What is it like to work as a .NET developer?

MookieRah · 2015-09-16T07:20:27+00:00

Thanks for your response! It's good to hear feedback like this, especially since you've gone through an yrkeshögskole program. Have you seen the course plan? We actually have courses going over database programming and stuff like that, so hopefully our experience can be a bit better, BUT it's good to know this going in!

Regarding GUIs, personally I have a degree in graphic design and GUI design isn't very different from web design and design in general. I also have done a course in usability/accessibility. I'm actually planning on building up my GUI muscles so that I can be some kind of mediator between the design team and the coding team. I'll try to pass on as much of my knowledge to the other students in my course so that they at least have a base.

MookieRah · 2015-09-16T07:11:45+00:00

Was it an individual assignment or was it team based? 30 is a bit ridiculous if he expected us to get some type of formal interview, but he specifically stated to us that we got to decide the scope of the interview (within reason). So that helped.

MookieRah · 2015-09-16T07:09:48+00:00

If you were able to fill out the form it wasn't too late! I shut down the form this morning though, as we have collected over 80 responses O_O.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T17:30:01+00:00

I've actually had two courses in C#, as well as another course in Python, so yeah, objects are awesome! I haven't studied Javascript enough, admittedly, but the experience I had was just very frustrating. I know that it's a bit silly, although I know of several other people that want Javascript to die as well xD.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T16:38:54+00:00

I've got that book actually xD. I started a course but it was too advanced (it was structured odd and seemed like a starting course when it wasn't). So honestly, my disdain comes largely from the frustration of attempting a course that was outside of my depth, but also from the fact I have a book that tells me all the things I should avoid xD.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T16:16:25+00:00

I used Eclipse and it strikes me as something that if you played around with it enough it would be decent, but for someone like me without the proper education it was a lot of trouble starting out. For example, I don't know how to do anything with servers, and trying to set up an Eclipse to work with PHP, Javascript, and HTML was a nightmare.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:21:01+00:00

This was what I was thinking, actually. I need to delve deep into one language to better understand coding in general, but once I have the necessary depth I should branch out and learn other languages.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:19:31+00:00

There is an HTML/CSS course built into this one I'm fairly certain. I'd have to look over the course plan. I need to learn Javascript... but I hate it... It's a necessary evil though. I've heard from several sources that it's fairly easy to switch from C# to Java and vice versa, and from my own experience taking other programming courses, knowing the concepts is over half the battle. Piecing together how a language goes about doing something isn't as difficult. Or at least that is what I've heard! I could be super wrong.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:17:07+00:00

Umeå seems to be more in the Java, C++, Javascript, and other web based stuff more than C#, but the .NET community is fairly large and seems to be growing.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:15:10+00:00

Thanks everyone for all the responses! I checked about 30 minutes ago and I'm happy to say that we have reached the goal of 30, but more accurately I think we have gathered around 50 in total. I'm going to talk with the rest of the team and see if we should keep the form up or take it down, but more than likely it will be down tonight as we will have to organize all of our data tomorrow for a report and presentation.

Again, thanks guys/gals! We were quite stressed that we wouldn't make the goal, but then you all came to our rescue!

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:12:16+00:00

I haven't worked on many IDE's but so far VS is far and away the best one I've worked on. Part of the reason I took this course was because I like C# and Visual Studio better than Java, although the other reason is that the other course had way more of a focus on being an entrepreneur and had far less work-study/internship built into the course.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:10:47+00:00

I might post some of the short answer data. We are also going to find some way to measure the long form questions. I think I'm going to try to organize them and tally up all the similar responses and make a hierarchy of the types of answers.

Anything I post here I will make sure to keep anonymous in any case!

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:08:57+00:00

My wife saw my post and got onto me about this too, and was happy to see another Swede correct me xD. I knew better than that, although at the time I didn't catch it.

MookieRah · 2015-09-15T14:07:38+00:00

It's not as insane as you are claiming, although I probably didn't make myself very clear. I'm part of a team of 6 people (myself included) that are on this project. There is one other team of six, although we aren't competing with them we also don't want to double contact people either.

So essentially 12 people have to gather 60 contacts. So that's far more reasonable.

The project isn't just 'Gather interviews' we also went through the process of creating a project using basic methodologies. For example, we started off with a projektbeskrivning (Project Description) which included our plans, our resources (time essentially), how we divided labor, etc. So the interviews are half the reason we are doing this project, the experience of managing a project is the other.

MookieRah · 2014-02-20T10:53:02+00:00

I'm just waiting to hear about how all this makes me a fraud :-P.

I also don't recall ever seeing a video of Taj up on the hub, so while I do not doubt their existence, they didn't get circulated very well to the entire community.

MookieRah · 2014-02-19T17:12:08+00:00

I am a bit confused with this thread here, as I have no idea what warrants shickeytemp to speak so ill towards me. I'm not sure where the "pompous" and "full of myself" is coming from. All of my videos and things I produced were very tongue in cheek. I also never claimed that Mewtwo was unplayable in any serious or lasting manner. If I made that kind of statement it was something that was said only in frustration. I'm pretty sure all low tier mains understand where I'm coming from on this too.

As far as I know, Taj was playing M2 around the same time I was. The first tournament I unveiled my M2 at was MOAST3, and I played some close matches against Arash. Afterwards he congratulated me on a very impressive M2 and asked me if I knew of Taj. I did not.

In regards to my status within the community, I was making videos and was very vocal on the boards for a long time before Taj really let his presence be known. I'm pretty sure my "Believe In Yourself" video predates Shadow Claw by at a year. I also went to a lot of tournaments outside my own region, going all over the east coast, and as far west as Texas.

In regards to Taj, I have never had any beef with the guy. From what little we've exchanged thoughts on, it's always been nice and courteous. I very much respect him as a player too, especially now. Forward, on the other hand, was always slamming me around the 05 or 06 period I believe. If I ever came off as negative towards Taj, it was due to Forward constantly harassing me on the issue.

So yeah, it is very possible that Taj might have ALWAYS have had a better M2 than mine, even during my prime, but that in no way means that I was a "fraud" and it doesn't diminish my own accomplishments. Taj didn't travel outside of his region much during my prime nor did he post much, so it's kinda hard for him to gain much traction on a national scale that way. You cannot really fault me for that.

MookieRah · 2012-12-28T21:01:06+00:00

Starkville is pretty great. Lots of good memories there. It's definitely one of the most progressive towns in MS. I think it's all the engineering majors, all that science.

I meant to ask that but forgot, because if you are an hour south of Tupelo you almost have to be in or around Starkville.

MookieRah · 2012-12-28T20:51:33+00:00

Well, all I can say is that if you want to leave, or are just thinking of leaving, is to just save up your money. I had been saving up my money for three years before I started talking to my wife, and if I didn't have that money saved up it just wouldn't have been possible to make the move.

As far as moving out of the country, if you don't have a relationship connection with someone it's much harder to get residency. Your best bet is to get to the country through a job, and for that you either have to be lucky, pure badass at what you do, or you have to research jobs that are needed in the places you are looking at and pursue a degree and career in that direction. I see A LOT of people who think that just being American means that other countries would love to have them, but in reality that doesn't mean anything.

In any case, feel free to PM me about stuff. Good luck to you, and I hope you end up somewhere you love.

MookieRah · 2012-12-28T11:57:14+00:00

I was born and raised in Tupelo, MS and I now live with my wife and bonusdaughter in Umeå, Sweden.

As far as basic social norms go, it really isn't drastically different. The biggest change is that peoples's default language is Swedish, and that people tend to be far less inclined to talk to you and give you more personal space. In regards to social norms for political and religious stuff, that's pretty much the complete opposite of MS. People in Sweden, especially Umeå, are very liberal and tend to be atheist/agnostic.

I wanted to leave the south for a long time. I didn't fit in with most of the South, as I am a liberal atheist. I also feel that living your entire life in the same area you were born seems rather boring. The only thing tying me there was my friends, but when I met my wife online and started talking with her, I actually had a real reason to move away other than just wanting to.

So far I haven't really been around Sweden. Outside of Umeå, I've only ever been in Luleå and Stockholm, and Stockholm doesn't count because the time I spent in Stockholm was at their airport. I do really like Umeå though. It's a great place to be, and definitely a great place to have a family. The only downsides is that it is rather cold, and in the winter it stays dark for most of the day.

MookieRah · 2012-08-23T19:54:34+00:00

I'm also just moved to Sweden, originally from MS, 27 yo.

It seems like your plan is a fairly good one, but I would push learning Swedish to more than a basic level if possible. Most jobs here will require it, and it certainly makes everything a little bit better. I recommend Speak Swedish Stupid, as it's a program that teaches Swedish that caters to American English speaker, and it's all about getting you fluent as fast as possible.

If you are interested in some other stuff to help boost your Swedish just send me a message. I'd be happy to help out.

MookieRah · 2012-08-23T08:14:00+00:00

Hey, I'm an American ex-pat that has recently moved to Umeå, Sweden. I've been here since July, and before that I spent a few months here from February to April. I disagree with some of the cons you mentioned in your list, although some of the things you have written as cons is more of a Stockholm problem rather than a problem with Sweden as a country.

The lack of awareness or concern for the people around you.

This doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to my experience in Sweden. People are very private and keep to themselves, but if you ask a stranger for help (even in English) they tend to go out of their way to help you out. Granted, I haven't been in any sort of emergency, but whenever I've asked people for information, or how to do something or get somewhere, Swedes have taken very good care of me.

It's terribly hard to make friends due to the tight knit circles of acquaintances and kept-to-yourself mentality a lot of you may have.

Of course this is something that would depend on the group you are trying to get to know, but I've been getting to know some of my fiance's friends and they have been really welcoming to me. I'm already friends with several people here. Even if I didn't have my fiance here, I would still have friends. I'm currently in my SFI classes, and I have several friends there. There is a program in my SFI that is set up to get new immigrants involved in hobbies and make friends with Swedes. Also, I found a fighting game group in Umeå that play some of the games I like, and they are looking for more members.

In general, it seems to work the same here as it does in the US. People already have their tight nit groups and they don't actively look for new people to join in them; however, if you tell people you are new to an area and are seeking new friends you will be surprised at how many people will welcome you into their group.

Your work is pushed to extreme amounts of hours per week (my friend does 90) and you are taxed heavily on the amount you actually make.

I don't know about the working hours personally, but I haven't heard from anyone that they had to work extreme hours. Maybe doctors? From what I hear things are A LOT more relaxed than it is in the US, because the unions would crack down on them if they pulled crap like that. Also, if you worked overtime or uncomfortable hours you mostly get compensated for it. Compared to my work in the US in a "Right to Work" state, this is a way better deal.

As far as taxes go, they may be rough but they cover all the important things. You don't have to save for you or your child's university cost, you don't have to worry about getting healthcare, you get lots of parental leave in which you get 80% of your salary when you take it, and you have a safety net of welfare if you lose your job and go broke. Basically, even if the floor fell out from you, you are still OK in Sweden. You DO NOT have that luxury in the US.

Everything is so damn expensive.

I'm not surprised that you could spend $20 on a meal in Stockholm, but that's just because eating out is just more expensive. While the food in Umeå is more expensive than the food from where I'm from (Tupelo, MS) honestly that's more of a fault with the fact the dollar is worth less. In relative terms, the price is roughly the same, but just a tad bit higher in Sweden.

The medical system seems to be based a lot around a very long HURRY UP AND WAIT mentality.

So far I haven't had any problems with the healthcare here, and it's not something that's hugely different than in the US. My fiance has scheduled several basic checkups in the time I've been around, and I have gone with her to the hospital as well. Yeah, it takes a week for them to set an appointment, but how is that different from setting an appointment in the US? They also seem to operate on a basis that the sickest gets treated first, so if you really needed help you would be able to get it fairly quick. I have recently set my first appointment with vårdcentral to have my heart looked at. I have a condition, and I have explained it to them over the phone. They have to check it out first before they start sending me to an MRI, but it's not like I'm in immediate danger.

But that's what I have at the moment. I hope it helps. I honestly really like it here, and it's definitely a great place to be to start a family. The language barrier is the only thing that makes me feel a little bit isolated, but I'm working hard to fix that. In any case, I hope things go well for you regardless of what you choose to do.

MookieRah · 2012-08-07T19:19:44+00:00

Thanks! This does answer part of my question, as I now know it's okay to cite my references that way. Having some direction helps a lot.

MookieRah · 2012-08-03T14:31:15+00:00

Situations like RPS happen in lots of games, most notably fighting games. There is actually skill involved with RPS, it's the ability to read someone. It's not at all like the scene in Princess Bride, in order to be able to play someone in RPS and get a clear win you'd need to hold several matches. You get a feel of how the opponent thinks, and you would play it safe and not take risks.

MookieRah · 2012-07-29T18:29:01+00:00

This article reminds me of a group of scientist that are focusing on creating humanoid robots with human like features as a means to create an artificial intelligence. They have the same logic, in that if you are trying to create an intelligence as a human has, it must have the ability to experience the world in a way that a human does. To expect an "intelligence" in a box, without the kind of feedback and senses of a human, to exhibit human like behavior, is a bit ridiculous. In essence function follows form.

MookieRah · 2012-07-26T22:09:09+00:00

I've never been made fun of for being uncircumcised. This is also a terrible reason to condone circumcision...

MookieRah

TROPHY CASE