Pete on Software – Page 28 – Pete on Software

Mentoring

On Helping Other People

Life Preserver A very common objection that I hear that keeps people from teaching others is that the person feels that they aren’t “expert” enough to teach someone else. Any while I don’t doubt that the person lacks the credentials to be an “expert”, they do have some life experience to share.

The way I heard it described the other day on The Podcast Answer Man (link to episode) was that it is more about where each person is in their life. As an adult, I don’t see a 6th grader as having a wealth of knowledge. However, to a 4th grader, the 6th grader has a lot of valuable answers and experience to share.

All of you have at least a “6th grade level knowledge” about something. Go out and be a hero to someone who is at that 5th grade level or below. As long as you are honest about where you’re at and what your story is, you aren’t a fraud or a phony. Everyone is a beginner at some point. There is nothing wrong with an “advanced beginner” or higher turning around and helping those on the trail behind them.

Excuses are a crutch. If you feel compelled to help others, just do it. Start a blog, start a podcast, speak at user groups… whatever gets you excited. Your content won’t be for everyone, but – NEWS FLASH – no content pleases everyone. If someone is too advanced for your content, then they aren’t in your core audience. As long as you didn’t promise an advanced session, don’t worry about it.

Now go create!

Podcasts

Podcast Episode 2 is Live: Staying Current

Bragging My second podcast went out this weekend.

There is one section when I am talking about my own answer to “How do you stay current?” and I agonized back and forth a bit as to whether to leave it all in. The point was that I’m busy just like everyone else is busy, I still make time for everything that I do to stay current. I hope that it doesn’t come off as bragging or humble bragging or that I’m just a gigantic jerk. I wanted to really bring home the point that I go on to quote in the show that I once heard Leon Gersing make at the M3 conference that, “If you say you don’t have time for something, you don’t”.

I heard him say that at the lunchtime keynote and it really hit me about how much I had been slacking at that point. So, I cut out some useless TV and I was able to do everything else in my life and still spend several hours a week honing my craft.

As I said, I’m hoping that it comes off more as a way to shift priorities around to create a plan rather than “Hey, look at me, I’m perfect”.

That all being said, I’m off to CodeMash this week for my yearly dose of inspiration and to remind myself just how many smart people are out there and how much I don’t know!

You can also subscribe to the podcast at any of these places:

Thanks to all the people who listen, and a special thanks to those who have rated me. I really appreciate it.

The episodes have been archived. Click Here to see the archive page.

Fluff

Prime Factorizations

I was checking out the internet and I came across someone doing a code kata for prime factorizations. I stopped watching what they were doing and decided to try my own hand at it. Here is the result:

You call it like so:

var primeFactors = PrimeFactors.Of(1305294);

I’ve run tests on this and some timings. Here are some representative findings:

   198,602 = 2 * 199 * 499 (40 milliseconds to run)
 4,678,421 = 11 * 101 * 4,211 (3,131 milliseconds to run)
17,841,257 = 7 * 2,548,751 (20,603 milliseconds to run)

2,548,751 is a pretty big prime! (Verified by http://is.2548751.aprimenumber.com/.)

I use the trick that says that a number is prime if it isn’t divisible by any of the numbers up to its square root. That definitely sped up performance. Other than that, I think the biggest spot for potential refactoring is around actually checking and calculating the prime factors. I laid it out very much like I would do the prime factorization with pencil and paper, but I don’t know if there is a better or more elegant way to attack that.

I’d be interested in any feedback and in seeing how some other people might solve the problem.

Podcasts

My Podcast is Live!

Well, I did it! I finished the first episode of my podcast this weekend and published it. I added a podcast link to the menu:
Podcast Menu Item

If you click on the menu item, it will take you to the Podcast’s web page.

I also got the feed published and accepted into iTunes as you can see below:

If you are interested in subscribing, but don’t want to go to the podcast’s page, here are the links below:

Thanks for everyone who participated in my survey and to everyone who is going to listen. I’m working hard on episode two now and I’m going to try to make it a little better every time.

Note: For those so inclined, I’ve submitted to the Windows Marketplace, but it hasn’t been accepted yet.

Fluff

Believe in Yourself

Believe in Yourself I often have no shortage of belief in myself and my abilities. When in doubt, I will always “bet on myself” when the chips are down to get things done. That confidence has allowed me to be very fortunate in professional settings. At times it can be misconstrued and at times I know that people can think that I don’t have any right to be as confident as I am. However, earlier this year, I read Ball Four by Jim Bouton and was really struck by this passage.

I’ve had some thoughts on what separates a professional athlete from other mortals. In a tight situation the amateur says, “I’ve failed in this situation many times. I’ll probably do so again.” In a tight situation the professional says (and means it), “I’ve failed in this situation and I’ve succeeded. Since each situation is a separate test of my abilities, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t succeed this time.”

Then there is also the case of the professional player who is not professional enough. He goes on a fifteen-game hitting streak and says, “Nobody can keep this up.” And as the streak progresses, his belief in his ability to keep it alive decreases to the point where it’s almost impossible for him to get a hit.

The real professional – and by that I suppose I mean the exceptional professional – can convince himself that each time at bat is an individual performance and that there is no reason he can’t go on hitting forever.

He is 100% saying how I feel about my potential for success in any given situation. Why not me? Why not now? Why can’t I do this thing? Why can’t I continue to succeed, or rally to success after a failure?

More importantly, why not you? Why not now? Why can’t *YOU* do the thing you want to do? Why can’t you continue to succeed, or snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

You can.

Go do it!