[SWLUG] Re: 'windows lusers' or 'marketing droids

[Gareth James Powell]

Hi Rhys,

rhys_sage at yahoo.com wrote:
> 
> Interesting. I had to print that one out Gareth. I suspect work must've been
> a bit boring that afternoon.
 It is nice to take some time out from work to refresh those addled
neurones, and also very nice to have an employer that allows some
playtime as long as you do the work and do it right - the incompetent
get found out very quickly here!

> I see the point about putting buzz words into a CV. I thought I'd got plenty
> of them in. What buzz words should I add to
> http://www.geocities.com/rhys_sage? I see that ISO 9000 looks useful.

 I may have been a tad flippant in the previous email!! =:0 

 If your present employer is ISO9000 certified (audited) then happy
days are here and put it down in your CV, some say they are
'compliant' which is less good but at least when questioned you should
be able to demonstrate that you know about such processes and are able
to follow and maybe contribute to them.
  If your current employer does not do any of this read up on the
subject but make sure you say something like "awareness of X" rather
than "usage of X", I am careful to use "knowledge of X" if have used
the thing and have some feel for it (but not one of my core skills
though) rather than know about it from some book. YMMV with different
prospective employers.

 Showing an interest in such things and a willingness to learn is a
good thing to demonstrate to a prospective employer. Giving out buzz
words (i.e. B.S.) you can't back up when questioned on is verrrry bad.

> Personally I thought that was just called "documentation". What other buzz
> words have crept in that I don't know anything about? Have "flowcharting",
> "program spec" or even "rough notes" been given strange new names? It's hard
> enough keeping up with the different names the Royal Mail or British Rail
> call themselves these days!

1/2 serious:

"flowcharting" - UML; Yourden, OOA, OOD.

"program spec" -  Implementation proposal, product specification, use
cases(possibly...)

"rough notes" - User stories, task cards, wiki, knowledge base.

 Good luck in your job hunt, I will try to take a look at your site
tonight.

Regards,
Gareth.
 
-- 

"No matter how it looks at first, it's always a people problem." --
Gerald Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting
 
 Gareth James Powell 
*** my OWN viewpoint and not of the company is expressed in this
email, which explains a lot ***