Author Archives: Marius

About Marius

Owner of Henriska Technology and Project Manager by profession.

The year (2011) in review – hectic with more downs than ups.

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What a year, one that I do not want to have over.  This must have been the busiest year in my 31 year working live.  I have never work this hard with the accompanied stress levels that goes with it.

The year started off for me starting a job at Old Mutual for the first 6 months of the year.  It was one of the most interesting projects that I have managed with a great team of developers.  However for some reason Old Mutual decided to treat us contractors not to well and it was time to move on.

I returned to a company that I worked for in the early 2000’s called Fundamo.  Originally I was employed to become the Software Development Manager for one of the Business Units.  For some reason this position was then canned and I was offered the Project Manager position which I accepted.  I still do not agree with the decision that the Dev Manager position was canned. It is leaving a gap in the governance around Software Development and the proper management of the Development processes.

I am Project Manager for 5 countries in the Southern part of Africa.  During Novemeber I spend a couple of days in Uganda to visit and meet the people in Uganda.  I must stay that the past 6 months was very hard and is starting to take it’s toll on me.  I am extremely tired and the frustration levels are very high.  Not sure how long I will be able to keep this up.

On the family side.  My daughter completed her second year at varsity and moves on to 3rd year next year.  My son has one little subject to complete at the beginning of 2012 and if everything goes according to plan, he will obtain his Chemical Engineering degree in March 2012.  Now the struggle starts for him to find a job, so if anybody knows of Chemical Engineering jobs, then please let me know.

To each and everybody, may you have a joyeous holiday season and a great 2012.  For me, 2012 can only be better than 2011.

Airplane Jetstream on a cloudless day

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During the past week on a cloudless day, this jetstream was formed over my house.  I did not actually see the airplane that made it but saw it on my way home from work.  Airplanes fly over my house contactly but never leave a jetstream so I am wondering what caused this one to be made?

 

Bendy Rubber Bookshelves

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I always have lots of books and magazines that are lying around.  Thinks bendy rubber bookselves would just do wonders.  The wooden, rigid selves always has a problem that some of your books will not fit.

Well not with this one, you can make the book fit by just bending the selves to make the space wide enough.

More here – http://www.behance.net/gallery/Rubber-Shelves-for-The-Sculpture-House/2150469

Today 10 years ago .. remembering 9/11 – in the IOL newsroom.

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I was working for Independent Online (IOL) at the time and around 3:30 decided that it was time to hit the road and go home.  As I was walking through the newsroom my eye caught one of the many TV’s in the newsroom that happened to be on CNN.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  For a minte or 2 we all just starred at one another in disbelief and though by ourselves, can this  be real.

Me going home came to an abrubt halt and the newsroom became a hive of activity.  I was in charge of technology at IOL and we started thinking of what this will mean to our servers and the kind of traffic we could expect.

IOL was the first news site that had the story up and we immediately saw a spike in traffic.  We kept a watchfull eye on the servers and at the same time needed to ensure that the journalists had an optimum system to keep the stories flowing and keeping the site updated.  That day I came to respect the open source stack that we ran to serve IOL.  It did not strain at all under the load and just kept on ticking.

At about 11pm that evening things started to quiet down a bit and we could go home for some sleep while the night shift kept things going.  Early the next morning we were all back in the office to keep the news flowing.

Although we were looking on from afar, it felt like we were right in New York and today my toughts go out to all in America and the rest of the world that lost loved ones and friends.  I know it is a day I will never forget.

Jelly Bean comes after Icecream — next version of Google’s Android

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From the folks at Phandroid and AndroidandMe comes the news about the next pet name for Android .. I quote from Phandroid:

If you’re an Android fanboy (like me) there’s probably been a night or two where you kept up late wondering what Google’s name for the next version of Android would be. Well, toss and turn no more! According to a “trusted source” over at ThisIsMyNext, the next version of Android could be named — wait for it — JELLY BEAN. That’s right. Keeping true to Google’s alphabetical order, we’ve seen Android versions Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and now (possibly) Jelly Bean. Keep in mind it was long rumored that “F” would be Flan before later revealing itself to be Froyo.

and from the guys at AndroidandMe:

 Google has a tradition of naming Android versions after desserts. Ice Cream Sandwich is currently one of the hottest topics, as it’s the version we are all waiting for at the moment. It’s the Android version that will democratically unite tablet and smartphone software into one.

Due to the fact that ICS will be such a huge jump, we’ve not stopped to think about what Google will name the next Android version. If we follow the tradition, it should be a dessert starting with the letter J. We’ve heard a few assumptions, like “Jello,” but according to Thisismynext’s sources, it will be called “Jelly Bean.”

UPDATE: There is an update on this and apparently “Jelly Bean” is only one of the names in the mix.  Wonder how many food names are there which starts with a “J”, not many I can think of and do not think Google will just go with “Jam”.

If You Wouldn’t Do Your Job For Free, Then Quit

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Just read a Lifehacker post that got me thinking.  How many of us are in a dead end job, full of frustration and we hate it. David Fuhriman quotes something his brother-in-law received with his graduation:

  • An hour of sleep before midnight is worth two, and an hour of work before noon is worth two.
  • Always pick your kids up from school. That’s when they want to talk.
  • Never let your skill exceed your virtue.
  • Never take less than two weeks off when you have a child or for your honeymoon. Don’t let them talk you down.
  • When you mess up, admit it frankly and quickly, and move on.
  • Always do your very best in your job, but if you don’t like what you’re doing enough that you would do it for free, quit. (This seems extreme, but at the same time mentally liberating.)

Particularly the last one is eye opening. How many of us will be brave enough to quit?  Now I know that a lot of us are in these situasions because we do not have any choice.  We all have responsibilities and obligations and need a steady job so keep on going no matter what.

I ask myself the question, if my boss ask me whether I would be prepared to do what I do for free, whether I would do it?  To be honest, I think my answer would be no even if I could afford it.  When one recognises this, the next questions comes up and one ask oneself, why am I staying and doing what I do? 

Do yourself a favour and read the whole post on Lifehacker.  Love to hear your views on it.

Working with old colleagues again — Fundamo and having some fun.

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Up until August 2010, Herman (above) and I worked together at IBM South Africa, in fact sitting right next to one another.  I then went my way doing some things and Herman joined Fundamo in January this year.   I then joined (in fact returned) Fundamo earlier this month and yesterday we both attended an internal function celebrating the work Fundamo did on the MTN account during the second quarter.  While having great fun, we talked about the road that led us to where we are and how things tend to go in circles since a couple of years ago we also worked together on MTN account but at that time as IBMers.

One had to dress up as one’s favourite movie star and who can guess what Herman was dressed up as?