RiskFactor

For the next 9 weeks I will be teaming up with a friend of mine, Adam Procella, to teach a series of lectures entitled, “Christianity in the 21st Century: A Biblical Worldview of Technology” at Memorial Presbyterian Church on Sunday Mornings.

Adam Porcella is a fellow classmate of mine who is, like me, working toward his Masters degree in divinity (M.Div.).  Adam graduated from Covenant College just outside of Chattanooga, TN with a degree in Philosophy.  Adam has previously co-lectured on Science and Christianity with another very good friend of mine, who is an internationally known astrophysicists, Dr. A.J. Poelarends.

In this series, Adam and I will cover some of the basic ground work toward a Philosophy of Technology and will also discuss how our life of faith intersects with Technology.  It is designed to help construct a basic framework for thinking critically about technology in general as well as Information Technology in particular and how our daily lives as Christians impact and are impacted by technology.

We will cover a number of topics and  areas that will include to a lesser or greater extent the following:

1. A History of Technology
2. Toward a Philosophy of Technology
3. Social Networking and Relationships
4. Identity and Technology
5. Video Games and Virtual Reality

Last week was the initial introduction to the series.  This week I will be presenting a lecture entitled: “A History of Innovation: Toward an Understanding of the Nature and Course of Technology.”

I hope to have a running series of blog posts related to this that I will post on my other blog (technologian.us) which will be less technical than this one and geared more toward things such as what will be contained in the lecture series.  If you are interested or want more info on this lecture series then shoot me an email.

Tags: general, general tech, personal growth

I was reflecting recently on my own growth as a developer over the last several years.  There are two factors in my own development that I identified as playing a significant and indispensible role.

Partners-In-Crime

I have been privileged over the last couple of years to work with other developers that have spurred me on to new heights in software development.  There has been a mutual give and take of discoveries and lessons learned.  There has even been a friendly sense of competition in challenging one another to keep learning and growing.  Unfortunately two of the most influential developers during this time aren’t as big a part of my professional carrier as they once were.  One has moved on to a new company and the other is in the process of transitioning to another company.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having these types of peers.  More over, it is highly important that you and they see the process of learning and growing as something to be shared.  We all know, or have known, those types of developers that, for one reason or another, lock themselves into a citadel of their own knowledge and refuse to help others grow and thereby restrict their own growth.  I am opposed to this type of mentality and believe that we should all strive to challenge each other to grow and to help each other do so.  It is one thing to tell another developer where she needs to grow, it is another to play an active role in helping them to grow.

Pages that Turned Me

In addition to my friends, there have been several books that opened whole new concepts and areas of growth for me.  Below are four books that have enlightened, taught and challenged me.  There have been others, but these were among the first that pointed me in a new direction and helped me to “turn over a new leaf” as a developer.  I would encourage anyone that hasn’t discovered these books to seriously consider making them a part of your library.

     Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
     Author: Steve McConnell

     Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules
     Author: Steve McConnell

          Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
          Author: Martin Fowler

          Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
          Authors: Gamma, Helm, Johnson and Vlissides

Tags: leadership, personal growth, resources