Design Patterns Training in Hartford, Connecticut

Since you asked for the three most important things that non-programmers should know about, and I’ve spent most of my career working with more non-programmers than programmers, I have a few interesting things that would help.

Number One - It Is Impossible To Accurately Estimate Software Projects

No matter what is tried. No matter what tool, agile approach, or magic fairy dust people try to apply to creating software… accurately predicting software project timelines is basically impossible.

There are many good reasons for this. Usually, requirements and feature ideas change on a daily/weekly basis. Often it is impossible to know what needs to be done without actually digging into the code itself. Debugging and QA can take an extraordinary amount of time.

And worst of all…

Project Managers are always pushing for shorter timelines. They largely have no respect for reality. So, at some point they are given estimates just to make them feel better about planning.

No matter how much planning and estimation you do, it will be wrong. At best it will be directionally correct +/- 300% of what you estimated. So, a one year project could actually take anywhere between 0 and 5 years, maybe even 10 years.

If you think I’m joking, look at how many major ERP projects that go over time and over budget by many years and many hundreds of millions of dollars. Look at the F-35 fighter jet software issues.

Or in the small, you can find many cases where a “simple bug fix” can take days when you thought it was hours.

All estimates are lies made up to make everyone feel better. I’ve never met a developer or manager who could accurately estimate software projects even as well as the local weatherman(or woman) predicts the weather.

Number Two - Productivity Is Unevenly Distributed

What if I told you that in the average eight hour work day the majority of the work will get done in a 30 minute timeframe? Sound crazy?

Well, for most programmers there is a 30–90 minute window where you are extraordinarily productive. We call this the flow state.

Being in the flow state is wonderful and amazing. It often is where the “magic” of building software happens.

Getting into flow can be difficult. It’s akin to meditation in that you have to have a period of uninterrupted focus of say 30 minutes to “get in” the flow, but a tiny interruption can pull you right out.

Now consider the modern workplace environment. Programmers work in open office environments where they are invited to distract each other constantly.

Most people need a 1–2 hour uninterrupted block to get 30–90 minutes of flow.

Take the 8 hour day and break it in half with a lunch break, and then pile in a few meetings and all of a sudden you are lucky to get one decent flow state session in place.

That is why I say that most of the work that gets done happens in a 30 minute timeframe. The other 7–8 hours are spent being distracted, answering email, going to meetings, hanging around the water cooler, going to the bathroom, and trying to remember what you were working on before all these distractions.

Ironically, writers, musicians, and other creative professionals have their own version of this problem and largely work alone and away from other people when they are creating new things.

Someday the programming world might catch on, but I doubt it.

Even if this became obvious, it doesn’t sit well with most companies to think that programmers would be paid for an 8 hour day and only be cranking out code for a few hours on a good day. Some corporate middle manager would probably get the bright idea to have mandatory flow state training where a guru came in and then there would be a corporate policy from a pointy haired boss mandating that programmers are now required to spend 8 hours a day in flow state and they must fill out forms to track their time and notify their superiors of their flow state activities, otherwise there would be more meetings about the current flow state reports not being filed correctly and that programmers were spending too much time “zoning out” instead of being in flow.

Thus, programmers would spent 7–8 hours a day pretending to be in flow state, reporting on their progress, and getting all their work done in 30 minutes of accidental flow state somewhere in the middle of all that flow state reporting.

If you think I’m joking about this, I’m not. I promise you this is what would happen to any company of more than 2 employees. (Even the ones run by programmers.)

Number Three - It Will Cost 10x What You Think

Being a programmer, I get a lot of non-programmers telling me about their brilliant app ideas. Usually they want me to build something for free and are so generous as to pay me up to 5% of the profits for doing 100% of the work.

Their ideas are just that good.

Now, I gently tell them that I’m not interested in building anything for free.

At that point they get angry, but a few ask how much it will cost. I give them a reasonable (and very incorrect) estimate of what it would cost to create the incredibly simple version of their app idea.

Let’s say it’s some number like $25,000.

They look at me like I’m a lunatic, and so I explain how much it costs to hire a contract programmer and how long it will actually take. For example’s sake let’s say it is $100/hr for 250 hours.

To be clear, these are made up numbers and bad estimates (See Number One for details…)

In actuality, to build the actual thing they want might cost $250,000, or even $2,500,000 when it’s all said and done.

Building software can be incredibly complex and expensive. What most people can’t wrap their head around is the fact that a company like Google, Apple, or Microsoft has spent BILLIONS of dollars to create something that looks so simple to the end user.

Somehow, the assumption is that something that looks simple is cheap and fast to build.

Building something simple and easy for the end user is time consuming and expensive. Most people just can’t do it.

So, the average person with a brilliant app idea thinks it will cost a few hundred or maybe a few thousand dollars to make and it will be done in a weekend is so off the mark it’s not worth considering their ideas.

And programmers are too eager to play along with these bad ideas (by making bad estimates and under charging for their time) that this notion is perpetuated to the average non-programmer.

So, a good rule of thumb is that software will cost 10 times as much as you think and take 10 times as long to finish.

And that leads to a bonus point…

BONUS - Software Is Never Done

Programmers never complete a software project, they only stop working on it. Software is never done.

I’ve worked at many software companies and I’ve never seen a software project “completed”.

Sure, software gets released and used. But, it is always changing, being updated, bugs get fixed, and there are always new customer requests for features.

Look at your favorite software and you’ll quickly realize how true this is. Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, Google Maps, GMail, iOS, Android, Windows, and now even most video games are never done.

There are small armies of developers just trying to keep all the software you use every day stable and bug free. Add on the fact that there are always feature requests, small changes, and new platforms to deal with, it’s a treadmill.

So, the only way out of the game is to stop working on software. At that point, the software begins to decay until it is no longer secure or supported.

Think about old Windows 3.1 software or maybe old Nintendo Cartridge video games. The current computers and video game consoles don’t even attempt to run that software anymore.

You can’t put an old video game in your new Nintendo Switch and have it “just work”. That is what happens when you think software is done.

When programmers stop working on software the software starts to die. The code itself is probably fine, but all the other software keeps moving forward until your software is no longer compatible with the current technology.

So, those are the four most important things that non-programmers should know about programming. I know you asked for only three, so I hope the bonus was valuable to you as well.

Python Tutorial - Static, Class and Regular Methods

[Nov, 19, 2012] |
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This section of our beginning python training class always stumps students. Firstly, because they need to know the difference between a function and a method. Secondly, they need to understand object oriented programming concepts. Thirdly, they need to realize that python has three types of methods. Then they need to know how to use each method, which means they need to know the purpose of each method type. Then they have to understand mutable versus non-mutable types. The list goes on. As part of our python tutorial, I hope to shed some light on this confusing topic.

To begin, the difference between a function and a method in python is that a method is defined within a class. Here is an illustration:

#function

	def greeting():
	                print "Hello, I hope you're having a great day!"

	class HSGPrinter(object):
	                #method
	                def greeting(self): 
	                                print "Hello, I hope you're having a great day!"

As should be obvious, the second definition of greeting is encapsulated within the HSGPrinter class and is , therefore, refered to as a method.

The astute reader will notice that the greeting method contains one parameter named self. For those who know C++ , Java or C#, self is equivalent to this i.e. it is a reference to the invoking object:

How to check if a directory exists in Python

[Mar, 29, 2014] |
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Checking to see if a directory exists and then creating it if it is not present requires a few lines of code. Isn't Python great. Begin by importing the os module and use the exists and makedirs functions.

import os

if os.path.exists(somedirectory):
   os.makedirs(somedirectory)

Fixing Copy and Paste for Remote Desktop

[May, 31, 2014] |
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From Brennan's Blog which is no longer up and running:

I use Remote Desktop all the time to work inside of my development systems hosted by Microsoft Virtual Server. I use the host system to browse the web for documentation and searches as I work and when I need to copy some text from the web browser I find many times the link between the host clipboard and the remote clipboard is broken. In the past I have read that somehow the remote clipboard utility, rdpclip.exe, gets locked and no longer allows the clipboard to be relayed between the host and the client environment. My only way to deal with it was to use the internet clipboard, cl1p.net. I would create my own space and use it to send content between environments. But that is a cumbersome step if you are doing it frequently.

The only way I really knew to fix the clipboard transfer was to close my session and restart it. That meant closing the tools I was using like Visual Studio, Management Studio and the other ancillary processes I have running as I work and then restarting all of it just to restore the clipboard. But today I found a good link on the Terminal Services Blog explaining that what is really happening. The clipboard viewer chain is somehow becoming unresponsive on the local or remote system and events on the clipboards are not being relayed between systems. It is not necessarily a lock being put in place but some sort of failed data transmission. It then goes on to explain the 2 steps you can take to restore the clipboard without restarting your session.

Use Task Manager to kill the rdpclip.exe process
Run rdpclip.exe to restart it

The clipboard communications should be restored. My clipboard is currently working because I just restarted my session to fix it, but I wanted to test these steps. I killed rdpclip.exe and started it and was able to copy/paste from the remote to the host system. The next time my clipboard dies I will have to check to see if these steps truly do work.

Tech Life in Connecticut

Software developers in Hartford, Fairfield, New Haven, Greenwich and New Britain are rich in Fortune 1000 companies such as the Xerox Corporation, CIGNA, Aetna, and United Technologies Corporation just to name a few. A fun fact: Hartford has the oldest U.S. newspaper still being publishedâ€”the Hartford Courant, established 1764. Connecticut is also the insurance capital of the nation.

Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others. ~ Confucius

other Learning Options

Software developers near Hartford have ample opportunities to meet like minded techie individuals, collaborate and expend their career choices by participating in Meet-Up Groups. The following is a list of Technology Groups in the area.

Map CT · DACS - Danbury Area Computer User Group · Greater Hartford GNU Linux Users Group ·

Fortune 500 and 1000 companies in Connecticut that offer opportunities for Design Patterns developers

Company Name	City	Industry	Secondary Industry
Stanley Black and Decker, Inc.	New Britain	Manufacturing	Tools, Hardware and Light Machinery
EMCOR Group, Inc.	Norwalk	Energy and Utilities	Energy and Utilities Other
The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.	Hartford	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
Crane Co.	Stamford	Manufacturing	Tools, Hardware and Light Machinery
Cenveo. Inc.	Stamford	Business Services	Business Services Other
Amphenol Corporation	Wallingford	Computers and Electronics	Semiconductor and Microchip Manufacturing
W. R. Berkley Corporation	Greenwich	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
Silgan Holdings Inc.	Stamford	Manufacturing	Manufacturing Other
Hubbell Incorporated	Shelton	Manufacturing	Concrete, Glass, and Building Materials
IMS Health Incorporated	Danbury	Business Services	Management Consulting
CIGNA Corporation	Hartford	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
Chemtura Corp.	Middlebury	Manufacturing	Chemicals and Petrochemicals
Harman International Industries, Inc	Stamford	Computers and Electronics	Audio, Video and Photography
United Rentals, Inc.	Greenwich	Real Estate and Construction	Construction Equipment and Supplies
The Phoenix Companies, Inc.	Hartford	Financial Services	Investment Banking and Venture Capital
Magellan Health Services, Inc.	Avon	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech Other
Terex Corporation	Westport	Manufacturing	Heavy Machinery
Praxair, Inc.	Danbury	Manufacturing	Chemicals and Petrochemicals
Knights of Columbus	New Haven	Non-Profit	Social and Membership Organizations
Xerox Corporation	Norwalk	Computers and Electronics	Office Machinery and Equipment
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc.	Stamford	Travel, Recreation and Leisure	Hotels, Motels and Lodging
United Technologies Corporation	Hartford	Manufacturing	Aerospace and Defense
General Electric Company	Fairfield	Computers and Electronics	Consumer Electronics, Parts and Repair
Pitney Bowes, Inc.	Stamford	Manufacturing	Tools, Hardware and Light Machinery
Charter Communications, Inc.	Stamford	Telecommunications	Cable Television Providers
Aetna Inc.	Hartford	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
Priceline.com	Norwalk	Travel, Recreation and Leisure	Travel, Recreation, and Leisure Other

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the hartmann software group advantage

why take Design Patterns Training with the hartmann software group?

A successful career as a software developer or other IT professional requires a solid understanding of software development processes, design patterns, enterprise application architectures, web services, security, networking and much more. The progression from novice to expert can be a daunting endeavor; this is especially true when traversing the learning curve without expert guidance. A common experience is that too much time and money is wasted on a career plan or application due to misinformation.

The Hartmann Software Group understands these issues and addresses them and others during any training engagement. Although no IT educational institution can guarantee career or application development success, HSG can get you closer to your goals at a far faster rate than self paced learning and, arguably, than the competition. Here are the reasons why we are so successful at teaching:

Learn from the experts.
1. We have provided software development and other IT related training to many major corporations in Connecticut since 2002.
2. Our educators have years of consulting and training experience; moreover, we require each trainer to have cross-discipline expertise i.e. be Java and .NET experts so that you get a broad understanding of how industry wide experts work and think.
Discover tips and tricks about Design Patterns programming
Get your questions answered by easy to follow, organized Design Patterns experts
Get up to speed with vital Design Patterns programming tools
Save on travel expenses by learning right from your desk or home office. Enroll in an online instructor led class. Nearly all of our classes are offered in this way.
Prepare to hit the ground running for a new job or a new position
See the big picture and have the instructor fill in the gaps
We teach with sophisticated learning tools and provide excellent supporting course material
Books and course material are provided in advance
Get a book of your choice from the HSG Store as a gift from us when you register for a class
Gain a lot of practical skills in a short amount of time
We teach what we know…software
We care…

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