GeekPost Weekly Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 1

Geek Post

Volume 1 Issue 1

Friday 16 October 2009

Hippolite Musings

I have another blog which shall remain nameless (because it's political) which has been going now for four years.  Over those years, I've adapted it's shape into a Weekly Collaborative Blog.  This means, I co-ordinate and edit entries into it each week, but am not the sole author (although I try to make a regular personal contribution).

It occurred to me that this would be an excellent format to apply here, in my professional blog.  So welcome to the very first weekly Geek Posting.  I hope you enjoy, and will contribute.

Blessings,
James

Developer News

Get an early look at the new experience coming to MSDN by checking out the Visual Basic Developer Center preview. This is the new design for all MSDN sites. The Library and Forums tabs are not integrated with this preview site. As this is a preview, we are still doing some final fine-tuning of the design and welcome your feedback.

Get weekly updates on events, customer and partner solutions, technical articles and Microsoft's latest technologies. For instance, see how to deliver true HD with Silverlight and smooth streaming, or how to incorporate asynchronous programming capabilities into your apps.

Certification News

It's never been a more important time to take control of your destiny and chart your career path. To help you pursue a new career in IT, move from one job role to another, or help you become indispensable in your existing role, Microsoft wants to help advance your career by providing you discounts on select Microsoft Certification Exams.

Microsoft Certifications are continually evaluated and updated to ensure their relevance in the marketplace. As a result, earning a certification not only helps you stay up-to-speed on the latest developments in Microsoft technologies and platforms, but enables you to demonstrate to employers your on-the-job skills.

Learn More about Microsoft Certifications

Register and obtain your discounted voucher code at http://www.prometric.com/microsoft/careeroffer/. Once you have obtained your code, plan and schedule your next exam by visiting http://www.prometric.com/Microsoft/default.htm.

SQL Server News

Our next meeting is:
Tuesday, 20th October  2009

• 6pm (pizza and drinks from 5.25pm just before the lifts lock at 17:30
• sponsored by Microsoft) at Intergen, L7 Plunket House, 126 Lambton Quay
• (Lifts lock at 17:30. If you're late and there's nobody around to swipe you up, contact Adrian on 027 435 4050.)

This month's topic is:-

Presented by:            Brad McGhee

DBAs often don't spend a lot of time watching tempdb performance. They think of it as a black box that takes care of itself. What many DBAs don't fully realize is how tempdb performance can affect SQL Server's overall performance. In this session, we will cover how tempdb is used; tempdb internals; how to monitor tempdb; and how to optimize tempdb for best performance.

Bio:

Brad M. McGehee is a MCSE+I, MCSD, and MCT (former) with a Bachelors' degree in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration. Currently the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software, Brad is an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 14 years' SQL Server experience, over 6 years' training experience, and has been involved in the industry since 1982.

Brad is a frequent speaker at SQL PASS, European PASS, SQL Connections, SQLTeach, SQLBits, SQL Saturdays, TechFests, Code Camps, SQL Server user groups, and other industry seminars, where he shares his 14 years' cumulative knowledge.

Brad was the founder of the popular community site SQL-Server-Performance.Com, and operated it from 2000 through 2006, where he wrote over one million words on SQL Server topics.

In 2008, Brad attended 16 conferences/user group events, presented 26 sessions, and had 1,402 people attend them.

A well-respected and trusted name in SQL Server literature, Brad is the author or co-author of more than 14 technical books and over 100 published articles. His most recent books include "How to Become an Exceptional DBA," "Brad's Sure Guide to SQL Server 2008: The Top Ten New Features for DBAs," and "Mastering SQL Server Profiler." These books are available free in PDF format at: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Books/.

If you think any of our SQL user group sessions might be of interest to a friend or colleague, feel free to bring them along with you - they don't have to be a member of the group to attend.  Just make sure you let us know so we can cater for them too.

Don't miss out on SQL Server resources from Red Gate, including free trials of Red Gate tools, eBooks and more, to help you make the most of your career. Red Gate Software http://www.red-gate.com/about/community_relations/wellington.htm are supporting the October meeting so join us to win a free license of SQL Compare Pro. Compare and synchronize your databases in minutes with SQL Compare. "SQL Compare is a truly valuable tool for any developer that values their time." Adam Cogan. 

Seating is limited to the first 50 registrations. Please RSVP (or unsubscribe) to adey11@gmail.com  if you haven't already, and will be attending.  http://wellington.sqlpass.org/Home/tabid/1764/Default.aspx

Security News

Dear Messenger User,

We have just released a new version of Messenger which includes important security updates to help keep you and your friends safe while you chat online. All Messenger users will be required to have the latest version to continue using the service.

Thanks,
The Messenger Team

The system requirements for the new version of Messenger can be found at http://download.live.com/SystemRequirements.aspx

MCT News

The Microsoft Office system has 400 million users worldwide, and demand for training and certification is growing! Prepare to teach these users by earning one of the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) credentials on the Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) or Windows Vista. Earn the first four certifications and become an MCAS Master!

Here's a quick tip to help you prepare for Exam 77-602: Using Microsoft Office Excel 2007:

Scenario: Your Excel worksheet has over 1,000 rows and you've just discovered at least one duplicate. What is the quickest method to find and remove all the duplicate rows?

Solution:

1. Select the rows you want to inspect for duplicates.
2. On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Remove Duplicates.
3. In the dialog box, select only the columns that duplicate rows would have in common.
4. Click OK.
5. A message should appear reporting the number of duplicate rows that were removed.

Learn more about the Microsoft Business Certification program. Then join us next month for a tip to help you prepare for Exam 77-603: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007.

If you have suggestions for a future tip or questions about how to offer Microsoft Business Certification programs at your facility, contact me by e-mail!

Product News

ReSharper provides solution-wide error highlighting on the fly, instant solutions for found errors, over 30 advanced code refactorings, superior unit testing tools, handy navigation and search features, single-click code formatting and cleanup, automatic code generation and templates, and a lot more productivity features for C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, XML, and XAML.

James says: I'm loving it.  I had to (temporarily) uninstall it, due to an incompatibility problem with McAfee here at Telecom, but once the Visual Studio rules got sorted out, I craved to get it back.

Situations Vacant

ICONIC KIWI ORGANISATION SEEKS KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER - WELLINGTON
Started by Cath Scott, Recruitment Consultant at New Zealand Post

ISACA Wellington announces upcoming Computer Security Day, all welcome to this seminar

• See here for detail http://bit.ly/17xgzX
• Date:- 2 December
• Focus - Selling Security to the CFO
• Started by Peter Salmon, Experienced executive and consultant, focused on outcomes and results for his clients

Manager, Application Development
Posted by Alexandria Hayden Fontecchio, Owner, Bell Recruiting Ltd

Sr. .Net Developer, Boston, MA
Posted by Christo Fernandes, Resource Executive at Fulcrum Logic Inc

Full-time position -- Great opportunity for jr. .Net developer (2-4 years exp) with expanding Microsoft Partner consulting firm in Houston, TX to grow skills and learn new technologies.
Posted by Craig B, at Cornerstone Resource Group

Full-time opportunity with Fulcrum Logic for Sr.net Developer
Posted by aditya kale, Recruiter at Fulcrum Logic

ASP C# Developer ( Jersey City, NJ, USA )
Posted by Heeral Reddy (LucidJobs.com), FREE job portal with built in Application Tracking System.

VB.Net Application Developer- Local to S. Florida Jr. to Mid-Level
Posted by Denise Zusack, Partner & Executive Recruiter JD Information Technologies, Inc.

Dot Net News

Next Wednesday in Wellington we're having an introduction to Behaviour
Driven Development presented by Owen Evans (details below).

Please RSVP to kirkj@paradise.net.nz so that we can plan drinks and pizza.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Kirk

----

Who:   Owen Evans
What:  Behaviour Driven Development
When:  Wed 21 Oct, 6pm
Where: Provoke, Level 22, State Insurance Tower, 1 Willis St.
How:   RSVP to kirkj@paradise.net.nz
Why?   Learn something new, eat pizza and socialise :)

BDD or behaviour driven development: you may have heard of it. But
what does it mean? Learn the foundations of caring about behaviour.
Learn how the process helps guide developers to the software that
helps rather than hinders. Learn about "given, when, zen" and how bdd
came about. Get an overview of some of the tooling that can help you
become a bd-developer.

This meeting will be held at Provoke which is in the old BNZ tower.
Thanks, Provoke!

Please RSVP to kirkj@paradise.net.nz  so that we can plan drinks and pizza.

Events Schedule

In this section, I highlight dates, times and venues of events either I am presenting at, or of interest to METTLE.  I'm available for bookings.

Book Review

Still reading it.