Messages

31

General Discussion / Re: potential freelance job

« on: March 14, 2013, 07:34:57 am »

k...I work for the county and we've start a new program that monitors a certain type of legal case (guardianships). he have no case management software. prebuilt stuff doesn't meet our exact needs and IT sucks. therefore, we're thinking about building our own system ( we have to be able to disseminate it to other counties for the regional program Texas is starting).

Yall: Anyone willing to create (paid) a db/management system that can be spread to other counties and yet have a central place access it? I'm not yet sure how much we can spend, so I'd like quotes on creating a system. If interested, call me at 575-640-7937 or 806-775-1720.

I figure yall are capable as shit, so why not ask. Off hand, I think we can only offer $3-5k for a system that will help use manage the 1400 cases we're currently trying to monitor based on paper and memory.

A contract and statement of work is a must have, since this would be work done for an actual government (local) client.

I agree with Sidoh- requirements are a must for this.  Beyond the software's functional requirements, you must also consider general requirements (i.e. what platform(s)/ operating system(s) must be supported, is it a web application and/ or desktop application, etc.), security or IA (Information Assurance) requirements (i.e. what encryption, password standards, etc. must be adhered to- these kind of requirements may be necessary to meet compliance with state government IT policies/ laws), and legal requirements (i.e. who has ownership and liability over what, are there policies that exist which would restrict incorporation/ use of open source licenses libraries/ frameworks, etc.).

Another consideration you should be thinking about is what kind of future maintenance and support of the system you may require... If the software system becomes unusable due to a OS patch/ update, has a gaping security hole, bugs, etc. etc. who you gonna call?  Is your existing IT staff going to have to support it?

My concern from what little information you've posted is that there's potentially a bigger problem at hand that should be solved instead:  "no case management software"

Let's say that hypothetically you find someone to build this custom software solution to manage and monitor guardianship cases for $3-5k, and it works reasonably well and everyone is generally satisfied with it (BELIEVE ME this scenario is highly unrealistic, lol).  Well, what happens when inevitably management goes, "Hey, why can't we use this software to manage and monitor all of our other cases?!?!"  What was originally 1,400 guardianship cases, may now turn out to be orders of magnitude more cases.  Depending on the requirements that the software was originally built against and a whole bunch of other factors, especially how well the software system was designed and coded with performance, scalability, and flexibility/ extensibility in mind, this could be as simple as updating or creating a few GUIs or as complex as redesigning the entire front-end and/ or back-end.

As Sidoh suggested, hiring a competent summer intern or two to work on this may be the best route for you, especially if this hasn't been given a whole deal of preparation and though.  It would be a good way of deciding whether or not you truly wish to pursue an in-house/ custom software solution instead of working with a COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) solution, because without having solid, defined requirements, and knowing exactly what the problems are you ultimately wish to tackle ahead of time means that this $3-5k could turn out to be double or more the cost in actual man hours.  Especially if this software system is going to be connected to the local government's intranet and require support for multi-site deployments.

32

General Discussion / Re: Let's hear it!

« on: February 28, 2013, 05:07:45 am »

got a windows rt tablet. hardware-windows integration is pretty legit, considering MS's usual fuck ups. that said, the lack of legacy stuff is fairly disappointing (my world for google chrome!!!)

I bought it to be a quasi-replacement for my laptop. Laptop is big, heavy, and is on its way out (it makes grindy noises in the fan ).

I'm on a Dell XPS 10. Preloaded w/Office 2013. The lack of any decent office apps was what drove me away from ipad and android devices (I had that Asus transformer infinity for a bit and really liked it, but that SOB crashed like the dickens).

The dell 92% keyboard is tiny, especially considering that my laptop has a full keyboard (num pad & all). While I'll miss the number pad, and the typing delay on the XPS dock is kind of obnoxious, I think it will work just fine since my typing accuracy isn't too terrible.

Again, though, the lack of Google Drive and Google Chrome makes me sadface.

It's more expensive, but the Surface Pro might be more what you're looking for.  It's like a laptop and tablet hybrid but unlike the RT version of Windows 8, allows you to install all your other Windows applications not found in the Windows app store.

I'm contemplating getting a Surface Pro, here's one of the few practical reviews of it I've read:  http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/02/22/the-ms-surface-pro

33

General Discussion / Re: Let's hear it!

« on: February 18, 2013, 06:33:04 am »

It was hard at first but I have become adapted to eating lots of bacon, eggs, poultry, and steak.  Celery and hard boiled eggs are both viable options for snacks if I'm feeling hungry, too.  There's a lot of other recipes I want to try but haven't gotten around to yet as well.

I'm sure it's harder than it sounds (Sounds awesome! Minus the celery part).  But it also sounds expensive, which would probably be the reason I wouldn't be able to stomach it.

34

General Discussion / Re: Secure Web Download Token System

« on: January 13, 2013, 08:34:25 pm »

As much as I like to reinvent the wheel myself, I think you would be better off spending some time exploring some of the free open source e-commerce solutions out there already.  A quick Google search found me this and this.

I'd do some research on what's already out there that overlaps with your needs and determine how extensible it is (does it offer a custom module system?).  Hell, there may even exist a custom module to do what you want for whatever e-commerce/shopping cart solution you end up choosing.

I think in the long run you're going to save yourself time, frustration, and potentially loss of profits if you go with an existing, established e-commerce solution than attempt to roll out your own.  You're going to find that a lot of the popular open source e-commerce solutions have administrative and content management features which you won't have to write from scratch yourself.

35

Gaming / Re: Diablo 3

« on: December 14, 2012, 09:34:31 pm »

I played the trial. Good game, although I'm not sure if I should spend $60 right now to just distract myself

I wouldn't.  Especially with this time of year, has the Steam Christmas sale coming up.

36

General Discussion / Re: Let's hear it!

« on: November 01, 2012, 06:40:56 am »

hahaha, the picture takes the cake.

WTF is that fish... is that even a fish?  Lol.

37

General Discussion / Re: Coding, Security, and Other Blogs/ Sites

« on: September 10, 2012, 07:08:47 am »

Thanks for linking that Starcraft blog, though, it's a great read so fat. 

Second part is up on his blog.

I try to follow smart people on twitter and just click on stuff they link.  I kind of stopped using RSS managers and all that sort of stuff a while ago.

Ditto.

... Mind naming some of these "smart" people on twitter?!?!

38

General Discussion / Coding, Security, and Other Blogs/ Sites

« on: September 08, 2012, 06:36:34 pm »

For me, I absolutely hate trying to find new blogs to subscribe to just because of the sheer number of blogs out there.  It's finding quality and interesting ones that teach me something or give invaluable insight that is often daunting for me.  I seem to normally stumble upon blogs that I end up subscribing to/ regularly checking if someone links me to a notably interesting/ entertaining/ informational blog post (i.e. I didn't start reading Coding Horror until someone linked it in a post here).  Or a blog post is linked to from a news site/ community that I regularly check.  For example, I came across an interesting blog post today by a former Blizzard developer, Patrick Wyatt, when it was posted on Slashdot (definitely a good read, it's the first of a three part series, I definitely look forward to reading the next two parts).

This got me thinking, what blogs everyone here subscribes to/ regularly reads, including any sites like Slashdot?

I think the reason I've been reading Slashdot for all these years is because the moderators generally do a good job of aggregating news and things that I find interesting and care about/ want to read... plus the comments can often be extremely insightful, informational, and funny.

39

General Discussion / Re: Hi guys

« on: September 02, 2012, 11:04:15 am »

Have you considered easing your way into the field by first being a technical writer/editor?

That's a good suggestion to consider actually.  Depending on the job, I think that demonstrating your technical knowledge and abilities through your technical writing and interaction with those whose duties are purely technical would most definitely expose you to the right people who would be able to vouch.

40

General Discussion / Re: Let's hear it!

« on: August 18, 2012, 09:22:19 pm »

Turns out my brother came out of the closet. He was nervous about telling me and for good reason. That jerk ruined the stripper in a cake I was planning for his birthday! Of course, once I got over the fact a stripper wasn't going to come out of a giant cake, I'm glad he was finally able to work up the courage to come out.

lololol.  You can still always have a stripper come out of a cake!!!  ^_^;


I wonder, without having done any research on the subject, are male strippers generally cheaper or more expensive than female strippers (assuming relatively the same attractiveness)?

41

General Discussion / Re: Request

« on: August 14, 2012, 07:22:54 am »

I don't understand why there is so much talk about exciting the "base".  Just not particularly being excited about Romney isn't going to stop them from voting for him, because their only other choice is voting Democrat, and that won't happen.

Staying home is always an option.

I don't have even a remote interest in this election. Nothing of significance is going to change. Also, unless something extreme happens between now and the election, I see Obama easily winning.

I agree, my gut tells me that Obama is going to win re-election.

42

General Discussion / Re: Request

« on: August 13, 2012, 07:53:33 am »

The internet is serious business.

So, let's continue this political discussion... Romney's running mate pick... Good or Bad (You can decide for whom- I'm at least going to state my opinion in terms of Romney's campaign)? 

I think it's a good choice for Romney.  Romney has done a poor job at selling, defending, and countering Obama's attacks up to this point.  He's lacked in substance/ details/ specifics, and done just a poor job at keeping Obama at bay.  If anything, Ryan will at least rally the Republican base behind Romney, which is something Romney's been struggling with since day one, so he can now focus on wooing/ convincing moderates.  Ryan will at least be able to sell Romney to the base.  Granted, the big question is will they be able to ward off the barrage of demagoguery that will be coming from the left and convince moderates to vote for them... time will tell.

43

General Discussion / Re: Request

« on: August 10, 2012, 05:55:13 pm »

I'm not referring to his Troll & Inc trolling.

44

General Discussion / Re: Request

« on: August 09, 2012, 05:55:21 pm »

Why so provocative?

To be frank and I may just be speaking for myself, but I think your past behavior before your long absence on these forum still lingers in the subconscious minds of members here.  I do remember you being quite provocative and trollish back then, so it's not unreasonable to guess that you might not have left such a pristine impression on some members here before you disappeared some years ago.  Don't take this the wrong way- I'm not saying that this applies to deadly, I'm just saying that I personally thought to myself when you reappeared on these forums "Is Ender going to act the same way he did before he disappeared?".

Reading your posts just now on how you've come to accept certain aspects about the world and people makes me think that perhaps you sincerely have changed.

EDITED:  Fixed to refer to the correct member with D starting username.

45

General Discussion / Re: Request

« on: August 07, 2012, 08:51:57 pm »

not really.

and now they reliably vote for more services and fewer taxes. people are fucking dumb, and i think there exists a solution superior to democracy. democracy fucking sucks.

yeah, yeah. i don't think this guy should be denied the uh... "right" to have a restaurant in an area full of people who think he's a prick. i'm just mad at people who think they're doing something good by buying chic-fil-a.

Ideally we would want an intelligent, rational, humane, and selfless dictator.  But I'm not sure how we could guarantee that.  Smart people aren't necessarily trustworthy or acting in the interests of society.

We'd want all of that plus someone not afraid to make hard, unpopular decisions for long term prosperity instead of short term gains.  Which ultimately, it's always very risky to give someone power when they don't give a fuck about what other people think.