Unscientific Salary Comparison Charts

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time advancing my web development skills on various technologies such as Web 2.0 standards, Unobtrusive Javascripting, and object-oriented PHP programming. But all that self-education left me wondering how much I’d actually be worth in the job market today if I were to be eligible for a full time job knowing what I know today. So I did a little searching. While I am not sure how scientific the results are, I am pretty happy with what I saw (granted this is unscientific as hell; and they only take into account the title of a position).

Source [indeed.com]

(Note: I don’t really know Java that well. But the rest of the stuff in the titles I am pretty good at. Now guess which salary range I fall under? ;))

Ajax and LAMP Coders Wanted — ASAP

Today I got another call from a recruiter about a potential Ajax/LAMP position they are looking to fill. Without me doing any active advertising, this is probably the 5th or 6th contact from recruiting companies looking to fill a similar position in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This reminds me of Jason’s comment on how his other programmer friends told him that any coder in the Bay Area can get a job if he just sticks his resume on a rock and slingshot it in any direction. Just a couple of days ago, VMWare’s recruiter also contacted me about a similar position…

Too bad I can’t be employed on a full time basis.

Dreaming of the iPhone

Yesterday we finally decided we should have a look at this “revolutionary” device called the iPhone at the local mall. After taking turns playing with the phone, Grace went to the GAP while Bryan and I just hung out. I mean, I loved the phone, but I just don’t use my phone enough to justify buying one. So we went home.

Last night, I tossed and turned and dreamed about the stupid iPhone all night long… Maye my subconscious REALLY wants one. At least my dreams were about how certain “fictional” iPhone commercials were made in my dreams. Grace’s dream is about how I got her one… hah hah…

Weird dreams….

Free Adobe Creative Suite Video Workshops

I’ve been using and loving Lynda.com for a few weeks now. But it appears that Adobe is offering much of the same content for free on their website! (For Adobe products only, of course) I suppose there’s a deal going on with Lynda.com for this to happen… Jason is right that the content on Adobe’s site is way better organized compared to Lynda.com’s.

So there’s really no more reason for you to say, “But I don’t know Photoshop” anymore…. Get cranking, slackers!

Adobe Creative Suite Video Workshops

via [creativebits]

Apple Javascript Documentation Ignores IE

I was reading through some documentation on Apple’s Developer Connection site when I noticed that Apple completely left out IE when recommending developers to test their Javascript codes on other browsers.

Apple documentation ignoring IE as recommended browser to test Javascript with

Granted there are actually a number of other browsers not listed there, given IE’s lion’s share in the market, I found it amusing that they chose not to mention it at all. Considering Microsoft bailed out Apple at the brink of its demise back in the days, perhaps Apple ought to be a little nicer to Redmond even if they know Microsoft is just making bad copies of whatever Apple makes anyway…

Firefox Gaining Ground and OS Rant

I read somewhere today that Firefox has been gaining a lot of ground at the expense of IE, especially in Europe. It’s weird that Europe and Asia are always at the cutting edge of things even though some (if not most) of those technologies are often originated from the other side of the pond. As a web developer, this is a welcome news. And it should force Microsoft to do some introspection (if that’s even possible) on finally adhering to some industry-wide standards and really innovate. There are days when I can’t believe I still argue with people as to why they are still using IE if they are not being forced to use it for compatibility reasons (i.e. “my bank only supports IE”… my answer would be, “what kind of idiotic bank is that?”).

In other news, it seems like people are running to the Macs these days. Jason is at the brink of getting one pending certain conditions are met (though AJ already has my old PowerBook G4). Many friends who used to laugh at the idea of using a Mac are now hardcore Mac users (albeit some are using the hardware to run Linux). But overall, just within my own sphere of influence, people are getting fed up with having to install multiple virus scanners (seems like ONE just doesn’t cut it anymore), 3rd party firewall software and still getting their computers ruined for one reason or another… Just within the past 3 months, I’ve already heard multiple instances of people getting their Paypal/bank accounts exploited, files infected and OS blue screened, all happened behind the comfort of those so-called virus/malware/spyware scanners. They must make tons of money from those licenses. I almost want to think that THEY are the ones coming up with them… 😉

In comparison, it’s comforting to know that there still isn’t a single spyware/virus in existence for any version of the Mac OS since 2000. With the addition of Little Snitch on top of Mac’s built-in firewall, my Mac is in good hands even if there were any written for the Mac. I found it funny that some people tried to argue about certain exploits found on the Mac… but little did they know the context in which they were found — because the sponsor had to lower the threshold (un-checking some out-of-box preferences) in order for those exploits to even work. In other words, straight out of box, Mac OSX is rock solid against those exploits (which have since been patched anyway). Nothing is water tight… But at least it’s tighter than the leaky bladder that is Microsoft Windows….

Some people buy cheap PCs with Windows for the “biggest bang for the buck”. But the way I look at it, even if I had to reinstall the damn OS even once (or to put Linux on it), my time spent doing that already far exceeds the cost of the stupid hardware (let along its inferiority being a bargain basement hardware). As a freelancer, my time is money… In the 6 years I started using Mac full time, there was no time I’ve had to reinstall the OS for any reason. And I’ve only experienced kernel panic, at most, 3 times. When Grace was still using XP, I’d easily have to reinstall the OS every 6 to 8 months despite all the protective software I’d installed for her….

Enough rant on Microsoft today….

Most Typed Keys on My Keyboard

Having noticed how much certain keys got worn off on my last laptop, I decided to get a silicon keyboard protector for my MacBook Pro (because its keys are known to wear off and they are not that easily replaceable unlike the older models). I am still intrigued every time I look at the reflection of the keypad and seeing how certain keys are just so much more used than others.

Most Typed Keys on My MacBook Pro

Testing Localhost Developments in Internet Explorer via Parallels on Mac OSX

Developing web applications can be a frustrating job solely because so many people still use various versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer — possibly some of the worst browsers compared to most of the other modern browsers in terms of adherence to web standards. But I can’t just not test my applications against them simply because I hate them… So the war continues…

One of the problems of testing web apps under Parallels with IE is, instead of testing development URLs such as

1
http://localhost/

, usually IP addresses have to be used, like such

1
http://192.168.0.100

, to reach OSX’s localhost server (because

1
localhost

on Windows would entail having an actual web server running under Windows). The problem with that is that some applications such as WordPress need to have a full absolute path in order for it to work properly (especially when dealing with themes). I’ve tried a couple of workarounds, but nothing is as simple as using Apple’s own Bonjour technology.

I found a post that explains how to set it all up. Even though his example deals with running Ruby on Rails, the idea is exactly the same for other development environments such as PHP and Java (enable port 80, 443… etc). Now I am a happy camper…

via [the naked brain]

Unobtrusive JavaScripting

Recently I’ve been looking into ways to make my code more maintainable after having to support an old site I did and some Actionscript code from someone else. One of the things I found and REALLY liked was the idea of using Javascripts in an “unobtrusive” manner. Basically all it means is to take out those Javascript event calls like

1
onClick

,

1
onMouseOver

and such from the presentation layer (CSS style sheets and HTML tags), and use other means to achieve the same effects.

What I’ve found useful and have been using ever since are these classes:

1. Prototype
2. script.aculo.us
3. Behaviour

There are tons of extensions and subclasses written for them, making them super useful when you want something done quickly and effectively. I especially like Behaviour for its simplicity and the ability it affords me to completely separate Javascripting from tangling with my HTML codes (hard coded, dynamically generated or otherwise).

There are other useful ones such as jQuery and moo.fx, but I’ve been pretty happy with those other three core packages so far.

Incidentally, Apple’s revamped site also has a lot of new Javascript-driven effects that are pretty interesting to look at and experiment with. Another really clean and simple site I like is Panic’s Coda product site. Really very effective use of Javascripts in presentation.

There’s always so much to learn with so little time… What to do!!

The Simpsons Attacks 7-11 Stores

I guess only geeks can truly appreciate the humor in The Simpsons. Even though I don’t really like Fox as a channel (especially its news reporting), I do like The Simpsons and Futurama. Fox’s latest public stunt is to rebrand a series of Seven Eleven Stores in the United States into Kwik-e-Marts. They also carry limited supply of merchandise and food found only in the cartoon. Unfortunately all the good stuff were all sold out when we visited this past week. But the store was packed with geeks, some of whom were there to stock up on those nuclear-looking pink dough nuts.

Bryan with Homer

Funny Tag Lines

RedBull Makes Me Tired

When I went to NYC, Moto told me that he started drinking RedBull from time to time to get the much needed energy when he has tight deadlines. So when I started coding for this crazy Flash project, I asked Grace to get me a couple of cans to try them out… Unfortunately, it didn’t do jack for me, much like coffee, Mountain Dew or any other highly caffeinated drinks… As a bonus, my body decided to make me even more tired after drinking something that’s supposed to keep me going…

So what does one do when external stimuli fail as miserably as the mental will to stay awake? Cold shower…. Never fails (but only for a couple of hours until that “freshness” wears out).

After a few days of 4-hour sleeps, my neck started hurting like hell. Only a few more days to go before this sucker is over… well, the deadline was supposed to be this past Friday, but they neglected to communicate how certain features should work to me, which made this already bad experience even worse… But I digress… On the bright side though, nothing beats having a client pay you to learn something you’ve always wanted to learn but never had the time to… I think I picked up more Flash in 2 weeks than I ever did with the only Flash class I ever took as an Undergrad at SCAD. Good times.