web notes - a blog

• Do what you’re told. If you disagree, voice your concerns, and then, do what you’re told, even if you still disagree.
• Let people know what you’re doing, so they have an opportunity to correct you if you are going astray.
• Ask for permission if you are doing something unusual, or something that requires a significant amount of resources - including time.
• Be honest. If you make a mistake, admit it. Then, fix it.
• Don’t assign blame. No one wants it publicized that they made a mistake. They probably don’t illuminate your errors, either.
• Work within the code you’re given. Adhere to the architecture and practices, even if you don’t like them. If you radically change the way a system runs, it will likely be expensive to maintain, and difficult to understand.
• If you don’t understand what you are supposed to do, ask. ‘I didn’t know’ and ‘I thought’ are not valid excuses.
• Know who you work for. That person is the boss. They make the decisions with respect to what you must do. Clients, both internal and external must understand that your boss is in charge, not you. Don’t try to do more work than you are supposed to. It will cost someone something.
• Meet the specification fully. If you can’t, identify alternate solutions and get approval before deviating.
• Know how much time you have for a task, and finish in that time, or explain why you can’t and how you will handle it.
• Published material, of any form, is not a place for humor. Don’t put humor in your code, don’t use silly sample data, no matter how hilarious you think it is, don’t post funny images. If you send an email, it should be clear and concise. Posts in the defect/bug reporting, and in version control, should be strictly professional. Never forget that what you think is funny may not be funny to your coworkers, or your successors.

Type your name and email address into Google - in quotes, as you use it most. What is your web profile? What kind of impression are you publicizing? Is it accurate? Is it what you want people to see?

Prospective employers and many other people will Google you.

Consider:

• The type of sites your name is on. Are they reputable? Are they respectable? Are they controversial?
• Are all the instances of your name from you, or are other people referring to you or identifying you publicly?
• If you posted images, are they appropriate for ‘all ages’?
• If you posted text, is it well-written? Correctly spelled? Tasteful?
• Are you a contributor or a consumer? That means, are you asking for help or helping others?

The Internet isn’t a playground. It is a vast, publicly-accessible resource. Think carefully before you post and publish. In 5 years, you may be a different person.

Every candidate for employment should be audited to see how well they meet the posted position requirements. If the company is hiring candidates that are not meeting the requirements, either the requirements need to be adjusted, or the hiring team should be questioned. There are very few ideal candidates, however, consistently lowering the standards represents a fundamental problem and represents a risk that the skill level of the company will be below that necessary for success.

The best way to profit from social networks is to develop the skills to build them. If you are a web person - of any sort - designer, developer, engineer, database expert, server administrator, SEO expert, or Internet marketing specialist, you are well-positioned.

First, study the various social networking systems and applications. Understand what social networking is, at a high level, from many angles. Identify what makes them work, which ones are successful, and why. Examine the business aspects of these sites. Who makes money? Who spends money? Why and how?

Next, ensure you are working with state-of-the-art materials and technologies. Social networks are expected to be high-end systems. Your skill set must include the appropriate abilities to allow a contribution to a social network development project. If you don’t already have these skills, it is extremely important to acquire them.

Finally, build a social network. Don’t bother investing alot of time. Find a powerful solution, like http://ning.com or something similar, and create an online community.

Update your resume and get a job. Profit from social networking. Monetize your skills.

LinkedIn (and other professional networking sites) make alot of information available.

Want to know the organizational structure of a company? You can probably build a pretty good org chart using just LinkedIn.

What to know the interaction patterns? See who is connected to who. Who has alot of connections. Who has only a few connections.

Want to learn about the company? Look at the descriptions, what people said about the work they did and do.

Want to assess the qualifications of employees? Many people post their education and experience.

Want to know about turnover? That information is there as well.

Check the links posted, particularly blogs, to gain more insight.

Want to know more? Search the web for those names.

This information would be helpful for prospective employees, people that are considering purchasing a company, and people involved in ownership transfers, as well as potential customers.