(no subject)
Why hello Livejournal, how's it going?
Things in Ottawa continue to be good. I am currently in competition number 2 for a policy position at Heritage. I just handed in my take-home exam and am trying not to keep thinking about it. The question was somewhat open ended and I'm not sure that I gave them what they were looking for. The problem with exams that replicate actual things you'd do if you got the job is that actual work tasks tend to evolve. You have a first draft and then revise until it looks like what your boss wants. Over time, you learn your boss' preferences (and their bosses') and the number of drafts goes down. It's hard to do that when you're writing to a fictional person. Oh well, only time will tell. I've also got three managers here at DND who are looking for ways to keep me around. Fingers crossed!
So my self-improvement project for 2012 was to learn to code. I've always wanted to be able to program things and have spent fruitless evenings trying to teach myself C++ or whattever through textbooks. Inevitably I gave it up, but this time I have an ace up my sleeve. A website called Codecademy is providing free, interactive lessons on Javascript. The lessons are broken down into easy to understand bits and there's a nice community of people who can help you. The best part, though is that you earn badges for all the lessons you complete. They have one new exercise a week and I'm finding it lots of fun. Highly recommended if you're clueless and want something easy to get you started.
Things in Ottawa continue to be good. I am currently in competition number 2 for a policy position at Heritage. I just handed in my take-home exam and am trying not to keep thinking about it. The question was somewhat open ended and I'm not sure that I gave them what they were looking for. The problem with exams that replicate actual things you'd do if you got the job is that actual work tasks tend to evolve. You have a first draft and then revise until it looks like what your boss wants. Over time, you learn your boss' preferences (and their bosses') and the number of drafts goes down. It's hard to do that when you're writing to a fictional person. Oh well, only time will tell. I've also got three managers here at DND who are looking for ways to keep me around. Fingers crossed!
So my self-improvement project for 2012 was to learn to code. I've always wanted to be able to program things and have spent fruitless evenings trying to teach myself C++ or whattever through textbooks. Inevitably I gave it up, but this time I have an ace up my sleeve. A website called Codecademy is providing free, interactive lessons on Javascript. The lessons are broken down into easy to understand bits and there's a nice community of people who can help you. The best part, though is that you earn badges for all the lessons you complete. They have one new exercise a week and I'm finding it lots of fun. Highly recommended if you're clueless and want something easy to get you started.