Get to know some of our talented authors featured in our author spotlights. Here you can see interviews, detailed biographies, and book summaries of some of the best in the industry.
BLUTTMAN: During the 1980s I had a successful career in publishing as a sales manager. During this time the first PCs came out. I bought a couple of Atari and Commodore computes and taught myself how to program them. Then desktop PCs were introduced at work. These came loaded with Lotus 1-2-3. I was in need of detailed sales reports, and the computer department could not keep up with my requests. So instead I programmed Lotus 1-2-3 to fairly sophisticated levels for that time. I received all kinds of praise and awe for this. After a while I realized I could be doing this type of programming as my work instead of being in sales. I changed careers in 1992. I consulted for about 10 years, working with Visual Basic, Microsoft Office, SQL Server, Oracle; as well as assorted web and graphics technologies. In 2002 I took a full time job for the first time in a decade, as the lead developer for financial systems for Entergy Nuclear Northeast.
BLUTTMAN: It’s in my nature to help others. On the surface, taking a test probably feels more of a challenge than a type of assistance, but I think any objective process that lets you gauge yourself is helpful. So even though ReviewNet tests are focused on placing job candidates, I hope the candidates use their test experience for their own feedback on which areas they need to improve on.
BLUTTMAN: Coming up with interesting situations was enjoyable. Some questions just ask to select the correct definition of something technical. But other questions are typical of challenges one will find on a job. These questions make for interesting writing on my part, and hopefully an interesting test for candidates.
BLUTTMAN: I have always enjoyed writing. Often on custom projects I would write the user manual. One such effort was well in excess of 100 pages. Next I went about getting magazine articles published. I had some interesting ideas stemming from work I had done. And luckily the folks at the technical magazines also saw the value. I have since been published about a dozen times in magazines. With this experience behind me, I sought out book deals. I have a major book on Microsoft Office coming out in the Fall of 2003.
BLUTTMAN: ‘Developing Microsoft Office Solutions’ is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2003 from Addison-Wesley Longman Publishers. This project actually started a couple of years ago. During this time Microsoft quickly moved from Office 2000 to Office XP, and coming this year - Office 2003. Even though we could have released the book after Office XP was released, my editor and I decided to wait for Office 2003. We had some preliminary information about it, and we thought it a good idea to wait.
In retrospect this was the right decision. Office 2003 has some exciting new features unseen in other versions of Office. Mostly these are features based around the inclusion of XML technology in the Office products. This is personally exciting for me since I have been using XML for some time.
BLUTTMAN: Well I read a lot, and like to try out different software packages and programming techniques. It’s not possible to keep up with everything, so part of the challenge is getting a feel for what will be popular 2 or 3 years in the future.
Over the years I had gotten involved with certain technologies while they were new - and which I felt would have staying power. For example, I was designing web sites back in 1997. This led me on a path through ASP development, XML, and lately some offshoots of this such as VoiceXML. I believe I got into all these technologies earlier than the crowd. Now I am teaching these skills to others.
My advice is do not stay stuck in one technology. Keep the education going, either formally or just reading on your own. Every year or so become at least mid-level skilled in a new technology.
BLUTTMAN:There has to be a measure of a candidate’s skill level for a given technology. Anyone can say they have worked with a technology, but to what extent? Much of the technology that IT professionals have can be utilized at more than one level of knowledge.
For example, Visual Basic is probably the most used development tool. Yet some make simple applications with a few forms, others create database applications, and still others are creating COM objects. All of these folks are VB developers.
Adding to the confusion is the knowledge level of the interviewer. Often the person conducting the interview does not know what to ask. This is where the value of ReviewNet comes in. ReviewNet tests are written by professionals who know what to ask - and have put these thoughts into the questions. ReviewNet fills the gap between guessing who might be a good candidate, and knowing who is a great candidate.
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