Stack Overflow had a security breach, and they have generously shared the details of how a hacker worked through multiple layers of security over 11 days. They gained access to source code, security keys, build processes, and some PII. Reading their account (at https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/01/25/a-deeper-dive-into-our-may-2019-security-incident) really brought home an important lesson... small issues in overlapping layers … Continue reading What we can all learn from Stack Overflow’s security incident
The Antidote to Impostor Syndrome in the Software Development World
On the teams you work with, there are probably one or two individuals who are considered the "rock stars". They seem to know just what they are doing. Ask yourself, "How did the 'rock stars' get to be that way?"
I’m a software development and technology manager – so why did I get a PMP certification?
Last week, I earned my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. It wasn't easy. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOKĀ® Guide) is about a thousand pages of material, and it is dense. And frankly, it includes some stuff that is not directly relevant to my current position. I am in the software development and technology management … Continue reading I’m a software development and technology manager – so why did I get a PMP certification?
Programming Zealots
I was reading a blog post the other day -- well, it was more of a rant, actually -- about the evils of using regions in your .NET code. The guy had joined a team that used regions as one of their programming conventions, and he refused (rudely, I thought) to abide by the team's … Continue reading Programming Zealots
How to Set a Default Value on a Configurable Variable in a SQL Server Stored Procedure Using IsNull()
The Situation You have a SQL Server stored procedure that needs variable for use in a query, but you don't want to pass it into the stored procedure as a parameter, and you don't want to hard-code it. Instead you have the value stored in a table and want to retrieve it from there. There … Continue reading How to Set a Default Value on a Configurable Variable in a SQL Server Stored Procedure Using IsNull()