New Guide to Getting a Job in Tech (October 1, 2009)
Is now the worst time in 10 years to be looking for a new job? Quite possibly. To help, Dice has just released Careers in Technology, a guide to IT careers for college students and recent graduates looking for their first job.
I wrote several sections in the book, including questions and answers with leading information technology practitioners, a guide to getting a job in the training sector, and bookkeeping basics for solo operators.
How's Your Lighting Game? (September 15, 2009)
As someone who's been a bit obsessed with shooting photographs for a couple of decades, I've never been too head-over-heels about studio lighting. Some of that attitude is pragmatic: I sold my studio gear when I moved transatlantically in 2003. Some of it is aesthetic: I love natural light, especially window lighting reminiscent of Rembrandt or the "golden hour" exploited masterfully by cinematographer Néstor Almendros Haskell Wexler in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (pictured).
But much of my lighting disposition was simply habit. Namely, when I started shooting, if you wanted to control your light, you either used a lighting setup with results you could carefully predict, or shot Polaroids to test the lighting. But Polaroids were mostly the province of large, expensive cameras that weren't in my budget or mindset.
Fast-forward: the LCD screen on a digital SLR provides instant feedback. It's the new Polaroid, sans $15 for a 10-pack of instant pack film. Even better, you can use any old flash that's laying around. Shoot, adjust, then shoot again.
Recently, a number of photographers have codified this approach of using flashes—even inexpensive, manual ones—in conjunction with digital SLRs. Think National Geographic veteran and all-around extreme photographer Joe McNally (need to light the Statue of Liberty?), or former Baltimore Sun shooter David Hobby, the guru of the cheap-flash-meets-digital-SLR possibilities, which he channels on his Strobist blog.
Since then, I'm chasing down friends (and food), trying to learn. Since making better photographs has a lot to do with repetition. And hopefully, you get some results along the way that you—and your subjects—also want to keep. Even if your shots don't rival Wexler's. Yet.
Where's All the Magazine Writing? (August 18, 2009)
Alas, these days of declining journalistic output. Comparing my current article archives with ones from a few years ago, the volume of journalistic writing has noticeably declined. Some of this has to do with my increased number of gigs writing research reports and white papers (defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as "a government or other authoritative report giving information or proposals on an issue," since I get that question a lot) for consulting companies, plus software and hardware vendors and industry trade groups. Since these documents are released under the auspices of the commissioning organization, they don't tend to up in my article archive.
Unfortunately, though, a lot of the decline in journalistic writing has to do with the economics of magazines and newspapers, hit hard by evaporating advertising and the resulting downsizing. Counting the editors I've worked with over the past five years, across magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks, it's scary how few of them still have day jobs. Which makes it a little hard to pitch them new stories, for starters.
What will the magazine or newspaper of tomorrow look like? With BusinessWeek on the block for $1, will there even be print magazines and newspapers? I have no idea. But it would be great if the recession ended sooner than later. Because as a journalist and occasional travel writer, be it on paper or online, it's fun to play with words in print.
The Portable IT Compliance Primer (August 15, 2009)
Googling for an IT compliance story I'd written about working with test data in regulatory environments recently (doesn't everyone?), I realized that the IT Compliance Institute (ITCi) website has now gone offline. Given that the publication ceased operations in early 2008, this isn't a huge surprise, but it did make me accelerate my efforts to upload copies of the stories I'd written for the publication to my own website (with permission, natch).
Forthwith, I bring you an archive of my ITCi stories. And here are three highlights:
- Reboot Your Records Retention Strategy
- Changing Risk: Enter the Chief Risk Officer
- Governance, Risk and Compliance Solutions: Tips for Tipping False Idols
... if you're looking for a good place to start.
Summer Vacation: Paris & Montpellier (July 7, 2009)
Just back from a 10-day turn in the south of France, chasing out of the way castles and chateaus. (Rough life, I know.)
The local conveyance: a black 2009 Peugeot 307SW (not available in the States, and always fun to drive) with air conditioning and a free GPS (I'll never go back), plus only 600km on the odometer. The car turned out to be a principle refuge during the heat wave, which saw the temperature hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Not excatly beach weather.
Of course, this being France, one of the most--if not the most--important cultural aspects of the journey is food, wine, cafés, ambience, and so on. And on that front, the best meal, my whole trip, was at a very low key, canal-side restaurant in Beaucaire, Le Gambetta K-Fe, about 10 minutes' walk from the Rhône and Provence. The dish: A salade composée (mixed salad), including foie gras on spice bread, with fig jam and sprinkled fleur de sel on top. Glass of rosé to accompany. I never want to go home.
Freelancer Lunch: 2é arrondissement (July 1, 2009)
Trips to Paris mean reunions with my Paris-based freelance writing cohorts Heather and Carolyn. Because one of the oddities, or just plain old challenges, of being a self-employed writer is having to work so hard at building up a network of like-minded individuals who don't tell you you're crazy for wanting to publish a 300-page travelogue on Toulouse. Instead, they help you figure out how.
On the personal projects front, check out Heather's wonderfully written, designed and titled "Naughty Guide to Paris," available from fine retailers everywhere. Heather took a journalist's eye to the Parisian (city and occupant) reputation for having—what shall we say?—an active nightlife. Call the book a more adult guide to the city of lights.
Will Google Executives Do Jail Time? (April 22, 2009)
For Privacy Advisor, the monthly International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) newsletter, I've been filing regular dispatches on the ongoing trial, in Milan court, against four Google executives accused of defamation and privacy law violations.
The trial began after a three-minute mobile-phone video of a boy with Down syndrome being bullied appeared on Italian YouTube in 2006. While Google removed the video less than 24 hours after being alerted to its existence, the Italian prosecutor in the case is charging Google for allowing the video to remain online for two months, and for improperly disclosing how private information will be used.
At issue, say experts, is whether websites in Italy that host content should be liable for what they transmit—akin to newspapers and television stations—or else treated as an Internet Service Provider, which is only required by law to remove content after receiving a take-down notice.
For more, see "Judge Rules Google Trial Will Move Forward."
Photographing Istanbul (February 26, 2009)
File under "better late than never"? I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul last year, but never managed to get my photos edited and uploaded.
Now, voilà, I finally got my act together and created an Istanbul photo gallery.
On the travel tip, Istanbul is a gorgeous city. Highlights:
- Baklava: Nothing beats the fresh stuff, with its layers of honey tang and the slight crunch of crushed pistachios on top. One related image has stuck with me: The reverence (fully justified) shown by a server in one of many late-night shops—open for the express purpose of selling homemade baklava and other sweets—as he cut the baklava into small rectangles, carefully transferred them into a plastic carrier, and weighed them. (Six pieces ran, at most, $3.)
- Culture: It's a clichéd expression, but it is fascinating seeing how east and west mix in Istanbul (which is more "west," to my eyes)
- Coffee: Turkish coffee is served everywhere, even via automatic "just press a button and watch it get brought to a boil three times in a vacuum carafe" commercial two-pot machines at the airport. (You have to love dedicated coffee technology.) Of course, most restaurants probably aren't boiling it on the stovetop either. Regardless, my award for Best Turkish Coffee goes to Cafe Fez, which served it on a silver tray with a small, lidded serving dish with two chocolate biscuits inside, plus a Smirnoff shot glass full of Hare Acibadem Likoru, a not-too-strong, almond-based liqueur
Ferry: It's fun to explore a city with three coasts—two European, one Asian. (At right, a shot from the last ferry of the night as we docked at Haydarpasa, returning from Kadiköy, on the Asian coast, to the Old Town.)- Mezze: Think "Turkish tapas," but heavy on the yogurt (as in, yogurt with garlic, yogurt with aubergine), fish (including fresh squid), and cheese (often fried in dough)
- Spice Market: Bargaining for saffron in the spice market (aka the Egyptian Market)
- Turkish: Always exciting to be exposed to a new language
- Turkish delight: The real stuff is a revelation: gelatinous in a good way, full of flavor. Also addictive.
Tech Strategies For The Credit Crunch (February 25, 2009)
Dice's blog has revved into high gear and I'm behind occasional postings. (Dice=largest US tech jobs board.) My most recent contribution is on agile development practices ("As Economy Drops, Agile’s Star Rises").
If discussions of software development techniques make your eyes blur, the skinny is that while traditional ("waterfall") software development takes a top-down approach—define requirements, create a plan, build everything, and then finally launch it—agile prioritizes fast, cheap and (barely?) in control. (Think of it as software development in the age of Google.) Namely, agile says: figure out what you really need, take a few weeks to build it, get something working and out there for people to use, and then add in the other features which were rated "nice to have" but not 100% essential. Rinse, and repeat. As companies strive to do more with less, it seems like an approach we'll be hearing more about.
On the perhaps-counter-intuitive tip, another recent Dice story of mine ("Improve Productivity? Grab An Office") looks at Fog Creek Software, a software development firm which goes out of its way to give its programmers space to think. It even went so far as to customize 10,600 square feet of downtown Manhattan office space, and I think the communcal lunch table, adjustable desks with digital height read-outs (some people like to stand while they work) and views of the Hudson are a nice touch.
How Denmark Does It Better (February 23, 2009)
When it comes to "living networked," it's hard to beat the Danes, or Scandinavians in general. At least, that's what I found while researching the seventh annual Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008 (GITR), which ranks the information and communications technology (ICT) readiness of 127 countries, in my first feature story for News@Cisco.
What makes the Danes such exemplars of living a well-networked life, and for the better? I identified seven attributes, including an ability to negotiate yet still make quick decisions, and a panchant for applying technology to improve society. In addition, Denmark's relatively small size and mercantile history has created a society that is well adapted to testing and running with useful new ideas.
Read more on the world's "most networked" economy.
Career opportunities for techies (January 13, 2009)
Happy 2009. I'm kicking the year off with a piece for Dice.com: "Where, Oh Where, Are Our Architects?". Here's the skinny: Even with the downturn, implosion, slowdown, recession, depression—or whatever we're calling it these days—there are still in-demand jobs in the tech sector. Should you be so skilled.