Time for the annual year in review blog post! This year has just about everything in it, everything apart from peace and quiet. A huge diversity of work and skill-sets, from Salesforce to Sametime, from AngularJS to admin work on SAML, so much so that my tiny mind is bulging at the seams.

My Salesforce skills have come on leaps and bounds: it is an interesting platform, with a lot of opportunity for the clever hacking I enjoy so much. I must give Bluewave a huge thank you for letting me work with it (Salesforce is very partner-oriented, with little place for true freelancers) and most particularly Barry Hughes, the most patient guru who also lets me sit in on internal training sessions despite having finished my full-time work (with Bluewave’s permission I might add).{{I was there as a contractor to help take deal with a sudden heavy load, they have now hired permanent staff, but still treat me as part of the team and I’m there if they hit another peak.}}

For the first time ever, I have a proper office rather than simply relying on client sites or my home workspace: my rented office is at Purple Patch, and it has proved to be just perfect. I can get tons done, and it’s also somewhere to meet, and work, with clients.

LDC Via has had a busy year with booths at multiple conferences and loads of changes and new features based on client feedback and installations. We even launched a whole new offering: KEEP.WORKS.

What skills have I used this year?

Salesforce –> The full range of Salesforce app building, from standard declarative coding to involved, large chunks of Apex and Javascript programming. I also spent loads of time training people on Pardot, working with this very “defined” marketing framework to flex it in a way clients actually want it to function.

JavaScript –> The continuing growth of JavaScript as a primary language for projects showed up a lot this year, in everything from AngularJS to Salesforce Lightning.

Proper Programming –> Java is still my core “serious” language. I’m using it enough to keep things sharp, but it’s not a growth area.

Supplementary stuff –> full on iCal work{{Including requests to Google and other web email vendors for native buttons and drag-and-drop meetings, etc., etc.}}, search integration with Solr and Nintex for Sharepoint stuck out this year.

IBM –> Sametime, Domino, WebSphere, ISeries and the other staples of the IBM family continue to test my imagination with integration and upgrade work, ensuring everything stays up-to-date and relevant.

Guesses for 2017

Two big items to guess about here:

Skills

JavaScript – this will continue to grow for me, driven by multiple things:

1. LDC Via and its extensive use of node.js.
2. Salesforce Lightning – the direction in which Salesforce are clearly steering.
3. For Domino-based web work, a JavaScript framework talking to Domino services turns out to beat XPages hands down every time.
4. Lots of clients want to “glue” existing systems to third-party APIs.

Salesforce – I’m less sure about this. The model favours a race to the bottom, which is already starting to show. The company is also incredibly partner-oriented which means it’s hard for smaller companies and individuals to find work. I will just have to keep the skills sharp and see what happens.

Work Load

Bugger knows, this year has been busy, but it’s been in fits and starts{{or even ‘Stits and Farts’}}, such is the joy of freelancing. I had a couple of quiet spots and a couple of periods of full-on mayhem. For 2017, I’m hoping to avoid the two things that make we want to scream: (1) the sudden cessation of all work, followed by a couple of stunned weeks looking around, and (2) the conversation with someone later on that year who says “I would have asked you, but you always seem so busy…”

OK, that is enough of the fluffy blog posts for a while. Next up: proper tech stuff!

This is more an aide memoire than anything else (in case of a phone rebuild), but it is the list of essential software I have on my phone at the end of 2015

Audio/Media

DI Radio

Audible

Google Play Music (so much better than Spotify for play lists and radio)

Dog Catcher (for podcasts)

MX Player

Music Folder Player Full (the only decent player for displaying audio as it is laid out in the filesystem)

BBC Iplayer Radio

Productivity

Clockwork Tomato (The Best timer for the Pomodoro Technique)

Power Nap

Freshbooks

Wunderlist

Timely

Communication

Slack (a truly amazing team chat)

Skype

Twitter (The stock version is actually the best)

Facebook (Unfortunately)

Go To Meeting

IBM Verse

System

Dropsync

File Explorer

1 Password

Disk Usage

Swiftkey

Games
(I tend to not play games on my phone as I have a Nvidia Shield Tablet)

mahjong

Chess

Sorcery 1 (or any choose your own adventure game)

Gemini rue

Misc

National Rail Enquiries

Speedtest.net

Sworkit pro

Moovit (best for London bus times)

Priority Pass

Plus mobile banking and mobile ISP provider’s app.

I sit here at the end of my first proper holiday in nearly a decade, my long awaited honeymoon and a trip to a place that has literally been the land of the rising sun for my entertainment since I have been a child.

and what did I think of it?

Japan did not disappoint in any way, the culture, the people, the city’s, everything lived up to my dreams

I could have wandered forever through the country and indeed never have I more wanted to pack up a ruck sack and travel as I did after seeing the green of my first bamboo forest.

The Japanese have taken so much of the west to their heart, but they have made it brighter and more Kawaii and in doing so have made it theirs, all the time maintaining their own gorgeous traditional culture.

Some of the things that made Japan so amazing could only exist in Japan as frankly we in the west sometimes just cant have nice things as we demand our right to screw them up, and thus we cant do crowding without pushing or have clean trains that don’t stink, I’m aware that I might find it hard to live with some of the rigged social normals the Japanese do, but its still a wonderful country.

We WILL go back

I approached Japan with some trepidation food-wise as I can’t read the language and also fish stock tends to be put in to a huge amount of the savoury things. However it seems that it is not hard at all to find stuff, and in the major cities there is a real vegetarian/vegan movement (they have meetings and get-togethers and all sorts)

The best app for finding good places to eat was Happy Cow which found all the places to eat we could want. Although you do have to apply a bit of sanity to its directions as they are not allways right

Japanese restaurants and places you sit down to eat in tend to shut down between about 4:30pm and 5.30pm and those that do not tend to run a much reduced menu so that is something to be aware off.

Vending machines serve nearly all your drink needs be it a morning coffee or a full bottle of whiskey and all at a good price (starting at 100yen), nearly everything else is handled by the Family Mart chain of stores, Family Mart is also where you will find the cash machines.

Curry and great ramen at T’s TanTan Tokyostation hidden inside Tokyo station meaning finding it the first time is a bugger and you can’t get to it for free as its behind the ticket barriers, but well worth a diversion or to plan your travel round.

With a rich tangy taste I ended up having 2 of these at one sitting and the memory still makes me drool. found at http://www.hanada-rosso.net/

At the time this had to have been the best vegan pudding I have ever had, and would give most none vegan puddings a run for their money found at Cafe Atl in Osaka (a very nice place if a bit pricey )

Also at Cafe Atl A light pleasant orange flavoured beer went down very nicely thank you

The best place we went in Osaka was Paprika Shokudo which not only serves amazing food and puddings to die for, but were chatty and helpful with suggestions on other places to eat along our travels, I could have eaten there every day!!. They served the greatest pudding I have had since becoming a Vegan, but I did need a lie down after wards

Armed with only a vegan food festival, a local store and a box of preparation I was able to make a sandwich. is there no limit to the genius

Double bite sized pockets of Tofu stuffed with sweet plain rice with some ginger on the side were my default snack and could be got at just about every corner store

There ARE supermarkets in the cities just a bit harder to find that you would expect, we seemed to find them on the top floor of other buildings or department stores.

These slabs of fluffy tofu have a very similar texture to omelets (and you do have to be careful as there are pre done omelets in the shops) they make great fillers for bread or anything really and can be got from just about any shop (we made a lot of sandwiches with them)

Vending Machine with Whisky and Sake in them, not vandalised! NOT VANDALISED!!

Vending machine on every corner and unlike UK ones NOT a rip off

Osaka is WAYYY better than Tokyo from my point of view. Tokyo is like a massive London but with cultural differences, Osaka was like nothing I had ever been to before, it felt like a different country (yeah yeah I know it already was a different county, but Osaka FELT different). As a child of Skegness I have always loved cheap neon and that gaudy fun feel, and this was everything I could have wanted, busy like a festival but not pushy or filled with drunk idiots or thieves, it was an utter joy to wander round.

Kyoto on the other hand was pure history and culture (plus all the tourist trappings that always surrounds such things) and as the two cities are only a short trip between each other they are a good to compare as a set.

Like you hope it a Japanese city will be

Every shop and stall was dressed up to the nines and fun to look at

Normally in a western country this many people would be nasty grumpy and pushy, here there was no indication of that, people were aware of those around them and did not hold up traffic, made the whole experience better for all.

God I miss the bright vibrant Arcades of my youth, it was like coming home

The Tsūtenkaku Tower a well know land mark which helped with the chaotic navigation of Osaka

A REAL Bamboo forest, just sat there errrr… Growing

Behind this door were two of my personal bucket list items, an amazing traditional Japanese garden off a tradition veranda, and a Nightingale floor but alas no photos inside, you can see details about them here

Reading up on what went into the architectural marvels that were the Japanese Pagodas was amazing. part building, part art form, part ritual

You could image a small god living here

Panoramic of the Gardens at Daigoji Temple, Japan put on a perfect day for us with few people around and no queues to wait for anything (happy sigh). Note: the pop-up image for this may take a while to load as its 8Meg

We decided that a trip to the fun Fushimi Inari Shrine was in order as it is one of the really popular temples attracting millions of visitors a year

The Foxes that guard the template and act as messengers all look more than a little p**sed (understandable as everybody is always asking them for money)

That is a 4k hike over the mounting that you are looking at, priests are fit devils here.

The Torii or Gates start here

And Just keep going!!!

Companies buy them (Inari is seen as the patron of business) but they are NOT cheap