By Karen Lopez on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:31 AM

A recent Dice survey finds that we IT pros are very, very happy with our jobs:

The survey found the technology career path to have strong appeal among technology professionals, based partially upon their high levels of job satisfaction, with an overwhelming 94 percent of those surveyed reporting satisfaction with their current positions.

I'm not sure how reliable this survey is given that it is sponsored by DICE, the internet cheap labour body shopper (they once offered me a Senior Data Modeler/Project Manager contract for a whopping $17 an hour).  However, the press release has some interesting tidbits.

Outside the technology industry, the industry’s appeal looks rather different and suggests that technology has mixed appeal as a career option to non-tech professionals. The survey found that 64 percent of non-tech adults are likely to recommend a career in technology. Comparatively, 73 percent of non-tech adults were likely to suggest a career in the healthcare industry to others, while 48 percent would recommend financial services.

This release affirms the fact that as a profession, we just don't get no respect.  I've worked with IT people who I believe continue to think that it is all about the technology, making IT professionals look clueless to the business side.  When are we going to figure out that we IT pros need to worry about are image just as much as we worry about the next release of product X?

By Karen Lopez on Friday, September 08, 2006 5:36 PM

Builder.com writer Brian Schaffner has a great article on 10+ things you should know about service oriented architecture (SOA).  I've read a lot of articles on SOA, but Brian has hit on some important ideas that I don't read in a lot of vendor articles.  For instance he writes that SOA doesn't have to include web services and that jumping to SOA can be difficult.

What got my attention, though, is his item number 7:

#7: SOA requires a keen understanding of business data

Because SOA is focused on business processes, it's important to understand the data that's relevant to those processes. For instance, an ordering process has several key data artifacts, such as the order, the customer, the shipping information, the invoice, the payment, and the receipt. What's even more important is being able to describe these artifacts in a standard way so that each service that participates in the process can understand the data equally.

For organizations with an existing information architecture, this may not be a big issue. However, for large organizations with limited or nonexistent information architecture, this issue can be a show-stopper when it comes to implementation. Because large organizations have such a variety of data, it is usually recommended to take an evolutionary approach to defining the information architecture, as opposed to a big-bang approach. This means that instead of spending four years defining the ultimate data model, it's better to spend a small amount of time during service development to define just the data that's relevant to that service. As each service or process is implemented, the associated information architecture can be evolved to include the necessary data artifacts.

He gets it right - no 4-year projects to define the ultimate data model, and that these models are most valuable when developed incrementally.

Of course, his definition and my definition of "small" are probably different, but I believe he and I are in agreement here.

 

By Karen Lopez on Friday, September 08, 2006 8:07 AM

Embaracdero Technologies, maker of ER/Studio, DT/Studio, Rapid SQL, and DBArtisan has been bought out by a private investment firm, Thoma Cressey Equity Partners.

EMBARCADERO TECHNOLOGIES, INC. TO BE ACQUIRED BY THOMA CRESSEY EQUITY PARTNERS IN A TRANSACTION VALUED AT APPROXIMATELY $234 MILLION

Shareholders to Receive $8.38 per Share in Cash

San Francisco, CA, September 7, 2006 – Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:EMBT), a leading provider of strategic data management solutions, and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, a leading private equity investment firm, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Embarcadero will be acquired by an affiliate of Thoma Cressey Equity Partners in a transaction valued at approximately $234 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, Embarcadero Technologies stockholders will receive $8.38 in cash in exchange for each share of stock. This represents a 34% premium to the average closing price over the past thirty trading days and a 29% premium to our closing price yesterday. The board of directors of Embarcadero Technologies has approved the merger agreement and has recommended to Embarcadero Technologies’ stockholders that they vote in favor of the transaction.

[Read More]

Thoma Cressey owns other software companies, most notably JDA Software Group.  This purchase also involves the replacement of CEO Stephan Wong.

 

By Karen Lopez on Thursday, August 24, 2006 5:21 PM

My Aunt Peggy is a finalist in a Dell USA contest for designing a back to school notebook skin.  Her design, a picture of a teacher with Yo and E=mc² is one of ten finalists.  If her design wins, she gets 10 Grand!

I invite everyone register for the contest and vote for her design - if you like it.  To register and vote, visit

I'm sure she will appreciate your vote!  You can vote once a day between now and the end of August.

Thanks for your help.  Oh, and when you register, you might just win a free computer, too.  So vote early and often.

By Karen Lopez on Tuesday, August 22, 2006 11:23 AM

Garry Gramm pointed me to this wonderful video of research into interface design.  Jeff Han demonstrates a more intuitive and easier way to interact with a computer. 

I've seen a lot of these types of videos over the years.  Most require a device that costs $50,000 or one that makes you look like you've stepped out of a very geeky Flash Gordon film.

In this video, Han demonstrates an interface that allows users to work with both hands. No Palm graffiti here.  One of the more promising aspects of this interface is that is appears to be very intuitive.  It allows the user to work pretty much as they would in the real world.

The interface does include a virtual keyboard.  I've used similar ones before, but since I'm a fairly fast touch typist, I tend to struggle with virtual ones because there is no feedback.  I wonder if that could be incorporated.

I could really see this device/approach being a wonderful addition to a modeling tool.  Heck, I'd love to see it as part of Enterprise Manager and MS Project.  I wonder, though, just how inexpensive it is given its size.

What do you think?  Would this make your modeling life easier?  Do you think you will find this device on the shelves of your local Best Buy? Would you be able to justify the cost of an additional input device?

By Karen Lopez on Monday, August 21, 2006 11:55 AM

Michael Gorman, of Whitemarsh Information Systems, has published a whitepaper on data names and other data modeling and issues:

Managing Data Names, Value Domains, Abbreviations, and Definitions. This paper, along with the other two short papers are critical reads for all those involved in data management. http://wiscorp.com/sp/sp03.pdf

In his paper, he also includes great references to data naming standards.  Check it out.

By Karen Lopez on Monday, August 21, 2006 5:58 AM

The Object Management Group (OMG) as a great overview PDF of Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN).  This standard has been adopted by many modeling tool vendors for use in their process modeling tools.

It's only 26 slides, so it shouldn't take long to review. 

I think there will be some great opportunities (and some challenges) for integrating data and process models as more tool vendors support this standard.

 

By Karen Lopez on Saturday, August 12, 2006 1:46 AM

Today is the 25th birthday of the Personal computer.  Happy Birthday, PC. 

Hmmm....1981.  I was finishing high school.  I did not have a computer. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the top grossing film, Mommy Dearest debuts. Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap, Freeze Frame, I Love a Rainy Night, Celebration, and Private Eyes are released (I know these will be lilting through your head for the rest of the day).  

The first Space Shuttle launches.  Ted Codd is the Turning Award Recipient.  Pierre Trudeau is Canadian PM.  Terry Fox  passes away, but his Marathon of Hope goes on.  Ronald Reagan is President and the Iran hostages are released minutes after he takes office.

MTV launches.

The original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor was released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.  (from Wikipedia.com)

I don't have a picture of the first PC handy , but I do have these pics from a recent visit to the Smithsonian, of other early devices. 

That would be a TRS-80 I believe, on the right.  I remember a friend of mine had one at home.  I remember writing programs on it to track how many cases of oranges we had sold for a fundraiser.

Here's an Apple, for those of you who like simplicity...:)  And to think all those guys putting tiny motherboards into cigar boxes over at Fry's are way behind the times compared to this wooden work of art.

These days I stop by my local thrift shop from time to time to see what older computers they have.  I've picked up a Commodore, but most of the other stuff is just...stuff.  One night when I was out running, I found an old beat up Lisa out in someone's trash.  It's too beat up to work, but somehow I couldn't just let it go to the dump. Lisa was the first GUI computer. She even had project management software.

Now I have more power in my Pocket PC than we ever dreamed about on our desktops.  I still remember the excitement regarding the pace of change in computing.  Now days, that awe is focused on other gadgets, technologies and trends -- but that doesn't take way from where we were in the late Seventies and early Eighties.  Everybody Wang Chung...and Happy Birthday

 

By Karen Lopez on Friday, August 11, 2006 9:48 PM

Please read the announcement message on our home page about the new password requirement on InfoAdvisors.com.

Also, we not yet integrated the two accounts you have - for the InfoAdvisors.com website and our WebBoards...not that we aren't trying.  What we have done is import accounts from our WebBoards to our website.  However, since they are not truly integrated, data may get overwritten.  For now, we are performing regular updates from WebBoard to InfoAdvisors.com. 

We did purchase a package, but it required more administrative rights to the server and the database than we were ready to grant on a website.

So now we are looking for a better solution to keep our two database in sync.  Yes, cobbler's children and all.

Thanks for your patience.

By Karen Lopez on Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:59 PM

As far as I'm concerned, we have today just started to hand over our lives to the tiny number (relatively) of terrorists in the world.  Sure, as someone who travels frequently, I want to have safe and reliable transportation.  But like the 3-lighter limit ("we'll only allow you to start 300 fires on plane"), the "we'll replace the fake knives that have never cut anything with sharper plastic knives", and the "I'm sorry, I'll have to take your emery board because nail files are are not allowed" security rules, I just cringe when I hear about yet another ineffective attempt to secure our flights (see notice below), rules that have giant loop holes.  So now business travellers cannot bring water on a flight, but parents can bring juice boxes and baby bottles full of who knows what.  If you were a terrorists, what would your next step be?  Change careers?  Or find a child and pack up your Juicy Juice, formula, and Insulin boxes? 

The analysts are already saying that this is the end of carry-ons for all passengers.   No books, no purses, no laptops.  I just don't know how that's going to work.  I'm guessing that there will be exemptions for executive and first class passengers, plus for diaper bags and medically necessary stuff-- more security holes you could drive a tank through.

And who wants to guess just when the airlines will remember that they might want to put a couple more bottles of water and a few more cans of soda on their flights?  I'm betting that sometime in the next month, all airlines will announce the end of free water and soda  on all flights, because now they really do have a captive customer.  Four dollar Coke can, anyone?

Sure, I'm fairly healthy and I can actually survive 5 hours without a Pepsi.  And of course I wouldn't want to risk lives just for a Diet Dr. Pepper.  But I have an odd feeling that we have reached a tipping point. 

Meanwhile, we continue to hand over our hard-won freedoms, just what "they" want.  Who's winning?

Toronto Pearson Update on Security Changes

Date of Release: Aug 10, 2006

Responding to the alleged terrorist threats in the United Kingdom, the Government of Canada has implemented enhanced aviation security measures at Toronto Pearson and at all airports across Canada. The following security measures have been put in place by the federal government until further notice: Effective immediately, for all flights to and from the United Kingdom and the United States, liquids or gels in containers of any size are not permitted to be brought onboard by passengers; this includes liquids or gels in carry-on baggage; Effective immediately all flights, including Canadian domestic flights, liquids or gels in containers of any size are not permitted to be brought onboard by passengers; this includes liquids or gels in carry-on baggage. Passengers may bring aboard baby formula, breast milk, or juice if a baby or small child is travelling. Prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket, insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines are allowed.