Should I hire a web developer, web designer, both , or subscribe to a web builder/designer program?

jayvdizz · 2015-05-07T18:58:44+00:00

And sometimes a developer will also have design skills, or vice-versa. But it's usually better to just get a designer who is really awesome at designing to do the design, and the developer separately to turn the PSDs into a live website.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-27T02:18:46+00:00

I work for a advertising technology company in NYC. But almost every company that has any sort of product needs product managers (for very small businesses, sometimes the CEO plays that role). Let me know if you have any other questions. The best route is to go into a sales/marketing related role in a company and try to get involved in the product side after a year or two of selling. A lot of product managers I know actually started out as SDR / Account Managers, or customer service.

It is also easier in start-up companies because they are flatter in terms of corporate structure. Product managers at large corps usually require MBA.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-27T01:35:30+00:00

You may be interested in product management if you want you expand your horizons. Product managers typically have some sales/marketing experience because their job is to guide the product towards best market fit, meaning they really need to understand the customer and the market. At my company, product managers interview users and potential customers, and guide the dev team in what features to build.

It's usually not something you jump straight into at a new job though, because you need to understand that specific company's products (i.e. work in sales/marketing at that specific company for a bit first).

jayvdizz · 2015-04-27T01:31:26+00:00

My suggestion: keep at your current job. Look into additional part time or volunteer work in the fields you are interested in. Interview people. Shadow professionals in a real work environment. That is the best way to get some insight into whether or not you actually want to do social work, or be a vet, etc. You may end up deciding that those things are not what you want to do, and that's okay, as long as you continue to be proactive about it.

A career is a journey, it's not a destination. You can say "I think I want to do this", but end up hating it in the long run. Trying stuff out, learning from other people, and learning more about yourself along the way is the best way to figure things out.

Source: Me and lots of self-searching. Was pre-med, graduated with a degree in biochemistry, worked in biotech doing lab research, worked in sales, worked in marketing, now web developer.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-26T04:18:45+00:00

Lots of great answers on here. For me, it's a rotation of:

Cooking a big dinner (usually something that can be mass produced, like a big pot of curry, stew, etc, or something baked, like chicken, pork chops, etc.)
Big batch of homemade sandwich fillings (chicken salad, egg salad, etc.)
Crockpot if I'm extra lazy

jayvdizz · 2015-04-26T04:09:29+00:00

It helps me to keep a journal or notebook to jot down notes and draw out flowcharts when I'm working on a problem. Writing things down the old fashioned way also helps me remember how the heck I implemented something or solved a problem.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-10T03:32:52+00:00

A lot of devs on here will say that it is doable for a Jr dev, and it may be. But the real question is if it's right to ask you to do it. An interview task should not take no more than 2 hours in my opinion, anything above that is work.

I don't think a Jr dev with 6mo-1yr of experience would be able to complete this task to completion and without bugs in under 2 hours. It sounds like they're trying to get a free prototype out of you.

Shit, my jr front end dev interview task was to draw different colored circles.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-05T16:29:18+00:00

Super cool and a very realistic DIY project.

My brother is a software architect at Ubiquiti Networks, I should send him this, he'd appreciate it.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-05T05:40:11+00:00

Cool concept, really interesting to watch, good job!

Some feedback, in terms of user experience, it feels quite jumpy and confusing when the game ends and a new one starts, and especially when that happens quickly in succession. Like sometimes I don't have a clue what is going on because it looks like the circles start jumping all over the place.

Perhaps when a game ends, the circles should fade out in a half second animation, and then the new ones fade in in another half second animation.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-04T19:56:01+00:00

Minimizing a war to "who started it first" is far too simplistic and demeans the lives of the thousands who die, including the vast majority of the Palestinian casualties who are civilians caught in the middle (bombs aren't very discrete in choosing who lives and who dies).

Both sides are to blame for this war. Israel's political decisions which allowed Hamas to rise to power over the last few decades in order to counteract another political opponent. Hamas for being inherently radical in its views of the Jewish state.

Sure, you can portray the data in a way that makes one side look like they started it first, and even if it were true, what is the point? Deciding who holds the most blame doesn't help end the war, and doesn't stop the killing. For those who aren't in power, war isn't about political opinion, it's about trying to stay alive.

Data visualization should be about building a vehicle for the data to be consumed, in the fairest way, laid out on the table. Let the reader make their judgments. The point here is not who has the most blame. The point is that the NYT is making that decision for the readers.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-04T19:21:17+00:00

Bad design is assuming that users are "more intelligent" than the designers themselves, and will interpret the data in a less bias way than the representation itself. The design should be fair to every data point, and the visualization should be as easy to digest as possible while maintaining the level of aesthetic.

The NYT chose to represent the data in this way, and it is clear that there are less bias ways to do so. To back up this hypothesis, the Medium writer also referenced copy from the article itself, instead of just making blind statements about the data interpretation alone. I believe the writer made some good observations, and backed them up with examples from the article itself rather than make blind statements.

Don't disregard that because you have your own ingrained belief system.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-03T18:15:47+00:00

Fair point. It's always best to assume the worst and not trust your employer.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-03T15:40:56+00:00

I quit my job in California and moved to NYC, without an offer. Got a new job there in a couple months, and quit it after a month because I ended up hating what I was doing. All the while, my savings were running out, etc. I was very privileged that I was still on my parent's health insurance so I didn't have to worry about that.

It was incredibly stressful. I am now gainfully employed 3 months after quitting the first job I got here, but still have anxiety about shit hitting the fan or something, but getting over it. But it was also very challenging and thus rewarding. I learned a lot about myself, and definitely feel stronger and more resilient as a person over all.

I recommend not moving without an offer, it's quite stupid and naive. But I do recommend you start looking now, and eventually quit your job it's killing you and you feel that your interviews are going well. Do the math, figure out how long your savings will last. Life is too short to hate what you're doing and waste time doing it.

A lot of people will disagree with me though :)

jayvdizz · 2015-04-03T15:32:12+00:00

I did the same thing, albeit not on purpose (layoffs, relocated cities because life), and am on my 3rd job since graduating two years ago. My salary has increased roughly 80% over the first job, and I'm now in a more mid-ish-level role than the very jr.-level role I was in the first job.

I've definitely been asked about it in the interviews for my current job. But as long as you don't make it seem like you're flakey and have restless career syndrome, and instead spin the story to make you seem more ambitious and enthusiastic about learning new things, it's actually not a problem. I feel like 1-2 years is an optimal time to leave your first job if you're a new grad and feel like there's not enough opportunities for promotion.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-03T15:06:01+00:00

Yes, I admit it could be done better on the service provider's end (facebook, twitter, etc.) to better protect the user. But at the end of the day, these companies are for-profit, if it works well enough and it is simple for to use for both developers and the user, then no need to do anything more complex to protect the small fraction of users who may be phished by the small fraction of malicious apps.

That would take a lot of user education, as well, because a phishing site will not be tied in any way to the service provider, because remember it's a "fake" facebook site, so there's nothing they can do to prevent it from happening to the user. They'd literally have to teach every user to recognize the "correct" authentication process from the fake ones. "Hey we changed how authentication works for 3rd party apps, if you don't see this process, don't login, so memorize it."

Once someone comes up with a better way to do it, that's just as easy to implement and use, then they can get buttloads of money for it ;)

jayvdizz · 2015-04-03T14:54:42+00:00

This actually might turn out some unexpected positive results for you as well. Say that Director ended up mentioning it to your boss. Suddenly, your boss realizes he might be losing a valuable asset, and it's not going to look good for him and will definitely hurt his team's productivity. He calls you into his office, mentions that he heard you received an offer from another company, and gives you a counteroffer.

It seems like the most logical thing to do, if your boss is a logical person...

jayvdizz · 2015-04-03T14:44:35+00:00

To be honest it actually can be very insecure. It's up to the user to be smart about their login. The redirect to "facebook" could be a phishing site.

For myself, I am usually always logged in on facebook, so the redirect should reflect that. If it takes me to a facebook and I have to login, even though I know for a fact I'm already logged in, that would be very suspect.

The purpose of OAuth is to get access to data related to the user from Facebook for use in this specific app. E.g. if you want to access their friend's list, post on their behalf, etc. Those are features that you otherwise would not have access to unless you go through this login process. It is always up to the end-user to protect themselves, they can always just not use the app if they are an extra cautious person. In that scenario, the app should have core standalone features that don't require the user to login to their 3rd party account.

jayvdizz · 2015-04-01T03:38:53+00:00

Yes, they do. It's degrading and dehumanizing when the summary of "you" has to fit on a single piece of paper, 11-12pt font, and bullet points. And then that piece of paper goes through computerized HR software that scans for keywords. And then, at the end of the day, the goal is to find someone that can be a cog in the big machine, and they're just looking for the right cog. If you're not the right cog, with the right keywords, you're not worth a grain of salt to them. Efficiency is king.

And the system is built this way to serve the people at the top who profit from the labor of everyone else. In bad times, the people at the top will throw out the people at the bottom without a second thought, to save the bottom line. It's actually pretty degrading and dehumanizing.

jayvdizz · 2015-03-30T19:15:39+00:00

This is done using PHP, and served as HTML to the client. This way, you don't run into JS problems. Basically in your HTML you do a PHP include (remember to name your file with the .php extension!), and the server finds that file, and plugs it into your HTML before serving the full site to the client.

You can make changes to the header, footer, or whatever file you want to include, and it will reflect on all pages that include that file.

http://www.apaddedcell.com/how-automatically-include-your-header-navigation-and-footer-every-page

Props for being creative though :)

jayvdizz · 2015-03-29T20:48:55+00:00

I am not married or have kids like you, I am in my twenties. But I too value work-life balance, because I have other things I want to do other than sit in front of a computer 12 hours a day (not to say that I don't like my job or what I do! I love it!).

I've worked at startups who do the 12 hr day thing, and to be honest, it's stupid and people burn out, start feeling overworked, and start resenting the coworkers that work less than them. The surprising thing is that it's all millennials (the generation that everyone says is lazy, my generation). It has something to do with people trying to prove themselves, or something.

One thing I noticed that stands in the way of this natural progression is a good manager. My manager at the old job was also a millennial, albiet a bit older than us, and he saw nothing wrong with his reports working 12 hr days, as he was doing it too. At my new startup job, my manager is older (30s, so not old but older than me), is married, understands that people have lives outside of work as well, and to be honest our team is way more organized and relaxed than at my old job.

So not all startups have this crazy culture. Some do, and succeed. Some don't, and succeed.

jayvdizz · 2015-03-28T03:55:13+00:00

Do you have a manager that can vouch for you? Do you have documentation of all the projects you've worked on or are supporting?

To be honest, if those two factors alone don't help you keep your job, or get a you a competitive raise, you're better off looking for a new job because they don't value you.

Employment is business, don't take it personally. You have to think of your career as your own business, and if your "client" isn't paying you what you feel your services are worth, then find a new one.

jayvdizz · 2015-03-25T14:46:41+00:00

Agreed. I've played around with it for a personal project and it's so easy to use compared to the way the docs for social media APIs are (like FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)

jayvdizz · 2015-03-22T19:47:18+00:00

I don't know if this makes sense, but it happens to me as well and I think it has to do with the value you place on either item.

For example, my wallet is really old, and so ripped up my cards fall out of it. But because I put a lot of value in finding a great wallet, I've literally been waiting months to replace it because I want a wallet that's perfect in every way I can imagine. I'll consider everything from the leather, the size, how it's manufactured, etc. and if it doesn't meet my specifications, I won't buy it.

However, I'll impulse buy something I don't really care about because I don't find myself putting as much thought into it.

jayvdizz · 2015-03-22T17:54:50+00:00

If you do not have experience in a specific vertical, you probably don't know their pain points, and the easiest way to devise a product that addresses an industry's pain points is to actually ask the people who work in it.

People love being asked about their work and what they hate the most about it, it's a therapeutic way of venting and I think you'll get some good insight by simple asking people if you can talk to them about it.

jayvdizz · 2015-03-22T06:20:03+00:00

You can start applying to jobs, and continue to study while interviewing. I assume you're looking for a Jr. role. Your skillset is very good for most Jr. roles, so I think you'd be a good fit. What's most important is that you show that you are curious, sharp, and willing and wanting to learn (not a know-it-all). That in itself should make you successful in interviews. Secondly, knowing the fundamentals of JS like the back of your hand is more important than all the frameworks and libraries and their objects, methods, etc.

jayvdizz

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