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Topic: Just out of curiosity |
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John Wetherbie
bartender
Member # 769
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 posted October 17, 2002 07:50 PM
    
Unfortunately, I can't
quite remember what brought me here. I think I was looking for
Java resources/certification help on the web and one of the
search results was JavaRanch. However I got here I really
liked what I found and have been here since.
Not quite as inspiring as Marilyn's story...
OK, who's next?
--------------------
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Thomas Paul
"The Saint"
(Sheriff)
Member # 970
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posted October 17, 2002 07:51 PM
I have absolutely no memory
of how I found the place. I was thinking that maybe I had a
question and was looking for answers. I had a different ID
when I started (it was before the naming standard) so Ilooked
at my earliest posts but they are answers to questions. Maybe
Paul allowed anonymous posts back then?
Once I found the place I liked the community atmosphere. I
remember being completely surprised when I was asked to be a
bartender. (Paul probably still regrets that decision.) 
--------------------
Associate Instructor - Hofstra University
Amazon Top 1,300 reviewer
"Whoever wrote the code for Space Invaders is clearly the
most forward-thinking technological genius of our time." -
Michael Ernest
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Mark Herschberg
bartender
Member # 6344
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posted October 17, 2002 08:35 PM
I think I first read about
JavaRanch in a book, but I can't remember which one. So I
check out the site and liked it.
Interesting story, which some of you might have heard
before...
I started hanging around JavaRanch not because I needed
questions answered but because I could answer some. I remember
being a newbie in other fields and asking lots of questions
and getting few replies. I decided that I had some karmic debt
for the few replies I had received in my younger days, so I
started posting answers. Ultimately this led to me becoming a
bartender. My postings and/or my bartender status got me
noticed by HungryMinds who asked me to do a book proposal
review. They wanted me to sign an NDA, but I was hesitant. So
I contacted Peter Haggar, who I hadn't really interacted with,
except through JavaRanch. He offered to get me in touch with
Addison-Wesley to do book reviews for them. So then at the
following JavaRanch, I decided to approach other publishers to
see if I could work for them. While talking to SAMS, the
editor suggested I write a book for them. I said no to the
book he wanted me to write (although a recent google search
found that someone thought I had written said book), but it
got me thinking about writing book, generally; and now here I
am. (And pulling in many JavaRanch moderators as reviewers.)
The moral of the story: JavaRanch made me quit my job :-)
--Mark
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Michael Matola
bartender
Member # 11528
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posted October 17, 2002 08:48 PM
For me it was the Cattle
Drive.
Stumbled across the Ranch while web surfing. (Maybe
followed a link from a post in Usenet's
comp.lang.programming.java?) Found the prospect of doing the
assignments intriguing, but it was way too public an
experience for me.
Few months later stumbled over the Cattle Drive again and
thought hey, I remember this. Got over my previous hangups and
signed on.
Michael Matola
"Absolutely no regrets" -- M.L. Ciccone
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Mark Spritzler
bartender
Member # 9174
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posted October 17, 2002 08:51 PM
I think I found out about
Javaranch when I was searching for mock exams for the SCJP. I
had Bill's book, but I don't think he mentioned it in there.
Mark
--------------------
Be patient and achieve all things.
Be impatient and
achieve all things faster.
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David O'Meara
bartender
Member # 10640
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posted October 17, 2002 10:01 PM
I was doing a WebLogic
Admin course and it was mentioned by the lecturer as a useful
resource.
I was initially impressed with the quality of help provided
by Cindy (the earliest person I can remember going 'wow'  at)
I was hooked from the beginning.
--------------------
ABCD, EFG, HIJK, LMNOP
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Frank Carver
sheriff
Member # 27
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posted October 18, 2002 06:46 AM
OK, my turn.
Many years ago I used to regularly trawl the net for
anything of interest about the then-still-new Java. Some time
after I got my SCJP in Feb 1998, I found the Electric
Porkchop, still with relatively few posts, and decided to join
in. A while later (and I'm not sure whether it was before or
after the name change to "JavaRanch") Paul decided he needed a
helping hand, and based on some of my forum answers (in
particular one about "hungarian notation", I recall), chose me
as the first additional administrator.
I've been active pretty much all the time, all though my
post count has slowed down to a handful a week for a few
months here and there. All this explains my low user number
and relatively high post count.
I can't claim that Java Ranch lost me my job, although I
have several times been told that employers did not want to
see the Ranch on my screen at work 
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Mike Curwen
bartender
Member # 9911
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posted October 18, 2002 08:07 AM
When I first started my
current job, I had one course in Java from college, and the
job is a Sun/Solaris shop. So I needed some java
help.
I asked around, and a colleague gave me a bunch
of links, one of which was javaranch.
In the early days
of my being here, I spent most of my time in Swing/AWT and
JIG-Beginner. No one starts learning java without doing some
time in UI purgatory using Layout managers. Had lots of fun
answering questions in that forum, because I'd think "I don't
know the answer to that", and I'd use the question as if it
were homework. I'd code the solution and then post either
hints or example code, depending on the situation.
I
guess my helpful nature got noticed, and I was asked to be a
bartender, which was a pleasant surprise.
Now that I'm
in server-side Java, I've hardly ever been back to Swing/AWT,
but spend most time in Servlets and Apache/Tomcat. And oh yes,
SunONE, the forum I moderate.. sort of.  (it mostly takes care of itself)
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Ajith Kallambella
sheriff
Member # 643
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posted October 18, 2002 10:15 AM
My SCJP certification. I
was googling around for certification resources and stumbled
upon JavaRanch. The name attracted me at first and made me
click on the link.
Before I knew it, I got addicted. I used lurked around for
a while, and then started actively participating. In a couple
of months Paul invited me to become a bartender. Maha, Tony
and Jim were gods in the SCJP forum and my peers included Map,
Cindy, Satya(aka Madhav), Angela and Herbert. I still have
nostalgic memories of those days, and when I have time, I
browse throuh some of my ancient SCJP posts...
--------------------
Ajith M. Kallambella
SCJP2, SCWCD,
IBM-XML Dev, SCEA.
Co-author of Java 2 Certification Passport
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Paul Wheaton
trailboss
Member # 74
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posted October 18, 2002 12:08 PM
I was studying for the SCJP
and followed a link for a mock exam. I played the cow game
over and over. I sent e-mail to the webmooster and said that
it was the coolest site on Java. Even cooler than mine.
Marcus, maybe we should start a thread in MD to see if
anybody knows what a BBS is! I remember for the longest time
your site always had triple the traffic of mine. Thanks for
helping me get things started!
--------------------
Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening
all at once.
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Dirk Schreckmann
bartender
Member # 23740
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posted October 18, 2002 11:02 PM
Back in December I decided
that I wanted to learn how to program, and so signed up for a
programming course to begin in January at the local
University. I signed up for the second level course - with no
idea how to program.
The course was to be taught in Java, so I jumped on Google
to find out how to learn to program in Java. JavaRanch popped
up and I hit the Saloon to ask questions.
A few months later I aced the course and became the subject
of a joke that allowed me to sneak in the back door of the
Saloon and play Bartender.
--------------------
Take a gander at our growing FAQs.
http://test.javaranch.com/wiki
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Jim Yingst
sheriff
Member # 290
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posted October 19, 2002 12:04 AM
[emerging several days of
hiking and driving in the Sierras...]
Lessee... back in late 1999 I was interested in
certification, and found two sites in particular to be of
interest: http://www.marcusgreen.co.uk/ (I think that
was it - it became http://www.jchq.net/) and http://www.javacert.com/ - which once had a
thriving Java discussion area. Tony Alicea and I were regulars
at both sites. I vaguely recall Tony pointing out a site
called electricporkchop, which seemed to have a few
interesting discussions as well - but not enough to draw me
away from the other two. I also had seen javaranch, which was
cool at the time, but had no discussion groups - which is
where I did most of my learning. So I (and Tony) pretty much
concentrated on Marcus and jcert.
Over time, however, it became apparent that the owner of http://www.javacert.com/ was no longer
taking an active role in maintaining the site. Things were
starting to break down, bit by bit. Then I got an e-mail out
of the blue from some guy named Paul Wheaton, who noted the
decaying state of jcert and said that electricporkchop had
merged with javaranch, and he had just created a new
Programmer Certification forum which needed a moderator - was
I interested? I'd never posted at javaranch or
electricporkchop - Paul just found me through my contributions
elsewhere. I was hesitant at first, wanting to check the place
out a bit more before making any commitment. I suggested Paul
should also contact Tony, if he hadn't already. (I always
assumed he had probably already done so, since Tony was just
as active as I was in the same forums - but I don't know if
that's the case.)
So, a couple days later, I'd been enjoying the new
javaranch, and e-mailed Paul to say I'd accept. Paul, slightly
embarrassed, informed me that Tony had just accepted that same
position - but, hmmm, come to think of it, the forum software
did seem to allow up to four moderators for a single forum, so
maybe we could work something out. Thus, the first shared
moderatorship of a forum, for the new Programmer Certification
forum. Tony and I both announced at jcert that we'd be leaving
jcert for javaranch, since it had an owner actively looking to
keep it alive. Of course we both continued at Marcus's site,
since that was quite active as well, and Marcus was just too
cool to abandon.  But over time javaranch's Programmer Cert just got
bigger and bigger, and moderation duties there gradually drew
us away from Marcus's site. (fortunately folks like Bill
Brogden and later Rosanne Zhang were also active at Marcus's
site).
Also, it seems that Maha Anna had also been a (silent)
reader of jcert, who followed Tony and me to javaranch. You
can see that her registration date is actually just one day
after Tony and me. She kept quiet though for about a month -
then she just sort of appeared out of the blue (from my
perspective anyway) and started dispensing insight and wisdom
the likes of which Tony and I only dreamed of. So eventually we were able to move on to discover
the other forums of javaranch, and leave Programmer Cert in
extremely capable hands. 
[ October 19, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]
--------------------
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is
simple, neat, and wrong.
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Pauline McNamara
bartender
Member # 8347
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posted October 19, 2002 11:09 AM
I think my first post was a
question about one of the exercises in Thinking in Java. I was
attempting to teach myself programming with no IT background,
so little that I didn't even realize that that book was not
intended for me.
Trying to learn from books has two pitfalls: not many have
exercises with answers, and if they do, you never really find
out *why* the right answer is right.
Somehow I stumbled onto the Cattle Drive and signed up.
Feedback for free?!?! Haven't looked back since. (Haven't
finished the Drive either...  )
Definitely hooked. 
PS When I saw the thing about no cows being harmed in the
making of the roundup game, I thought, "Yeah. This is my kind
of goofy place."
[ October 19, 2002: Message edited by: Pauline McNamara
]
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Rob Ross
bartender
Member # 24441
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posted October 22, 2002 07:38 PM
I had decided to get my
SCJP cert in October of last year. I had started searching
google for sample tests, and found many web sites devoted to
java and even SCJP. JavaRanch was one of many that came up in
my google search. I surfed around for a while, visted the
Rules Roundup and Campfire Stories, then found the message
boards. I was impressed with the traffic and the immediate,
well-though out responses to my questions. I quickly realized
this was the "in" place to be for studying for the SCJP.
I spent a lot of time answering questions in the SCJP
forum, because answering questions is the best way to learn
things! And I guess some of you thought I was helpful enough
to be magically turned into a frog, but I think your frog-wand
was broken that day, so I ended up a bartender. And the rest
is history!
Actually, I keep meaning to start studying for the Web
developer java cert,and one of these days I will, and I'll
probably start spending a lot more time answering questions in
that forum as well.
--------------------
Rob ![[beerchug]](JavaRanch Big Moose Saloon Just out of curiosity_files/beerchug.gif)
SCJP 1.4
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Johannes de Jong
bartender
Member # 8671
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posted October 23, 2002 12:39 AM
I was busy with my yearly
career plan. Java seemed a great thing to learn. In my
planning I had to work out a "stappenplan" i.e.. steps to get
to the level of "senior" Java programmer.
Well certification was one of the steps. Google lead me to
Marcus's site and from him to the JR.
From there I ended up doing the Cattle Drive.
Java never became part of my "career" and my interest in
Java dwindled.
But though I've tried to leave the JR a few times before, I
can't seem to get this place out of my blood.
I've made friends here and it's hard to leave friends.
--------------------
Johannes likes to write code. He has written lots of it.
Not much Haiku, though.
Chris Hargrove - The Gas Powered Team
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Angela Poynton
sheriff
Member # 530
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posted October 23, 2002 06:32 AM
I had just finished my
degree in Film and Video and having decided the "industry"
wasn't for me after all managed to swing a place in a Graduate
Trainee Scheme run by BA, I had been here three months doing
intensive courses in C, PL/SQL and Pro*C when I was given my
first work assignment .. in the e-commerce development dept
(still there to this day). Of course, they didn't use C, they
used Java so I had to start al over again!
My mentor was
browsing and found the Rules Round-Up and got me playing that
to help me learn. Then we found the Cattle Drive ... then I
found the forums. I fell in love with the place, and got very
lucky when I volunteered to be a bartender when there was a
shortage and not many volunteers, I think I was promoted from
Greenhorn to RanchHand to Batender in a matter of days!!
A
few months later I volunteered to take over the Bunkhouse,
re-design it, create a process where more people could review
books ... and well the rest is history!!
Now in
semi-retirement .. .still pop my head round the door most days
but currently very busy at work, with my eddie-izzard.com
site, moderating a couple of other groups I belong to and
finding some kind of time for something resembling a LIFE
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Johannes de Jong
bartender
Member # 8671
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posted October 23, 2002 06:51 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Matola:
Hey, aren't those those things you fold over and punch in
the machine to ride the trams in Amsterdam?
Nope thats the strippenkaart. Good try though
--------------------
Johannes likes to write code. He has written lots of it.
Not much Haiku, though.
Chris Hargrove - The Gas Powered Team
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Andrew Monkhouse
bartender
and jackaroo
Member # 47425
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posted August 30, 2003 08:17 PM
It's Kathy and Bert's
fault!!!
I decided to quit work and concentrate on learning Java
properly this year (having been using a very small subset of
it for the last few years), and bought two books to help with
SCJP - one of which was Kathy & Bert's. In it they
mentioned JavaRanch, (as well as being mentioned by several
other books I was reading and several sites I was going to),
and I liked K & B's book (even if it sometimes annoyed me
) so I figured that any site they recommended might
be worth a look so I started coming here.
Unfortunately I got my SCJP before I got my ADSL
connection, so it wasnt until I started SCJD that I got really
involved. And I seem to have stuck in that forum, with
occassional forays into Linux and MD.
Regards, Andrew
--------------------
Little known fact about Middle Earth: The Hobbits had a
very sophisticated computer network! It was a Tolkien
Ring...
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Ernest Friedman-Hill
bartender
and author
Member # 52711
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posted August 30, 2003 08:49 PM
I'm a pretty recent convert
-- earlier this summer, actually. Occasionally in the past I'd
get a link to a campfire story after a google search, but I
had never paid much attention. But then I came to the forums
when Manning's publicist signed me up to do a book promotion.
I'm not sure what it was, but I was hooked the first day. I've
been spending way too much time here every day, ever since,
and I suspect this will go on for a long, long time. JavaRanch
is like crack! (no crack pipe icon, have to make do.)
Seriously, I used to teach Java in lecture courses for
Berkeley Extension and U.C. San Diego Extension, then as a
consultant around the Bay Area, and then online; I really
enjoyed helping people to learn to program. I taught from 1995
to 2001, and by the end I counted something like 3000 students
in total. After my daughter got to a certain age (2.5 or so),
I just didn't have time anymore, so i sadly resigned my
various academic posts.
Java Ranch has the same kind of "feel" I used to try to
have in the classes I taught: "serious fun" I think you'd call
it. The "be nice" rule and the naming policy are sheer genius.
And of course the generous ego-stroking policy for authors
hasn't hurt. Java Ranch is great fun!
--------------------
Jess in Action, my new book about the rule
engine for Real Programmers!
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![[argh]](JavaRanch Big Moose Saloon Just out of curiosity_files/argh.gif)
thus I retreat to study two books: Thinking in Java
and Inside The Java 2 Virtual Machine. Then the posts began to
make sense 
