point I understand completely and I find it reflects the departments positive attitude to development.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Tuesday of week 2, Learning agreement was started yesterday covering the history and structure of the University, today will be more research into the departmental structure and that will see the first section finished, the next stage in the agreement will be to identify the study area's for the next year, although after speaking with my mentor Mairi yesterday there is a possiblity of project work coming my way today however I understand the Euclid project is keeping everyone here quite busy and time to fit in the placement student may be at a premium for the team.
Secondly I finished the Oracle course also and have set about typing my notes into a concise tutorial containing only the code structure and guidelines, this should provide a copy/paste template which in my past experience will provide assistance while I apply what I've learned.
I've just spoken to Mairi (9.30am) regarding todays workload, aside from typing this up I've also been working on my Database tutorial and setting up my diary for today, I have been trying to guage what work is in the pipeline for me so I can plan my workload around the tasks coming through the university. Today is pretty much a free day in terms of assignments so I plan to finish off my tutorial and section 1 of the learning agreement, what Mairi has said is Bill our departmental manager wanted me to start looking at ColdFusion (web dev) I plan on doing something with this in the afternoon.
4.30 pm now, all done as planned!
Secondly I finished the Oracle course also and have set about typing my notes into a concise tutorial containing only the code structure and guidelines, this should provide a copy/paste template which in my past experience will provide assistance while I apply what I've learned.
I've just spoken to Mairi (9.30am) regarding todays workload, aside from typing this up I've also been working on my Database tutorial and setting up my diary for today, I have been trying to guage what work is in the pipeline for me so I can plan my workload around the tasks coming through the university. Today is pretty much a free day in terms of assignments so I plan to finish off my tutorial and section 1 of the learning agreement, what Mairi has said is Bill our departmental manager wanted me to start looking at ColdFusion (web dev) I plan on doing something with this in the afternoon.
4.30 pm now, all done as planned!
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Nearing the end of week 1
Its now Thursday of week one.
Yesterday was my induction with Liam McDowal and Kevin Brogan of the Directors office, two other Napier students were also present at the meeting. The meeting covered generic operating procedures such as time recording and a ubiquitous health and safety brief.
At 1pm I had a meeting with Sanccia the current placement student to discuss some of the requirements for the year ahead with regard to coursework and a bit of guidance in terms of content for this blog.
I have also been seconded to the role of Computer representative, the purpose of this roll is to have a person in each department who can take on the roll of technician or typical IT guy, when a new computer or user comes into the department it's my job to prepare their pc equipement, same applies when it comes to any problems which may arise. The concept being is that there is a nominated rep in most departments who is on hand locally to tend to the technical issues, this in turn gives a certain level of autonomy to the department without over reliance on a central IT department. I had a discussion yesterday morning with Bill Lee, head of development team and the concept of the position was explained to me. I carried out the role practically last night when preparing a new PC for an existing member of staff, the irony is that even having this position I am currently without email, access to some drives, some access permissions and limited functionality when trying to use the CMS service (which is essential to setting up new users and machines). I am awaiting conformation that this has been resolved.
For now I am continuing with my Oracle database training, I am now 50% complete, screenshots to suppliment will be in the evidence folder.
Yesterday was my induction with Liam McDowal and Kevin Brogan of the Directors office, two other Napier students were also present at the meeting. The meeting covered generic operating procedures such as time recording and a ubiquitous health and safety brief.
At 1pm I had a meeting with Sanccia the current placement student to discuss some of the requirements for the year ahead with regard to coursework and a bit of guidance in terms of content for this blog.
I have also been seconded to the role of Computer representative, the purpose of this roll is to have a person in each department who can take on the roll of technician or typical IT guy, when a new computer or user comes into the department it's my job to prepare their pc equipement, same applies when it comes to any problems which may arise. The concept being is that there is a nominated rep in most departments who is on hand locally to tend to the technical issues, this in turn gives a certain level of autonomy to the department without over reliance on a central IT department. I had a discussion yesterday morning with Bill Lee, head of development team and the concept of the position was explained to me. I carried out the role practically last night when preparing a new PC for an existing member of staff, the irony is that even having this position I am currently without email, access to some drives, some access permissions and limited functionality when trying to use the CMS service (which is essential to setting up new users and machines). I am awaiting conformation that this has been resolved.
For now I am continuing with my Oracle database training, I am now 50% complete, screenshots to suppliment will be in the evidence folder.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Beginning of the new
This morning is the start of the the rest of the year, I started with Edinburgh University's Applications division on Thursday 1st of july. On my first day I was assigned my mentor and introduced to many of my new colleagues, I was also show my workstation and with my mentor we began the task of setting up the various tools and accounts I will need over the next year.
I also had a meeting at my desk with Bill Lee, he has explained to me how to use the Asta time recording application to manage and track my time. Time recording is a important part of the operations here due to it being instrumental in billing clients and providing data for the universities reporting information.
Friday, day two and far calmer from the offset, with my intitial setup out of the way and much of the surrounding administration completed I was given the Oracle training disks, 6 disks of SQL heaven, also an important part of my development in the sense of re familiarising and extending my knowledge of database procedures, also it will keep me busy during my early days.
Today was also the date of my first meeting, a project being developed by applications division for the Edinburgh college of Art is nearing its final stages of development and I was lucky enough to be given the job of testing the the application, an iphone based app which can show the different historic incarnations of Edinburgh dating back to the 1700's, my job was to venture out into the sunshine and see that the application was able to track and follow my movements around town and use the application to test for faults and bugs.
The meeting itself was a good experience, the atmosphere was informal and relaxed however I found it most interesting to see the steps of development in practice and I was able to gain a sense of the kind of work put into the project and the stages still to come. It is fair to say I was delighted to be asked to be a part of the project and despite my extensive experience in the field of software development tasks were still found where I could be included in the development process.
Monday 5th July, it is currently 3.15pm.
Today has been the start of my bit part in the Walking Through Time project, my task consisted of importing photographs of Edinburgh landmarks which support the Walks function of the WTT application, the photos are transfered into the images folder of the application and associated with the locations marked by creating pathnames via the Routes.plist file located within the application directories. The task was repeated for two sets of walks, using different images taken specifically for the project
Something else new for today is that I have been using a Mac for the first time, screenprints have been taken for the evidence folder to back up todays work and they also show the Mac platform being used.
Friday, day two and far calmer from the offset, with my intitial setup out of the way and much of the surrounding administration completed I was given the Oracle training disks, 6 disks of SQL heaven, also an important part of my development in the sense of re familiarising and extending my knowledge of database procedures, also it will keep me busy during my early days.
Today was also the date of my first meeting, a project being developed by applications division for the Edinburgh college of Art is nearing its final stages of development and I was lucky enough to be given the job of testing the the application, an iphone based app which can show the different historic incarnations of Edinburgh dating back to the 1700's, my job was to venture out into the sunshine and see that the application was able to track and follow my movements around town and use the application to test for faults and bugs.
The meeting itself was a good experience, the atmosphere was informal and relaxed however I found it most interesting to see the steps of development in practice and I was able to gain a sense of the kind of work put into the project and the stages still to come. It is fair to say I was delighted to be asked to be a part of the project and despite my extensive experience in the field of software development tasks were still found where I could be included in the development process.
Monday 5th July, it is currently 3.15pm.
Today has been the start of my bit part in the Walking Through Time project, my task consisted of importing photographs of Edinburgh landmarks which support the Walks function of the WTT application, the photos are transfered into the images folder of the application and associated with the locations marked by creating pathnames via the Routes.plist file located within the application directories. The task was repeated for two sets of walks, using different images taken specifically for the project
Something else new for today is that I have been using a Mac for the first time, screenprints have been taken for the evidence folder to back up todays work and they also show the Mac platform being used.
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