Victor H. Garcia

First, I would like to thank you all emails you sent me about last post.

I would like to answer some questions you have been asking me.

1. How much time coding experience I need to become in a senior developer?

   4, 8, 12 or even more years. A senior developer is not about how much time coding you spent. It’s about how you solve the coding problems. for example: A developer “Kyle” can have 6 years coding in .NET, but he is still using same coding techniques to solve problems and even using old classes to get projects done, since he feels comfortable with that then he is not growing and that’s why he stuck at the same developer level.
   A senior developer always love to learn new coding techniques, new ways to solve problems and get ideas about re-factoring to improve what even they coded.

2. Does matter if I know multi-languages like PHP, ColdFusion, .NET or Java?

   Well, it matters a little bit. How?. if you have been working fully with Web environments in Java, .NET, PHP and Coldfusion then that means you are not getting a strong knowledge about what you want. Since you know a little of here, a little more over there, etc, and here is where all developers think: “Which language I have to choose?” choose the one you know more and LOVE. A senior developer should know guide other developers to solve problems, but also give coding suggestions like design patterns or best practices.

3. What about front-end languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript?

   The same answer as #2. =)

4. When can I say: “I’m a senior developer”?

   This question was asked to me, and in fact, it is a good question. There is no an organization or similar that will tell you: “Welcome to senior developers”.
   The quick answer is that you cannot say that for your self.
   I think you can feel like a senior developer when any problem you have about any project, then you are able to solve quickly and get it done correctly.
   however, you can be a senior developer when in your company they call you: “Senior Developer” even other developers(seniors, experts).

Well, I hope I could answer your questions. You can know email me again if you want or post your comment below this post.

For the people that asked me about which back-end programming languages I work, I code in PHP using MVC and .NET (C#, VB - Web environment)

1. Skill

   Obviously any developer with the senior title should be very skilled at what they do. Not only should they know the ins and outs of their primary language, but they should have a good repertoire or secondary languages that they are fluent in, for example Coldfusion and PHP, both are web environment.

   Aside from skill with their language, they should posses a solid understanding of computer science theory, debugging techniques and application design. Different jobs/languages also require extra skills. For example, a Sr. Flash Developer should have a solid understanding of all the different types of math required to build complex animations.

2. Initiative

   A senior developer should be taking initiative and changing things for the better around their place of work. They should be able to notice inferior tools and build or find something better to replace it. They should notice when others have a weak point in their skill sets and try to train them up.

3. Leadership

   A senior developer should be willing to take responsibility for the work of a larger group of programmers, after all, the senior developer is taking initiative to make sure all the people he/she is working with have the skills and knowledge to do their tasks well.

4. Willingness

   You need to be willing to do the dirty work. A senior developer is not “above” doing any sort of work. They are always willing to do a task related to their job, to train someone new, or let a less experienced developer take a more challenging and fun project so that they can improve their skills.

5. Solutions and Researching

   They always find all possible solutions under any development problem and then work with the best of it. A senior developer should know how to share his solutions to other developers in the team, they are able to research and find a good solution for any problems as soon as possible. if the client is asking something that is not able to do or can take a lot of time then the senior developer should tell the client about alternatives.

6. Love and Passion

   Above all, passion for your work and love to development itself will make the most noticeable difference. Someone with passion for development will be doing all they can to get better at it, broaden their skill sets and encourage the others that they work with to do the same.

   Passion is the characteristic I look for most in any potential hire, regardless of level, as I believe it is what truly makes the difference and sets an average developer apart from one who has the potential to be great.

7. ? ? ? ? ?

   What do you think we are missing? I would like to suggest you, to think about it, and if you are ready to become in a senior developer then you will know what should be here.

I would like to thank to Alex and Walter my friends sharing with me his knowledge about this.

Finalmente Microsoft hizo un movimiento que todo el mundo agradeceria.

El poder configurar tu cuenta de Live Mail o Hotmail gratuitamente usando cualquier Cliente tercero de correos. Mozilla Thunderbird entre otros seran facilmente configurables.

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)  
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25 or 587)  
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

(arriba la informacion necesaria para que puedas configurar tu cuenta)

En hora buena Microsoft por haber dado este paso.

Nota: Esta noticia la anuncio MS ya hace tiempo pero silenciosamente.

Espero esta informacion les guste y porfavor compartanla.

Saludos.

source: Live Team

Creo que con Youtube al haber dado un ultimatum previamente sobre no dar soporte a IE6 miles de personas han actualizado su navegador o cambiado por otro.

Ahora le toca el turno a facebook, como lo habia dicho anteriormente: “Las redes sociales, terminaran con IE6”

Gracias a Dios las corporaciones mas grandes del mundo han puesto cartas en asunto… Estoy casi seguro que la siguiente red social en hacer esto sera Twitter… de hecho ya hay rumores tambien.

Esta de mas decir las ventajas que esto da al mundo.

Simplemente me queda decir, GRACIAS Facebook, GRACIAS Youtube…

Creo vamos por el camino correcto.

Un dia como hoy se me presento el requirimiento de realizar una pequeña modificacion a un sistema en PHP. Al ver el codigo que realize hace aproximadamente un año me di cuenta de las complicaciones en las que yo mismo me metia.

Hoy reduje mi codigo de 35 Lineas a solo 3 lineas. Esto es realmente un crecimiento tanto en conocimiento, experiencia y profesionalismo.

Ahora la programacion y solucion de problemas se ven mas sencillos de resolver al momento de codificar.

Puedo decir que la logica de la solucion de problemas de programacion ha incrementado impresionantemente.

Ya cuento con mas de 6 años de experiencia en PHP y mas de 6 en .NET… Vaya que cosas de la vida…

A ustedes no les ha pasado lo mismo?

Revisen sus codigos de hace mas de un año y veran como han mejorado.