Learning Rails

I found Learning Rails website recently. LearningRails teaches Rails by podcast. Wow, that's great. I signed up and I completed Lesson 1 today. Enjoy!

Learn something new everyday

I need to spend at least an hour each day to read and learn about something new. I am spending too much time reading meaningless blogs :( Got to stop it and spend time more effectively.

Practices of an agile developer

I watched an interesting talk on "Practices of an Agile Developer". The talk was by Dr Venkat Subramaniam, the co-author, with Andy Hunt, of the book by the same name. Very good presentation done at No Fluff Just Stuff. Enjoy!
Practices of an Agile Developer Presentation

What did you learn today?

We work in a highly evolving, constantly changing industry. Technology changes, methodology changes, tools & even people change. It is hard to keep up with these changes. Even harder when you are trying to learn about all these by yourself. Imagine the amount of knowledge you gain, if you were to learn about something, at least one thing, a day from someone you came across that day. It could be lessons in technology, leadership, even just plain simple life lesson. Let me try to document the lessons I learned each day.

Agile Training

I am registered to attend Scrum Training that's happening here next week. I will also attend Agile Planning & Estimating course too. Great!

Scrum Training

Mike Cohn is conducting Scrum Master training in Dallas during the first week of April. It is followed by one day course in Agile Planning & Estimating. I want to go for this training so so much... It costs about $1900 for both courses together. I have asked my Boss, but has not get a reply yet. Please please let me go..

BTW, I need to pick up both "Agile Planning & Estimating" and "Agile Software Development with Scrum" from the library tomorrow. I had requested the books as Inter Library Loan and it is now available for pickup.

I will go thru the books, but please please let me be able to attend this training.

Tom Demarco's "Peopleware"

is the book that I am reading now. I have heard a lot about this book. The book has been written a long long time ago, yet, still relevant. I will post my thoughts on it once I complete reading it.

This would be the year..

March is about to end. Lot of things changed between January and March. I need to go back to India this year. Maybe end of May. Not sure if I could find a job by then. If not, I will have to quit and search for some job, after settling down in Kerala. Our minds are made up, now we just need to act..

Time to go back?

My parents are looking forward to having me back in India. "Why do you need to stay in US? The opportunities are endless here in India, why don't you come back?", that's what they ask. True, maybe this would be the year for the return. I don't know yet.

Where to?

Changing requirements, unrealistic deadlines, changing scope, where is quality? What about risks?

We need agility.

What's going on?

I haven't posted anything here for a long time. When you do not set any goals, there is no deadlines to beat. So am I being idle? Not quite. I think I should continue my learning process, and possibly write about it. I hope to - soon!

Path to PMP Completed!!!

I completed my PMP Certification today!! I have been postponing it for a long long time. Finally, I decided to take it. So today early morning, I was at Prometric to give a four hour exam. I cannot explain how happy I am for completing it successfully. School is starting for kids tomorrow. So perfect timing.. I don't want them to suffer because of all my studies, anymore :)

Welcome to the dark side

That's what my boss said, as he handed over my promotion papers to me. I am officially the manager of our team. This is effective first of the month. I hope to do a good job. God help me!

You've been invited to be in The National Dean's List again!

An email that I received two days back...

*******************************************************************************
Dear H...,

Some people get just one… And feel the positive impacts for a lifetime.

You're beyond that now – we're talking the 99^th percentile!

We're excited to share the great news… You've once again been nominated for The National Dean's List ^®. Congratulations on your exemplary accomplishment!

When you accept this invitation, you become a distinguished member of the Dean's List family, elevating you to membership in our "Honor Society". Now, take the next step and complete your Biographical Information Form, because we can't include you in the publication without it!

Beta Gamma Sigma

I received invitation to join Beta Gamma Sigma from my University. Beta Gamma Sigma membership is the highest recognition a business student can receive. The induction ceremony is on April 19th. I am proud to be part of Beta Gamma Sigma and also for being recognized in Chancellor's List.

Learning AJAX

Sang Shin who has been offering online courses in Java, j2ee etc have a similar online course for learning AJAX.

Check it out if interested. I am going to :)

New Year!

Welcome 2007! New Year, time for new resolutions(not for me)...to be kept for how long? Add to the list - PMP, ATM from Toastmasters, Being healthy.....

Here's to a great 2007!

Slowing down...

I keep rescheduling the test. Well, I don't have a choice but to, especially since I haven't prepared yet. I don't want to kill myself over the studies.. Will do it slowly, hopefully early next year. Until then, enjoy the holidays and relax!

Graduation

I graduated in August. I was just like any other day, nothing special, just the family accompanying me to the graduation ceremony. I felt proud walking along to receive the diploma, for the second time. There were about 8 or 9 Phd students. Probably one day in future, I too might be one among them, who knows...
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine coming to US, living here, graduating with double Masters....Well, sometimes things happen even if you don't dream about it. Now what? There are some dreams, some uncertainities, some hopes.. Not entirely sure what future holds, but I am happy with today!

Grades are out, school's done for now...

I got my final grades, still maintaining the 4.0! Great!! Hopefully by summer, I will be able to graduate. Summer session starts in two weeks, May 15th to be precise.. Until then it is time to relax!