Misadventures - Infoworld

Programmer personality types: 13 profiles in code

Jason Snyder — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

To the world at large, computers are scary machines that are impossible to understand, and programmers are the mysterious geniuses who know how to manipulate them even if they are never able to fix yours for whatever reason.

Stupid user tricks 6: IT idiocy loves company

Jason Snyder — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

You'd think we'd run out of them, but technology simply hasn't advanced enough to take boneheaded users out of the daily equation that is the IT admin's life.

Whether it's clueless users, evil admins, or just completely bad luck, Mr. Murphy has the IT department pinned in his sights -- and there's no escaping the heartache, headaches, hassles, and hilarity of cluelessness run amok.

Santa Cringe is coming to town

Robert X. Cringely — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

I don't know about you, but my Christmas list is all set. I'm hoping Santa finally brings me that Ferrari 458 Italia and the prefrontal lobotomy I've always wanted. But because I'm such a generous soul, I've also been shopping for the better-known personae in the world of technology.

Here are a few presents I'm leaving under the tree for some of the good and not-so-good girls and boys in high tech this year.

The four fallacies of IT metrics

Bob Lewis — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

It was an excellent help desk. Then, my correspondent explained, his CIO, wanting measurable results, established incidents resolved per analyst per week as an appropriate metric for assessing performance.

The company in question had three help desks: one for each major location. As my correspondent explained the situation, the one he managed performed far more poorly than the other two, and he was chastised for his organization's subpar showing.

Stupid consultant tricks

Bob Lewis — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

"Do you promise measurable improvement?"

Many of our consulting competitors make measurable improvement a centerpiece of their sales pitch. We don't, which is why the CIO I was speaking to asked if I'd make that promise.

Having long ago learned to answer most questions with questions of my own, I said, "What measure would you like us to improve?" His reply: "Aren't you supposed to tell me?"

Stop being your own worst enemy

Matt Prigge — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

I've spent a great deal of the past 15 years doing two things: building new server, storage, and network infrastructures -- and fixing them when they fall flat on their face for one reason or another. Over that time, I've seen one common theme emerge: There are very easy, seemingly unimportant things you can do when you build and maintain infrastructure that will save your bacon later when things go pear shaped.

Most of them involve writing stuff down -- you know, documentation.

The Windows IQ test

Jason Snyder — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Slug:

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Dek:

How much do you really know about everyone's favorite OS whipping post?

Byline:

Woody Leonhard

Source:

InfoWorld

Overview:

With a new version of Windows just around the corner -- well, maybe a long corner -- it's time to dust off those gray cells and see how much you really know about the inner workings of the current versions of everyone's favorite whipping post.

Think you know Windows? Try these 20 questions on for size. Nope, you don't need a doctorate in Windowsology. Don't even need to know a server from a servlet. All you need is a wee bit of in-the-trenches Windows experience -- and a memory like a steel trap.

Windows IQ test

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The 2011 InfoWorld geek IQ test

Jason Snyder — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:49:41 +0000

We're back again for our annual survey of your certifiable geek cred, so dust off your pocket protector, suck face with your closest Ewok doll, and dig into your Bag of Holding to bring forth the answers to our nerdiest set of 20 questions yet. Answer enough correctly, and you may don the geek sherpa guru label, to guide the unwashed to geek heaven. Answer too many wrong, and find your inner geek flatlining.

Give yourself 5 points for every right answer.

1. Who came up with the term "big-bang theory?"

Want a job? This site reveals if you have a chance

InfoWorld Tech Watch — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Recruiters and hiring managers are just too darn busy these days to read résumés on Monster or to scour professional profiles on LinkedIn to find hot talent. But hey, no problem! Everything they need to know about a prospect's potential can be automatically extracted from his or her Facebook profile and reduced to a numeric rank between 0 and 100.

The 2011 InfoWorld geek IQ test

Jason Snyder — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:18:28 +0000

Slug:

46FE-geek-iq-test

Dek:

20 more questions to test your mettle where it really counts

Byline:

InfoWorld staff

Source:

InfoWorld

Overview:

The 2011 InfoWorld geek IQ test

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Features

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Tough tests flunk good programmer job candidates

Neil McAllister — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Even in today's economy, tech companies regularly complain that they can't find enough qualified candidates to fill software development positions. You might expect them to loosen their requirements and provide more training as a result, but actually the opposite seems to be true: Screening procedures are getting tighter. The latest trend is to subject interviewees to elaborate quizzes designed to assess their coding and problem-solving abilities.

What it takes to change IT

Eric Knorr — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:56:58 +0000

A couple of weeks ago Steve Yegge, a Google engineer and former Amazon employee, wrote a long, impassioned, internal blog post for Googlers only -- and accidentally made it public.

Stupid hacker tricks: Exploits gone bad

Jason Snyder — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

If the Internet is the new Wild West, then hackers are the wanted outlaws of our time. And like the gun-slinging bad boys before them, all it takes is one wrong move to land them in jail.

Whether they are out to steal money or merely wreak havoc, the consequences of an exploit gone bad can be harsh. And these days, the margin for error can be measured in bits. After all, thanks to the Internet's international nature, cyber outlaws have an awful lot of sheriffs sniffing out their online footsteps.

IT inferno: The nine circles of IT hell

Jason Snyder — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Spend enough time in the tech industry, and you'll eventually find yourself in IT hell -- one not unlike the underworld described by Dante in his "Divine Comedy."

But here, in the data centers, conference rooms, and cubicles, the IT version of this inferno is no allegory. It is a very real test of every IT pro's sanity and soul.

You don't know tech: InfoWorld news quiz

uphan — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The InfoWorld news quiz: Sept. 9, 2011

uphan — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:51:33 +0000

Slug:

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Dek:

Yahoo gives Bartz the ax, Assange goes on the attack

Byline:

Dan Tynan

Source:

InfoWorld

Overview:

This week's theme: Now you see them, now you don't. Following blockbuster announcements by Google, HP, and Apple in recent weeks, Yahoo joined the crowd by giving 30-month CEO Carol Bartz her walking papers, and AOL capped it by showing TechCrunch's Michael Arrington the door. What else happened? IFA Berlin, Europe's answer to the Consumer Electronics Show, featured the appearances (and disappearances) of several groundbreaking products, as well as the U.S. State Department's enemy No. 1, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange. Google killed off more of its darlings, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos learned that gravity can be a cruel taskmaster. Do you have what it takes to ace our quiz? Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer, and keep an eye out for falling objects (and plummeting CEOs). Now begin.

The InfoWorld news quiz: Sept. 9, 2011

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News

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The InfoWorld news quiz: Sept. 2, 2011

Jason Snyder — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Slug:

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Dek:

AT&T/T-Mobile merger looking ill, WikiLeaks suffers data spill

Byline:

Dan Tynan

Source:

InfoWorld

Overview:

This week's big news: The AT&T/T-Mobile merger may not happen after all, if the DOJ has its way. But that wasn't the only headline. Another Apple iPhone prototype got lost in a bar, Hurricane Irene swept across the east coast (and Twitter), Google decided to nix social game maker Slide (writing off a $200 million acquisition), and WikiLeaks sprung an enormous hole, allowing 250,000 unredacted documents to be buttered all over the Net. Have you been paying attention to tech? Then you should have no problem acing this week's quiz. Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer. And if you don't get a perfect score, don't blame us -- blame Julian Assange.

The InfoWorld news quiz: Sept. 2, 2011

Article Type:

News

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Quiz Result - Off the Grid

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You don't know tech: InfoWorld news quiz

Jason Snyder — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The InfoWorld news quiz: Aug. 26, 2011

Jason Snyder — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Slug:

NQ110826

Dek:

Steve Jobs drops the bomb, Apple fanboys urged to remain calm

Byline:

Dan Tynan

Source:

InfoWorld

Overview:

Any news that may have made headlines this week now pales with the bombshell dropped by Apple's Steve Jobs, who's handing over the iChair to interim CEO Tim Cook. Did anything else happen this week? Oh yeah, Facebook introduced new privacy controls, Apple and Samsung continued their patent throwdown, and Libya finally fell to the rebels. Can you muster the forces to take down our quiz? Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer. Now put down that Kalashnikov and begin.

The InfoWorld news quiz: Aug. 26, 2011

Article Type:

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You don't know tech: InfoWorld news quiz

Jason Snyder — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:00:00 +0000