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Warren Shea

Archive for the ‘Work’ Category

Big changes!

Thursday, May 30th, 2013 at 11:13 pm

Didn’t know it would be announced so soon but…drum roll please?

I’m now a development manager with a pretty large team. Pretty crazy! O____O

I know I wrote a bit about management lately but those were pretty coincidental. I had been feeling this “what should I do next?” kinda feeling for over a month now, spoke to my manager a few weeks ago and it all sort of planted its own seeds from there. I had no idea things would be official so soon. I’m totally not prepared. (like, seriously, i wanted to read about stuff more and prepare more first – but there’s always time for that).

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately – basically, ways to make things better. I’ve seen the dev side and I think we could really use certain things (says the dev side of me) and hopefully that will be filled by whatever path I help choose to accomplish them (says the development lead in me). I think it’s awesome because I already have a pretty good to great relationship with the devs so I really want to focus on assisting in their growth as my managers and peers have done with me. I know the change in me within the last 7 years is dramatic and I feel crazy thankful to everyone who has influenced me – either shown me what to do, or even shown me what not to do (it was hard to be thankful for that, but looking back on it, it was useful).

My last two managers were/are both super great and I want the way I saw them to be the way my team sees me. I just want to follow their lead but provide some technical guidance along the way as well. I guess that’s my big goal – to not screw it up and to help my team wherever I can. :)

What a crazy work week it’s been!

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 at 12:16 am

It’s technically been an entire week since I blogged as my last post was Monday, after midnight.
The craziness that has ensued this week!
It was all well and good until Wednesday. I’d spent the last few work days casually working without a project – investigating responsive design both for the company, and for myself. Emphasis on the latter.

And this happens:


And then BAM! My boss’ boss basically said (with his actions) “I’m not confident with project X in person A’s hands, I’m going to give project X to you!”

And what a project this project X was. I can’t go into the details, but it involved an ad around the Super Bowl in the US. An ad in the Super Bowl is…probably $X million dollars for 30s. And my project was directly related to that. THE PRESSURE. It’s okay, “no one watches the Super Bowl in the US” said no one ever.

I spent the week both doing development (Wed-Thurs), being on call during stress tests (Thurs-Fri), and being a fill-in system administrator (Fri-Sat) and finally, monitoring everything (Sun).

I was able to move a website from grid hosting (shared services) to dedicated hosting. That meant I:

  • Migrated code over to a new server
  • Migrated SSL to a new server (same domain)
  • Changed the DNS on a domain
  • Created a new database user, a new database, and new tables from scratch (with the help of phpMyAdmin – so it wasn’t so hard)

I did all of the above in less than 2 hours. It was a tough 2 hours, and I was most fearful of migrating an SSL Certificate to a new server (never done that before) but it turned out to be easy.

Later that night, I

  • configured PHP settings from scratch
  • Set up SSH and through it, optimized Apache and mySQL via SSH Commands at the root level

The day after that, I optimized my code a bit

  • Created an .htaccess file at the root and added Cache control header for images, javascripts, and CSS to deal with load
  • Enabled GZIP compression with mod_deflate for low page-transfer time
  • Optimized JavaScript files to point internally

And finally, was left monitoring my Facebook App on Sunday, during the Super Bowl.

So there’s a reason I haven’t blogged – or tbh, done much of anything. I’ve been working. 37 hours overtime from Wednesday to Sunday. That’s an entire work week…compressed within 5 days, and including 3 days of regular work. So..that’s a lotta work! Couldn’t do Photography, or much less RELAX. But it’s all over now. Back to my regularly scheduled program.

I hope to watch some cartoons tonight and do photography.
Tomorrow, catch up on some work items and get back to learning responsive layout.

A productive Friday afternoon

Friday, January 25th, 2013 at 11:20 pm

</sarcasm>

Spent the afternoon doodling while watching Turtles Forever and The Fast and the Furious at work (on my phone).


My first attempt at a Ninja Turtles 2003 picture

My second attempt…the hands/arms didn’t come out the way I wanted…it’s okay :(
Didn’t use a picture, all from my head! Haven’t drawn anything in a while :) Very happy with the turnout!

…in three years…

Monday, January 7th, 2013 at 1:01 am

Today is a special day for me. It’s the 3rd year anniversary since I quit World of Warcraft. Ironically, I was playing casually last month but that whole phase seems to have gone. I’m not sick anymore and back to doing/working on things that “matter”. I wrote a similar post last year and the year before.

What I’ve done in the last year

worldofwarren.com
2012: 164 posts between Jan 7, 2012 and Jan 7, 2013. On average, roughly 13.7 posts/month. As with last year, falling in line with my hope of 150-200 posts.
2011: 187 posts between Jan 7, 2011 and Jan 7, 2012
2010: 308 posts between Jan 26, 2010 and Jan 7, 2011

warrenshea.com
Completed! Even though one year ago, I was saying this was almost done…but I only finished in May 2012. Anyways, finishing this was a great feat and led me to my next project

kotobishoujo.com
45 – retroactive blog posts
55 – pages including statues
3 – other pages (checklist, faq, contact)

Twitter
2012: 594 (totalling 3425 since Jan 10, 2010)
2011: 1486 (totalling 2831 since Jan 10, 2010)
2010: 1345

Improved development skills

  • Improved quite a bit in jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, AJAX this year mostly due to warrenshea.com
  • Improved a lot in PHP due to the Facebook work project I had including learning the JavaScript/PHP SDK, Facebook App Creation, Like Gates, and Facebook and Twitter Share Dialogs
  • Installed/learned WAMP and Media Wiki

Note: Keep in mind that for 95% of these movies/shows/cartoons, I’m not technically just watching them. They’re just ON while I do other stuff, like dev or photography.
Movies

  • Karate Kid [Rewatch]
  • Catch Me If You Can [Rewatch]
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes [Rewatch]
  • The Terminal [Rewatch]
  • The Prestige [Rewatch]
  • Karate Kid (2010) [Rewatch]
  • Tremors [Rewatch]
  • Training Day [Rewatch]
  • Superman Returns [Rewatch]
  • Gattaca [Rewatch]
  • Kick-Ass [Rewatch]
  • Back to the Future [Rewatch]
  • Wall-E [Rewatch]
  • Avengers [Rewatch]
  • Star Trek [Rewatch]
  • Men In Black [Rewatch]
  • The Rise of the Planet of the Apes [Rewatch]
  • Memento [Rewatch]
  • Jurassic Park [Rewatch]
  • The Lost World [Rewatch]
  • Jurassic Park III [Rewatch]
  • Good Will Hunting [Rewatch]
  • Gone in 60 Seconds [Rewatch]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 [Rewatch]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze [Rewatch]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 [Rewatch]
  • TMNT [Rewatch]
  • Turtles Forever [Rewatch]
  • Casino Royale [Rewatch]
  • Quantum of Solace [Rewatch]
  • Skyfall
  • Independence Day [Rewatch]
  • Jurassic Park [Rewatch]
  • Catch Me If You Can [Rewatch]
  • The King’s Speech [Rewatch]
  • Pursuit of Happyness [Rewatch]
  • Star Wars IV: A New Hope [Rewatch]
  • Iron Man [Rewatch]
  • City of God
  • The Butterfly Effect
  • Indie Game The Movie
  • The Goonies
  • The Illusionist
  • The Prestige
  • Anchorman
  • Avengers [Rewatch]
  • Amazing Spider-man
  • Brave
  • Dark Knight Rises
  • Spider-Man [Rewatch]
  • Spider-Man 2 [Rewatch]
  • Spider-Man 3 [Rewatch]
  • Jiro Dream of Sushi
  • Avengers
  • Titanic 3D
  • Titanic [Rewatch]
  • Scott Pilgrim [Rewatch]
  • Battle Royale [Rewatch]
  • Up in the Air
  • The Godfather Part III
  • Show

    • House S1-S7 [Rewatch], S8
    • The Walking Dead S1-S3
    • Gilmore Girls S1-S7
    • Glee S1-S2 [Rewatch], S3
    • Pushing Daisies S1-S2
    • Hell’s Kitchen S9 [Rewatch]
    • Breaking Bad S1-S5 [Rewatch]
    • MasterChef S3 [Rewtach]
    • Dawson’s Creek S1-S6
    • Big Bang Theory S5 [Rewatch]
    • Mistfits S3
    • One Tree Hill S1-S4 [Rewatch]
    • Glee S1-S2 [Rewatch]
    • The Glee Project S1

    Cartoon

    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) S1-S9
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) S1
    • Samurai Pizza Cats E1-E13
    • Spectacular Spider-Man S1-S2 [Rewatch]
    • Batman The Animated Series [Rewatch]
    • Justice League: Doom

    Anime

    • Tekkaman Blade II
    • Tekkaman Blade
    • Steins;Gate
    • X-Men Anime
    • Persona
    • Spirited Away

    Reading

    • The Art of Racing in the Rain [Novel]
    • Ultimate Spider-Man 1-89 [Comic]
    • Amazing Spider-Man 654-700 [Comic]
    • Prince of Tennis Vol. 1-42 [Manga]
    • Hikaru no Go Vol. 1-23 [Manga]
    • Neon Genesis Vol. 13 [Manga]

    Gaming

    • Super Mario Bros. Wii U [Wii U]
    • Contra III: Alien Wars [SNES][Replay]
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time – Normal Mode [SNES][Replay]
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time – Hard Mode [SNES][Replay]
    • Kirby: Return to Dreamland [Wii]
    • New Super Mario Bros [DS]
    • Super Mario 3D Land [3DS]
    • Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES][Replay]
    • Braid [PS3]
    • Kirby: Return to Dreamland [Wii] [Replay]
    • The New Super Mario Bros 2 [3DS]
    • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [3DS]
    • World of Warcraft – 80-85 – Annataz
    • World of Warcraft – 80-83 – Aldino
    • World of Warcraft – 80-83 – Sheaman
    • World of Warcraft – 80-82 – Blackcanary
    • World of Warcraft – 80-81 – Sudoku
    • World of Warcraft – 80-81 – Grimlock
    • Tiny Tower – 161 Floors
    • Diablo 3 – Level 43-52 (Monk) – Normal mode, Nightmare done, Hell mode Act 1
    • Diablo 3 – Level 1-20 (Demon Hunter) – Normal mode

    Art
    None

    Photography

    • Kotobishoujo: Scarlet Witch
    • Kotobishoujo: Phoenix
    • Kotobishoujo: Dark Phoenix
    • Kotobishoujo: Batgirl Black Costume
    • Kotobishoujo: Poison Ivy
    • Kotobishoujo: X-23 X-Force
    • Kotobishoujo: Christie Monteiro
    • Kotobishoujo: Catwoman
    • Kotobishoujo: Liara T’soni
    • Kotobishoujo: Supergirl
    • Kotobishoujo: Evil Supergirl
    • Kotobishoujo: Wonder Woman
    • Kotobishoujo: Batgirl Black Costume
    • Kotobishoujo: Supergirl
    • Canon Rebel T3i – new DSLR camera!

    Video

    • Converted 22 VHS Tapes to Digital
    • Converted 12 Camcorder Tapes to Digital

    What I hope to accomplish this year

    worldofwarren.com
    I hope to consistently update my achievements section.
    I also hope to do a few figure reviews. I have a lot of toys that don’t get much spotlight and I’d like to give them some.
    If this blog stays as is – a journal of my life – I plan to leave it as it. If I change the direction of this blog, I would hope to create a Facebook page for this.

    warrenshea.com
    This is done and I haven’t been updating/needed to update it much. At some point, I’ll have to gather any projects worth showing from May 2012 to now and add them to the Porfolio section. Otherwise, I’m pretty content with this.

    kotobishoujo.com
    I purchased the domain for this last year, in Oct 2011 but only started doing stuff with it in May 2012. It’s been about 7 months and while I’ve done a lot, there’s still much to do. My hope is to definitely finish this thing this year. And then I can start with other stuff…

    Blogging
    I’m content with my blogging. It’s not as much as I’d like but I don’t have the content to fill…so it all works out :)

    Reading, Art
    Don’t really care about these two things anymore…

    Gaming
    Here’s my Gaming TO DO list:
    The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [Replay] – In progress already
    The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
    The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [Replay]
    Mega Man 1 – 5
    Mega Man Zero
    Super Mario Galaxy
    Super Mario Galaxy 2 (maybe)
    Final Fantasy III (VI)
    If I stick to this list, I should be able to get it down fairly easily.

    Photography
    Learn more about Photography !
    Improve on my macro shots including finishing my Kotobishoujo.com pics and adding some figures to my Figure Review section
    Purchase a 50mm (details pending) lens for everyday shots.

    Improving development skills
    Learn MVC and apply it to warrenshea.com (via backbone.js)
    Improve my OOP.
    ASP.NET MVC?
    Become Microsoft Certified in something? SQL?
    There’s a lot I could put here, but technology is always changing…it’s hard to predict what I’ll want to know in the year.


    How I’ve changed professionally this last year

    It’s been a critical year professionally for me. I’ve been looking at posts from the last 3 years and 2 years ago, I had a crushing experience – not getting the senior developer role despite both applying and feeling qualified for it. Oddly enough, I got the role, unofficially a few months after. And I had that role, title and responsibility, but not the pay for a year+.

    After doing the role but not getting paid for it (for a year~) my work ethic changed. It got worse – I’d come in late, and I’d leave early. In a way, justifying my job and low(er) pay by working less hours, to increase my pay ratio I guess.

    And 1/2 way through last year, I finally got my promotion + salary increase. But unfortunately, my work ethic stayed around the same – poor. It only becomes great when I work on an interesting project. And that’s more for personal gain/motivation than professional (well, I guess it’s both).

    So basically, I’m enjoying my life now. I got my senior developer title. I got my senior developer pay. But I don’t work that hard. And I choose the jobs I want…cuz I’m a diva. Though I tend to also take shitty projects. Funny thing is, I actually downgraded my title (but not my pay) to Intermediate Developer, so I that can still develop and do less project management/overseeing. I’d still rather develop than be in meetings and talk/consult. There’s still much to gain from being in the front-lines. I got very good at being confident with my voice and critical thinking/situations – making the right call/judgement in a critical situation. It’s a skill I think will help throughout my life. To weigh my options and determine what’s best.

    How I hope to change professionally this year

    I’ve been casually interviewing. Talking with headhunters. I’m finding that a lot of people find me on LinkedIn, but once they go to warrenshea.com, they’re sold. They want to talk to me about job…cuz my website is so awesome :D Unfortunately, in these scenarios, most of the jobs they offer suck. Not interested in being the only developer on a site/in a company. Sigh…stop offering me that crap.

    Not sure where I want to go professionally actually…but I want to improve my development skills personally and professionally. Again, I don’t always know where I’m headed but as long as I’m pointed in the right direction.


    …in three years…

    I’ve done a lot since I quit WoW, three years ago today. It’s funny, WoW’s not even a part of my life anymore, it seems odd to pay some kind of tribute to not playing it when I barely think about it nowadays. But I guess I must always remember the 5 years, 400 days of playtime I wasted to that game. I must always remember to keep busy to make up for that time.

    Reading last year’s post, I’m in a much better place happyness-wise. And isn’t that what it’s always about? Being happy? The answer is: yes.

    It’s been a tough work week

    Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    I missed Monday, and went back to work after missing 9 out of 11 days of going to work cuz I was sick.

    Brought my Wii in on Tuesday…

    Played:
    Bomberman ’93
    Super Mario Kart
    Mario Kart 64
    Final Fight
    Super Smash Bros. Brawl
    throughout the time at work, between Tuesday and Wednesday.

    On Thursday and Friday though, we played the Wii U (one of my co-workers brought it in). Played Super Mario Bros. Wii U and after 2 days, beat the game.
    It doesn’t sound like a big feat, but to do it at work…and with 3 other players, some (not all) of whom kinda sucked, it was tough.
    One of the coolest things about the Wii U is the support role/controller. That roles plays on that Wii U pad, creating platforms for players and blocking enemies. I think playing that role is more fun than playing the game…and it’s funny to see who’s good support and who’s bad. And who wants to screw you over :)

    For next week, I think we’ll play a little more Mario Kart 64 and Bomberman ’93 :) That game is SO FUN! :D

    /wondering what else i can play that’s multiplayer and fun…