The three simple rules of software development.

For anyone who doesn't really know, I'm a bass player. Not a bad one to boot according to others who want to use me on the odd album, tour or session. In 1987, or there abouts, I read an interview in Guitarist magazine. I'd not heard of the guy up until that point but he was just compelling to read about, the bassist was Doug Wimbish.

At the end of the article there's the usual end of article cop out of, "Doug do you have any advice to other bass players?". The response was pretty what I considered off the wall. "Share anything about your playing to anyone and don't go around thinking that your sh*t doesn't stink!".

In photography we now have the likes of Dave Hobby, Joe McNally and Chase Jarvis and a legion of other great photogs willing to share. They'll give you the whole nine yards on lighting techniques, shooting techniques the lot.

Lastly I've been busy organising the first Open Coffee Coleraine meeting. There's no real forum for businesses to get together and just share, so I created one and Starbucks willingly offered a venue. Networking never used to be an issue to me, my network was pretty much online but that technique has reduced vastly over the years. Showing your face and personality has become important again. It's not about programming, it's about branding, the brand called You!

So, the three rules of software development:

1. You are only as good as your network says you are.
2. Be willing to share anything with anyone.
3. Don't go around thinking that your sh*t doesn't stink! :)