Journey to learning Dutch

It's taken me 2 years of evening  school, 2 times per week to pass the NT2-II exams. NT2 stands for 'Nederlands als Tweede Taal' (Dutch as the second language). More info on the exam here. The European Language Framework recognizes me at a Dutch level of B2 (refer Wikipedia).

Although Dutch is not really my second language, it has been real fun learning it. Until now, I knew languages - English, Hindi, Marathi, Konkani and Gujarati, and Dutch has been a very welcome addition. It's a very different experience trying to learn a language in your adult life. Being a software developer, I'm no stranger to learning new languages. But languages such as Java, Groovy, UML tend to have a strict set of rules which natural languages do not possess. With a natural language, it's often the rule, and then the exceptions to the rule. It's a bit hard to learn the exceptions, particularly when they're so varied. I often compare natural languages to the laws of society.

Initial Approach
My initial approach to learning Dutch was to learn the grammar. Naive! After few days of schooling and on advice from the teachers, I dropped that approach. I then focussed on learning more and more words and pronunciation. This helped me identify them being used in texts and communication. What sounded gibberish until then started to make some sense. I also made it a point to learn the correct spelling of the word while I memorized it.

Thinking in Dutch
There was this day after six or so months of schooling, when all of a sudden I stopped thinking in English. I could think in Dutch. This was the point of revelation. Learning after this point was so much easier. After this point, I focussed on the language grammar and tried to form sentences.

Speaking Dutch
Although I spoke Dutch in school, I did not have the confidence to speak it outside. I was motivated by my teachers to just start speaking in public without worrying about being completely correct. It was easier said than done. I hestitated because I could not express myself correctly. In an interview for a new assignment, I was asked to speak Dutch. They wished to check my Dutch since all of the system documentation was in Dutch. That was the first moment where I spoke Dutch outside school borders. It was like a hurdle passed, a big hurdle! (Felt like potential energy being transformed to kinetic energy). Although I thought I could have done much better if the interview were in English, I got the job. In this assignment, I began speaking and e-mailing in Dutch. The colleagues were supportive and understood that I was just a learner.

NT2 exams
I decided to give the NT2 exams on advice of one of my teachers. The diploma would be a proof of a certain level I have when it comes to the language. Although I cannot prove that my level of the English language is X, I decided to go for the NT2 exams. It served as a good challenge and at the same time a good end to the schooling journey. After a lot of preparation through sample exams, I appeared for the NT2 exams on 6 and 7 April 2011. The exams consist of four topics - writing, speaking, listening and reading. The listening exam still gives me the chills!

I'm very proud to have achieved this, something I had never thought I would need to do if you asked me 5 years back.

On the way to the abstract

Last week I started with a new assignment. My role is officially that of a SME (Subject Matter Expert). I am a part of the information analysis & design discipline in RUP (Rational Unified Process) terms. After being a part of the implementation discipline for a long time, this new role gives me an opportunity to walk my way to the abstract. I have always enjoyed the ‘meta’ level of things even in the development domain. This role opens a whole new meta world. I now have the control & the responsibility of coming up with solutions to business problems.

First goodbye mail

Already 7 years into my career and finally have the opportunity to write a Goodbye mail. At some level I always thought that they would be fun to write. After all, it’s not always or everyday that you get a chance to thank everyone you interacted or worked with.

Tomorrow’s my last working day at the current customer. I have been working with them for 11 months. I don’t wish to leave without writing them a goodbye mail.

I have put lot of thought in writing the mail. As it’s the first time I’m writing it, I do not have any templates which I can adhere to. Also I do not wish to copy someone else’s template. Plus I feel that such mails should be coming from one’s heart and are not to be written only to fulfill some norm/formality. I know I wouldn’t be writing one if it was just formality.

I feel the need to thank the people I have worked with. They have been a crucial part of my working environment the past year and I have learnt a lot from them. Now moving on to the next assignment taking everything what I learnt at the present customer.

Identity Crisis

So many applications, accounts, memberships! So many credentials (usernames and passwords) to remember! Sigh!

What do most of us do? Try to secure the same username for every account, have a list of favourite passwords and use them in succession. Try to maintain the account credentials either as a piece of paper with copies spread across to (secret) locations or as a little, local Excel sheet called ‘My Accounts’ or ‘My Passwords’. Some would complain about the security of such sheets and would rather save them under password protection or use a software which encrypts your accounts and stores it safely.

Here are some ideas which can make remembering passwords fun:
1. Memorize passwords as sentences - Like the sentence ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ could yield a password ‘tqbfjotld’ formed by the first letter of each word. If you run out of sentences, use songs, poems. Now that is fun!
2. Passwords belong to a theme - You could build your passwords from certain themes. These themes could be anything from books, characters in movies, names of movies, art, etc. The more specific the theme gets, the harder it is to crack the passwords.
3. Build a robot which remembers your passwords for you - Not kidding here. I know someone who uses this option. Also fun!

Back to some basic questions: Why do you need an account or have to login into a software application? What happens on login?  The answer lies in two words: Identity and Access. Typically a software application comprises of certain functionality which is rendered to the end users. Access to this functionality is typically driven by the user’s role. The application therefore needs to identify the user, determine his/her role and grant access. For example, in a banking application, front-desk users might have access to submitting an account request, checking account status; while a back-office user could have access to creating accounts and a manager the access to generate & view reports. Although it’s the same application, different users based on their roles access it differently.

Can identity & access management be made simpler?
One cannot do away with accessing all those applications, but it certainly can be simplified. Here are some ways:
1. SSO (Single Sign On) - As the name suggests, all applications are weaved under a single sign on. An end user logs in once and is provided access to various applications falling under the SSO umbrella. This method is already implemented by organizations and is a handy way to expose local apps using this principle. Google has implemented for most of its internet apps. With one sign on and one Google account, you can access apps like Gtalk, Gmail, Gdocs, etc.
2. Biometrics - Biometrics consists of methods that uniquely identify human beings; with forms like retina recognition, finger prints recognition being the most popular. Who knows what technology brings in future, but at this current moment Biometrics is far from ideal of being used consistently, cheaply, worldwide by every software application; which makes option 1 the one to go for.

Outdoors @ Bartiméus

Bartiméus is an institution for the blind and the visually impaired. It houses around 350 people and aims to improve the quality of their life by providing personal advice, guidance and knowledge. It’s located in the midst of beautiful nature in Doorn, Netherlands. (Visit them at http://www.bartimeus.nl/)

 

On Friday 25 February, I got an opportunity to visit and help out at Bartiméus. It was arranged by the customer where I presently work. Bartiméus had an 'Ijskoud weekend' (Ice cold weekend) - a winter party on 26 and 27 February. We were to help out with decorating the place for the party.



The party consisted of several sections; the chapel, the school, the huts, party tents and the skating place. Our team was to help decorating all of these and help set up the party tents. After a briefing from the co-ordinator and a cup of tea, we were on our way.





I helped getting the decorations from the cellar and like a true developer contributed in one of the core services – inflating balloons. They need a lot of them and they needed them fast. The work-floor consisted of three balloon-inflating machines, lots of blue, white and silver balloons, lots of balloon string slipknots and four enthusiastic teammates (surprisingly fellow developers). Three of which kept themselves busy with the inflation of balloons and one of whom responsible to make bunches of five balloons. In a period of three hours, we inflated over six hundred balloons. Impressive eh! Our core services transformed Bartiméus into a party place ready to rock.

I truly enjoyed this outdoor activity. Still jump at every balloon burst though! Thanks Bartiméus.

That small square box!

Thanks to social networking sites like Twitter, Yammer, etc. that small square box has gained lot of importance. I’m talking about the box which holds your profile picture. It’s through this box that the world knows and recognizes you. Social networking allows us to interact with people we haven’t met before (in the traditional meeting sense that is). Whenever you try to remember information about someone, a picture is very essential. For example, you remembering your loved ones, parents is not possible without having a mental picture of that person. This is not just true for persons but also for events. You remember things and feel them through that mental picture. Memory is a collection of pictures. Even that mystery man or woman is remembered through a special mental picture you’ve formed.

Through social networking, we happen to know stuff about someone through their posts. But how do you remember that person? Yes, it’s through that magic, small, square box which generally forms the profile picture. This box is your mirror to the thousands or even millions whom you have influenced in one form or the other. Choose your profile picture wisely!

Our devices are getting wireless and we’re getting wired to them

The 21st century: where it wouldn’t be surprising to see a toddler playing with an iPad (although I still have to get one) or to find someone reporting a crime to the police over a webcam. From the advent of computing, there has been a continuous strive to bring the power of computing to the common man. These common men who used to hang out in café’s are now found hanging around on social networking or chatting sites. Common men who used to blindly trust newspapers, political leaders, religious preachers, teachers or even doctors for that matter now do so only after a background check on the internet. It wouldn’t be wrong to call this era ‘the information era’.

What is information? Are there positives or negatives to having access to it? Information for me is what you make of it. There’s no such thing as too much information. It depends on the recipient. Positives of having access to information are awareness, increase in knowledge, broader overview/mindset. What about negatives? I think lives were much simpler without this information burst. People could live in a cocoon created by the society and the number of people that affected or influenced ones lives was limited. In short, this information burst has literally caused that social cocoon to burst. But this burst has rendered the common man with the weapon which the elite few were thought to have.

Before this outburst, we were used to media like newspapers, television, radio, etc. But what makes information fun these days are the blogs, the tweets, the forums, the leaks; something which the other media couldn’t deliver : Interactivity. These create a sort of transparency which could only be imagined by our fore-fathers. Internet has become a medium which truly unites mankind.

The common man of this era is enslaved by information. He wants to have an access to information all the time. This is reflected in the devices that have sprung up lately. In the lights of smart phones, iPads, it’s now possible to access information all the time. The more wireless our devices are getting, the more wired we get to them. Whether good or bad, it's certainly here to stay!