The Great Phone Debate

I've been in far too many discussions about what smartphone people should jump to.  I've seen people argue for everything from iPhones to Blackberries (Right when they were dying).  It's always interesting to see why people choose the phones they do, but I do think that each phone (iPhone, Android, Windows Phones, etc.) serve their own purposes.  So with the announcements of the new iPhones, Android phones, and Windows phones, I figured I would make a short guide based on my observations for this.  As a couple of notes: I have owned multiple iPhones, Android phones, and of course the classic flip phones.  I've used Windows phones and Blackberries that friends have, and have of course looked into each of these based on my needs.

The Oculus Rift vs The HTC Vive

Last week, I got the chance to go to Oculus Connect and try out all of the latest demos.  It was a blast, and I met a ton of incredible people.  Shortly after arriving back in Virginia however,I found out that HTC and Valve's Vive Truck Tour was in Washington D.C. for their final day, and proceeded to head up to D.C. to try out their demos as well.  It was great timing, as I had already had time to think about the Oculus Rift demos I tried, and got to make some fantastic comparisons between the two.  The following is a quick write-up of my thoughts on both of them.

The Millennial Gold Rush for Data

Before you start reading, I would like to stress that I am not an expert in this field.  These are my ramblings based on what I have read, patterns I have noticed, and my own personal theories.  There may or may not be truth to this, and while I have done a decent amount of research, I do not work in this field directly, and cannot specifically comment on all aspects of it.  With that said, let's begin:

With all of the "hype" in regards to big data, I've slowly begun looking into what the growth for big data is going to be like as far as the job market is concerned.  What's interesting is that this entirely depends on which part of the market you plan to go in to.  For example, if you plan to learn about processing this data, your market value is very high from what I have read, probably for the next five to ten years, until we have the process mostly automated.  But if you plan to go into the gathering sector, there really isn't a way to determine how long you'll be able to rely on your skill set.  The reason for this is that gathering data is becoming more and more like a gold rush, instead of something long term.  This is what interests me, as I believe it is a very valuable skill set to have right now, partially because I believe more "gold deposits" will be found in the future still.  Thus I have been analyzing these "gold deposits" in order to gain a better understanding of what they are, where they come from, what their value is, and how to find them.

Journey into the World of Hardware

Deciding whether to focus on software development or hardware development has been a very difficult choice for me.  Due to the cost of hardware, I decided to focus on software, but now that I am working full time and have the ability to purchase hardware, I've slowly begun focusing on catching up in the world of hardware.  This is a short brain-dump of what I've learned so far, good starting points, and more, for those interested in getting started with hardware development.

What not to do on a resume

With the job and internship hunting seasons among us, I've had a few people ask me to look over their resumes, and wanted to share some public advice for those that are job hunting, and want to further improve their resumes.  I'll try to remember to link mine once I've finished updating it again (Even though I have a job, I like to maintain it still), but for now, here's a few tips for polishing your resume.  Please note that these tips are geared more towards technical resumes, though some of these tips may apply to non-technical resumes too.

HoloLens is Just the Start

If you've looked at any tech website in the past week, you've probably seen something about HoloLens, Microsoft's fantastic attempt to finally bring augmented reality to the world.  I have to hand it to you Microsoft, they did this very well, and what they have looks fantastic.  While I've been impressed by Google Glass, I've talked about the one thing its been missing to make it perfect: A depth sensor.  Based on what I've seen, it looks like HoloLens is finally adding that, and boy does it look nice.  The best part is, this is only the beginning of augmented reality for consumers!

Why to wait on 4K

I've seen a few people start getting excited about 4K TVs, monitors, and more, and I keep coming back to the same question: Why is everyone buying them now?  Don't get me wrong, higher resolution screens are nice, and 4K screens look fantastic, but that's not the next step in resolution jumps.  In fact, 4K is just a beginning step, and upgrading this early on is kind of like buying a 720p television when HD was just coming out: It's better to wait!

Standing out in a World of Code

This is an interesting question that I've been asked a whole lot recently.  A lot of people want to know how they can make their code stand out for jobs, and what it takes to do so.  The interesting thing is, you don't have to be a fantastic coder to do so.  In fact, standing out is pretty simple in the world of software development, you just have to know yourself fairly well.  So for today's post, I want to go over a few ways that can help you stand out, whether it's at your school, a job interview, or just online in general, here are my top three tips for standing out in today's world of code!

Is C++ a Relevant Language?

This has been a nagging question to me for a few years now, and is part of the reason I stopped coding as much a few years ago, only to pick it back up again over the past two years: Just how useful is it to learn a programming language like C++?  No, I'm not talking about python wrappers for it, or C#, or something "similar" like Java (and no, they are not similar like you may think).  I'm talking about low level C++, down to the metal, with just you and your compiler (IDE optionally too).  Had you asked me 2 years ago, I probably would have said C++ is just for gaming.  Ask me now, and I'll tell you it is still one of the most relevant languages out there.  Let's go over a few things about why C++ is a big deal, and why you should learn it if you don't know it.

Launching Into 2015

Man, it seems like I was just starting this blog a year ago when 2014 began.  While things have slowed down in recent weeks, I can assure everyone that it's not for a lack of what to write about.  In fact, as of now, I have almost too much to write about!  Thus, to save some time and make a quick post about what to expect from me in 2015, read on!