Today, I draw the line at learning Blackberry development.
This blog is about being a designer and a developer. And as the only person in my Marketing department, I do the jobs of at least three distinct positions, if not more. I'm not saying I do the work of three people, they keep me busy, but not that busy! However I am the sole person responsible for internal applications development (barring IT/systems admin support for server and database management, and most reporting), marketing strategies and tactics, and graphic design/creative direction. In these varied roles I find myself making distinct "hat switches" from day to day: Monday I design and mail a few thousand postcards, Tuesday I upgrade our dashboard application, Wednesday I coordinate trade shows. And so it varies.
It's just too much of a shift to spend the first part of my day planning a direct mail campaign, and the second half programming Flex and CF. Sure, I've done it. But I find I am more productive if I put on one hat and wear it all day, than if I jump around between tasks. I'm not sure if I get more done that way, but it feels like I do! I design better if I'm not thinking "but how will I program this?." I program better if I stay knee deep in code once I'm there. I open my mind to develop marketing strategies better if my mind isn't cluttered with thoughts of design patterns and syntax.
This generally works, but I feel I could be a lot better at any one of the three, if I just focused on it all the time. Extra hours of experience aside, never having to think about the other roles would help me focus and specialize. I've struggled with this a lot lately, thinking that I need to specialize my skill set (way before Seth made this post). And I've wondered...where do I draw the line in learning new skills? Should I?
My company recently moved from hosted Blackberry service to our own BES, and the opportunity of deploying our own applications and themes has excited management. Since I do all of our internal applications development, I will theoretically be writing any Blackberry applications we develop. I read up on basic Blackberry development a few months ago when this prospect first arose, and got to understand the basics, but somehow I cannot get behind forcing myself to take on Blackberry development, nor do I see a lot of need for us to develop BB applications.
I will always learn what technology is required to do my job, and I certainly never plan to just "stop" learning new skills because my brain is full, or such nonsense. However, I do feel like venturing into BB is unnecessarily broadening my already ridiculously general skill set. As the Director of Marketing, do I "pull title" and tell the IT guys they're on their own? I'm thinking now would be a good time to do that.
Technical learning curve aside, I might feel different about this if I saw a real need for a custom BB application within our organization. But none of our core systems (the ones that would really be valuable if they were mobile-accessible) have any type of open API that would allow proper integration (read: I would have to directly connect to an undocumented legacy database, and probably violate our software license), so anything I build would be a total band-aid solution, mobile "just because we can". Hardly worth learning a new skill for that.
Despite my goal of being a lifelong learner, I feel like at some point I have to say: "let someone else deal with it!" So ends the rant of this designer-developer, and I'll put this out there to all the other generalists: where do you draw the line? How do you decide NOT to learn something? How do you juggle different roles?
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Blog.setFocus()
Sorry about the super geek-cliche title. I just wanted to make a quick post about the fact that my blog will soon have a point! I've been wallowing about posting on random topics over the past few months, hoping that a theme would emerge. I've drafted several posts and not actually posted them, because I was trying to decide if they are relevant to the purpose my blog does not yet have. Well, now I can say that with some thinking and Adam's strong urging, I've decided that my primary focus will be on the designer-developer, something I am intimately familiar with.
Being a designer and a developer, a front-to-back website or application creator is fun and challenging. I've asked myself many times if I should focus on one more heavily than the other, but it's so hard to choose. Ultimately, I think that being able to do both can be of immense value in many situations (at least my current employer seems to think so), so I'm going to work to promote a diverse skill set and to provide resources that help designer-developers grow in both directions.
Stay tuned!
Being a designer and a developer, a front-to-back website or application creator is fun and challenging. I've asked myself many times if I should focus on one more heavily than the other, but it's so hard to choose. Ultimately, I think that being able to do both can be of immense value in many situations (at least my current employer seems to think so), so I'm going to work to promote a diverse skill set and to provide resources that help designer-developers grow in both directions.
Stay tuned!
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Puppy growing pains
My intention for this blog isn't to talk too much about my dog, but over the past week we've been through some interesting (and occasionally upsetting) experiences with our 7-month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy Kenshin, so I thought I'd share.
About two weeks ago when I took him to obedience class (if we're going to have an 85 lb dog he darn well is gonna learn to be obedient), he seemed to be less energetic than usual. I knew this because the prior week he pretty much embarrassed the hell out of me by being entirely out of control. But at this most recent class, he was calm and behaved much more like his good little self at home (as opposed to going crazy as he tends to do in class). He also seemed tired, he wanted to sit or lay down when he wasn't actively engaged, and I even had to coax him to get up at times. Deep down I was relieved and pleased that he was being so relaxed, but I wondered if something was wrong.
As the week progressed he seemed to be more sleepy than usual. He also didn't seem terribly interested in food, which, in Kenshin's case, is a definite sign that something's wrong. We couldn't tell if he was just being picky, because for about a week before he had been eating raw meats and vegetables when we ran out of kibble, so we figured he wasn't too happy switching back to the kibble. We took him with us to Adam's parents for the weekend, where he seemed to have plenty of energy, but then again, his girlfriend Ruby the Golden pup always makes him perk up. He still didn't want to eat kibble, although we convinced him to eat some table scraps.
By the beginning of the last week I was decidedly concerned about his lack of appetite, and he was getting more lethargic. No vomiting or diarrhea, though. Weird. We took him to his Holistic Vet (meh), who said he looked fabulous and was perfectly healthy, and that we should keep giving him lemon zest and pepper to "strengthen his stomach chi," and that we should just keep him on a BARF diet and stop with the kibble if he wouldn't eat the kibble. It didn't help that the morning before he went, he had eaten a full meal, so we were still uncertain if anything was really wrong. I think the vet thought we were being alarmists.
The next day, he was even worse. His entire demeanor was different. He was not happy, he looked miserable. He didn't want to play, or eat, he just wanted to lay around and sleep. Very unusual. The real cause for concern was that he refused to walk up the stairs, and appeared to be favoring his hind legs. Now it was looking really bad. Adam scheduled an appointment with the vet in PA that his parents swear by, a non-holistic vet who professed to be familiar with holistic practices (so we wouldn't catch crap for treating our dog's chi with pepper...that's a story unto itself).
It was encouraging that this other vet did not dismiss any of our concerns and seemed very knowledgeable in diagnosing the problem. Within minutes he had found some specfic sore spots (something the prior vet did not do) on Kenshin's spine that explained the pain in his hind legs. We had done our own Googling and developed a few theories as to what could be wrong, so to allay our concerns the vet did a battery of tests. However the ultimate outcome was that poor little Kenshin was in a lot of pain, most likely due to a bone disease called Pano.
Pano affects young dogs during rapid growth periods, and can last for weeks, causing inflammation and pain, shifting around to various limbs. The good news is that there are rarely any serious ill effects after the disease runs its course, and the treatment is simple pain killers. The vet gave Kenshin a double dose of pain medicine to get things started, and sent us home with a couple additional medications that we could have on hand in case one of his other tests came back positive (lyme disease being a particular concern given our location). By the time Adam and Kenshin got back from PA, Kenshin was closer to his usual self than I'd seen him in over a week. He greeted me with excitement, he was 100% more alert, and he finally started eating again.
His appetite isn't quite back to his usual voracity, but he's eating regularly now. He's happy and alert, and plays with his toys (although he's prohibited from rough play and tug-of-war, his favorite game). He occasionally shows sensitivity in his back legs, usually when it's time to take more pain medication. He thinks his pain pills are treats. We'll find out tomorrow if any other tests came back positive (the initial bloodwork was a-ok), but we're pretty sure at this point that Pano was the problem. I feel much better knowing that he's not in pain any more, and I'm relieved that it wasn't something more serious.
I found it interesting as I researched the disease that a lot of the recommendations our breeder gave us about feeing him coincided perfectly with how to prevent Pano. Although there's no specific known cause, or specific prevention, most of the recommendations I read about were things we already do (give him a vitamin C supplement, feed him adult formula food rather than puppy food). I had a lot of confidence already in our breeder's experience (although she did start Kenshin on the whole Holistic thing...), and my findings seem to support that.
Suffice to say, if you're ever in doubt about what any vet (or doctor) says, get a second opinion. If it seems like all your vet does in a check up is play with your puppy, it's probably true! A 3-hour drive and $500 is well worth it to prevent weeks of pain and misery in a poor puppy who can't tell you where it hurts.
About two weeks ago when I took him to obedience class (if we're going to have an 85 lb dog he darn well is gonna learn to be obedient), he seemed to be less energetic than usual. I knew this because the prior week he pretty much embarrassed the hell out of me by being entirely out of control. But at this most recent class, he was calm and behaved much more like his good little self at home (as opposed to going crazy as he tends to do in class). He also seemed tired, he wanted to sit or lay down when he wasn't actively engaged, and I even had to coax him to get up at times. Deep down I was relieved and pleased that he was being so relaxed, but I wondered if something was wrong.
As the week progressed he seemed to be more sleepy than usual. He also didn't seem terribly interested in food, which, in Kenshin's case, is a definite sign that something's wrong. We couldn't tell if he was just being picky, because for about a week before he had been eating raw meats and vegetables when we ran out of kibble, so we figured he wasn't too happy switching back to the kibble. We took him with us to Adam's parents for the weekend, where he seemed to have plenty of energy, but then again, his girlfriend Ruby the Golden pup always makes him perk up. He still didn't want to eat kibble, although we convinced him to eat some table scraps.
By the beginning of the last week I was decidedly concerned about his lack of appetite, and he was getting more lethargic. No vomiting or diarrhea, though. Weird. We took him to his Holistic Vet (meh), who said he looked fabulous and was perfectly healthy, and that we should keep giving him lemon zest and pepper to "strengthen his stomach chi," and that we should just keep him on a BARF diet and stop with the kibble if he wouldn't eat the kibble. It didn't help that the morning before he went, he had eaten a full meal, so we were still uncertain if anything was really wrong. I think the vet thought we were being alarmists.
The next day, he was even worse. His entire demeanor was different. He was not happy, he looked miserable. He didn't want to play, or eat, he just wanted to lay around and sleep. Very unusual. The real cause for concern was that he refused to walk up the stairs, and appeared to be favoring his hind legs. Now it was looking really bad. Adam scheduled an appointment with the vet in PA that his parents swear by, a non-holistic vet who professed to be familiar with holistic practices (so we wouldn't catch crap for treating our dog's chi with pepper...that's a story unto itself).
It was encouraging that this other vet did not dismiss any of our concerns and seemed very knowledgeable in diagnosing the problem. Within minutes he had found some specfic sore spots (something the prior vet did not do) on Kenshin's spine that explained the pain in his hind legs. We had done our own Googling and developed a few theories as to what could be wrong, so to allay our concerns the vet did a battery of tests. However the ultimate outcome was that poor little Kenshin was in a lot of pain, most likely due to a bone disease called Pano.
Pano affects young dogs during rapid growth periods, and can last for weeks, causing inflammation and pain, shifting around to various limbs. The good news is that there are rarely any serious ill effects after the disease runs its course, and the treatment is simple pain killers. The vet gave Kenshin a double dose of pain medicine to get things started, and sent us home with a couple additional medications that we could have on hand in case one of his other tests came back positive (lyme disease being a particular concern given our location). By the time Adam and Kenshin got back from PA, Kenshin was closer to his usual self than I'd seen him in over a week. He greeted me with excitement, he was 100% more alert, and he finally started eating again.
His appetite isn't quite back to his usual voracity, but he's eating regularly now. He's happy and alert, and plays with his toys (although he's prohibited from rough play and tug-of-war, his favorite game). He occasionally shows sensitivity in his back legs, usually when it's time to take more pain medication. He thinks his pain pills are treats. We'll find out tomorrow if any other tests came back positive (the initial bloodwork was a-ok), but we're pretty sure at this point that Pano was the problem. I feel much better knowing that he's not in pain any more, and I'm relieved that it wasn't something more serious.
I found it interesting as I researched the disease that a lot of the recommendations our breeder gave us about feeing him coincided perfectly with how to prevent Pano. Although there's no specific known cause, or specific prevention, most of the recommendations I read about were things we already do (give him a vitamin C supplement, feed him adult formula food rather than puppy food). I had a lot of confidence already in our breeder's experience (although she did start Kenshin on the whole Holistic thing...), and my findings seem to support that.
Suffice to say, if you're ever in doubt about what any vet (or doctor) says, get a second opinion. If it seems like all your vet does in a check up is play with your puppy, it's probably true! A 3-hour drive and $500 is well worth it to prevent weeks of pain and misery in a poor puppy who can't tell you where it hurts.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
How internet communities have changed publishing
I was reading this very funny article that Bret sent me and when I got to the bottom of the screen, the link bar at the bottom caught my eye.
Remember the days when the only links news websites put next to their articles were "email to a friend" and possibly "printer friendly"? Now it appears there's an entire list of imperative links, for we must maximize our blog coverage and viral distribution as much as possible. The only think missing from this Onion footer is "add to del.icio.us".
Well, it worked for me, although I didn't blog the article because I am a meth addict afraid of spiders, nor did I use their "blog this" link. For some reason I'm afraid of those things.
Remember the days when the only links news websites put next to their articles were "email to a friend" and possibly "printer friendly"? Now it appears there's an entire list of imperative links, for we must maximize our blog coverage and viral distribution as much as possible. The only think missing from this Onion footer is "add to del.icio.us".
Well, it worked for me, although I didn't blog the article because I am a meth addict afraid of spiders, nor did I use their "blog this" link. For some reason I'm afraid of those things.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Pink Like My Drink
So... I've waited long enough to start this blog. Like most web developers/designers (I would guess), for a long time I thought it was silly or even wrong to not code my blog myself. Shouldn't it be my personal code and graphic playground? But about a year after first thinking that I should start a blog (late to the trend party as always--but never late for anything else), I still haven't written a lick of code, and a few feeble design beginnings sit idly in My Documents.
Then I remember that I do this all day, every day, at work...so why would I want to come home and do it on my personal time too? Sure, I read big fat tech books and even have been known to do some work after hours, so it's not entirely out of character. But for now, this most excellent pre-fab blogging tool will do just fine, and eventually I might get around to writing some of my own code. Someday.
Adam will get over his hurt.
Then I remember that I do this all day, every day, at work...so why would I want to come home and do it on my personal time too? Sure, I read big fat tech books and even have been known to do some work after hours, so it's not entirely out of character. But for now, this most excellent pre-fab blogging tool will do just fine, and eventually I might get around to writing some of my own code. Someday.
Adam will get over his hurt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
