The Pursuit of Another Certification

I have decided to put myself through more punishment and do another Java certification. This time I have to complete an assignment, not study for an exam.

The assignment requires you to develop a solution, using the Java programming language, from a set of requirements. I think the practical nature of the assignment would suit me fine, even though the assignment requires you to make many assumptions. In contrast the exam is very black and white, but it requires you to learn theory and there are some trick questions, which forces you to know the theory really well. Again, I found the exam style questions comfortable.

I decided to do another certification for various reasons.

• Since I'm not doing development work per se in my job, it will keep my developer skills sharp. This could be viewed as a learning experience, because I still consider myself a newbie when it comes to programming. Often at work there are some developers who know their shit really well, but I find myself lacking or totally ignorant in the same area.
• When I leave my company and work somewhere else, or go overseas in a year or two, the certification would look good on the CV and, coupled with the experience I get from doing the assignment, it may be easier to find work.
• It would further my career greatly. At my last performance review, I shot myself in the foot saying that I would complete the assignment by the next performance review. I guess I should get started.
• I find that at the moment, I'm not using my time as judiciously as I would like. So the assignment will keep me busy during my downtime.

I've already got the ball rolling. I went to Dymocks to see if they had any books that specialised in this certification. They didn't have any in stock, so I got them to order one for me.

The next thing to do is to purchase a voucher from Sun. Traditionally my company has paid for employees to get certified. One of the development team leaders arranged for all developers to get certified, so I approached him to see if he could get the company to pay for my voucher. Unforunately he told me that since I don't work in any development team he couldn't help me. What a lame reply! Instead, I have to approach my manager to approve this purchase. I'd rather not pay $500 dollars myself.

When I did my last two Java certifications, I remember procrastinating for as long as one year before I finally got my act together. I hope it doesn't happen again this time round!

Back Upstairs

Well my experience downstairs in the dungeon was brief, the way I wanted it to go. So today I've returned upstairs.

Although I had a couple of tasks assigned to me when I was working downstairs, apparently there is a pile of important work in my original team needing to be addressed, so this was enough for me to drop my downstairs tasks and move back.

Guess you got to go where the work is at.

I'm now an Irish supporter....

...because they upset Pakistan at the Cricket World Cup. And Bangladesh just strangled the life out of India.

I captain a pool on www.superbru.com which is a sports prediction site. Superbru has tournaments like the Super 14, the Champions League and the Cricket World Cup, and I started a pool for Orion employees to join and predict the results on Cricket World Cup games. So far, most of them have chosen the results correctly.

But none of us were correct in those above games.

India vs Bangladesh, well it's a hard call, but India should have won easily considering their depth and players. Perhaps India had a bad day. They have a celebrated batting lineup (probably the best in the world on paper), probably the best players in the world against spin, but they were choked to death by the Banglas who used 3 left arm spinners and 2 pace bowlers. 199 dot balls, thats 33.1 overs of runless play. The spinners just dried up the runs; in a particularly asphyxiating passage of play, they didn't concede a single boundary for 88 deliveries, from the 19th to the 33rd over.

Pakistan vs Ireland, well that was just sensational. Ireland defied the minnow bashers and sent Pakistan tumbling out of the World Cup. I've seen Pakistan win against any side they play, but they haven't had the best preparation leading into the competition and it isn't any suprise they have had another early exit.

But against Ireland? Well, full credit to the Irish. They bowled really well to dismiss Pakistan for 132. I'm rooting for them to advance as far as the semis. If they win the World Cup, well wouldn't that be special?

The End of the Dirty Hackers

Last Monday's final had to be the most pulsating game of indoor cricket I have ever played. Desperate to win our last game, we decided to set a big target and defend it.

Unfortunately our batting was below par, with only 3 partnerships making solid scores, the other partnership failing miserably. If you're batting in a finals situation, make sure you first and foremost keep your wicket! Fortunately James and I produced the best partnership which served as the anchor of the innings.

Our bowling was gutsy and determined and couldn't have asked for a better effort in the field. With my constant shouting, cursing, and sledging, which was so loud that everyone within a one mile radius could have heard it, we managed to put great pressure on them till the point where they nearly broke down after 3 partnerships.

However their last partnership won the game for them. With only 9 runs to get in the final over, they got to within 4 runs with 2 balls still to be bowled. The 5th ball was tossed up, the batsman decided to step out and have a big swing, only to be neatly stumped. We were euphoric; to get 9 runs to win off the final ball was pretty much impossible. Unfortunately they got 8 runs (a boundary 7 was smashed off the final ball, and a cheeky single was stolen), which meant they tied the game. Because the opposition had a better run rate through the competition (around 2% higher), they were declared winners.

We were absolutely shattered. We were tired. But at least we tied the game, and at least we didn't lose by one run. (This is disregarding the fact that they won by run rate!) Both sides congratulated each other on a well fought game, which I can say turned out to be the best finals game in the whole competition.

After the game we had a few drinks, and then our team went their own separate ways. There is talk that we'll reform the team in the summer competition, but for now I'll definitely be hanging up the bat and Dirty Hackers team shirt.

Having played for over two years in the same competition, we've brought in many players who have had stints with the Dirty Hackers, played many exciting games, endured many bad losses, and improved as a playing unit. My batting has really found some good form (lately my partnerships with James have been averaging between 35-50 runs), the bowling as always still needs a lot of work (my line and length tends to be erratic), and the fielding has generally been solid, despite me not having a settled fielding position as I always tend to float around. Overall, playing indoor has brought lots of great memories.

Still haven't decided what to do with Monday's however.....

Don't mean to whine, but...

...at work I've been shifted back to my old team. The same team that I really did not want to work in.

Apparently, all development teams are under-resourced due to a big looming project deadline. Though I'm not working on said project, there is a second project to complete and the developer responsible for it is now required to work on the more urgent project. So it has been decided that I have to go back to my old team to help out, which I'm hesitant to do. It's a delicate balancing act as they juggle resources to work on many different projects.

Just when I thought I escaped my old team, I have to return back. Hopefully it's not a permanent move, as I really like my new team better!