I Am a Wanted Man May 28, 2014
Posted by Peter Varhol in Uncategorized.add a comment
In Montclair Township, New Jersey, earlier this month. I was last in New Jersey about eight years ago, at Newark Airport changing planes. I have last driven in New Jersey over 20 years ago.
I have apparently parked in a handicapped parking spot, somewhere, with my car, which at 16 years old has never been to New Jersey.
Okay, I got a summons to appear in Montclair Township Municipal Court. The court clerk was nice enough when I called, which was the only reason I knew that I had supposedly parked in a handicapped spot. Still, she wouldn’t tell me much else, although if I faxed my car registration and a letter attesting I was not there, she would show them to the presiding judge.
I had two thoughts here. First, that this was a shakedown by a cash-strapped local government that just wanted to see how many people would simply pay the fine. Second, that I was the victim of snail mail phishing, or worse, identity theft.
Now, I think it’s mostly an innocent mistake, a misread transcription of a license plate, or a bad database lookup.
I mention all of this as a downside to our data-driven lives. We love it when available data makes our lives easier or more convenient. But it doesn’t always work that way. And when it goes horribly wrong, we believe the data in front of us, even if it was obtained by error, rather than the person on the phone objecting to it.
I think this will work out. But we really need to consider the validity of our data, especially since this may require a trip to New Jersey to straighten out.
Do The Liberal Arts Matter? May 25, 2014
Posted by Peter Varhol in Education.Tags: Fareed Zakaria, liberal arts
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Well, yes, but not as a crutch.
Let me explore that a bit. For my sins, I have a liberal arts degree. My degree is in psychology and, late in my college career, a bunch of pre-medicine courses that could still be reasonably interpreted as the liberal arts. I went on for a masters in psychology, because I initially saw myself as a researcher, but moved to mathematics and computer science because that was what caught my attention.
The problem is that too many young people see the liberal arts, and business, as an easy route to a bachelors degree. They are in school, perhaps at their parents behest, or more reasonably because that was what was expected of them by their peers and society. Lacking direction, they seek the most efficient route to a degree, and all too often that means not fully exercising their intellect.
My story is slightly different. I was among the first of my extended family to go to college, and coming from a decidedly working class family, it was a bit of a transition. I didn’t have the perspective to understand what I wanted to do in life. I needed a certain level of emotional and intellectual maturity before diving into the hard sciences.
Fareed Zakaria says that he learned to write because of a liberal arts education. That sentiment is misguided. You can write with any degree. Fareed, the fact that you couldn’t write without a liberal arts degree is your problem, not the fault of your education. You most certainly could learn to write with a STEM degree. And people who graduate with a liberal arts degree don’t necessarily know how to write. If that is your best argument, you are doing the liberal arts a disservice.
What the liberal arts do is give you a broad education, and a foundation on which to build for the future. That future should, no must, include other education. If you are looking for the fastest way out of college, you are not getting a liberal arts education; you are cheating yourself.
I realize that this thesis requires some self-awareness of your goals and how to achieve them, something that I didn’t necessarily have at eighteen (and it’s not clear that I do now, but allow me a mulligan). But I did have an overriding desire to learn and understand. If you don’t, you are not getting a liberal arts education, whatever your major.
Mr. Zaharia conflates a curriculum with a learning process, and that is dangerously wrong. A liberal arts degree is valuable. But because you have one doesn’t mean you have a liberal arts education.
Mindsets and Software Testing May 18, 2014
Posted by Peter Varhol in Software development, Strategy.Tags: mindsets, testing
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All of us approach life with certain attitudes and expectations. These attitudes and expectations can affect how we perform and what we learn, both now and in the future.
According to researcher Carol Dweck, there are two fundamental mindsets – fixed and growth. A person with a fixed mindset feels the need to justify their abilities at every possible opportunity. If they succeed, it reaffirms their status as an intelligent and capable person. If they fail, it is a reflection upon their abilities, and there is nothing to be learned from it.
A person with a growth mindset recognizes that chance, opportunity, and skill all play a role in any activity in which they engage. Success can be due to a number of factors, of which our intelligence and abilities play only a part. More important, we can improve our abilities through failure, by not taking it personally and by delving into the lessons learned.
It’s important to understand that the idea of mindset is a continuum, so that few if any of us are entirely one or the other. And in some circumstances we may be more one than in others. I can personally attest to this through my own experiences.
This has a couple of implications to software development and testing. First, it means that we will almost certainly make mistakes. But how we respond to those mistakes is key to our futures. We can be defensive and protective of our self-perception, or we can learn and move on.
Second, and perhaps more important, is that failing at a project, creating buggy code, or failing to find bugs isn’t a reflection on our intelligence or abilities. At the very least, it’s not something that can’t be corrected. If we are willing to grow from it, we might recognize that our work is a marathon, rather than a sprint.
It also has implications to technical careers in general. I’ve failed more times that I would like to count. I’ve also succeeded many times too. With a fixed mindset, I’m not sure where that leads me. Charitably, I’m almost certainly a screw-up. With a growth mindset, I’m right where I want to be. I’ll leave the answer to that question as an exercise to the reader.
I Am a Veteran May 7, 2014
Posted by Peter Varhol in Uncategorized.add a comment
Of the US military service. It was a while ago, and as an Air Force officer the only thing I flew was a desk. I served with mediocrity, but it gave me a perspective that all too few American adults have today.
But I am incredibly disturbed at the allegations and lack of response of veterans dying because of the machinations of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I have no knowledge other than what is in the press, but the government has already admitted to letting veterans die in order to make their statistics look good.
US Government, stop this. Today. President Obama, stop this now. You can, but you appear unwilling. I won’t say unable, because of course you are able if you cared a whit. Clearly you don’t. The lack of response is worse than incompetent; it is evil. My blog post won’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but it is my blog, and I suppose I can have my say. Apparently I cannot on the VA website, which bizarrely directs me offsite to ask a question. I never realized. Stupid, both me but more importantly them.
I realize that CNN is probably sensationalizing things for their own benefit, and I give allowances for loose journalism. But there is clearly something here that the US government has responsibility for, and is falling far short of that responsibility.
I am not political. I don’t blame this failing on any major or minor political party. But make no mistake. It is a failing. And I can blame those currently in power for not having the desire or courage to do the right thing. This is wrong. You have the power to make it right, and decline to do so. Why do you think your citizens hate government? Most of us really don’t care about the political parties, we would really just like to see a little bit of competence and responsibility.
Is it too much to ask?
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