All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.

It's been a while. Life has been quite busy but I think I'm getting more lazier.
Work issues are getting more annoying with the CEO getting his hands into the cookie jar at times after my respectable team commander left the gig. I don't really bother to reply his questions in the emails as once before he lashed out at me for no reason after I replied (reread my own reply and there is no way that I'm being disrespectful). Things looks like it's going downhill after the said colleague left. Oh well, don't want to comment much on that so let's leave that topic for later posts and talk about other more awesome things in life.

I'm re-indulging myself in cycling/mountain biking again. This time, a bit more serious as one of my brother just bought a new MTB for himself. Went for two off-road trail sessions (Kemensah and Perdana Lake Garden) and I found myself in dire need to upgrade my old bike. So, a few weeks ago, accompanied by my brother (the one who bought the new MTB) went to several bicycle stores around Petaling Jaya. At first, I was really interested in getting a Merida MATTS TFS 800-D at KSH Bikes. But my brother suggested that we went to all the shops first before deciding. So, next we went to Tukang Basikal Fook Sang and was recommended Fuji Tahoe 1.0. Last stop, we went to BikePro and was recommended Scott Scale 60. It took me long enough to consider the options and I finally decided to get the Scott Scale 60 for the reasons:

• The geometry. It gave me the best clearance on the top tube.
• The color is more appealing - low profile but 'fierce' enough.

First ride on road, I can already feel the speed and the handling is much better than my old Giant Rincon. Thanks to the 30 speed setup and light overall weight, I can now climb up a steep hill much more easier than before (tested in the hilly area of Kampung Sg. Penchala). I can also attack a downhill with more confidence and control thanks to the disc brakes (the strongest reason to upgrade was my old bike's frame does not support disc brakes).

So one fine weekend, my two brothers, me and a friend of my brother who also just bought a MTB went off in a quest for an off-road trail. Went to Elmina but we're not sure on the trail's entrance so after about half an hour wasting time circling the area, we decided to go to FRIM instead. That day, we conquered the Rover's Trail which we failed the last time due to my eldest brother being superbly unfit with his cheapo-bloody heavy-stupid branded-bought from Giant Hypermarket-MTB causing us to be unable to finish the conquest. That's what you get for being a bloody cheapskate (he never really learn the lesson. sigh. The only thing really MTB-worth on him that day is his helmet). It felt really good that day. Although my brother's friend commented that I went uphill like a absolute madman but downhill like a girl. LOL. That was the first off-road with the new bike.

Last sunday, the four of us went out to FRIM again. This time, we did the Dream Trail + Rover Trail. I would say the Dream Trail is quite a technical challenge being a single track with all those roots, water ruts, the rocks and the narrow trail. The most challenging part for me is the roots and the water ruts. Those ruts really made the trail seems unmaintaned and hard to ride. It was another interesting ride. We thought of taking on the infamous Steroid Hills but both my brothers were not that fit for long rides. Good thing that I've been cycling around the neigborhood so my endurance is kinda okay :). And I've improved my downhill speed thanks to the techniques I've learned from the magazines and youtube videos. My CatEye cyclometer recorded 40km/h as my fastest speed that day :).

Next trip is to finish FRIM's Steroid Hills and later on to Rubber Research Institute in Sg Buloh area. I just can't wait. :)

I hate ignorant incompetent programmers.

I really hate when this thing happens. Yes I know that Java can be quite verbose with its boilerplate codes but please, as a developer, we should be responsible to write proper codes.

My current gripe right now is related to closing I/O streams. Please do close your streams at the proper place!

Bad example:

public void readFile(String filePath){      try {     FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("inputFile.txt");     FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("outputFile.txt");     ...whatever file processing here...     fis.close();     fos.close();   } catch (Exception e) {     e.printStackTrace();   } } //end of readFile method

Okay, now why do I say that this is a bad example of code? First thing, if there is anything that happens in the try block, rest assured that the program flow will jump directly to the catch statement and the close method invocation will never be reached and the files will be stuck on system unless the app was terminated.

The code was supposed to be written like this:

public void readFile(String filePath){      FileInputStream fis = null;   FileOutputStream fos = null;   try {     fis = new FileInputStream("inputFile.txt");     fos = new FileOutputStream("outputFile.txt");     ...whatever file processing here...   } catch (Exception e) {     e.printStackTrace();   } finally {     try {       fis.close();       fos.close();     } catch (Exception e) {       e.printStackTrace();     }   } } //end of readFile method

Now, the changes are highlighted in blue and the font was made bold. Right now, no matter what happens, the streams will always be closed unless you put a System.exit() somewhere before the finally block is reached.

I really hate when my app causes memory leak from using a third party API because of this. And this is also the cause of people saying that Java programs are causing memory leaks. The actual fault lies at bad codes written by incompetent developers. If you are writing an API, make sure that the code is well written! be responsible!

Now, time to get some sleep. Urgh!

Awesome!

I hope that my past postings are the last of my painful suffering saga. It has been a month. I am now feeling content and great as I'm currently working in a team with good friends and have no issues with anyone. I only have the tasks assigned to focus on and so far, I'm feeling awesome!

I get to work at anytime I like, I don't need to be in office all the time, I don't need to complain much about the task as I believe my team leader and project manager are doing their best to protect me from outside noises. There's no serious blame game going around. No office politics. Just a group of friends working hand in hand as a team to survive on the road to success.

There's always room for discussion although sometimes my team lead and project manager heats up kinda quick but after the discussion, they just 'fool' around together like nothing happened. Professionalism. Nothing personal.

Well, I hope it stays this way. There's no need to work for a huge and famous MNCs to feel content and happy. I left those behind and now, I'm feeling awesome!

Life balance is being restored. :)

I'm back. Feeling the joy of life returning to me. At the moment, I'm enjoying my holiday. It feels so good to know that there are no more troublesome task with ridiculous deadlines waiting for me at the end. Nothing to worry about. I'm going back to my passion; the core of software development - programming.

It ain't real software development if it doesn't involve real "Puroguramingu, Mazaafakkaa!" All those platforms that claims to be top number one but is not really programming and no community support are all bullshit. And those people doing the management should not dictate what technology and how it is going to be implemented. Stop putting your hands into the cookie jar, bastards! They all should get out of the way, let the engineers apply their expertise and clear any obstacles for the engineers. That's what real Management, Asshole! is all about.

Enough about that. Now I'm going to rant about those freshies out of college and their obsession with joining huge corporate companies. Yeah, sure you have the bragging rights as you have that uber cool email address ending with @<insert huge ass company name here>.com but seriously, have a look at the market demands first. I don't mind if the job is really aligned with what the market demands. But doing things that are of little value to the big market? Are you satisfied enough to invest your part of your precious lifetime doing things that are only going to tie you to only that place? I rather stick to the skills that the market demands. That is the reason I'm not afraid of losing my job. I don't care much about job security if the job itself doesn't give me satisfaction. I rather be free doing things that I truly love. There's a saying that goes: "Find a job that you enjoy and love doing, and you won't need to work anymore".

"Life is too short for the wrong job"

3 weeks to freedom.

     My resignation took effect on 28th of February 2011. More like resignation email actually since this company is so advanced and did not require printed materials. There was silence in exception for the email I received back from the Human Resources department to confirm that they've received my notice. I'm not keeping it secret to people who I consider as friends. Most others did not know yet but I don't care. They don't matter much to me.

     It became my resolution ever since my new manager 'challenged' me to resign about four weeks ago. The domain side complained that my team is not giving our full dedication and said that we did not deliver anything. My team leader is a spineless weakling who can't even stand on his own, always obeying the commands even though it's absurd. My integrity was questioned again and this enraged me. It was unfortunate that I've been sick a lot at the end of 2010 and early 2011 with the kidney stones and the food poisoning. Yet, I was labeled of being 'sick' just to avoid work. When I challenged them back about the medical claims I made because I've maxed out the specialist clinic allocation and whether they wanted me to bring my medical records, silence reigns. I've worked my ass from daylight to the wee hours of the morning just to reach the absurd deadline. I've been denied training on the platform just because I can't attend the full two weeks due to my appointment with my doctor. I've been working hard just to understand the uber annoyingly complex platform but I've received no gratitude for my work. Heck, originally, I was the only developer working on the stupid module. Even after another offered to help, we still couldn't finish the damn thing on time as the time given was ridiculous.

     I've truly had enough. I'm glad that I've made the decision. I'm buying myself out. My time is too precious to waste on things that I don't even like doing.

No more Mr Nice Guy

Does it strike you as weird when you're bought out from a company with an exorbitant amount on your head..

 - and tells you that they need your expertise but they asked you to do every nitty gritty detail set by them to the letter?

 - and tells you they need your experience but are not listening to your advice at all?

 - and tells you they need you to provide input on enhancements but when you do, nothing is being done about it?

- and tells you that they need fresh new ideas but when you pitch some to them, it falls on deaf ears?

- and tells you that they need your problem solving skills but when you detected a hidden but imminent malicious problem and told them about it, they asked you to just follow the plan?


Heck, there's a hell lot more.

I'm totally pissed right now. How easy it is for you to deny all that I've done; my commitment, the F-ing long hours just to follow your atrocious deadline, the denied holidays, the stressful weekends. What happened to the "good job!", "great!" and what-so-ever when we followed your destined-to-doom plan earlier but the final product is a mess?

That will be the last time you'll be questioning my integrity. And yeah, since it's easy for you to say that if I don't like it, I can just get out,  no more Mr Nice Guy from me. Here it is: FUCK YOU!

Yeah you bought me out. but that doesn't mean that you fucking own me!

All the best luck and the grandeur of the heavens for your Death March.

Disgusted and burnt out.

I don't really want to blog about this. It's been 7 freaking months. I've been trying hard not to but I can't stand it anymore. The thing is, my current company sucks big time. Not as worse as the Singaporean company that I've joined before but enough to make me feel sick about it.

There's no real structure. The whole thing is a total disarray. Requirements come in really late. Estimations were done at managers' whim. developers were forced to work super overtime just to meet the impossible deadline and the worse thing is, I'm already burnt out.

Asshole managers. I seriously disgusted by an email written by one of the managers. Come on, It was not their business opening time yet, the deadline is just a few hours late and he already shot an email claiming that we already losing client's trust and we are perceived as being bad. Total bullshit. Disgusting. You're the one who over promised the client. You never consult us about the task estimation and you just stamp your own date and what the F, we're the one to be blamed? F you!

Useless team leads adds salt to the pain. You know that it is impossible to meet the crazy deadline and yet you just say yes to everything but the burden was placed all on the developers. You yourself hardly code and you call yourself an architect? F you! When things go wrong and the damnation is imminent, you start to frantically blame your developers and force them to work atrocious hours. Again, F you!

I'm already on holiday, yet you tried to called (good thing I've blocked your number earlier) me demanding I submit the codes and when you can't reach me, you spammed with sms' threatening that this will not look good on my performance review? For F's sake I've told you I'm going on holiday on these dates ages ago. Why the F did you assign me the task? F you!

Highly Political. Highly Preposterous. Highly Painful.

I bet Bill and Dave are crying in their graves right now. So much of preserving those so called values.