Stuart McLachlan
stuart at lexacorp.com.pg
Mon Feb 21 17:58:56 CST 2005
On 21 Feb 2005 at 6:44, Steve Erbach wrote: > objections to letting me abridge your responses for that purpose? It > would also be helpful if those of you who already gave an "abridged" > version for the survey could flesh out your responses a bit, if you > have the time. Here's a slightly longer version. 1) What's your main line of work these days? Access development, SQL Server administration/development, VB, ASP/ASP.NET, PHP...? Mainly Access Development with some VB/SQL Server plus general systems support for clients ( I seem to spend a fair bit of time setting up hardware, configuring email systems, troubleshooting etc for them) 2) How does your work today differ from what you were doing a few years ago? Is it only that you're using newer versions of the same tools, or are you doing entirely different development work? I've been the same thing for nearly 12 years full time, and for about 5 years before that part time (on the side from my real jobs at the time as HR/Training Systems adviser to various PNG Government entities - I originally came to PNG from NZ in 1986 as a training systems adviser for the Police). I started out developing systems in Dataflex, built my first Access system (a Project Information Management System for a major Aid funded project in PNG) in 1993. It was the offer of that consultancy that finally tipped me over the edge and got me started as an independent. Over the next six or seven years, it gradually moved from primarily Dataflex to almost 100% Access. In the last 5 years or so, it's been mainly Access with a couple of major MS SQL Server/VB projects thrown in. Still using A2K <rant> MS Product Activation is a major PITA and keeps many people in PNG on O2K/W2K or earlier. As an example, I'm flying to Bougainville this weekend to setup an Electoral Roll system I've just developed for the Bougainville Autonomous Government. Hopefully they will have 3 new workstations on the ground for us to set the sysem up on. First task will be to install Windows/Office and vairous other bits on the systems. The problem is that communications to that region are very unreliable and expensive. *IF* you can get a workable data link, it will be about 16Kb at best and generally, you are luck to get 9.2Kb. Once you are connected, if the connection actually stays up you are paying a couple of dollars an hour at least for the connection plus a charge for every megabyte dowloaded. Product activation over the internet is out of the question. Overseas phone calls cost well over a US dollar per minute. To activate XP on each machine we have to make a phone call to Australia and generally end up on hold for a considerable length of time, again hoping that the line does not drop out while you are still on hold. </rant> 3) Are you independent or do you work for a company? If you work for a company, what's the size of the company and where do you fit in? A one man band. 4) Do you have any Microsoft Certifications? If so, do you keep current with them, and/or have they made any difference in your current position? No, I've never even been asked that question before. All my work comes from referrals from other clients and certifications are irrelevant. I develop the skills I need as I need them, not on the basis of what someone else decides I need to know. (I'm currently teaching myself PHP/MySQL because I can see a developing need for that here in PNG - the primary ISPs in country who provide web hosting don't use MS so there's little point in getting into ASP/.Net) -- Stuart