Work Work Work
So, my work term this term is at the Near North District School Board. I have worked there before, last summer, helping with the transition to the new school board site. The site used Sharepoint.
You may have heard me bitch about sharepoint. Lots.
My main task was to transfer files and meeting minutes from the past decade from QuickPlace to SharePoint. This consisted of downloading the files (could do that in batches) then reuploading them to SharePoint.
My main complaint about SharePoint was that it was more time efficient to upload individual files one at a time then to do a batch upload.
As a batch upload you had to:
1.Select and upload all files
2. Edit Properties and click ok FOR EACH FILE INDIVIDUALLY
3. Opt to Check in FOR EACH FILE INDIVIDUALLY
4. Confirm check in FOR EACH FILE INDIVIDUALLY
You ended up going through three screens per file.
Uploading each file individually meant you only had to go through one screen per file.
I bitched about this. LOTS. And people understood. The reason for this issue was because the title field for each file was required. There was no way around it that we could figure out.
Well, half a year later and I'm working on the school boards Library System, and my supervisor, the only programmer on staff, has been dealing with SharePoint.
There's a DEV server and a live server, and in attempting to upload a batch of files to the DEV server yesterday, she noticed something: Everything was uploaded checked in.
She tried to duplicate it on live: Everything was uploaded checked out.
This puzzled us, and we did some digging. For the live server she left everything as the default, including file type. For DEV, she had selected Office 2003-07.
The default apparently makes the Title a required field.
...
I think of the DAYS. THE WEEKS. That were spent by TWO of us, uploading files in the most efficient way we had available... And now, half a year later, we find a way to make it better.
This is good news for the users.
It pisses me off.
Tomorrow is the last day of my work term here. I'm not sure how I feel. It's had ups, and downs. I've learned a fair bit here, and definitely got along well with the staff. I think the only other programmer in the place was glad to have someone who shared her humour.
I have doubts about programming though. But... I guess it's about that time for me, right? Seems every two years I give up, or look for another career.
Since 2000, I've studied Anthropology, History, Web Design and now Computer Programming/Systems Analysis
Since 2000, I've worked as a retail clerk at Canadian Tire, Manual Labour for a Construction Company, Warehouse Night Shift for the Liquor Store, Cellular Phone customer service at a call center, Payday Loan loan shark, Tree removal, Web Designer and consultant, and now... A programmer.
Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and make different choices. Sometimes, I just wish I had a clue.
Most of all, I wish I could really answer: What do I want to do?
You may have heard me bitch about sharepoint. Lots.
My main task was to transfer files and meeting minutes from the past decade from QuickPlace to SharePoint. This consisted of downloading the files (could do that in batches) then reuploading them to SharePoint.
My main complaint about SharePoint was that it was more time efficient to upload individual files one at a time then to do a batch upload.
As a batch upload you had to:
1.Select and upload all files
2. Edit Properties and click ok FOR EACH FILE INDIVIDUALLY
3. Opt to Check in FOR EACH FILE INDIVIDUALLY
4. Confirm check in FOR EACH FILE INDIVIDUALLY
You ended up going through three screens per file.
Uploading each file individually meant you only had to go through one screen per file.
I bitched about this. LOTS. And people understood. The reason for this issue was because the title field for each file was required. There was no way around it that we could figure out.
Well, half a year later and I'm working on the school boards Library System, and my supervisor, the only programmer on staff, has been dealing with SharePoint.
There's a DEV server and a live server, and in attempting to upload a batch of files to the DEV server yesterday, she noticed something: Everything was uploaded checked in.
She tried to duplicate it on live: Everything was uploaded checked out.
This puzzled us, and we did some digging. For the live server she left everything as the default, including file type. For DEV, she had selected Office 2003-07.
The default apparently makes the Title a required field.
...
I think of the DAYS. THE WEEKS. That were spent by TWO of us, uploading files in the most efficient way we had available... And now, half a year later, we find a way to make it better.
This is good news for the users.
It pisses me off.
Tomorrow is the last day of my work term here. I'm not sure how I feel. It's had ups, and downs. I've learned a fair bit here, and definitely got along well with the staff. I think the only other programmer in the place was glad to have someone who shared her humour.
I have doubts about programming though. But... I guess it's about that time for me, right? Seems every two years I give up, or look for another career.
Since 2000, I've studied Anthropology, History, Web Design and now Computer Programming/Systems Analysis
Since 2000, I've worked as a retail clerk at Canadian Tire, Manual Labour for a Construction Company, Warehouse Night Shift for the Liquor Store, Cellular Phone customer service at a call center, Payday Loan loan shark, Tree removal, Web Designer and consultant, and now... A programmer.
Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and make different choices. Sometimes, I just wish I had a clue.
Most of all, I wish I could really answer: What do I want to do?