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Warren Shea

Archive for the ‘My Life’ Category

What’s the next professional step?

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 10:49 pm

I’ve been in the work force about 7 years (not including co-op). I’ve gone from a junior designer to a junior developer to an intermediate developer to a senior developer. I’ve been a senior developer for 2.5 years now and I think I definitely could have been the developer tech lead if wanted to be – but I didn’t. I wanted to stay a developer as I know there’s still more I have to learn. A lot more.

I’ve been wondering what the next step for me is. Part of me thinks management – I definitely think I could do it. I might hate the meetings and presentations but I’m good at putting fires out, get along with people, feel that I could mentor and guide them as well. I wouldn’t want to public speak – but I can do it. And I wouldn’t want the meetings – but I can do them. But I guess the real reason why I don’t want to be a manager is I don’t want to leave the development world yet. I still have a lot of fun doing it, it’s still my passion. I used to always think it was important to do what you love and get paid for it. And for me, that’s development. Do I start doing something I don’t enjoy as much for more money? Or because it’s the next logical step of progression? Maybe.

It’s funny, as strong as I am in development, I know I’m slow. In the last 7 years, stronger developers (and I’ve seen and known them) would definitely have surpassed me given that time. Development isn’t as intuitive to me as it is to others. Even though I might be the (or at least, one of the top 3) strongest developers on my team, I know that relative to others, I’m weak and slow. And again, web programming is still EZ mode compared to real dev. If I really want to be a better developer, I need to self-study more.

To be honest, I spent much of the day today making an unprecedented (for me) manager type decision. It was like I was a manager today, controlling the fate of someone on my team. It was kind of thrilling. The power, THE POWERRRRRR!!! But it gave me a glimpse of how a manager might think. And I liked it, but not as much as I like development.

I don’t think I’ll be doing dev forever. Not with my skill and the rate I learn. I can’t compete with the new kids who have lived development. I’m not out of the dev game yet but I have to start considering: what’s my profession after development? When I’m 50 and need to do something else. Possibly not even be in the tech field? Where do I go, what do I do? Something to ponder. Not now….but along the way…

Checking in…

Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 10:32 pm

Man, I haven’t blogged in a while and I know it. I was on vacation last week and I spent it getting sick. Who gets sick on their vacation? >_< sigh... Being sick took me out Mon afternoon to Wed but the rest of the week, I was still 1/2 outta it. But I tried to use my time as best I could, reading some books and studying. There are a few books I still want to read. I don't think I'm learning enough so I wanted to try doing more of that. I spent this week sleeping a lot/early. I still have a cough so I'm trying to take care of my body enough that I'm well rested. Don't want a lingering cough. Want to get rid of it ASAP. Been playing dota during the night but tonight, I'm gonna try to study more til sleep. Haven't worked on Secret Project KB at all this week, despite working on it last week quite a bit. Haven't done photography in a couple weeks. Need to start that up again... While I'm here, blogging, I think I'll write a bit about some other things...but we'll see how that goes >_<

Secret Project KB updates II

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 at 10:02 pm

Updated my secret project KB site a bit more.

I’ve been reading The Smashing Book which I got a few years ago. Unfortunately, as with all web publications, namely that of one published in 2008, the content is somewhat outdated – and yet still somewhat relevant. It’s funny, they talk about things like IE6 and jQuery (as relatively new)…but they also talk about relevant things: optimization, brand, usability, brand, type, color theory. I realize I’m pretty bad at all aspects design; especially color theory and type. I’m going to try to improve those aspects. I realize now that I’m too narrow-visioned with development. I need to become an expert, I need to be more aware of the field as whole. Design and usability specifically. Honestly speaking, I would rate my design as a 2, my usability skill is a 3, and my development as a 6.5. While improving my development, I need to bring my other scores up.

Anyways, that is all.

Sherlock

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 at 11:57 am

Just watched BBC’s Sherlock (it’s only 3 episodes per season, and 2 seasons!). Totally got my post-House fix from it. Except you know what? Sherlock is…smarter than House. I had my doubts, House is incredible. But…Sherlock’s smarter. Also, not as lazy.

I think Moriarty is one of the best villains I’d seen in a long time. Y’know what House never had? A villain, an equal that could beat him. It’s much more fun and satisfying watching a cunning hero beat an equally cunning villain (Death Note, Sherlock). You only get a real spectacle when watching two equals compete.

Anyways…just wanted to write about it. Can’t wait for Season 3 cuz I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF SEASON 2.

Also watched Silence of the Lambs and watching Red Dragon…really drawn towards intellectual characters. Hannibal’s pretty smart too. Not on a Sherlock level, maybe on a House level. But Hannibal can make you do stuff with his words. I think Sherlock could do that as well, but House likely couldn’t…..or could he? I don’t know….

Kill-Fuck-Marry w/ Naruto characters

Saturday, March 30th, 2013 at 2:36 am

The Rules of Kill-Fuck-Marry:

When given a choice of three names, the players must decide who they would prefer to kill, fuck or marry.

For example this round of K-F-M, we’ll go with Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie, Lindsey Lohan

Player: I’ll marry Cameron because she’s funny, fuck Angelina because she’d be crazy in bed, and kill Lindsey because she sucks at life.

K-F-M? Team 8 (Kurenai): Shino, Kiba, Hinata

Kill – Shino – Um. BUGS. EVERYWHERE. Freaking disgusting. You would not want to Marry (or Fuck) this guy.

Marry – Kiba/Hinata – If you’re a dog person, Kiba’s the man for you. If you’re not, Kiba’s probably got no other admirable/marriage worthy attributes. Also, he smells like dog. Hinata’d be the girl you want. Cute, sweet, shy, smart, and also strong. Hinata wins this one…

Fuck – Kiba/Hinata – Again, Kiba and Hinata are kinda opposites. Kiba seems like he might be aggressive in bed, and I’m sure he’s got doggy style mastered (sorry, couldn’t resist). Hinata on the other hand would probably be kinda docile…which may/may not be a bad thing depending on what you’re into. Still, I’d give the edge to Kiba for this one. Even if he does still smell like dog.


K-F-M? Team 10 (Asuma) : Choji, Shikamaru, Ino

Fuck – Choji – He can wilfully grow any part of his body to any size. ANY. PART. ANY. SIZE. O____O

Kill – Shikamaru – Definitely not marriage material. “What a drag”, he’d be saying or thinking that every time he has to do the dishes. Or mow the lawn. Or rake the leaves. Or shovel the snow. Or ANYTHING. What a drag it is being with a complainer like Shikamaru. And unfortunately, he doesn’t beat Choji in the Fuck category. Sorry Shikamaru. Your laziness and mediocrity have made you the best choice to die.

Marry – Ino – She’s probably got that flower shop business down so she’ll provide a stable income. She’s also pretty and reasonably intelligent. WIN.


K-F-M? Team Gai: Rock Lee, Neji, Tenten

Fuck – Neji’s got some pretty awesome powers of touch. With a mastery of the fingers, I’m sure he could do some pretty unique and interesting things with them. He’s kind of a jerk though, you wouldn’t want to marry him. But he’s also kinda cool, so you don’t wanna kill him…on the other hand…

Kill – …Rock Lee is like, not cool at all. An embarrassing husband and scary drunk. He’d be the guy to go.

Marry – Tenten – Not the jerk Neji is. Not embarrassing like Rock Lee is. She wins by default for being pretty, nice, and normal. What more could you ask for?


K-F-M? Sand Siblings: Gaara, Kankuro, Temari

Fuck – Gaara – Um. SAND. EVERYWHERE. While you would not want to Marry or Fuck this guy cuz there’d be sand everyone, a worse guy to fuck would be…

Kill – …Kankuro, the creepy doll guy. *shudder* Don’t wanna know what he’s into…

Marry – Temari – Strong and smart. She’d be a good wife.


K-F-M? Team Kakashi: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke

Kill – Sakura / Sasuke – This is tough cuz yeah, Sakura is super annoying so by default, she clearly takes this role. But Sasuke’s got a lotta hate (and years of therapy baggage) and as gifted as he is a ninja, he’s also incredibly stupid and easily misguided. Sigh, I guess the edge still goes out to Sakura though. Sasuke’s still kinda cool and Sakura’s basically ALWAYS annoying.

Fuck – Sakura / Sasuke / Naruto – this one’s close. Sakura’s the typical beauty: pink hair, green eyes. But she’s annoying and stupid. I don’t know if I could respect myself, fucking her. Sasuke’s really cool. Seems like he’d be a bit aggressive in bed. So maybe if you’re into that sorta thing…? And Naruto can do a Kage Bushin…if you’re into that sorta thing :P Still, if Sakura wins the Kill category, I think Sasuke wins the Fuck category.

Marry – Naruto – Cuz you wouldn’t be marrying the obnoxious Sakura. And Sasuke doesn’t seem like he’d be a great husband. Y’know, being quite the ass and not really caring for anyone. Naruto’d be the guy to take care of you. Even tho you’d facepalm his Sexy no Jutsu.


K-F-M? Team 3rd Hokage: Orochimaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya

Fuck – This one’s a bit tricky. Tsunade seems like the obvious choice. A pretty young blonde with an enormous chest. Seems like a fun time. BUT. THEN you find out she’s really an old woman. ZOMG HORRIFYINGLY DECEIVED. Then there’s Orochimaru. “Is that a snake in your pants, or are you just happy to see me? ….oh, it IS a snake….erm….”. And then there’s Jiraiya. He’s spent a lotta time perving on women and he writes dirty little books. He’s probably had his share of experience tho, I think he’d be the way to go.

Marry – A wife that loses all your money due to her gambling problem (and when she does win, you know something really bad is going to happen). LOSE LOSE. OR a creepy she-male guy that would sooner do experiments on you than be any kinds of nice. I’ll have to go with Tsunade. I’d rather be poor than, y’know, be an experiment.

Kill – Was there ever any doubt? This guy is ultra creepy.


Changing the rules up a bit for solo characters:


K-F-M? 4th Hokage, Minato Namikaze

Kill – YOU CAN’T KILL MINATO (y’know, again).
Fuck – They don’t call him Konoha’s Yellow Flash for nothing.
Marry – Nice. Handsome. Intelligence. Powerful. I see no downsides.
Final Verdict – Marry – Of all the Naruto characters, he’d be the best guy to marry :) Soooo dreamy!


K-F-M? Kakashi

Marry – He’s always late and pretty unreliable. He tries to protect those he loves and considers comrades…but his track record is pretty bad. As awesome as he is, I don’t feel quite safe with this guy.
Fuck – He’s probably got some good make out techniques after reading so many of Jiraya’s books. But he always covers his face. What’s under that cover?! What’re you hiding Kakashi!? I dunno, seems really suspicious. Don’t really know what he’s got under there but I assume it’s covered for a reason.
Kill – Despite being kind of a dope, he can still be pretty cool. I don’t think you’d wanna kill Kakashi.
Final Verdict – Fuck – I guess I’d still take my chances that Kakashi looks pretty good, despite that mouth cover. He’s also got a scar over his eye. (actually, he’s probably got a lot of scars…). Chicks dig scars.


K-F-M? Itachi

Marry – Committed parricide (killing one’s mother or father), and genocide (killing the entire Uchiha clan) for….um…peace?. Obviously, he doesn’t quite value “loved ones” very much. I’d watch out for this one…
Kill – Committed genocide.
Fuck – Committed genocide.
Final Verdict – Kill – He’s got too much blood on his hands to be around. He may have done it with good intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Also, he committed genocide. You know who also wanted to do that? Hitler.


K-F-M? Sai

Kill/Fuck/Marry – He’s a male with a belly button window.
Final Verdict – Kill – He’s a MALE with a BELLY BUTTON WINDOW. *shudder*


Hope you’ve enjoyed that :) It was fun to make.
Also thought about doing it for Young Justice or Prince of Tennis characters or something…