TexasSwede

Over the years I got a small collection of Lotusphere water bottles. It started in 2003 when I ended up with a couple of extra bottles in my backpack on the last day, and I brought them home with me. The next year I picked up a couple again to drink at the airport while waiting for my flight, and I got one leftover as well. Since then I made sure I bring home at least one bottle per year for my little collection.

This year I noticed that the older bottles were squished, like there were vacum inside. The older they were the more squished. I let some air in and noticed that it seems like water is evaporating despite the bottles being closed. Quite interesting, since there was a vacum inside. It seems like the water evaporates and get out, while air is not able to get in. The bottles have been stored above the washer, with the dryer a few feet away. Might be the temperature that did it.

What's your take on certifications?

It took me over 10 years before I took my first certifications (last year at Lotusphere, crammed in 3 tests between the sessions). I never believed in certifications, I can tell some horror stories about "certified" developers that could not code very good at all. All I say is "GetNthDocument"... 

At this years Lotusphere, I wanted to upgrade my Certified Application Developer to the Advanced level for 6.0/6.5, and also try to upgrade to Notes/Domino 7.0. The advanced upgrade (exam 273) was no problem, but I failed the 7 upgrade. Since I am still on R5 at work (some clients are on 7.0.2, but development has to be done for 5.0.12), I did not have that much experience of creating web services or using DB2 in Notes, which were what most of the test was about.

But what really made me wonder were all the questions about the new user interface. Is the biggest and most important thing for a developer to know that if you click "do not show this dialog again" when you get the prompt to close Designer, the prompt will also go away in the Notes client?

What about having a couple of questions about something that is really useful for a developer to know? Like how to work with lists, for example.

On the bus to the Lotusphere Wednesday party at Islands of Adventure, I was sitting next to André Guirard, and we talked about the tests. He said he did review the tests a while back, and they were thinking about revising them. But I did not get any word on what the current plan is.