Reynald Adolphe
LinkedIn Learning Instructor/Serious Comedian
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    August 25, 2020

    Top 10 Reasons Your Boss is a Jerk (+ What to Do About It)

    Reynald Adolphe / 0 Comments / Uncategorized / advice, bosses, jobs /

    Today I want to talk with you all about the top 10 signs that your boss is a jerk, and the ways you can try to deal with it. Now, these aren’t in any special order, everything on this list is bad. But there is a reason I’ve put number 1 at number 1, which you’ll see when we get there. Let’s begin the countdown!

    Number 10: Hostile environment

    Your boss is a jerk if… they contribute to a hostile environment. This could include sexual harassment, hitting on you, making you uncomfortable, or it could be that they’re pitting your colleagues against each other and making the environment into a survival of the fittest situation.

    What you can do about it… is to try your best to work against it and make your environment better and more friendly with your own actions. Try to treat your colleagues with respect and help them out and set the tone that way. You could try to talk to your boss about their own behavior, but that’s up for you to decide if you think it’ll be worth it.

    Number 9: No resources provided

    Your boss is a jerk if… they don’t provide you with resources for you to do your job better. I remember at the first job I got right out of college, I was told by my boss that they were going to train me and give me everything I needed to succeed. They did have some training, but it really wasn’t anything like how they sold it to me. And that made me realize that you should always assume you’re going to be left on your own to figure things out from beginning to end. That’s not how it should be, it should be a team effort to get things going and help you transition into the job. But some bosses are like that.

    What you can do about it… is ask them for help. In fact, before you even ask your boss, you can try to get information from your colleagues. Some of them will want to help, some of them won’t, but try to get help from them. And then if you still need more training and help, don’t be afraid to go to your boss and ask. And document everything so you can always defend your efforts. Of course, I say all of this with the assumption you are already doing your best/own research but need more intel.

    Don’t be afraid to ask your boss and colleagues for help. Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels.

    Number 8: No support for promotions

    Your boss is a jerk if… they don’t go to bat for you for promotions or advancement. If you do your work really well and in the long run you’re not getting promoted or acknowledged in any way, that’s a problem.

    What you can do about it… is talk to your boss. I know it might seem uncomfortable but there’s really no way around it. Again, document to keep a record of the things you’ve done that set you apart from the others. Verbally explain what you’ve done and why it has value. You must make it easy for your boss to see & understand what you’re bringing to the table especially if they don’t readily witness your work. You need to be your own lawyer to build and present that case if requesting a promotion. In might be in your best interest to do this after a positive review or midway before a review. I discuss reviews later. If your boss has to work with another exec or their boss in order to get you promoted, that’s actually a good thing, because then you can come to your boss and offer to approach that higher-up individual together with you defending your work. Most likely, they’ll want to handle this on their own but you can arm them with enough info regarding the value you’ve provided (projects completed/ideas presented/quotas met, etc) so it’s easier on them to get you promoted. Remember, having a boss is always about making their life easier.

    Number 7: Can’t recognize good work & doesn’t try to

    Your boss is a jerk if… they don’t acknowledge the good work that you do. Now, this is similar to what we just talked about in number 8, but that one was more that they don’t have your back when it comes time to giving you a promotion or raise. This one is that they just don’t recognize good work and make no effort to understand.

    What you can do about it… is keep a note of it. Did you present great ideas that were passed on and the company paid a price for it? Did you build products/systems to increase efficiency but they weren’t taken seriously. Did you suggest better solutions for problems but were ignored. Keep a record in case you need to defend the work that was passed on that you proposed. If your boss can’t see your vision right away, all you can really do is an earnest attempt to clearly explain why what you did/want to do is beneficial. But if the boss’s brain is too dense & just doesn’t “get it”, and this is a recurring thing where you can’t do your best work in your environment and it’s preventing you/your career from excelling, you might have to look elsewhere. Of course, be confident you are correct and that you’re not letting your ego ignore your boss’s experience if they have valid reasons for passing on your work.

    A good boss will acknowledge the good work that you do. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.

    Number 6: They hide their ignorance

    Your boss is a jerk if… they hide their ignorance. I can’t stand bosses that don’t know what they’re talking about but insist on acting as they do. There’s something to be said for confidence, but if you don’t know something it’s okay to admit it and then work with your team to figure it out, even if you’re the boss. Most team members would respect that. But when they don’t know something and they try to hide it, that’s a red flag, because it’s a form of lying.

    What you can do about it… is keep a note of it. Again this isn’t something you really need to confront them about, that’s probably not going to help the situation. Some of these problems, like this one, don’t have pure solutions, but they’re things you’re going to want to be paying attention to. If it happens often, it’s a problem, and it’s not an environment you’re going to want to stay in forever.

    Number 5: They lie

    Your boss is a jerk if… they are dishonest. This is similar to number 6 but with number 6 the boss is usually trying to save face or seem smarter than they are. But there are also some bosses who will just straight-up lie to you about a variety of topics when there’s no reason to.

    What you can do about it… is keep a note of it. Again this is just something you’ll want to pay attention to. If you catch your boss in a lie, then that says something about the environment you’re working in and you don’t want to overlook that.

    Honesty is an important quality in a boss. Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels.

    Number 4: Preferential treatment to others

    Your boss is a jerk if… they give preferential treatment to other colleagues. Now, this is a slightly tricky one because sometimes they’re just friendlier with another colleague than they are with you, and there could be several reasons for that. It could be that the other colleague has been there for longer and therefore they’re more comfortable with each other. But it could be that maybe the other colleague is doing their job better than you are. And I think it’s fair to ask yourself that question and up your game if necessary. But if there’s really no clear reason and it’s really blatant unequal treatment, then that’s a problem. I remember that at this one job, I had a colleague who really kissed up to the boss and told the dumbest jokes and she loved it. It was ridiculous, it felt like a parody honestly. And he would play pranks on other colleagues, including me, and she thought it was hilarious. But I didn’t think it was so funny because I had just gotten there and so I didn’t feel comfortable retaliating because I didn’t know what the repercussions might be. So I felt like she definitely gave him preferential treatment for no good reason.

    What you can do about it… is don’t let it get to you. Don’t try to kiss up to your boss, be yourself and if they don’t appreciate you, that’s on them. You might be able to call them out on their preferential treatment, but at the same time, it might be tricky, so that’s a judgment call for you to make for yourself. And ultimately, you may just need to get out of that situation. Actually, in some ways, I am thankful for this specific boss of mine because if she hadn’t been a jerk, I might’ve gotten too comfortable and not made the moves I needed to make for my career. So, sometimes a bad experience can actually be good.

    Number 3: They don’t check in with you before reviews

    Your boss is a jerk if… they don’t check in with you before negative reviews. Reviews are basically like report cards for adults. And just like it was awful to get a bad report card as a kid, it’s awful to have a bad review session where you’re hearing all this negative feedback out of the blue. The main difference though is as a kid, you usually know if your report card was going to be bad if you failed some tests. In corporate America, tests aren’t always so clear sometimes. And if your boss isn’t happy with your work but says nothing except during a review, that’s not good. If they were a good boss, they would bring it up the first time they had an issue with you so you could correct it. But unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen.

    What you can do about it… is take the initiative to check in with your boss. It shouldn’t be up to you to do this, but unfortunately a lot of times it will be. You need to take your boss aside sometime before your review and get some feedback so that you can try to improve. So, if you know your review is in six months, you could talk to them three months down the line and go from there. Or you could even do it twice before the review, like every two months. I think more than twice would be a little much. But you could take them aside after two months, then after four months, and then by the time the six-month mark comes along and it’s time for your review, you’ll have hopefully fixed all the issues they brought up.

    Checking in with your boss to get feedback can help you avoid a surprise bad review. Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels.

    Number 2: They are not respectful to you

    Your boss is a jerk if… they’re not respectful to you. Now, there are some environments where it’s normal for bosses to curse at their employees and stuff like that. Out here in Hollywood, if you’re working at a talent agency, that’s the norm and it’s not considered a big deal. But if you’re working as an accountant at some corporation in Tennessee, that might not be so normal. So, whatever environment you’re in, you need to look at what the norm is for that environment, and then you need to figure out if you’re being disrespected.

    is respectfully call them out on it. And if it’s a boss you’re afraid to call out because you think they might retaliate, then it’s time to get out of there. Just like an old colleague of mine used to say: we gotta go out on the streets, make our moves, find better opportunities, and get out. Don’t put up with four, five years of abuse in a hostile environment where they’re talking down to you or being cruel or disrespectful. Never waste time. Always be at a job where you know you’re being valued.

    Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the last thing, the number 1 item that makes your boss a jerk, that tops everything else, is:

    Number 1: They don’t listen to you!!!

    Your boss is a jerk if… they don’t listen to you. That’s right, this would top even something like number 10 where it’s a hostile work environment or sexual harassment. Because, in that situation, you can try to bring it up to get it fixed. And if they ignore you, that’s the real issue, that’s the number one problem. They don’t listen to you and they’re not addressing your concern. You don’t ever want to be in an environment where you’re not being heard. And I’m not talking about being in a meeting and offering some advice that they don’t take. I mean when there’s a serious problem and it needs to be fixed and they don’t even care to acknowledge it. Or worse, they say they’ll acknowledge it, but then their actions aren’t consistent with that.

    What you can do about it… is go out on the streets, find a better job, make your moves, and be out! There’s nothing you can try with this kind of boss because the whole problem is that they don’t listen to you and they don’t care about your concerns. That’s why it’s number 1 on this list, because there’s no way to fix it other than getting all the way out of Dodge.

    And those are the top 10 reasons your boss is a jerk, and how you can try to handle those problems. I know that for those of you who are currently dealing with any of these situations, it might seem like it’s only happening to you, but remember, they happen to a lot of people — daily. Know you’re not alone and that there are ways to handle the situation you’re in.

    A denouement…

    Before ending, I want to point out the fact the there were several times I didn’t mention a direct solution but to “take a note” of the issue. Documentation is king when you need to defend yourself be it for jockeying for promoting or filing complaints or simply protecting yourself in the corporate world. Words on paper count way more than verbally uttered. Make it a habit to privately document your experiences. You’ll thank yourself.

    Also few times I eluded to quitting but understand, I don’t advocate quitting for any little imperfection in management. Few jobs are perfect. It only makes sense to leave based on your personal situation and the aggregate of issues you’re experiencing with your job/boss. Bosses are people and like anyone else — they can be flawed. Sounds obvious to say but I think many of us in the back of our minds expect more of them because of their title. But if you remember that bosses can & most likely will have issues like anyone else, it’s a bit easier to deal with. It’s a bit easier to not be offended by their shortcomings. It’s okay.

    Having said all this, if your boss doesn’t have any of these issues or any big flaw, appreciate the hell out of them.

    Video version of this article can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjlDyWRfDo.

    Photo by luis gomes from Pexels!!
    August 14, 2020

    15 Lessons I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Programmer

    Reynald Adolphe / 0 Comments / Blog, Coding / advice, coding, jobs, lessons, software developer, technology /

    In my time as a software engineer I have learned a lot from each job that I’ve taken. In this article I’d like to share with you some experiences throughout my career and what they have taught me, both the good things about each job and the challenges that I experienced, or as I like to call it, the lessons I learned along the way. Specifically… 15 lessons. Counting backward for dramatic purposes.

    Lesson 15 – Don’t kill yourself, work hard enough to grow & not resent.

    The first job that I had out of college was at an advertising agency. The good thing about this job is that while I was there, I saw some of the most captivating presenters in the world. It was as if everyone at that job was Don from Mad Men. But the challenging thing about this job was that it was basically a sweatshop. I once got a nosebleed from working over 70 hours, and some of my coworkers were putting in over 100 hours a week. Eff that.

    So, one of the first lessons I learned was that overworking myself like that wasn’t good for me, and I needed a job that wouldn’t put me through that.

    After that job, I was inspired by a friend of mine to go into technology, so I enrolled in a master’s program at DePaul University. In order to pay for the program, I got a part-time job at the help desk at that same university as a client support specialist. The good thing about this job is that I learned how much fun and challenging (in a good way) a job can really be. I did a lot but wasn’t working until midnight constantly. Felt good leaving work with daylight remaining and wasn’t resenting the work. Then again it was part time but still, fulltimers there left early too.

    Lesson 14 – Always be friendly.

    I had a good relationship with my boss at DePaul, but there was a coworker who was friendlier with him and ultimately, when one full-time position opened up there, we both applied but he got it. He was good at his job too, but his extra friendliness with the boss gave him the edge he needed. I know it did. I’m not saying to kiss up but I could’ve been more present socially (like at events) and been more in his circle. 

    Lesson 13 – Don’t let being passed over hold you back from making the moves you need to make. 

    There was another opportunity for a full time position that opened up months later and I wanted that too, but this time no one in-house got it but some outside contractor. To make it worse, this contractor was always asking me to help him fix stuff he couldn’t solve on his own, and yet he was getting paid three or four times what I was. So I thought to myself that I should try to become a contractor, and I put my resume out there, and it worked like a charm. Within days I had recruiters all over me. So it actually worked out pretty well for me to make my next move. I didn’t just huff and puff about not being promoted to the role that an inexperienced contractor got.  I made my moves.

    Working at a help desk can be fun and challenging. (Image source: pexels.com)

    Lesson 12 – Lack of challenge can lead to boredom, but don’t let that slow you down.

    My next job was a job as a help desk technician at Andersen Consulting, which is actually where my friend worked whose job had really impressed me. The good thing about this job was that my boss was awesome. And in fact she did her job so well that the computers didn’t really have a lot of issues for me to solve, so it wasn’t very challenging as a help desk technician, but because of that I was able to move into programming which I loved. Which is what motivated my move from help desk to programming. I didn’t just stay doing boring work. Again, I made moves.

    Lesson 11 – There will be haters. Get used to it.

    Another lesson that I learned is that there will sometimes be employees who do not like you and do not want to help you succeed. It hasn’t happened to me too often, it was really just this one person at this job, and although she did not actively try to sabotage me, she was unwilling to help me out with questions I had or anything like that, and she only acted like that behind the boss’s back so no one else would know. So, what I took from that is that you can’t always depend on the people who are supposed to train you and help you out. I learned not to take it personally but it took a while. It took practice not to care about those that hate you. I still work on not caring even today. But it helps that most of my projects were great at Andersen. I only left there years later because I had to start traveling as a programmer which I didn’t want. But I left on good terms with some great memories. And tougher skin.

    Lesson 10 – Save. Save some more.

    The next company that I worked for was Inforte. The good thing about this company is that it was a very familiar culture. And it should have been, because the people who started the company actually worked at Andersen Consulting too before they spun off their own consulting agency. Their business model was pretty much the same. They damn near copied and pasted Andersen’s biz model but they didn’t last.

    As such, what I learned from them is that you need to save money, whether you’re an individual or a company. I started working at Inforte during the dot-com bomb when the economy was taking a turn for the worse and there were a lot of layoffs in the technology field all over the country. The Inforte company had saved up enough money to hang around for a long while, but eventually they ran out and little by little every department was hit with layoffs. And about six months after I left, I found out the company had shut down.

    If you’re working overtime all the time, it’s due to bad management. (Image source: pexels.com)

    Lesson 9 –  It’s not me, it’s you. If everyone’s always working long hours, it’s usually due to poor management.

    The next company that I worked for was Risetime Consulting. The good thing about this job was that it was the first time that I was working in a really small team and building applications from scratch. I was there for the design phase up until deployment, and I was able to become really close with the guys I worked with there, and we stayed in touch for a while even after I left.

    It was a sweatshop too though. Then one day we came into work and our manager wasn’t there and the CEO invited us into some dark room to talk. He told us that we’d been missing a lot of deadlines. I thought it was the end for us.  But then said he knew it wasn’t our fault because we’d been putting in the work and working long hours, and so he made our team lead developer our new manager. He said something I’ll never forget. If you’re constantly working a lot of hours, it’s usually due to poor management. This was something I’d never really considered before. And suddenly we weren’t missing deadlines anymore and we weren’t working long hours. So keep that in mind: if you’re in a situation where you’re constantly working crazy hours and are always pressed for time on deadlines, it’s because of bad management, and if no one seems to want to change that, then it’s probably time to move on.

    Lesson 8 – Some companies can absolutely be loyal to you. 

    I left Risetime because I was hired during a recession, and took a big pay cut. They knew I had no choice. So when the economy got better and an opportunity came up to get paid at the level I felt was more appropriate, I took it. And this job was with Andersen Consulting again, now called Accenture. Boom! Back home, baby! And that’s why you should always try to leave on the best terms that you can, because sometimes second relationships happen. I loved going back to work here and this time the role they got for me did not involve travelling, which was perfect. I felt there was a sense of mutual loyalty going back.

    I remained for several more years but eventually moved to California. They didn’t have any major projects there so we sadly parted ways. Several of my colleagues there are my Facebook friends even today.

    Keep your skills sharp and explore new technologies that are out there. (Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels)

    Lesson 7 – Don’t get comfortable. Stay hungry.

    The next technical job I got in California was with the Tribune company, which owned the LA Times. The good thing about this company was the work environment. I really bonded with my colleagues at this job, we would work out together and everything, and it was so fun going to work that it didn’t even feel like work, which is how it should be. But as a result, the lesson that I learned is that you don’t want to get so comfortable at a certain job that you lose touch with other opportunities that may be out there for you. That’s what happened and I could’ve advanced sooner rather than staying at that job for so long.  

    Lesson 6 – Stay skilled, on the edge, where you need to be. 

    Also, I was in such a comfort zone at Tribune and I was so focused on just being good at that particular job that I didn’t pay attention to skill sets that were evolving outside of the company. And then when it was time to move on, I struggled to play catch up.  So, another lesson is keep your skills sharp. 

    Lesson 5 – Some companies WILL NOT be loyal to you. UH DUH.

    At one point I came up with a business idea that would bring in more revenue for one of this company’s departments, and I brought it up to management and wrote up a business proposal and execs really liked it. I was putting a lot of energy into it and brought on a consultant (pro bono) to help push the idea forward. This guy was so good and in the past had actually created an online apartment rental company and sold it to Tribune. But then one day this one top exec who had initially supported the effort suddenly lost interest and had some secretary come tell us to drop everything. That was a lack of loyalty and respect because he didn’t even bother to have a conversation about it or address us face to face.

    Winter can always come. (Image source: pexels.com)

    Lesson 4 – Winter can come anytime. Don’t be left out in the cold. Be prepared.

    The economy turned bad again and we knew winter was coming because all a sudden, top executive after top executive was turning their resignation in to “spend more time with their family”. That’s how top dogs go. Via announcements. And then, winter was here. We experienced a corporate Red Wedding. No one was safe. Tribune laid off over 200 people and even though our team only had three or four developers, we still got hit, and I got laid off. Always be prepared for this. I fortunately had started training on my own on a new project.

    That project was my next job.  It was a company that I started up, and I called it Prestige Artists. I applied new coding skills I was learning after Tribune layoffs to create the site. And this was a great endeavor and it’s something that I recommend to anyone who’s in between jobs. Take the opportunity to create your own company/side hustle because that way it doesn’t look like you have a huge gap on your resume where you’re not doing anything. So the lesson I took from this experience is just how valuable it can be to make your own company while you’re otherwise unemployed. I was able to learn a lot of skills that I then applied in building out my website which was a site for booking artists for corporate engagement. And having that on my resume made it much easier to get my next job. No one held it against me that it was a company I started. But they do when it’s just an empty gap for a long time.

    Lesson 3 – Stay focused. There will be brownnosers that succeed.

    My next job was at Logix credit union. The good thing at this job was that I learned how great a company can truly be at creating a positive company culture. They went above and beyond to ensure that people were happy and had a good work-life balance. No one I knew of there was ever working overtime or anything. The lesson that I learned from this company is that in your life you will encounter people who are brownnosers. There was one person at this company who did such intense brownnosing that it hurt my stomach just to watch it, that’s how embarrassing it was. And the sad thing was, it was working! The boss, she loved it. And that was really annoying to see, but what I learned is that you can’t let it get to you. 

    Lesson 2 – Stay current. Stay fresh. Be in the know.
    The next lesson that I learned from this job is that it’s not so good to be around legacy technologies that you don’t learn from. Remember when I said that when I was at Tribune, I was in a bubble and didn’t keep my skills sharp? Well, this time, I had learned from that experience, and so even though this job mainly had me working with legacy technologies, I kept my skills sharp learning new technologies on the side and even got into teaching tech.

    Teaching is a great way to stay fresh and up-to-date. (Image source: pexels.com)

    Lesson 1 – Never assume they’re happy if nothing is said. Confirm it.

    And that brings us to the present, where I’m now an independent contractor writing and teaching courses for various companies. The first site I started doing that for was Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning. And the good thing about this job is that I’ve learned how awesome it is to have a lot of students and a public audience that truly enjoys and appreciates your work. The lesson I’ve learned from this job is that no matter how good your work is, if you’re producing content for different people, you always want to make sure that what they got is what they were expecting. And you shouldn’t make assumptions just because they didn’t complain. So, even if you’ve made a bunch of former managers really happy with your work, you still want to make sure to ask questions whenever you get a new contract to make sure you’re giving them what they want.

    So that’s what I’ve learned throughout my career as a software engineer. These lessons I learned are the things you’re going to want to know how to deal with. And the truth is that it’s not always easy when you come across it, it takes practice, and sometimes it can even take years to implement some of them. But hopefully this article has helped to prepare you for it.

    TopOfTheWorld
    August 4, 2020

    How to Prevent Unemployment Discrimination

    Reynald Adolphe / 0 Comments / Coding / job search, resume, technology, unemployment /

    You’ve probably heard a lot about discrimination based on race, gender, or religion, right? They are the popular ones. The ‘cool’ kinds of discrimination that all the kids are talking about. But there’s one kind of discrimination I’d like to discuss that’s rarely (if ever) brought up: Unemployment Discrimination. Particularly in the field of technology and software engineering. If you’ve ever had a gap in your resume because you haven’t worked for a while and then found that some potential employers don’t want to give you a shot because of that gap, this article is for you and how to work around it.

    It can be hard to find a job when there’s a significant gap in your resume.

    So, if you’re having a hard time finding a job because there’s a significant gap in your resume, this is what you do. When there’s a lack of opportunity, you create your own job. That is, create your own company. Every company that’s out there had a beginning. There’s no reason why you can’t start your own. Whether it makes money is besides the point; a lot of companies don’t make money in the beginning. The objective is to have something that you can focus on and apply technology skills to in order to help you learn and implement what you’re learning.

    So you can think of some kind of company or website that offers a particular service, and then think of all the different types of technologies that you want to learn and then apply when you build out that website. For example, if you wanted to learn how to use .NET or Ruby on Rails or Amazon Web Services, you could incorporate what you learn about those technologies into your efforts to build out the website or application.

    You can incorporate any coding language you want into your website.

    As for what kind of company you could create, that’s really up to you. One example could be a new idea for a dating website, maybe one where instead of you doing the searching, you pay someone else to do the searching for you. Another example might be a website where you can post business ideas and other people could try to take those ideas and bring them to fruition in exchange for compensating you. Or maybe you want to design a really intricate website that could be used for voting, maybe even in national elections. Anything you come up with could work. And any of those ideas could be developed using Java or React or PHP or similar technologies. (By the way, if you do happen to use any of these ideas for your website and you become super successful and rich and famous off of them, please do throw a few million my way. Just kidding. Or am I?)

    Now, realistically, you could just be working on learning various technologies through tutorials. And when you’re applying for a job, you could be on par with anyone else, or depending on the tutorials that you’re using, maybe even more current than the individuals who have been working at that job for a while on just one particular technology. But the truth is, when looking for work, many employers in the real world don’t really care much about tutorials. They don’t look at it as a real job. And there are a lot of employers out there who won’t even ask what you’ve been learning or give you a chance to show your skills if you tell them you’ve been working on tutorials because they just write it off as ‘not a real job’. Which, frankly, is a bozo move. What employers should do is give you a technical exam and see where you’re at, whether you’ve been working on tutorials or creating your own app or whatever you’ve been doing. They should give you a chance to show them what you know regardless. But a lot of them don’t. Like I said: bozos. So that’s why you’re better off using what you’ve learned to create your own application for your entrepreneurial project.

    The Small Business Administration has good information on starting up your own company.

    So now you’re probably thinking: “Okay, Reynald, so you want me to create my own company, uh huh, I got that, but where do I start?” Great question! First of all, you need to have an idea. Paperwork aside, all a company really entails is you deciding what you want to do and how you want to do it, and then you’re already most of the way there. Of course, to make it legitimate, you do need to file some paperwork. You have the option of being an LLC, a partnership, or a sole proprietor; if you’re curious about what each of those means, the Small Business Administration has some good definitions: bit.ly/2W5tv7r.

    Briefly, the major difference between a sole proprietorship and the other forms of companies is that when you have a sole proprietorship, come tax time they use your social security number to identify you as a company as opposed to giving your company a unique tax ID number. In fact this is one of the reasons people have companies and corporations in the first place, so that they individually can’t be sued and held liable for things that happen, and instead people have to deal with the corporate entity. Whereas, when you’re a sole proprietor, you can be held individually responsible. However, for our purposes, I would say a sole proprietorship is probably enough. We’re just talking about starting something up for the sake of having the title of a company, and if you’re not selling any goods yet then you don’t have to worry about anyone suing you.

    Getting a business license is fairly simple and can be easily done on your own.

    Okay, so let’s say you’ve decided to become a sole proprietor. Your next step is to get a business license. Now, it might vary from state to state, but I live in California and what I did is I went to City Hall (or you can go on their website of course) and just filled out the paperwork. There are some businesses out there that will offer to fill out the paperwork for you, but you truly don’t need them. They’ll charge you a few hundred dollars for something that takes a few minutes. It’s really not worth it. So, take my advice, fill it out yourself and pretty soon you’ll have a business license. You may also be required to fill out a Fictitious Business Name Statement for the name of your company. But the most important thing is the business license.

    You’re also going to want to open a bank account for your business separate from your personal account, which will make things a lot easier when it comes time to do your taxes. If you’ve opened up a bank account before then you know that it’s really no big deal. They might have you fill out a couple extra pieces of paperwork since it’s for a business but it should be pretty simple. You also want to make sure to keep track of your expenses because one of the perks of having a business is that you can write off certain expenses as being necessary for your business. However, you do want to be careful to use that benefit in the right way and not abuse it, because it can absolutely backfire on you.

    You are now open for business!

    After that, you’ve officially created your own business! Now you can build a website and decide what technologies you want to learn and apply in building it out. And you can put it on your resume so instead of having a blank space where you weren’t working, now you’ve been working on your own business. And hey, who knows? Maybe what you’re working on will end up flourishing and you’ll figure out how to actually make a profit from it and that becomes your focus. But even if it doesn’t, it’s still a great way to apply technologies on your own in a way that employers will respect when they see your resume.

    Also, you don’t actually have to do everything all on your own. If you run into a stumbling block in creating your business or if the workload becomes too much, you can always go on Indeed.com and snap up an intern fresh out of a coding bootcamp to help you. Or if it’s a really serious hurdle and you’re willing to pay a little to get it resolved, that’s what consultants are for. You can go to a website like Upwork and find somebody with particular skill sets in Angular or C# or Java or Sequel or whatever you need and get them to troubleshoot that bug for you so you can continue on your way, coding until completion.

    Successfully creating your own business is a great feeling.

    So now you’ve come up with your idea for your sophisticated website, you’ve made it an official business, you’ve done the parts that are relevant for you to learn, and if you’ve gotten stuck, you’ve gotten some help. The only real next step is to deploy that website, publish on GitHub, and show it to employers as part of your portfolio. Now, some employers don’t always look at demos or portfolios. They just want to go through a bunch of candidates and ramble off some tech questions and call it a day. But if you take the initiative to say, hey, I would really like to show you a project I’ve been working on where I created this application, is that all right? Then most likely they’ll say yes. And if they don’t, well, to be honest, that’s a bit of a red flag. Remember that you’re interviewing them just like they’re interviewing you. If they don’t care to see even a little bit of your work, something that you’re excited about, that you think might be relevant for them to know, what does that say about them as a boss? What other times are they not going to listen to you?

    Anyway, that’s my advice for avoiding unemployment discrimination. In short: if you don’t have a job and are worried it will create a gap in your resume, make your own job to fill that gap by creating your own company. And then tell your friends how awesome and helpful this article was and how they should totally read it.

    Video version of this article can be found here: https://youtu.be/MhYdeNM850c.

    September 12, 2018

    .NET Needs More LOVE

    admin / 1 Comment / Uncategorized /

    We need to stat including .NET in the vernacular when talking about full stack development. My 2 cents in this video.

    September 8, 2018

    Dear future full stack developer…

    admin / 0 Comments / Coding, Video /

    …this video is for you. As I update my bootcamp program, this is the best time to let me know you would like to get out of it.

    If you’re new to coding, you may not be able to answer but rest assured, I’ve got you covered with relevant topics in web development, in demand languages, significant design patterns and how to build your name as an authority.

    This video give a glimpse of my online boot camp, how it’s structured and what’s different about it.

    Have you ever done a bootcamp or thought of taking one in person or online? Let me know your thoughts. If you have questions, let me know.

    Python
    July 31, 2018

    From C# To Python – Conditionals

    admin / 0 Comments / Blog, Coding / .NET, C#, CSharp, Python, Reynald Adolphe /

    I created a course called Python for the .NET Developer and wanted to blog some portions of it.

    Throughout the course I compare how things are done in CSharp and then demonstrate them in Python to see the difference. I understand why so many boast Python as an easy language to code in but it did feel weird at first given how long I’ve code in C#.

    Any who – One of the early topics I hit on is conditionals. Specifically, the IF statement.

    A condition is a statement that compares things and tells us whether the criteria set by the comparison are either True or False & use operators to create our conditions, such as equal to, greater than, and less than.
    If statements are one of the most common type of statement used when implementing conditions. If, else & else if.

    static void DemoIf() {
        int testGrade = 95;
    
        // Ex: if
        if (testGrade>85)
        {
            WriteLine("You did good!"); 
        }else{
            WriteLine("You did not work hard!");
        }
    
        // Ex: else if
        if (testGrade > 94)
        {
            WriteLine("You did awesome!");
        }
        else if (testGrade > 85)
        {
            WriteLine("You did good!");
        }
        else
        {
            WriteLine("You did not work hard!");
        }
        // Ex: multiple operators
        if ((testGrade >= 90) && (testGrade <= 95))
        {
            WriteLine("You almost reached excellence!");
        }
    }
    

    To replicate the same code in Python, you’d enter the following…

    def demo_if():
        testGrade = 95
    
        # Ex: if
        if testGrade>85:
            print("You did good!") 
        else:
            print("You did not work hard!")
        
        # Ex: elif
        if testGrade > 94:
            print("You did awesome!")
        elif testGrade > 85:
            print("You did good!")
        else:
            print("You did not work hard!")
    
        # Ex: multiple operators
        if ((testGrade >= 90) and (testGrade <= 95)):
            print("You almost reached excellence!")
    

    What are the difference that you like, and don’t like in both languages? What seems more easy on the eyes?

    Python for the .NET Developer is available on at reynald.teachable.com

    CSharp 7
    February 1, 2017

    C# 7 – Expression Bodied Members

    admin / 0 Comments / Uncategorized /

    In my C# 6 – First look course, I covered how Expression Bodied Function Members were introduced which permit methods, properties and other function members to have bodies that are expressions instead of statement blocks — similar to lambda expressions.

    So we can change this…

    private string name = "Jerry Seinfeld";
    public string Name
    {
        get { return name; }
        set { name = value; }
    } 
    

    To this…

     
    public string Name => "Jerry Seinfeld";
    

    In C# 7.0, we now have constructors, accessors, and finalizers (destructors) to the list of things that can have expression bodies:

    Constructors
    Let’s first look at Constructors…
    Before C# 7, we can write a constructor that takes a parameter which looks like this in a class…

            // Classic Constructor
            public Person(string name)
            {
                Name = name;
            }
    

    But now we can convert it to look like this…

    // New C# 7 Constructor
    public Person(string name) => Name = name;
    

    This is useful if passing in only one or no parameters. Nothing more complicated than that.

    Full Properties
    The next thing that was changed was for full properties.

            // Classic Full Property
            private string _name;
            public string Name
            {
                get { return _name; }
                set { _name = value; }
            }
    

    Now can be slightly shortened like this…

            // New C# 7 property
            private string _name;
            public string Name
            {
                get => _name;
                set => _name = value;
            }
    

    Yeah, yeah, you can use auto-implemented properties but for cases you need to write out full properties, this expression body can be done.
    Destructors
    And lastly, similar to the constructors. Destructors can be shortened.

            // C#6 Destructor
            ~Person()
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Descructor was called!");
            }
    

    Can now be this…

    ~Person() => Console.Error.WriteLine("C# 7 Destructor was called!");
    

    Definitely pay attention to the evolution of these features and practice them because they are time savers. And without practice, it can make it difficult to understand code by others if you’re not use to it.

    My full course on C# 7 First look should be out by April 2017 on Lynda.com. You can check out my C# 6 course first for a refresher since several features in the new version builds on version 6.

    Expression
    January 30, 2017

    Free Screen Recording Software

    admin / 0 Comments / Uncategorized /

    I don’t know why it’s been hard to find a decent free screen recording program but I finally came across one for the PC.

    Microsoft Expression Encoder 4

    Enocder

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I wanted something my students can use for my Full Stack Lab boot camp & this works great. If you want to do recordings more than 10 minutes, you’ll need to upgrade but or simply record in parts (i.e. Part 1, Part 2).

    Check it out and let me know your thoughts on it or if you have another suggestion.

     

     

    SyntaxHighlight
    January 18, 2017

    How do I make my source code look nice in blogs? Answer: Syntax Highlighting

    admin / 0 Comments / Uncategorized /

    As I’m launching my fullstack lab online boot camp, I’ll be posting advice I give to student on here for all to share.

    The topic of syntax highlighting came up since pasting code in a blog on it’s own look plain/boring… below is some quick steps to accomplishing this goal of having nicely hightlighted code.


    Steps to be able to show code in your blog with highlighted syntax that I’d use…

    1. Download/install WordPress plugin ‘Syntax Highlighter MT’
    2. Test posting code that will be highlighted like this below..

    .ulCircle {
    list-style-type: circle;
    }
    
    .ulSquare {
    list-style-type: square;
    }
    

    3. Reference these pages for instructions & other languages you may need to highlight respectively.

    http://www.megatome.com/syntaxhighlightermt/
    http://alexgorbatchev.com/SyntaxHighlighter/manual/brushes/

    Note: If you just search ‘Syntax Highlighter’, you’ll have many options. No need to use the one I used – Syntax Highlighter MT. I see it doesn’t have many votes but I think it must be a new version. ‘Crayon Syntax Highlighter’ may be another option as it has high ratings but I haven’t tested it. Below is a screenshot of other options I saw…

    Syntax Highlighting
    Other Syntax Highlighting Options

    Beakers_350x264
    August 18, 2016

    On the horizon… The Full Stack Lab

    admin / 0 Comments / Uncategorized /

    Learn more here…

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