Two of our developers, Wendy Friedlander and Oksana Udovitska are taking “The Gentle Art of Pair Programming” on the road to DevTeach in Montreal on May 16th.

A description is on Scott Bellware’s blog.

Our team consistently pair programs both in the office and remotely. Oksana and Wendy’s introduction to this practice made enough of an impact at NYC CodeCamp that they were urged to repeat it at DevTeach.

I’m not surprised. They are smart and talented and a blast to work with. Such engaging personalities you might see them on Oxygen online sometime.

Posted: March 31st, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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DonXml has a review of NYC Code Camp presentations by three of our team: Oksana Udovitska, Wendy Friedlander, and Luke Melia.

But besides being a media outlet for women, Oxygen has been building up a reputation in the Agile community, especially in NYC. So, I was very pleased to hear that they were presenting 3 sessions at the NYC Code Camp …

Posted: March 7th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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My wife is a trained Ringling Brothers Clown College Clown.

Clowning is a difficult profession. It doesn’t receive much respect. It’s hard work. Physical comedy can easily wreck your health as quickly as it drives you broke. Material success means getting to work.

But clowning is a craft with roots as old as performance itself. True practitioners bring great discipline and joy to their work. A talented clown relates to their audience with the spontaneity and innate intelligence of a child while employing a mastery of performance honed by years of training. Good clowning is surprising, stunning, human and hilarious.

However, the level of talent, skill and training vary to extremes. There is no official apprenticeship process. When people think of clowns, they’re often thinking about amateurs who’ve had very little exposure to the work of veteran performers.

It’s easy to be a frighteningly bad clown. Many amateurs paint both the top and bottom of their mouth with a broad stripe of red makeup. They turn their character’s mouth into a gaping maw large enough to devour a child’s head.

If you ever get a chance to hang out with experienced clowns you’ll find out how embarrassed they are by bad performers with horrifying makeup and costume, few skills and little respect for the history and rituals of clowning.

I’d say the difference between what I do and what my wife does is that software developers earn a lot more money and are a lot less fun to watch. Still, what I do is also a craft. To do it well requires aptitude, discipline and apprenticeship. Just as in clowning, there are common mistakes perpetrated by bad or inexperienced developers.

Similar to my wife’s clown college class mates, I feel great pride in my craft and in those who take it up with talent and integrity. I also feel frustration, disappointment and a little outrage at peers who strive for less.

Posted: February 18th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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