So I have to say, now that I have been working for DDNi, Inc. now for 4 months, I have learned a lot and remembered a LOT more! For those that need an update: I am an Sr. Automation and Tools Engineer. Which means I get to do a lot of the stuff that is left over in Engineering that hasn't been categorized with an owner. For instance, I am a Build Engineer using SmartBear's (a.k.a AutomatedQA) Automated Build Studio. I am also a QA Engineer developing and working with TestComplete to make an automation system. I am also doing Tools work to get things working - so I am working to taking over the development of one of our internal tools written in C#. That doesn't include other tasks that require internal working knowledge that I just basically lept off a cliff and said, "Geronimo!".
So needless to say I've been coming up to speed on things in a hurried manner. In the process I am getting a lot of good data from co-workers and and also from classes and from Memory. I wanted to share with folks in case you're looking for some good reads or recommends.
1) Cabrillo's Online Classes. OMG! for $95 a pop, these classes are worth it. I know I've posted it before. I continue to give thanks for them now. Latest class? Intermediate class on C#. Talk about Awesome! Website:
http://www.ed2go.com/cabrillo/
2) Refcardz: These are quick reference cards - about 4-5 pages in size with good details about the information you're interested in. It's free! NOTE: you will have to give an email address as they email you the link to the document ( I assume for tracking purposes) but to me, it's worth it. I've pulled data ranging from Visual Studio 2010 getting started to, Selenium INtro documents, to Apache etc. It's worth a look.
Website:
http://refcardz.dzone.com/
3) Scott Hanselman's Blog on useful Tools. He's done this several years running although it looks like 2009 is the latest he's done so far. I found it GREAT and useful. If' you're a tools person...you'll like this link.
Website:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2009UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolListForWindows.aspx
4) Notepad++ is included int the list on #3 but I love this too WAY too much to leave it out. It's a very flexible text editor. Works well with HTML to XML. Color encoding of particular languages and good indentation reader. Good for looking at invisible characters and good plugins.
Website:
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Plugin:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/notepad-plus/index.php?title=Plugin_Central
5) If you're working with HTML/CSS etc, you're going to want to have Firebug. It's a great tool for debugging HTML. Found a good tutorial for it too. Firebug allows you to see nested CSS, and HTML language. You can make changes right in the editor and it updates on the screen for you.
Website:
http://getfirebug.com/
Tutorial:
http://www.evotech.net/blog/2007/06/introduction-to-firebug/
These are only a handful of what I've come across over the last 4 months that either I have known about and have forgotten or got an introduction to through necessity and/or co-workers. I hope you find this useful too.
