Neil Pointer

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since Dec 30, 2010
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Recent posts by Neil Pointer

Thanks for the comments guys!

It seems I need to get incorporated first and explore the connections with the recruiting/staffing agencies at the same time.

And Jayesh, your point about me being negative is quite valid. Seems to be a life long thing with me, always be looking at what's wrong, just being negative in general. Kinda difficult to get out of my own skin tho..
11 years ago
So, I've got about 10 yrs of Java experience with J2EE, Weblogic, JMS, Oracle and payment/crypto seasoning on top, plus I've whipped up the occasional Web/Android app. I can do a lot of things and if I currently can't, I'm always eager to learn.

For whatever reason, I'm not getting any real traction on my applications and after intro calls, get no further movement. This is the first time in 20 yrs I have to find a job without the help of network friends.

So, I'm trying to figure out where I'm doing it wrong. Here are things that I'm suspecting are wrong with me and/or my approach:
- kinda old, got into programming 20 yrs ago at 30, so maybe I don't come across as the eager beaver with similar experience, yet still only 30-ish
- don't have any formal education in anything; not even a certificate; obviously thought about it, never had the time really (or the need)
- I use only my Linkedin Profile to introduce myself to employers. I don't have a resume, I think the profile format is simpler, more functional
- although I feel I'm a pretty decent developer, many positions ask for a range of deep expertise that just makes me hesitant to apply even
- while I understand the concepts around design patterns, data structures and algorithms, since I've never actually needed to use them explicitly, I could only repeat what I've googled and I'm not comfortable with that

So, as things progressed with the job search, I am thinking I'd have to go into self employed contracting, making a living if possible by doing bits projects here and there.
I don't think this is something I can pull off by working from home due to the nature of app server components that I usually work with, so I'm ok with the traveling bit for short periods of time. Got no family, so no biggy.

As a Canadian, now living in Vancouver, I think the occasional trip to the US is doable, but even if it's only in Canada, I should probably incorporate for ease of interaction when it comes to contracts.
I can also readily work in EU countries, as I have an EU passport as well. Although English is just about the only language (other than Hungarian) that I could rely on, Europe in general is not unfamiliar to me.

So, I wonder if anybody would have some advise as to how to go about this.
Where do I go to advertise my services? Dice, Monster or eLance? I've checked out these places, but kinda more confused than before.
Elance seems to have a bunch of people that are willing to do the things I could for $15/hr and stuff. How do I compete with that?
Also, don't want to work for body shops, if I can afford it.
11 years ago
I'm trying to use The Grinder to test my WL 9.2 websvc and their example JAX-RPC script seems to be missing something.

A j2se tester using websvc cli, weblogic and webservicesclient jars works just fine, so same jars are added to the jython execution.

But the jython script errors like this:

java.lang.ClassCastException: weblogic.xml.stax.XMLStreamInputFactory
at javax.xml.stream.XMLInputFactory.newInstance(XMLInputFactory.java:136)



The weblogic XMLStreamInputFactory extends XMLInputFactory, so that shouldn't be it.

I have also added these settings to make sure all's well, but all's unwell:


Any hints would be appreciated. Thanks.
13 years ago