So, I was shopping around, at work, i know i’m a horrible person. But what i needed was a simple timer light switch for my outdoor lights.

I did a search on Google. I came up with the first link of course being home depot, i click and this is where i end up.

A simple outage display, so i clicked on the link from Lowe’s and purchased my switch. Mind you this is only $40.00, but how many times has this happened???

Today I completed the upgrade of my VMWare ESXi server from 5.0 to 5.1. This will allow me to run Windows Server 2012 VM’s to test and develop against. I guess I was a little behind the times.

Now on a side note, the environment upgrade was super easy. I simply downloaded the ISO from VMWare, burned it to a disc, stuck the DVD in the drive, and the upgrade went off with 3 key strokes and a bit of waiting. No issues what so ever. Way to go VMWare.

Well, over the past few months, a lot of exciting things have been happening in my world of Development.

As you may already know, Microsoft has passed along Commerce Server to a new partner, see previous post about that. I have been working closely with the team over at CommerceServer.NET, and I am very excited about things to come. They have a very aggressive road map and have engaged some of their key partners for feedback. I have had the opportunity to sit on several conference calls and have meetings with their product teams and management and it seems there is more drive behind the product now then their ever was before.

So what can I report on the new product, not much, things are changing rapidly, but I encourage those who are interested to keep checking back here for more information. As I receive solid information I will forward it along.

With that being said, I’ve decided that I’m going to split my interests, before I was doing e-commerce both professionally and for fun. I think it burned me out a little bit. So I will continue to speak and offer my public sessions on e-commerce and CommerceServer.NET, however I’m going to start focusing my fun side on my interests in the cloud. I am currently working on some integrations for Commerce Server with cloud components, such as search, n-tier cloud based solutions, and PCI compliant cloud hosting. I will post more on these as I get them operational.

Other than that, things have been going well, and expect to see me back on the speaking circuit soon.

So I received an email, New Years day, informing me that I have been awarded my second MVP award.  I am glad Microsoft decided to keep the program going as they transition Commerce Server to Ascentium.

It is with great pride we announce that Bradley Foley has been awarded as a Microsoft® Most Valuable
Professional (MVP) for 1/1/2012 – 1/1/2013. The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes
exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high quality, real world expertise
with users and Microsoft. All of us at Microsoft recognize and appreciate Bradley’s extraordinary contributions and
want to take this opportunity to share our appreciation with you.

I do with to keep working within the community, either with Commerce Server, or perhaps its time I learn a new trade. Who knows only time will tell.

1. If you don’t know it, don’t put it on your resume.
   This is perhaps the most simple task. If you don’t embellish the technical portion of you resume you’re likely to find yourself interviewing for a position that matches your technical skills. This is critical because if you list it on your resume, and it’s a skill that they are looking for, you’re probably going to have to answer some questions about it.
2. Confidence
   This is just too simple. Don’t push it so far as arrogance, but definitely show some confidence in yourself and in your past work.
3. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know.
   Nothing makes me want to end an interview faster than someone blowing smoke. If you don’t know, say so, we can move on to things you do. Also be prepared to answer, “Well since you don’t know, how would you go about learning to do that.”
4. Be prepared to write some code.
   Although the recruiters often prepare the candidates of the fact that they are going to have to write some code. The technical interviews are very fluid and generally not written in stone. They can be adjusted to allow you to demonstrate your skill, but at the minimum you should be able to write some SQL, some data access and some basic programming such as methods, constructors, etc.  (Ask questions if you don’t understand what they are asking for…)
5. Don’t waste their or your time.
   If you don’t think that your skills are a technical fit to the requirement, don’t bother interviewing. All your doing is wasting their time and yours.

I will be speaking at IT Camp Saturday in Ft Lauderdale on July 23rd. This session will cover the basics of Commerce Server 2009 R2 and SharePoint 2010, with emphasis on Business User’s Content Management and Catalog Management. I will be entertaining questions and presenting a demonstration of key features. Here is the link to the session, and the link to registration.

Well everyone, the time is upon us, for Orlando Code Camp 2011. We will be loading the Surfaces here in a little bit getting them ready to bring along. I will be around them all day answering questions and doing some demos.

I have finished up my presentation on the Introduction to .NET MicroFramework. This is the first time I will be presenting on this, so if I don’t do so hot, forgive me.

Hope to see you all there.

Orlando code camp will be March 26, 2011 at Seminole State College’s Sanford Campus. It looks like there will be a lot of great sessions.

Looking forward to meeting some more of the Central Florida development community.

http://www.orlandocodecamp.com/

Joe Healy of Microsoft just posted about some of the upcoming .NET related events in Florida.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/devfish/archive/2011/03/07/microsoft-community-developer-events-in-florida-2010-03-07-and-forward.aspx

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Microsoft Visual Studio
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The web server process that was being debugged has been terminated by Internet Information Services (IIS).  This can be avoided by configuring Application Pool ping settings in IIS.  See help for further details.
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OK   Help  
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When debugging often time you’ll run into period of time where you will need more time than the application pool will allow when debugging.

A Simple fix is to change the timeouts on your Application Pool.

This give me all the time I need to debug those pesky pipelines.