It’s that time of year again when the Internet goes crazy. I was intending to do something crazy myself, but I couldn’t think of anything!! Next year I am really going to have to put a lot more thought in to how I am going to treat April Fool’s Day on my blog.
For now, I am going to post a link to one of my favourite online April Fool’s Day jokes.
Oh, if you happen to see anything strange on my site, please let me know. 
Whether you are a student thinking about a career in IT, are already studying IT, have graduated, or are secure in your job, you should always think about the direction your career is headed. I believe that it pays to be active in the community. While I studied I volunteered as the student representative for the ACS. It is a role that I am really grateful that I took on. By the time I had graduated I was able to demonstrate that I wasn’t just a high achieving student, but I was also active in the community. Being involved in whatever organisation and promoting what you love is only going to benefit you.
When I first became the student representative I was shy and really felt overwhelmed talking to professionals in the industry. Having to attend all the meetings, conferences, and events allowed me to overtime overcome my shyness and allowed me to feel comfortable talking to people who I now feel I share a common interest with.
The skills gained from being the student representative (and later Deputy Chair of the SA ACS Branch Committee and Deputy Director of the National Young IT Board) added to the technical skills I had. One thing that I have learnt while working in the IT industry is that regardless of your technical skills, you will always need strong communication skills. So many projects require you to be able to communicate effectively (whether written or verbal) to a variety of people.
Whether you are going for a job interview, or going for a promotion, by being involved in the industry and taking the initiative to further the skills you have, you will stand out and be noticed. People that love what they do and are enthusiastic and motivated are always remembered.
If you are studying and want to do more, join a club, form a committee, and become an ambassador. There are so many options out there. A lot of universities have computer clubs. If they don’t, start one! One computer club that I am aware of is the Flinders Computer & Robotics Society. The computer club is always holding events for students to come together and network with one another. If you study IT at Flinders University make sure you attend some of the events and workshops put on by the computer club.
The ACS also has Ambassadors at all of the Universities and TAFE colleges around the country. If there isn’t an Ambassador at your campus then become one! The ACS Young IT web site has details about becoming an Ambassador. The role of the Ambassador is very similar to the role I had as the student representative, only now the role is spread amongst other students. Being involved is a great way to get to know other students studying at the various campuses around your state/territory.
If you are a professional there are so many workshops and special interest groups that are held on a regular basis (mostly in the evenings, but some are held during the day too). Attending presentations in your key field will keep you up to date with the latest technologies.
Well, I hope I have managed to motivate you if you weren’t already. Hopefully I will see you at a conference, workshop or event sometime in the future!
Today’s interview is with Peter Griffith. Peter Griffith has been actively involved in many IT communities within South Australia for many years. I have known Peter for quite a while with the ACS and now with the Adelaide Dot Net Users Group (ADNUG).
How long have you been involved with ADNUG?
Since its formation in 1993 on release by Microsoft of VB3
What is your role with ADNUG?
Group Leader
What happens in a typical ADNUG meeting?
Starts off with Pizza. Meeting proper then starts with discussion of member’s dot net problems followed by one or two presentations mainly on dot net topics.
When are they held?
2nd Wednesday of month at Microsoft Innovation Centre, Santos House, South Australia. A lunch time meeting is held most months on last Wednesday but titled MSDN Connect.
Who should attend?
We invite dot net developers from beginners to guru levels. All should benefit from the networking.
ADNUG is membership based, how does someone become a member?
Fill in an application form and submit with $30 to Sec/Treasurer Dan Drake-Brockman.
How much does it cost to join?
$30 pa
What are the benefits of being a member?
Network with Dot Net Developers plus presentations by top presenters
Are there any events or projects coming up that you would like to mention?
CodeCampOz 31st March-1st April at Wagga
Invitation to developers to improve their skills by developing ADNUG web site.
Ad hoc events with Kaz. Expect similar events with Readify this year and possibly Excom.
What else are you up to in the ICT community?
Director family Company Griffith King Systems Pty Ltd T/A GUI-Visuals (IT Consultants
Company Secretary Ehome Corporation (Home Automation)
Member ACS, elected to SA Branch Executive Committee in 1996.
ACS SA held positions as Treasurer, Vice Chair, Chairman, Business Development Manager.
ACS SA BEC – Current responsibilities for ACS Foundation, ICT Council, Curry SIG, Business Communications.
An updated version of the ACS National Young IT Calendar can be downloaded from the following link: http://deb.foocode.net/downloads/YIT_Conference.ics
This time the download will contain all of the session times and information that I had originally intended for all to see.
One thing I have discovered is when saving calendars in Outlook you want the level of detail to be ‘Full’ if you want all the information displayed. If you don’t, then select ‘Availability only’ or ‘Limited details’. The following image illustrates this.
If it wasn’t for Geoff Appleby’s recent post, I wouldn’t have known that a Buffy comic had just been released. I was aware that sometime this year it would be available. I had just forgotten to check when… If it wasn’t for that blog I would have missed out completely!
“What is all the fuss” I hear you say?? The comic continues where Season 7 (the last one made) finished. The comic has sold out in a lot of places throughout the world (mostly America it looks…). I was lucky enough to get myself a copy and to arrange to get all further comics that come out in the Buffy series. Already the comic is selling for $30 (and counting) on e-bay!!
Thanks Geoff!
Guild Wars
This weekend was pretty special on Guild Wars. The leader on the Guild I play with made me an Officer. For those that know and play Guild Wars will know what a buzz it is to be asked. The Guild is an Australian one and has a lot of members. Now I have an excuse why I need to spend so much time playing…
Interview with an IT Professional
This week I shall post another ‘Interview with an IT Professional’. The interview will be with Peter Griffith who is actively involved in a lot of IT communities in South Australia. Keep an eye out for that one.
If ever you are wondering why your dates are not formatting as you would expect in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, check that the Language setting on the Report’s properties is set to the correct language.
I was wondering why last week all of my reports were displaying an incorrect date format. The date stored on the SQL server was correct. When I ran the query used by the report in the Data tab it also displayed correctly. As soon as I deployed the report (or previewed it) the dates would display in mm/dd/yyyy format.
Changing the Language to be English (Australian) allowed the dates to display as I had intended.
Inspired by a blog post by Paul Stovell, I have decided to create an Outlook 2007 Calendar that lists all of the speakers and session times for the ACS National Young IT Conference.
I have uploaded the file to: http://deb.foocode.net/downloads/YIT_Conference.ics
Rather than repeat the same steps that Paul illustrated in his blog, I will just refer you to his site.
To import the calendar in to your Outlook 2007 follow the same steps, but change the name of the path that the file is imported from to be the same path that the file was uploaded to.
If you have any questions, just leave me a comment!
Note: The ACS National Young IT Calendar was last updated 27 March 2007
Today I would like to bring to you the first in a series of ‘Interviews with an IT Professional’. The following interview is with Abeer Sandher who is the Conference Chair of the upcoming ACS National Young IT Conference.
What can people attending the ACS National Young IT Conference expect?
Great range of topics to cater for everyone’s needs.
Provides a great opportunity for both demographics i.e. students looking for a job and graduates who are already working in the industry to learn from the experience of speakers, to see what’s out there in the marketplace and most importantly how the knowledge gained from this conference can be used by them to enhance their careers
I have a special note for graduates/interns looking for jobs as I was in your shoes two years back. I had the opportunity to become a member of the ACS and attend a conference; which I did. From there I haven’t looked back. I was awarded a National Scholarship from the ACS to go and work for IBM and also received an award from Pearcey Foundation for my work in the IT community of Victoria. This illustrates what a great chance it is for you all to become members of the ACS if you are not already
I would urge everyone to come, learn or even possibly get an interview with an employer (I have done that and it’s not hard), mingle and have a great time in Melbourne- This is an opportunity not to be missed and I look forward to seeing you all on 18th April at the pre-conference drinks.
Where is the Conference located?
Novotel Hotel on Collins St, Melbourne Victoria
When is the Conference?
19-20 April
Are there any social activities planned?
Yes there is a big Cocktail party planned at the end of the first day of the conference, to be held at the Melbourne Aquarium. This will give delegates coming to the conference the opportunity to see some of Melbourne at night and give them a relaxed atmosphere to network with other delegates, SME’s from various companies like IBM, PWC, etc and speakers from first/second day who all will be presenting during this event.
How can people make a booking?
People can go on-line to make a booking or call their Local ACS branch or the Victorian Branch on (03) 9690 8000
As the Conference Chair, what have you found to be the most challenging part of organising the Conference?
The most challenging part of the conference has been getting the topics right to make sure it creates interest among people and getting the speakers who can fill the expectations of delegates coming to this conference
Would you do it again?
In a heartbeat
What are your plans once the Conference is over?
Have a good long break….just kidding! We have events planned for the rest of the year for our Victorian members to come and attend. They will be advertised in the coming weeks.
Having a blog is one thing, but finding interesting content to come up with on a regular basis is a challenge in itself. I subscribe to many blogs and every day I try to find time to read them all. Most of the blogs I subscribe to are tech related.
One blog I read regularly isn’t particularly tech focused; it is called Achieve-IT and contains many tips on how to be successful. Normally I just read the blogs and never really care to comment. The topic on the Achieve-IT site today made me get out of my comfort zone and do something I don’t normally do… leave a comment.
The article, called ’10 1/2 Super Easy Methods That Attract Tons of Dedicated Visitors To Your Site…‘, is well worth a read!
I have finally gotten around to changing the look and feel of my site. The theme is one that I downloaded. I am no longer using the default theme – yay! With WordPress it is so simple to download and install themes. Perhaps in the future I will design my own. For now I am happy with the one I am using. What do you think?
PowerShell
I have had a bit of a play with PowerShell since going to the ADNUG presentation on Wednesday night. PowerShell comes with two documents that are particularly useful for getting started. One is actually titled “GettingStarted” and the other is called “UserGuide”. I totally recommend going through the two documents and running the commands from within PowerShell at the same time. It is a pretty amazing tool. I really like what I have seen so far.
Promoting my Site
Without even trying it seems that my blog is getting out there. I have seen my blog reproduced at another site, where apparently the more ‘bumps’ your site gets the higher up in the blog order it is seen.
More people are also coming to my site and more people are adding me to their favorites. This week I broke the 100 unique visitors mark which was lovely. Thank you to everyone that has visited my site. I hope you all come back regularly. There are so many ways to read my entries. You can come to my site directly, or you can subscribe to an RSS feed.
Guild Wars
Guild Wars had a ‘lucky weekend’ planned all weekend. I could always do with luck when playing Guild Wars. It was lovely to actually find some rare items. I hope that all the Guild Wars players out there managed to find something decent too.
deb.foocode.net
