Noah Coad

Microsoft Puts Search Work Items into TFS Power Tools

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:23:00 -0600

Microsoft recently updated their Team Foundation Server Power Tools to have a work item search box!

A few months back Brian Harry (MS Technical Fellow and Program Unit Manager of TFS) asked me if he could include my Search Work Items VS addin in the TFS Power Tools. It’s awesome seeing it here now!

A little back story… I originally created the addin while we were working on VS 2008. I had heard the passion our head of Team System at the time Andrew Kass talk about the need for providing some level of work item search. It wasn’t something our VSTS team was able implement in a more fully supported way at the time. So that evening in about two hours I coded up this little vs addin and put it up on MSDN. It was the #1 download for about a month and has continued to be popular. Thanks to the community on CodePlex others have kept it up to date.

Differences… now I will say that my addin does have a few differences

Ability to edit what field are being searched on. Typing “—template” will open the work item query used
Jumps directly to a work item if a number is specified, like 993. Team Explorer already has a feature for that in Go To Work Item (Ctrl+G) so that’s not really important, but I put it in so there was was a visual way to click and type a work item number to jump to
The Search Work Items box also shows up in the “Team” main menu so if you don’t like toolbars (I turn mine all off), then you can still find it
An finally, the addin has a registered VS Command, Team.SearchWorkItems, so you can assign a keyboard shortcut to jump to the box (I use Ctrl+Alt+S)

References

Team Foundation Server Power Tools December 2011 Update
Search Work Items for VS2010 in the Visual Studio Gallery
Search Work Items source code home on CodePlex
Original blog post from when Search Work Items was released

In conclusion, a big thanks goes out to the TFS team for asking me and putting the feature into the MS sponsored Power Tools package. I hope more TFS users are able to be more productive because of it. :)

Peter's Laws, The Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Compulsive

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:57:55 -0600

Found this poster in a local restaurant, wow, this is my life creed! I immediately purchased one for my home office. Here’s the poster on allposters.com. #OCDftw

Zulu Hour blog

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:48:45 -0500

Zulu Hour blog:

This is a new blog I’ve started as an outlet for political, religious, NSW, and other random bits and bytes. If you’re interested in keeping tabs on the other half of my mind not suited for the mainstream, this is where it’ll be. » Zulu Hour

Windows Home Server to the Rescue

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:01:00 -0500

My laptop hard drive died yesterday, just before heading out of town on a business trip. When drives have died in the past it takes me about 20 hrs to recover up to 80% normal efficiency. This involves installing Windows on a new drive, downloading/installing drivers and >100 applications/tools, and recovering files (from the last file-copy backup). Then there’s the time to re-configuring the OS, apps, tools, dev env, etc. Not to mention the frustration of loosing files since the last backup.

But not so this time! I’ve been using Windows Home Server (WHS) which automatically backups my PC every night and recovery was a breeze! For the first time ever I was able to get back up and running in about just 1 hr. WHS does nightly ‘bare metal’ backups which it can restore the entire system to a new drive. This is the first time I can say in my 20+ yrs w computers that I’ve had a backup system fully restore my system perfectly. The time savings and frustration alone was well worth the cost.

What had turned me onto WHS in the first place was the file storage capabilities. The ability to add any number of drives to a single storage pool with redundancy and not requiring RAID (not in WHS 2011 I’m told). I didn’t expect the backup to work as advertised, but it sure did.

p.s. This post was written just after the HDD crash but was posted later. I now use Windows Home Server exclusively in a Hyper-V VM which is working out fantastically well.

Shouts go out to Scott Hanselman for turning me onto the HP MediaSmart Server and this post Virtualizing Windows Home Server On Hyper-V for the encouragement to move my WHS to a Hyper-V environment (highly recommended).

Open Clipboard Contents Hotkey

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:01:05 -0500

I find it particularly useful to be able to copy a file, folder, URL, or search term to the clipboard and then with one hotkey, open it up. Here is the script I use with AutoHotkey to assign Win+O to open whatever’s in the clipboard.

First it checks to see if the clipboard contains a file, folder, or program that exists on disk. If not, is it appear to be a URL? And if not, just Google the clipboard contents.

; Execute the contents of the clipboard, Win+O
#o::
  contents = %clipboard%
  StringSplit, SplitArray, contents, `n
  Loop, %SplitArray0%
  {
    _line := SplitArray%a_index%
    
    ; First attempt a shell execute
    Run, %_line%,, UseErrorLevel

    ; If that didn't work, try something else
    if (ErrorLevel = "ERROR")
    {
      ; Does the clipboard contain a URL?
      FoundPos := RegExMatch(_line, "A)\w[^\s]*\.(?:com|co|uk|gov|edu|tv|net|org|tel|me|us|mobi|es)(?:\z|/.*)\z")
      if FoundPos 
        Run "%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" %_line%
      else 
        Run http://google.com/search?q=%_line%
    }
  }
return

It is also designed to open multiple items if separated by a carriage return, for example:

http://coad.net
http://facebook.com
http://noahcoad.com

Tips to Create Impactful Screen Cast Videos

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:55:00 -0500

Creating quick little instruction screen cast videos is so easy now these days, particularly with free awesome tools like Jing (click, record, publish to URL… easy). And they’re incredibly powerful in helping people out and recording bug repros. But it’s also so far too easy to make crappy bad videos that are confusing or boring. It just takes some conscious awareness of the process to make a great video.

Here are my tips after a few years of recording videos. My thanks goes out to the speaker training I received at Microsoft, to the many colleagues that have produced excellent videos, and for their providing feedback on my attempts.

These tips are for meant for short recordings of generally less than 5 min. Captures designed for single takes of relatively simple topics. I use Jing which is just super easy and free (upgrade to Pro for improved audio quality), but Camtasia works just as well (but is costly and far more complex). You can of course spend much time polishing in post-production using tools Camtasia’s zooming, annotations, editing, etc, but that’s not the point of these tips. They’re focused on making the recording itself.

Some examples:

The Basics

Use a loss-less codec. It is annoying to see video of a screen that is too small or fuzzy to see clearly. It is poor form when a loss-less codec would look perfect. Jing and Camtasia support loss-less recording (careful w Camtasia’s output, choose ‘original resolution’ when producing).
Recorded simple, clear, verbal instructions along with the video.
Drop your screen resolution as low as possible, 800x600 if you can (1024x768 if not) or resize an app to the minimum size needed and record just that app’s area. It keeps the watcher focussed, reduces wasted visual space, and makes it easy for them to watch the video.
Make sure the mic level is set appropriately so that on playback the volume isn’t too low or too strong (how to vid).
Prep everything ahead of time for a smooth video focused on exactly and only the topic at hand. Reset states, settings, and apps before each new take. Do not record boring or obvious steps like repeatedly logging into a website or launching an app that takes awhile to load.
Watch the video yourself and imagine you’re someone that’s never seen this before, is it simple, clear, interesting, and easy to understand without being boring?

Advanced Tips
Once getting a grasp on the basics above, continue on with these…

Use a good quality external microphone. Even a $20 unit from Best Buy will produce significantly better audio than what’s in the laptop. Like this $20 Logitech USB mic on amazon. Or get a great mic, like the Samson CO1U USB condenser mic (I use the Samson CO3U).
Remove your hand from the mouse when not purposely clicking on something so that the mouse doesn’t move (which is distracting).
Keep videos as short as absolutely possible, people’s attention span is very short. The shorter the video the more they’ll remember and happier they’ll be.
Verbally tell the listener what to click on as you click. Even though it should be obvious because you’re doing it in the video, telling the user brings their attention to it. Like “We click on ‘File’, ‘Save As’, then type the name MyApp.config and hit enter.”
Pause momentarily before and after clicking, to let the person focus and understand what you’re moving onto next.
Use the mouse to draw the watcher’s attention to a part of the screen as you tell them about it. People’s eyes will naturally follow the mouse and they won’t really be listening while it’s moving. Don’t move the mouse unintentionally as it is quite distracting.
Give a <10 sec intro at the start to state the what and why about the video. Like “This is John Smith and I’m going to show you how to disable Windows Explorer file expansion.”
Use a title screen. Like a single PowerPoint slide in full-screen with the title of the video or even just notepad or Word with the font enlarged.
It may take 3, 6, or more attempts to get the video ‘right’, but it’s worth it. Keep going until it’s right, smooth, and tight.
Grab a co-worker to view a draft of the video to get their feedback and refine your style before sending more broadly. A second pair of eyes can turn up a lot, particularly if they regularly record videos too.
Don’t use superfluous words, sentences, or phrases (like “um”). Keep the verbiage very focused on what’s actually needed. These may be normal and mostly overlooked in casual conversation but are amplified and stick out like a sore thumb when recorded. The clarity of speech is also a direct indication of the presenter’s competence.
Have fun! Make it sound like you’re interested in the topic. If you’re not interested, the listener won’t be.

So what tips would to add? Any additional advice to share? Please put it in the comments. thanks

Fry’s Electronic stores are matching Internet prices. Now...

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:19:00 -0500

Fry’s Electronic stores are matching Internet prices. Now if they could just cut out the sales taxes they’d be on par with amazon.com.

Hotkey to Instantly Play Music in iTunes

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:29:00 -0500

I’m usually too distracted by other work to remember to kick-off some music in the background. Usually because it’d mean launching iTunes, waiting for it to load, finding a playlist to start, and kicking it off. So I’ve created a single global hotkey to instantly load iTunes and start playing music. Here’s how:

Get the Tools
Have a master AutoHotKey hotkey file and set PowerShell to autoload my little iTunes.ps1 library on PowerShell startup. With these two it makes it real easy to assign hotkeys to various iTunes commands.
Create a “PlayHotkey” Playlist in iTunes
Just a playlist to be kicked off when the hotkey is pressed. I’ve got mine set to shuffle unplayed tracks.
Add AutoHotkey Line
What enables this line to be so simple is that there is a itPlaylist function in the above iTunes.ps1 file that gets auto loaded as part of step 1.
```
; Play Music NOW with Win+Alt+P
#!p:: Run powershell -command (itPlaylist('PlayHotkey')).PlayFirstTrack(),,Hide
```

My full script: MediaKeys.ahk
Related posts: Hotkey to Play/Pause/Next iTunes Tracks, Hotkey to Rate an iTunes Track

p.s. Another option is to just launch Pandora with a hotkey.
#!p:: Run http://pandora.com

Hotkey to Play/Pause/Next iTunes Tracks

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:00:00 -0500

If your keyboard doesn’t have media keys (like my MacBook or fav Dell keyboard), then its nice to have simple global hotkeys to play/pause a track, move to the next track, and maybe even increase/decrease volume.

Below is the script that will assign these keys:

Play/Pause: Win+Alt+Space or Win+Alt+Left
Next Track: Win+Alt+Right
Volume Up: Win+Alt+Up
Volume Down: Win+Alt+Down

AutoHotkey makes this real easy! Just add this to your .ahk AutoHotkey file:

; Media Keys AutoHotkey Script by Noah Coad, started in 2008, http://coad.net

; #=Win ^=Ctrl +=Shift !=Alt

; Volume Up & Down, Win+Alt+Up & Win+Alt+Down
#!Up::  send {Volume_Up}
#!Down::  send {Volume_Down}

; Media Pause/Play, Win+Alt+Space or Win+Alt+Left
#!Space::
#!Left::
Media_Play_Pause::
  IfWinExist, iTunes ahk_class ITWindow
  {
    ControlSend ahk_parent, {shift}
    sleep 100
    ControlSend ahk_parent, ^{space}
  }
  else
  {
    Suspend On
    SendPlay {Media_Play_Pause}
    Suspend Off
  }
return

; Media Next, Win+Alt+Right
#!Right::
Media_Next::
  IfWinExist, iTunes ahk_class ITWindow
  {
    ControlSend ahk_parent, {shift}
    sleep 100
    ControlSend ahk_parent, ^{right}
  }	
  else
  {
    Suspend On
    SendInput {Media_Next}
    Suspend Off
  }
return

Here is my full script: MediaKeys.ahk
Related posts: Hotkey to Rate an iTunes Track, Hotkey to Instantly Play Music in iTunes

Dozen iPhone Custom Ringtones

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:29:00 -0500

This evening I was playing around with creating some custom ringtones for my iPhone. Here are the dozen I made: ringtones.7z

Just download, unpack, and drag & drop the .m4r (AAC MP4 audio) files into iTunes and they’ll show up in the Library > Ringtones section and sync to your phone.

I used GoldWave to edit the sound to the right length and this PC World article for the tip on using iTunes to convert MP3 into AAC.

Hotkey to Rate an iTunes Track

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:37:00 -0500

Do you rate your tracks in iTunes? Ever find it a slight pain to swap back over to iTunes while working on something important just to rate a playing track? Here’s how to set up global hotkeys to rate a track from anywhere (Windows XP or newer). Like Win+Alt+1 for one star, Win+Alt+2 for two, etc.

Get the Tools
Have a master AutoHotKey hotkey file and set PowerShell to autoload my little iTunes.ps1 library on PowerShell startup. With these two it makes it real easy to assign hotkeys to various iTunes commands.

Add the AutoHotkey Lines
What enables this line to be so simple is that there is a itPlaylist function in the above iTunes.ps1 file that gets auto loaded as part of step 1.

; Rate the currently playing song 1 to 5 stars with Win+Alt+#
#!1:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 20,,Hide
#!2:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 40,,Hide
#!3:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 60,,Hide
#!4:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 80,,Hide
#!5:: Run powershell -command (itunes).CurrentTrack.Rating = 100,,Hide

That’s it! Then with just one keystroke you can rate the current song from any app without switching over to iTunes.

My full script: MediaKeys.ahk
Related posts: Hotkey to Instantly Play Music in iTunes, Hotkey to Play/Pause/Next iTunes Tracks

PowerShell Startup Auto-Load Scripts

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:38:57 -0500

It’s very handy to have a PowerShell script automatically load when PowerShell starts up to configure your environment, like an AutoExec.bat in the old DOS days. Here’s how I have mine set up.

Tools Dir & Env Var
I keep a general Tools directory on my machine with command line tools, scripts, etc and so set a system environment variable called tools that points to this directory.
Run Unsigned Scripts
Run set-executionpolicy bypass once in each environment (cmd shell and ISE) to allow easy execution of unsigned scripts.
Profiles Auto-Load Script
PowerShell supports profiles with an auto-load script on PowerShell start up. Simply put the files Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 (for basic shell) and Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1 (for the GUI) in your %UserProfile%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell directory. These will be run on PowerShell startup.
Consolidate Scripts
The only line I have in these files is: ."${env:tools}\PSScripts\PowerShellEnvironment.ps1" to launch my ‘real’ script. This make it easier to manage, with only one file that’s near my other powershell scripts instead of the two separate scripts above.
Chain ‘autoload’ Scripts
Then it helps to separate into individual scripts various aspects of your environment setup. Like a script for aliases, itunes, functions, regular expressions, favorite assemblies, etc. So I have an ‘autoload’ directory with these scripts in them to chain load. Here are the contents of PowerShellEnvironment.ps1:

# directory where my scripts are stored 
$psdir="${env:tools}\PSScripts"

# load all 'autoload' scripts
get-childitem "${psdir}\autoload\*.ps1" | %{.$_}

Write-Host "Custom PowerShell Environment Loaded"

My ‘autoload’ Scripts
Here is a snapshot of my autoload directory of scripts in case you’d be interested. PowerShellScripts-autoload.7z

That’s all there is to it. One of the reasons for putting this out there is so that I can now reference it from other posts too. :)

Free Amazon Kindle Books

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0500

Do a little digging around on Amazon and you can turn up tons of great free Kindle books! Here are some that I found worth sharing:

Free Books List (fiction, non-fiction, business, advice)
Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith (7 book series, all free)
Classic Authors: Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. (Herbert George) Wells, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens
Physics: Relativity: the Special and General Theory, Five of Maxwell’s Papers, The New Physics and Its Evolution
Baen Free Library, you can email books from this free library to your Kindle
also worth listing $0.99 Books, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection ($0.99)

Of course if you don’t have a Kindle, don’t walk, run to get a Kindle 3G now or get the app for just about any other device. :)

Automatically Log Into Windows Registry Hack

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0500

There is a registry setting that will automatically log your Windows PC into an account when booting up. Of course this is handy if you’re the only one using your computer and are not overly concerned with security.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DefaultDomainName"=""
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"
"DefaultUserName"=""
"DefaultPassword"=""

Just put that into a .reg file or download this template AutoLogin.7z, modify to your needs, then run the .reg file to import the setting.

Update (7/11/2011): For those that use the advanced command interpreter Take Command (formally 4NT), here is a handy little batch script that makes this easy with user prompts. AutoLoginBatch.7z

Update (7/31/2011 via @intellitect): Microsoft has a tool for this as part of the sysinternals collection called autologon.exe. It’s super easy. :)

Hotkeys to OneNote Pages

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0500

If you like using Microsoft OneNote (which rocks!), you’ve got some favorite pages, and you like hotkeys, then this is for you! Here’s how to create PC global hotkeys to open OneNote and jump to specific pages, sections, notebooks, or paragraphs.

I’ve got about a dozen main pages that I rapidly switch between, like my work TO DO list, personal TO DO, my list of topics to cover with people when I talk to them, blog topics list, my Stream of Conciousness pages, etc. With this tip it’s just one hotkey to any of those pages at anytime (not just within OneNote).

The magic lies with the fact that OneNote rocks when it comes to being able to link to tabs, pages, or paragraphs. Just right-click on any of these to “Copy Link to _____”. Then use AutoHotKey (open source, my review) to assign a hotkey to that link. As an example, here are two of my links in my hotkeys.ahk file that runs at Windows startup/login. I use Win+Shift+ for my OneNote pages. Like Win+Shift+T for my TO DO list.

; ==========================================================================================
; == OneNote Pages
; ==========================================================================================

; ^=Ctrl #=Win +=Shift !=Alt

; Open OneNote 'Projects', Win+Shift+P
#+p::  Run `onenote:///\\MACKIE\Noah\Data\OneNote\General\General.one§ion-id={1DB1BA6E-8FC5-46FC-8754-0CE815E0CA65}&page-id={5FE75ECE-8A80-487F-8B8C-566985366839}&end`

; Open OneNote 'LifeNexust Meeting Stream', Win+Shift+M
#+m::  Run `onenote:///C:\Noah\Data\OneNote\LifeNexus\Meetings.one#Meeting Stream§ion-id={849D7425-454F-4C0E-9F72-D09DA589147D}&page-id={4346888C-E602-4AC3-A637-AA0033AB092C}&end`

So if you use OneNote much and like hotkeys, give this a try. I use these hotkeys many dozens of times a day. Also don’t forget to check out the OneNote iOS app and the ability to share OneNote notebooks with others.

Update (7/20/2011): If there are spaces in the path to your notebook, AutoHotKey won’t like the %20 used to represent a space. So just replace %20 with a space, for example “…OneNote%20Notebooks…” would be “…OneNote Notebooks…”.

"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst."

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:00:00 -0500

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.”

- William Penn via @problogger

Life Advice from Rudy Giuliani

Sat, 28 May 2011 12:00:06 -0500

Recently a co-worker and I attended a Get Motivated seminar, which in of itself was fantastic and I’d highly recommend catching one in your area. My favorite speaker of the day was Rudy Giuliani, format NYC major. Of all the distinguished speakers of the seminar, he had (in my opinion) the most well thought-out and presented personal advice. His advice was delivered by (1) defining a principle, (2) giving direct examples from his own personal experience, and (3) was directly actionable for the listener with a call to action. Thanks Rudy. Here is a quick recap of the notes I took from his talk…

Consistently be reading a book for work and for personal enjoyment
Always have two books you’re working through. One to improve your occupation and skills, and one just to enjoy reading. Read them all the way through (if they’re worth your time) and move on to the next. Keep enjoying life and learning through reading.
Copy people you admire, listen to, and learn from them
Have a few people you can specifically name that you admire, respect, and endeavor to learn from.
Write Things Down
“Nothing helps your critical thinking process more than writing down.”, it focuses your thinking and energizes your ability to think. Include pros & cons for decisions, keep an active action items list, and list your goals both big and small (especially for the people you’re working with)
Stop and Think
Meditate 5-10 minutes every day. Stop and really think. How you want to improve yourself? What are your goals? And what are your next steps to achieve those goals?
Love People
Care for people. Invest in people. Be there for people when things go wrong. Friends are the best social safety network. If you’re there for people when they need you, they’ll be there for you.

Ice Dawgs Hockey Team (my team)

Fri, 27 May 2011 12:00:06 -0500

Ice Dawgs Hockey Team (my team)

Tech Resume Pitfalls

Thu, 26 May 2011 12:00:00 -0500

If you’re writing a tech or dev resume, there are some big pitfalls I see on most resumes that cry out ‘don’t hire me’. Please don’t fall into these dead giveaways. It can be obvious in the first 5-10 minutes of talking to a candidate to determine if they really know what’s on their resume or are blowing smoke. Is it just naivety or an indication of honesty? The tips below are meant to help people write better resumes that lead to truly impressed recruiters and great jobs.

The general rule of thumb is: Don’t list something on your resume unless you really know it. Avoid Lingo Bingo. Seriously, just because someone has used a tool casually or occasionally coded against an API doesn’t necessarily mean they really know it. If a typical developer could learn it in a day, don’t list it. If you don’t feel comfortable demonstrating a depth of understanding on a topic, don’t list it.

Warning Signs: The Buzz-Word List

Frameworks: Be prepared to explain the key architectural components of frameworks listed (like WCF, ASP.NET MVC, MVVM, MEF, …) and why they’re important. For example, don’t list WCF if you’ve just used VS to connect to a web service as any joe dev could learn in a day. List WCF it if you know its ABC architecture and could write a chat service using WCF from a command line app, or do something else particularly interesting.
Languages: If multiple languages are listed, like “Java” and “C#” be ready to be asked “what are fundamental language differences between the two languages?” (not just syntax, buy keywords and concepts). Like properties, interpretation of generics, multiple inheritance, partial classes, properties, delegates, etc. Same goes for VB.NET & C#. If you’ve used them in the same way, why list them separately?
Versions: If you list separate .NET framework versions (like 1.0 to 4.0) then you should know differences between them, otherwise you’ve just used “.NET”. Same goes for languages, don’t list C# versions unless you can tell the differences between them, otherwise you just use C#.
Specific Techs: If DHTML is listed, be expected to explain the difference between HTML and DHTML. If you list CSS, know pseudo elements, selectors, multiple classes, inheritance priority, etc. LINQ means you understand extension methods, expression trees, etc.
Phrases: “Excellent Communicator”, “Project Planner”, “Organization Skills”, should have real, specific, damn good examples to back them up if listed. More often than not when I find these on a resume it shines a spotlight on an area that’s normally a challenge for the individual. Much better to list how those skills have been used in practice, like “Organized a team of 10 developers through the project planning phases of dozens of products over 5 years” or “written >30 product specifications, instructional documents, and FAQs”
Once vs Frequent: Stuff done one time or here or there doesn’t count for much (unless it’s something totally awesome!). It’s better to focus on patterns and things done consistently.
Methodologies: All software is done under some methodology, even it if doesn’t appear like it sometimes. No real need to list one unless it’s particularly unique or your into improving the methodology. Just meeting 15 min a day is not SCRUM. If I see “Agile” I’ll ask “so what does it really mean to develop software in an Agile way”. Many candidates can’t contrast Agile or SCRUM with other common development methodologies.
Source Code Control: All developers these days are expected to use source code control of one type or another. It doesn’t really matter on a resume unless you consider yourself an expert in a SCC tool, so don’t be listing subversion or TFS (if you use it only for SCC).
Bug Tracking: Same here, for the most part entering bugs or tracking issues is common and can be eliminated. It’s worth mentioning if you’ve actually worked on defining the bug tracking fields, put real though into it, analyzing data from the bug DB, and have skilz in that area.
Super Basics: All developers are expected to have worked with basic technologies like SCC, DLLs, files, Windows (if in .NET), XML, etc. Don’t list them unless you rock in a way worth telling.
Funny Terms: The way the buzz-words are listed is funny sometimes, like “C# .NET”. Wow, really, you’ve done C# in .NET? Or wait a minute… isn’t C# only done in .NET? (well technically .NET is Microsoft’s branding for C#, the BCL, and CLR, but hey, if someone told me that I’d be impressed)

Keys to Remember

A Resume is a Quick Intro: The resume is just your entry into the door and springboard for discussion. You get hired on actual evaluation by the recruiter of your skills, experience, and communications. Let’s hope this includes some actual coding to.
List Standouts: List things that make you stand out. Like writing Visual Studio plugins (if you’ve done it a number of times and really know what it takes), contributing to open source, a Stack Overflow rating to be proud of, etc.
Less is More: If you list “just a lot of stuff” the gems will get lost in the noise. State just the things you really know and are particularly proud of.
Still want buzz-words? If you still feel compelled to place lots of buzz-words on a resume for search engines or because that headhunter is pushing you to do so, add a “keywords” section to the bottom of the resume. Or another option is to list at the top “Competencies:” with what you really know and have a “Worked With: ” section for other buzz-words.
Simple Explaination Test: “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” - Albert Einstein, and it is so true, and “explaining something simply” means conveying why and how it’s important in a clear and concise way.
Just be honest. Dead honest. It really does show.

p.s. For context… my last resume was one-page with relatively little text, mostly clean colorful use of whitespace, and only listed stuff I truly felt competent in. It landed me a job on the Microsoft Visual Studio Platform team. Now I’m reviewing dozens of resumes a month, and generally the more of these all-too-common pitfalls I see on a resume, the less competent the candidate tends to be.

Focus your resume to be a tool highlighting your best skills and spark a meaningful discussion with a future employer.

Sennheiser HD 202 MK II Headphones

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:00:00 -0500

I’m a headphone junkie. I really enjoy trying different headphones and evaluating their sound quality and other features that make them unique. In that quest I came across this Sennheiser HD 202 MK II Headphones for $21.45 on amazon. Wow, what a steal of a deal for Sennheisers! Sennheiser is known for creating some of the truest sounding headphones and these are no exception.

They have great clarity and for the price are unbeatable. They’re not marketed as having enhanced bass, but do have a strong bass response. The mids are clean. While they do have clear highs, they’re slightly biased towards the mid-to-lower range. They’re built sturdy with a very long cord. The ears muffs can pop off in case of kids playing with them (which is good) and easily snap back. They’re okay on the comfort level, not all-day type of phones, but decent for a few hours at a time. They’re definitely ahead of the curve for the price.

These are now my standard household headphones since I don’t have to watch them like a hawk (like some of my other headphones), and I’ve established them as my company’s standard issue. If you’re interested in getting a decent pair of headphones at a great price, this is a good option.

I also own a pair of Sennheiser HD 555 which are more comfortable, cost 4x as much, and while may have a more flat/even response, these HD 202s have more ‘punch’. The HD 202s also have more response across the sound spectrum than my $300 Boss QuiteComfort 15 (which shouldn’t be a surprise since the Boss are first designed to be noise cancelling which does affect the sound). Also many other headphones which I’ll blog about later. Combined with free 2nd day shipping using Amazon Prime (totally recommended) and the fact they’re easy to return if you don’t like them, it’s a fantastic deal.