Agile development...

The management in the company I work for decided to change the way we do development, they adopted "The Agile Developement" methodology, which is an eXtreme Programming derivative.

"Winner" by Jack Welch (Former GE CEO)

Anyone who missed Jack and Joe Scarborough's 1x1 on MSNBC last night... here is his advice for all the ambetious people in corporate america...

• First one... always over deliver. When your boss asks you to do something, he already has the answer or she already has the answer. And they just want you to confirm it.When you give them a broader perspective, something that makes them look smarter, think beyond where they have gone, you will have added real value, and you will be recognized out of the pack. And that's a big ingredient.
  
• The second one... Have positive attitude. The glass is always half-full. Don't be a moaner.
  
• And, finally, have lots of ambition, but don't wear it on your forehead.

The best advice Jack ever got.... was advice from his mother was to face reality. It seems she said, "Look kid this is the way it is. See it the way it is, not the way you wished it would be, facing that", which is 100% correct.

Who Moved My Cheese

Last weekend when I was wondering what to do while waiting for my wife to come and pick me up.. I found this interesting book which seemed very small and a quick read.. The book is "Who Moved My Cheese".. by this Ph.D guy Spencer Johnson. I have to admit that this is an amazing book. Grab a copy if you can and read it.

Save theChildren's Asia Earthquake/Tsunami Fund:

Save the Children was able to respond to the immediate needs of children and families affected by this disaster. In the months and years ahead, homes, schools and hospitals must be rebuilt. Water and sanitation systems need to be reconstructed. Teachers and health care workers will need to be retrained and livelihoods restored. Long-term,infrastructures and institutions have to be reestablished. Most of all, the children must recover emotionally from the horror they have survived. It will take time to accomplish all of these things.

Save the Children is doing a genuine job to help children in need in Asia and throughout the world with the generous donations we make. Simply click this link http://www.savethechildren.org and browse through their webiste and get a feel for what they do.. and while you are there please do not forget to DONATE.

You can also mail your donations to the following mailing address:
Save the Children
Phone: 1-800-728-3843
http://www.savethechildren.org/
54 Wilton Rd.Westport, CT 06880

BEA's JRockit 5.0

Incase if you don't know that BEA's JRockit is the best and the fastest JVM. Here is the link where you can get that for free. Note: This free JRE is for Tiger.
http://dev2dev.bea.com/products/wljrockit50/index.jsp?PC=05-0118-PRD02

Free JCP ePractice exams from Sun..

Sun is offering free ePractice exams for a bunch of their certification exams like

• Sample Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform 1.4
• Web Component Developer
• ePractice for the Sun Certified Web Component Developer for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition 1.4
• Exam: ePractice Sample Questions for Sun Certified Business Component Developer for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition 1.3
• Systems Admin I
• Systems Admin II
• Sample Solaris 9 Sun Certified System Administrator Part I
• Sample Solaris 9 Sun Certified System Administrator Part II
• Network Admin
• Sample Solaris 9 Sun Certified Network Administrator
• ePractice Sample Questions for the Sun Certified System Administrator for the Solaris 10 OS, Part I
• ePractice Sample Questions for the Sun Certified System Administrator for the Solaris 10 OS, Part II
• ePractice Sample Questions for the Sun Certified Network Administrator for the Solaris 10 OS
• Exam: ePractice Sample Questions for Sun Certified Security Administrator for the Solaris 9 Operating Environment

Any one planning to get certified in any of the above areas can use this oppurtunity as a good start to practice.

First blog entry :)

Hello everyone.. this is my first blog entry. I hope this whole blogging "thing" will be interesting to me and i definitely promise not to bore the rest of the "blogging" community.
-Raghu