Feb
8
2013

What successful developers do differently?

The most successful developers work differentlyThe most successful developers work differently. Some are born with natural talent, but others have worked incredibly hard at it. How? They prepare. They train. They constantly experiment and adapt. In this post I am going to show what they do differently and why it works. Talented, highly skilled people don’t take big risks, yet they still manage to accomplish big things. The key to improvement is making small, smart changes, evaluating the results, discarding what does not work, and further refining what does work from early product definition and scoping to detailed specification, implementation and roll-out phases. When you constantly modify and refine something you already do well, you can do it even better. More...


Nov
27
2012

Required steps on LinkedIn

Required steps on Linked in profileLinkedIn can be used as a resource for finding jobs, as a tool of communication between members of a group or company, and as a way to develop and manage brand identity. Whether you are a small business owner or in charge of large corporation, a LinkedIn company profile can help bring more awareness to the product, service, or specialty that you are trying to promote. LinkedIn is loved by Google and if  you want to manage your search results, LinkedIn is your quickest and best bet. Apart from a few dummy profiles set up by headhunters to find new vacancies, everyone on LinkedIn are themselves. We have our real names, our real pictures and we’re listed under our real employer. It gives you the opportunity to connect with a company or a person within that company directly - like never before. It's important to keep all experience on LinkedIn and your CV, up to date. By creating a profile on LinkedIn, you will be able to expand your network of connections and communicate with industry professionals to achieve your personal goals, whether that is finding a new job or expanding your business by connecting with new clients. More...


Aug
24
2012

Effective meetings are good for you and your career

Running effective meetings is a skill that takes knowledge and practice to develop. Running an effective meeting is more than sending out a notice that your team is to meet at a particular time and place. Effective meetings need structure and order. Without these elements they can go on forever and not accomplish a thing. With a solid objective in mind, a tight agenda, and a commitment to involving the meeting participants in the planning, preparation, and execution of the meeting, you are well on your way to chairing great meetings. Given the frustration most people feel when their time is wasted, gaining a reputation for running efficient and successful meetings is good for you and your career. More...


Jun
1
2012

Visual Studio 2012

VS2012With Visual Studio 11, the 11 was the code name of the next release of Visual Studio. Today Microsoft believe this is the right time to disclose the official name – Visual Studio 2012. As part of RC Visual Studio team made numerous improvements to Visual Studio, including performance improvements across the board, updates to the UI based on customer feedback, and enhancements to existing features. Release Candidate of Visual Studio 2012, Team Foundation Server 2012, and .NET Framework 4.5 are ready. More...


Feb
13
2012

Effective software product post mortem

Post Mortem is the feedback meeting at the end of a project, or the written report of that meeting.  Whoever ends up writing the post-mortem report will conclude that the proper course of action to prevent similar failures is to do whatever it is the author thinks everybody ought to be doing anyway. Sometimes you may think you've completed a software project, but you aren't truly finished until you've conducted a project postmortem. Most shops are far too busy rushing ahead to the next project to spend any time thinking about how they could improve and refine their software development process. And then they wonder why their new project suffers from all the same problems as their previous project. More...


Jan
23
2012

Effective communication is harder than it should be in your workplace

First of all there’s just something about communications that’s harder than it should be. Of all the skills we develop as leaders and professionals, communicating are one that we’ve been practicing since birth. And yet it often gets in our way, causes stress, and leaves us at a loss. I found extremely useful advices from Guy Farmer blog. We too frequently miscommunicate, obfuscate the point, cause an unintended reaction, or avoid a messy discussion altogether. More...


Dec
14
2011

Near Field Communication and Mobile Tagging

People’s phones are an essential part of their daily life, connecting them to their entire world of friends and information. Using recognition technologies to make virtually anything clickable lets you quickly take advantage of today’s phone-centric lifestyle and help you direct customers to the most relevant information about your brand. The Microsoft Tag marketing solution gives you and your customers the easy way to use a rich suite of recognition technologies, from QR Codes to the current Tag barcodes and beyond to the next generation in mobile, Near Field Communication (NFC). Depending on your choice, you can create a simple campaign delivering a line of text or a phone number, or go further and help people use your mobile site, see a video, download an app, get contact info, and much more. You don't have to worry about them typing in your URL or finding you online – using Tag instantly puts the relevant info at their fingertips. More...


Nov
22
2011

Success in today’s IT environment

Success in today’s IT environment requires you to view your career as a business endeavor. I have been working as a Software Developer in different companies about 7,5 years in total and Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) at Microsoft about 8 months. However, I learnt a lot with the Microsoft and I am continuously getting better with process, job and more confident with abilities in new projects every day. Furthermore, I like writing code, because I spent a good chunk of my time writing automated tests in fast changing environment on new technologies and it was new experience to develop for me. Also I like to develop tools to help with work and to help the rest of my teams to create high quality software, importantly, analyzing problems and coming up with brand new solutions, but most important that I am trying to ensure that investing time and energy in the right areas. More...


Sep
4
2011

Problem solving - the Right Stuff

Problem-solving is not a science, but part art and part skill. I read this phrase and list of common practices for algorithm design in S.S. Skiena, The Algorithm Design Manual book. Skiena explains that this is one of the skills most worth developing. I've read other data-structures and algorithms books, and I've never found one like this one. Algorithm Design Manual - is very deep book and it is easy to understand More...


Sep
2
2011

New features in Windows 8

Windows 8 is the next version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, servers and media center PCs. “Building Windows 8” official blog is starting to drop out a bunch of information about the next version of Windows including.

Windows 8 brings together all the power and flexibility you have in your PC today with the ability to immerse yourself in a Metro style experience. You don’t have to compromise! You carry one device that does everything you want and need.  You can connect that device to peripherals you want to use. You can use devices designed to dock to large screen displays and other peripherals.  You can use convertible devices that can be both immersive tablets and flexible laptops. More...


Sep
1
2011

Top 100 ways to motivate yourself

100 Motivation practiceThe lack of motivation can to a cancer that can build apathy, pessimism, cynicism, and can stifle energy stunting a company's growth and just like cancer if not treated can destroy the organization. Managers have the reasonability to examine every single individual and also the places they need to have improvement, apply motivational theories in their behavior modification plan. Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus. More...


Author - Agafonov Slava

Agafonov Slava site

Hello world! My name is Agafonov Slava. I'm a software engineer at Microsoft located in Bellevue next to Redmond campus and Seattle downtown, state Washington. I was born in Ukraine, Soviet Union. My passion for programming is in my ability to create tools that make people's lives easier. I am software developer aiming to spread information about programming, mostly on the Microsoft stack to other people, also I am entrepreneur, basketball and surfing addict. Slava Agafonov profileAgafonov Slava on Twitter Counter.com

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