Work? Maybe later.

No, I'd love to have a job right now. But it's not like I don't have the opportunity to do some work without a job. Just yesterday (two days ago now, technically), I helped Christina with some code, in the office, even though I don't work there anymore. *dust shoulders*

I turned in my application for Advancement Systems Manager at Western Oregon University, and stopped by University Computing Services to see if Jing and Christina needed a break, and we could go get coffee. Turns out Jing was taking the day off to celebrate China's National Day (60 years of the new nation), and Christina was busy doing a bubble sort of a PL/SQL array of names. I helped with the PL/SQL code (managed to avoid entering another infinite loop), and we went and got coffee.

Basically, all I did was suggest she copy her test case that she got to work more closely. This is something I actually learned from David Olson. When testing code, copy it exactly, and try to get that to work, then make small changes, test them, etc.

As much as everyone hates him, he knows how to get a program to run, even if he doesn't know how to write the code himself, or how it works, and he taught me that much. (He taught me how to effectively copy code, and I imparted Christina with a taste of that knowledge.) He's the most disliked professor I've met at our school, and while I used to stand up for him, I've caved and go ahead and rag on him like everyone else.

Just for the record though, I learned a lot. Mostly though, I learned how to learn on my own from him. And that's more valuable than any theory or piece of code, because I can use it to lead me to new theories and new types of code. ;) So thanks, Dave. (y)

Anyways, pray I get the job. I'm ready to go back to work.

[Edit (Feb 26, 2010) : I learned another valuable thing from David Olson, and I usually mention it. I learned the value of a well documented API. He would regularly walk us through the Java Docs in class. This is essential to programming for two reasons. One, you can do more when you stand on the shoulders of other (paraphrase from Newton). This means you should always use someone elses code if it will get done what you want faster and better. No need to reinvent the wheel. Right? Maybe if you're just trying to learn, but how about learning to get the job done? Two, because new technology and programming languages are always sprouting up. And to know how to learn a new language is invaluable. I need to get a few more languages under my belt if I want to impress anyone. :( ]