V. Berba Velasco

Are H-1B Workers Paid Much Less Than US Workers?

Mention H-1B visas to a group of American engineers or programmers and you're likely to hear a cry of outrage. H-1B visa holders, it is commonly said, have taken thousands of jobs away from hardworking American high-tech workers. In addition, disgruntled... Read >

The Challenge of Fostering a Creative Culture in the Workplace

Creativity. A lot of companies say that they want it, but not all of them do a good job of fostering it. It's not hard to see why. Creativity often appears unproductive. It can require dissociating one's self from one's normal work, and it frequentl... Read >

The High-Tech Manpower Shortage: Real or Mythical?

Back in the 1990s, most Americans would have agreed that the USA needed more engineers and programmers. The country needed high-tech workers in order to maintain its worldwide edge in technology, and common wisdom dictated that there jus weren't enough of... Read >

Five Time-Saving Ways to Reduce Winter Heating Costs

I remember the shock that I received after the first winter gas bill for my house had arrived. I knew that I had to take drastic action to reduce my heating costs. I also knew that I had precious little time to spare, thanks to work pressures, my exerci... Read >

The Pitfalls and Perils of Pair Programming

Pair programming: People love it or they hate it. The concept of pair programming first became popular thanks to "extreme programming" or XPâ€"a set of practices that supposedly allows companies to develop software in a more efficient, more "agile" man... Read >

Rejoicing in pretense?

On a couple of recent occasions, I found myself discussing the issue of false teaching within Christian churches. To my shock, on both occasions, some believers chimed in by saying, "Hey, don't complain about false teaching! Instead, rejoice! After all, d... Read >

Using 'Get' and 'Set' Might Be Something You'll Regret

It's an all-too-common pitfall. Programmers who attempt to write object-oriented code decide to make all of their data variables private, while creating public get() and set() function pairs for each one. "See?" they declare, as they pat themselves on t... Read >

A Comparative Study in Customer Service

A couple of years ago, I experienced the misfortune of having two laptop computers break down within a single week. One laptop was less than eight months old; the other had failed five times in less than two years. As you can imagine, I was extremely di... Read >

A Quick and Simple Tip for Gaining New Customers

In the course of my career, I've had to deal with a lot of vendors—software companies, sensor manufacturers, electronics distributors and more. Some of them have left lasting impressions on me, whereas others have been eminently forgettable. I'd like to... Read >

A Quick Tip for Delivering a Great Speech

Does speaking in public leave you tongue-tied? Do you stumble over your words? Do you want to learn how to speak more eloquently in front of a crowed? Here's a simple tip for getting started: Talk about something that you're passionate about. Hav... Read >

A Time-Saving Programming Tactic that Doesn't Work

Let's say that you have a software project that's under severe time pressure. Let's say that this deadline is so tight that you already know it will involve many late nights of black coffee and frenetic programming. What can you do to make this process ... Read >

Don't Forget the Internal Software Documentation

Internal documentation. It's one of the most frequent casualties in software development. It's not hard to see why. For most companies, time is money, and they frequently find themselves scrambling to release a product. It can therefore be tempting ... Read >

Five Snake Care Tips for Beginners

If you're looking for an unusual, eye-catching pet, it's hard to go wrong with a snake. They're exotic enough to catch people's interest, yet hardy enough to require minimal care. Nevertheless, uninformed first-time owners tend to make some basic mistak... Read >

On the Importance of Good User Interface Design

It seems obvious, but it's often ignored. A good user interface design can spell the difference between acceptance of a software product and its failure in the marketplace. If the end-users find the software to be too cumbersome or difficult to understan... Read >

How to Get Started on Writing Killer Articles

I once wrote an article in which I offered the following tip on how to speak eloquently in public: Talk about something that you're passionate about. When we speak about matters that are dear to our hearts, we often find wellsprings of eloquence from whi... Read >