James Titcumb

I’ve been using Linux on servers for years, since before I started learning to code. Finally, after something like 7/8 years I am almost fully confident in severing the ties to my highly underused Windows installation on my personal laptop, but there are still a couple of exceptions. With the release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, I’ve finally settled down using day-to-day tools that are equivalent to their Windows counterparts. Much of the software I use already have Linux compatible versions such as Eclipse, Google Chrome, FileZilla, Skype etc., however not all software does. Some I am happy to use (and work quite well!) in Wine (Spotify, Adobe Photoshop). Here’s what I’ve had to switch though:

• Windows Live Messenger > Pidgin or Empathy
• Microsoft Office > Google Docs
• Pinnacle Studio > OpenShot (although I am testing other packages still)
• Microsoft Money > Same, but in Virtualbox
• Winamp > Rhythmbox

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Last night I read Linode‘s announcement that they have opened a new data centre in London, and jumped at the opportunity. I’ve been using Linode since January this year, and their VPS hosting has been absolutely trouble-free. Not only that, they have probably the best administration interface I have ever seen. It’s easy to use, clearly labelled and very well laid out.

In addition they have given me probably the best customer service satisfaction of any company I have ever used. Their ticket response time for me has been consistently under 4 minutes, which is hugely impressive. I’m not the only one who is praising them, they’ve received good praise all over Twitter, with response times of 4-6 minutes.

I highly recommend using Linode if you’re thinking of getting a VPS – and if you do decide to sign up, please use my referral link!

Or my code: 939c7865b8818f015533efae7b06cdb06f9b59be

And as a side note, as my IP has changed, it will take another 24 hours or so for the DNS to propogate probably, so hold fast until then everyone!

I get countless e-mails, and it makes it so much worse when I get absolute rubbish sent through to me from friends and family members alike.

Let me quickly explain the top reason why you forwarding an e-mail is my problem.

• Have a look at the e-mail you’re forwarding. Chances are, you’ve included hundreds of people’s e-mail addresses. By forwarding to people and using the “To:” field of your e-mail client, you’re basically giving your e-mail address to everyone else you’re sending that e-mail to. And if that gets forwarded on, and not removing them, those e-mail addresses get sent around the internet. Would you give your telephone number or address to a complete stranger? No? Well STOP GIVING MY E-MAIL OUT. I’ve seen e-mails with literally thousands of e-mail addresses. Were it to fall into the hands of a certain sort of person, that list would make them money.
• You will not get a free laptop if you forward the e-mail on. Bill Gates will not give you any money at all. Your wishes will not magically come true. You will not get good luck. You will not suddenly fall in love. Fairies will not appear and grant you 3 wishes.
• You will piss people off.
• You think you’re being useful by sending on that “latest virus news”? You’re not – you’re fuelling spam which means YOU are just as bad as the VIRUS that you’re trying to warn people about. Protect yourself with anti-virus and anti-spyware software. If you don’t have some, get some here. It’s free, and better than Norton Antivirus Bloatware.
• Warning people about telephone scams? See above.
• Warning people about postal scams? See above.
• “Oh but my gran/mum/sister might not know and I wouldn’t want them to get scammed!!!” Your gran/mum/sister has common sense, and chances are they will have read the e-mail and forgotten about it anyway – scammers are clever and get you to do things like forwarding e-mails – oh whoops! You already did that…
• “I thought I’d send it just in case…” Again – YOU’RE SPAMMING, stop it. There is no reason to forward the e-mail you want to, so stop it.
• It wastes my time, which I could be spending doing something productive, or spending time with my daughter. It also wastes your time.

I’m fed up of it, so please, do me a favour and stop forwarding e-mails – not just to me, but to anyone. By forwarding e-mails, you are fuelling internet spam.

If you continue forwarding e-mails, then don’t you dare moan about how much spam you get.

Do yourself a favour, and if you recieve a forwarded e-mail from someone, send them a link to this article.

This won’t have been the first time I’ve written about degrees… But I recently noticed a job posting for a server-side developer at Headscape, and in just the third sentence it already got my back up:

We are looking for a graduate who is passionate about the web

This sort of thing in job postings really annoy me. The notion that a degree makes a person better than someone with 3+ years of experience to me is a very narrow-minded way of thinking. Many employers use this sort of thing as a “first line of defence” tactic – to eliminate applicants that are clearly not suited to the job. However, there are many great developers out there with no degree, but many years of experience.

I asked an employee of Headscape about this, and he summarised that he expects they would consider those without degrees. Perhaps because I don’t have a degree it touches a raw nerve with me, because I’ve been very lucky to get where I am.

I got on the “software development ladder” through a good opportunity, because I had zero “years experience” and no degree, and from an employers perspective, a pretty risky option. Because I was given that chance, I now have over 6 years of professional development experience. Others in my 2003 situation might not be so lucky, and because employers require things like degrees, it makes those starter developers chances of getting even a junior job even harder.

It seems an odd concept to me that to get on that ladder, you must spend 4 years at university, wasting money and time, learning what you already know… In this industry* I would disagree that a degree is required, so why do employers still require that candidates have degrees? To me, all a degree does is prove that you can think analytically, but to even learn a programming language properly, you have to think analytically and logically anyway, so surely if you can prove you know the language, you therefore also prove that you can think analytically…

I’d like to see what other people think about this, maybe I’m a minority on this view?

* I specify in this industry because certain other professions, such as medical, I would say that a degree is required.

The news has spread quickly this morning (I first heard through @ryancarson) that Google have been working on a new revamped version of their Google Search Engine. To the untrained eye, it looks pretty much the same. However, it’s much quicker, and it’s all based on AJAX-style requests…

Looking at Firebug’s net monitoring, I thought “I wonder if Google will open up an API”? It would be quite cool to have an API to request search results from, and Google returns you a load of results in well under a second (Firebug reports the requests take around 300-400ms, which is nice!). At the moment I don’t think it’s a possibility – even me just playing around brought up Google’s human checker (a captcha) that is meant to stop automated search requests…

Makes ya think though, doesn’t it?