Who So

This blog post is inspired by Anders Brennas post regarding his goals for 2010. Him and I have had quite a 2009, and now we both want something for 2010.

These are my goals for 2010:

• Launching project Dopinglist
• Getting either a steady job, or starting up as a PHP developer as a freelancer
• Becoming a better PHP-developer
• Becoming a better C#-developer
• Becoming a better SVN-user
• Learn Python
• Getting this done
• Ride BMX a bit more
• Being an even better dad
• I shall blog more

Launching project Dopinglist

This is my main goal for 2010 and hopefully if I can launch this and launch it successfully, I can scratch the next item on my list.

Dopinglist is a database containing athletes who has used drugs in order to become better in their sport. It’s time consuming as it requires quite a lot of research and also being up to date on what’s happening in the world of sport and anti-doping.

I have done quite a lot of work already:

• Market research
• Written a business plan
• Coded the webpage
• Added data
• Collected data

What’s left to do is to add the latest cases and get those into the database. I also need to get some sort of registering done. And I need to get customers.

In order to achieve this goal I will:

• Set up a company structure
• Start selling access to the database
• Getting help from National Anti-Doping Agencies.

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Getting either a steady job, or starting up as a PHP developer as a freelancer

If I Dopinglist does not become a success, I need a job that can give me a steady income, or have a steady stream of PHP assignments to secure the income.

At the moment I am working at the News agency Norsk Telegrambyrå AS in Norway where I am both developing and also running quite a few projects. I’d love to keep working at NTB as it is – in my eyes – the best place in Norway to work.

Why?

Being a former sports journalist means that I can still be in the system and feel the beat of what’s going on in the world of sports, and general news. Secondly writing applications for the newsagency means that they have to respond fast. News shall be published more or less right now, whichi is the same criteria financial corporations has to their applications.

This means that there is a preasure on you as a developer, which I like.

Also all the colleagues are really nice.

In order to achieve this goal I will:

• Work as hard as I can at NTB
• Start sending out job applications
• Applying for freelance jobs in PHP and some related to .Net-work.
• Set up a small company to be used when I do freelance work.

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Becoming a better PHP-developer

I need to be a better PHP-developer. I need to follow what’s going on in the language. At the moment I am becoming better and better on writing OOP. It also helps to write C# as this is a Object oriented language, and so you are forced to think Object Oriented.

I do how ever hope that the development tools for PHP on Linux becomes better. I would like them to be more like Visual Studio where you drag items onto the canvas and – sometimes – without any code you can have – for instance – a list of items on the website. When times is important, it is nice to know that there is a fast, but maybe not the most efficent way, to create such a list.

In 2010 I believe that PHP 6.0 is out, and I am looking forward to follow the language in version 6. You’ll read more on this blog on what I think of PHP 6.

In order to achieve this goal I will:

• Follow more discussions related to PHP
• Try out more techniques.
• Try out tips and tricks
• Read more books and magazines
• Start using the Zend Framework – but not in MVC-context – yet.

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Becoming a better C#-developer

I enjoy learning new languages. C# is my latest language on the list. As stated in the former paragraphs, knowing another language can help you in the current one that you are coding in.

By doing C# I am moving myself away from VB which has been the language I have coded in for quite some time. First time I coded in VB was in VB1.0 and it was on one disk (I believe, or was it two?).

In order to receive this goal, all my applications on Windows will be written in C#. I will also write some X-platform applications in Mono.
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Becoming a better SVN-user

This goal is important both related to a steady job, but also related to the project. We will be using a Version Control System (VCS) in the company that will be runing the project and so knowing such a system is important – at least in the start up period. I hope that I will be able to employ people that are far better than me in VCS-usage, PHP-development and mySQL-architecture and usage.

In order to achieve this goal I will buy a SVN-book. Most likely the official one.
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Learn Python

Some developers have a goal to learn one new language each year. I’m not like that, but I want to learn Python. I also want to learn C or C++, but that’s for 2011.

I like to learn Python because I have heard lots of positive things about the language. I have also heard bad things, but hey – no programming language is perfect.

It’s always nice to know more than one language. It will give you yet another tool to use when you have another problem to solve.
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Getting this done

I need to become better at prioritizing and getting things done. Especially near the end of a project – when there are some bugs that needs to be solved and code has to be moved around, and when clients come up with late suggestions and wishes.

Focus is important and something I need to be better at.
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Ride BMX a bit more

Last year I had two trips on my Fly Bikes Flatland bike. This year I must get out on that awesome bike during the dry season. Hopefully also learn a new trick or two. At the ripe age of 39 it’s never to late to learn something new – and also getting in shape.

It would also be cool to do some vert ramp riding again, and maybe get that psychic crap out of my head.
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Being an even better dad

I am already a great dad. But I shall also focus on being a better dad. The kids are great, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
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I shall blog more

In 2010 I shall also be a bit better to blog and write about things that I think I can write something about.
I will mainly focus on:

• Linux
• PHP
• Open Source
• … and maybe Microsoft vs Linux

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