Next week I’m starting a new job. Off the PHP, back onto the C#. Off web apps, back onto back-end server development. Out of an office, into working at home, on my own (well, when Leonie isn’t at home anyway!). No more 5 days a week, I’m down to 4 now.
All very different. All very familiar. I’m rather looking forward to it.
Chances are, something worth writing will come out of it. My first focus is going to be on Amazon Web Services, especially EC2 and the new Virtual Private Cloud stuff they are doing. Second on the list (and for the same reason) is moving an existing SQL Server app to use both SQL Server and PostgreSQL. This isn’t a one-off tho – I need to make a large application work with both databases going forward. It should be a nice exercise in refactoring and redesigning a working application. Quite different to a PHP/Service/CouchDB web app.
First change for me is the working at home bit. I am trying to separate my workspace and my “non”-workspace, at least mentally. Rather than running a windows VM on my Macbook, I’ve put it on the Mac Mini, which is a faster machine (same CPU speed, double the front side bus speed), has more RAM (3GB vrs 4GB), but mostly, has NONE of the distractions (twitter, Google talk, browsers) that my Macbook has. There will only be two apps running on it – VMWare Fusion, and iTunes. It’ll be as easy as moving to the other keyboard to get back to the Macbook, but it’s an actual move, not just a context switch. Lets see how that goes.
The Macbook isn’t wasted tho – it’ll be running a server VM which has Exchange, ComArchive, SQL Server and PostgreSQL on it.
Then there is the issue of having a good coffee machine in the other room…. repeat after me, my new mantra: 4 a day. only 4 a day.
i’ve already started hiding the chocolate…
;)
Oh great. Now I have no motivation to work :)
Release the chocolate! It’s too awesome to hide ;). Also have you considered going DB independent with a tool like GenPro? http://www.llblgen.com/defaultgeneric.aspx
I’m filled with hate. I want a 4 day work week.
Also, some of us have used LLBLGenPro… it’s not terrible, but it’s not awesome. Depends on how much you like Predicates, really (you’ll see).
Well, sadly, I dont have the scope (or time) to rewrite the whole data layer, tho it IS tempting – it more depends on how deep the existing architecture is in the rest of the app :)
But it’s not overly likely.
How does running Visual Studio and SQL Server inside a VM compare to running it on a normal PC? Is it much slower? The way you have it set up sounds great. The ability to be able to do .NET development yet have a Mac makes me very interested. :)
It is a bit slower, but not a lot. Maybe 5%? I DO have the VM on an external USB drive tho (7200rpm), so that makes the performance a lot better. The Mac Mini I use is fairly quick, tho I could do with more RAM – I use 2GB for the VM out of 4, and I’m tempted to put 8 in and get a 64bit OS for development (eg 2008 server x64 – using x32 at the moment)
Main thing for using the mac was more that if I bought a PC, once I’m done with it, I have no use for it….. being I dont otherwise have PC stuff :)