WHEN I first started as a freelance writer, I was eager to sell myself — but not eager to have to discuss money. So I more or less took whatever was offered. Then I read somewhere that no matter what price a new client states, you always say in a polite but firm tone, “I expected more.” The first time I tried it, I was sweating and I doubt my tone was firm — it probably sounded more like pleading — but to my great surprise, it worked. With that one sentence, I made an extra few hundred dollars. Negotiating a salary when you have a job can be...

6ShareYou’re in the middle of a crazy startup development sprint. Pressure is sky high as you might have to fire everyone if you don’t generate significant traction over the next 4 months. Make it or #fail situation.The guys (I wish we’d have girls but … wait we have a student, anyway) are killing tickets and you’re pretty much on the target you’ve set with your investors. Not comfortably confident but ok.And you catch your guys debating, for multiple days, whether they should be using “n/a” or a slashed zero to represent a div by ...

I often argue that professionals should share their knowledge online via blogging.The catch is that virtually anything worthwhile in life takes time and effort, and blogging is not an exception to this statement. So before committing your energy to such an endeavor, you may rightfully stop and wonder what’s in it for you. Is blogging really worth it?In this article, I briefly illustrate some of the main benefits that directly derive from running a technical blog.1. Blogging can improve your communication skillsCommunication and writing, much like programming, are skills honed through co...

I have been playing around with Hybrid Word Aligned Bitmaps for a few weeks now, and they turn out to be a rather remarkable data structure.  I believe that they are utilized extensively in modern column oriented databases such as Vertica and MonetDB.Essentially HWABs are a data structure that allows you to represent a sparse bitmap (series of 0's and 1's) really efficiently in memory.  The key trick here is the use of run length encoding to compress the bitmap into fewer bits while still allowing for lightening fast operations.  They key operation from my perspective ...

As a systems administrator, I tend to think about source code and computing platform in large numbers. Computers however are getting smaller and more powerful, and the reality of computers that we put in or on our body as a normal daily routine is coming closer, and for many is already here. When our safety, our liberty, and our sense of humanity are tied to programmable devices, should we not only hope, but expect that we should have the right to examine how these devices function? Last August Karen Sandler, the executive directory of the GNOME foundation gave a short talk about her implante...

I believe that motivation is really important. That’s why from time to time I read books about time management (as they motivate me to be focused and continue evolve my TM-system) and books about software craftsmanship. The other day I finished one of this kind of books - “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman”. This book motivated me to think carefully what I want to invest my time in.Also, it coincided with my 25th birthday and, of course, the new year is coming in a few days. As you can imagine, all this stuff pushed me to reflect on my sk...

In a new research report from Distimo, the app store analytics provider examined two different ways that allow mobile developers to get a bump in both their download numbers and revenue. One way, which is within the developers’ control, is putting the app on sale. Within the first day, iPhone developers see an average increase of 41% in revenue using this method, and see revenue increases of 22% by the sale’s end. Android apps, however, rose just 7% on day one, but closed out the sale with higher percentage gains than either iPhone or iPad.The second method Distimo looked into is...

I am a little late to this party where Michael Arrington says that startups mean working hard and sleeping under your desk. But I will add a few words. I read a lot of commentary about how such death marches can be counter-productive and ultimately unsuccessful, and also the real dangers they pose to the well-being (short-term and long-term) of the lives of the programmers. But I didn’t see many people actually do a quantitative analysis. So here it is.Your average working day is 8 hours and the average week has 40 hours. Now,  in the absolute best case (unworldly) scenar...