Maybe also an IQ test for good measure before coming into our country to live or to study.
2 days ago my group and I completed our professional presentation of our system (Web and office).
One of the teachers said that we showed that we understood the business requirements better than anyone else previously.
At the end I was told secretly by one of the teachers who was marking our system and the presentation that we were given a high distinction (80%+) for our entire project.
Here are the problems that I had over the last 6 months or so with the group.
The group consisted of 3 people, girl, guy and myself. The other people in my group were foreigners.
The guy was the project leader for the project.
We started off rough(organisation) but persevered and managed to plan the project and finished the feasibility.
It wasn't until the coding stage where the sheer incompetence occured.
We started off doing the office system.
I knew that the other 2 couldn't code for shit so I insisted that I do all the coding and they just do the documentation except for the technical documentation and all the paperwork.
Unfortunately the girl wanted to do the office system.
The girl insisted that I show her how to do a single windows form with databound controls.
I argued for a while about this because to do such a thing is very simple and takes less than a minute. There was no way in fuck that I would let her do this because she would fuck it up since she lacks basic knowledge on this.
Eventually I just showed her and gave her the responsibility of the office system because she kept whining over it and the project leader asked me nicely.
I told the project leader to keep an eye on her and reminded him time and time again that this was his responsibility.
Throughout the last weeks I was doing the web system along with learning advanced concepts about the database and the application functionality.
Throughout this time she came to me and asked for help about the errors she was getting.
Since we still had around 3 weeks to complete the project I didn't really take note of her half assed system.
After looking at her code I came to the conclusion that it wasn't her own. I came to this conclusion by the fact that the code used in "her" forms was copy pasted from the form I showed her how to create.
Not only did she copy/paste my code but she did the same thing from the books only that "paste" turned into "type".
I did something stupid then, I tried to explain that copying code isn't going to make the program work.
In fact it made it unstable.
She asked questions about what should she include in the office system.
I attempted to answer her questions and sometimes she would repeat the same question after I had answered it. When I explain things to her I explain them in Layman's terms(at the current level we're at I shouldn't be doing this).
Even after the project leader tried to explain what I was saying to her she would demonstrate the marvel of incompetence.
There were many times I wanted to go off at her and tell her to sit in the corner or something because of her inability to understand anything.
Earlier on in the project one of the teachers told the project leader not to give the girl any important responsibilities because of her inability to comprehend anything as was demonstrated in her assignments.
The Java teacher went off at her a few times because she just doesn't understand basic concepts.
How the hell did she pass the first semester?
People like myself were too kind and "helped" her, if you get my drift.
During the last few weeks of the project she never came to me for help, I asked her from time to time how things were going and she said they were alright.
It wasn't until 3 days before the presentation that I was about to blow a gasket.
She had problems with her system and asked me to fix them.
When I had opened up the office system the program was in the exact same state that it was several weeks ago.
I was pissed, I attempted to fix the system and things like crystal reports(there were 2 used in the system but around 10-20 reports in the directory with the source files).
Not only was the program in what I would call a pre-alpha state but the organisation of the files and the rubbish in there made it very difficult for me to repair anything.
In fact I asked both team members why have they given me this "crap".
I said I can't deploy this project because I can't locate the files necessary without including all the rubbish with the program.
The file names were not only inconsistent but it would take me ages to manually locate the file names because all the names were similar.
When I create my programs I keep different file types in different folders and organise those files within appropriate sub folders if needed.
I asked the project leader who was responsible for the reports to locate them and give them to me seperately, he told me that they weren't crap and that he asked the girl to get rid of all the obsolete entries a long time ago.
She kept overwriting new work with old and hence the rubbish from the old versions were kept in with the new.
I had 3 days to clean everything up, do the office system from scratch and add a lot of new funcitonality in order to meet the business requirements.
She wasn't happy when I told her I was going to start a new office system because it would mean that she did nothing. She told me she came in at 9am in the morning to 4pm or sometimes 5pm to work on the system.
The sad part is that she wasn't lying. I wanted to go off at her but I didn't because it wasn't her fault for being incompetent.
In the end I not only did the entire web system by myself but the office system as well.
The project leader wasn't all that helpful throughout the project.
On the day of the presentation I wanted to discuss the office system and I had given her the responsibility to explain the web system. She wasn't happy, she was complaining that she was more comfortable with the office system than the web system.
The web system was very easy to use.
Basic logging into the page to access certain parts was all that was required.
I showed her how to use it and then she said that it wasn't fair that I tell her to explain the web system because she spent time preparing for the office system.
I told her that the office system was recreated and she wouldn't know how to use it.
She argued the web system was too difficult to use and she was more comfortable with the office system she'd never seen before the day.
Eventually I let her have her way.
During the presentation she was trying to explain the office system's functionality.
During this time she made several major errors in her explanations which after she had finished I eneded up explaining the office system from scratch.
During my explanations I kept using the letter "I" when refering to what we've(I've) done with the systems.
This isn't a habbit of mine.
I never refer to myself doing something unless I really did.
In the end we we're praised and criticised for our work.
When Michael(one of the teachers involved in marking the whole system) seen my web system he shook his head when he'd seen the colours.
He did the same when I said that I should have added more functionality. That time was good because I had thought there was a lack of functionality.
I myself was criticised for using the letter "I" when refering to what we've(I've) done.
I wrote the web system all by myself without aid except from Diplo about session variables(thanks buddy) and I also had rewritten the office system from scratch in 3 days.
She said that it wasn't possible because it had taken her 6 months to do so (which was impossible because we had about 3 months to finish the project).
Lessons learnt?
Do everything yourself. Teamwork is feasible only if you have competent team members.
2 days ago my group and I completed our professional presentation of our system (Web and office).
One of the teachers said that we showed that we understood the business requirements better than anyone else previously.
At the end I was told secretly by one of the teachers who was marking our system and the presentation that we were given a high distinction (80%+) for our entire project.
Here are the problems that I had over the last 6 months or so with the group.
The group consisted of 3 people, girl, guy and myself. The other people in my group were foreigners.
The guy was the project leader for the project.
We started off rough(organisation) but persevered and managed to plan the project and finished the feasibility.
It wasn't until the coding stage where the sheer incompetence occured.
We started off doing the office system.
I knew that the other 2 couldn't code for shit so I insisted that I do all the coding and they just do the documentation except for the technical documentation and all the paperwork.
Unfortunately the girl wanted to do the office system.
The girl insisted that I show her how to do a single windows form with databound controls.
I argued for a while about this because to do such a thing is very simple and takes less than a minute. There was no way in fuck that I would let her do this because she would fuck it up since she lacks basic knowledge on this.
Eventually I just showed her and gave her the responsibility of the office system because she kept whining over it and the project leader asked me nicely.
I told the project leader to keep an eye on her and reminded him time and time again that this was his responsibility.
Throughout the last weeks I was doing the web system along with learning advanced concepts about the database and the application functionality.
Throughout this time she came to me and asked for help about the errors she was getting.
Since we still had around 3 weeks to complete the project I didn't really take note of her half assed system.
After looking at her code I came to the conclusion that it wasn't her own. I came to this conclusion by the fact that the code used in "her" forms was copy pasted from the form I showed her how to create.
Not only did she copy/paste my code but she did the same thing from the books only that "paste" turned into "type".
I did something stupid then, I tried to explain that copying code isn't going to make the program work.
In fact it made it unstable.
She asked questions about what should she include in the office system.
I attempted to answer her questions and sometimes she would repeat the same question after I had answered it. When I explain things to her I explain them in Layman's terms(at the current level we're at I shouldn't be doing this).
Even after the project leader tried to explain what I was saying to her she would demonstrate the marvel of incompetence.
There were many times I wanted to go off at her and tell her to sit in the corner or something because of her inability to understand anything.
Earlier on in the project one of the teachers told the project leader not to give the girl any important responsibilities because of her inability to comprehend anything as was demonstrated in her assignments.
The Java teacher went off at her a few times because she just doesn't understand basic concepts.
How the hell did she pass the first semester?
People like myself were too kind and "helped" her, if you get my drift.
During the last few weeks of the project she never came to me for help, I asked her from time to time how things were going and she said they were alright.
It wasn't until 3 days before the presentation that I was about to blow a gasket.
She had problems with her system and asked me to fix them.
When I had opened up the office system the program was in the exact same state that it was several weeks ago.
I was pissed, I attempted to fix the system and things like crystal reports(there were 2 used in the system but around 10-20 reports in the directory with the source files).
Not only was the program in what I would call a pre-alpha state but the organisation of the files and the rubbish in there made it very difficult for me to repair anything.
In fact I asked both team members why have they given me this "crap".
I said I can't deploy this project because I can't locate the files necessary without including all the rubbish with the program.
The file names were not only inconsistent but it would take me ages to manually locate the file names because all the names were similar.
When I create my programs I keep different file types in different folders and organise those files within appropriate sub folders if needed.
I asked the project leader who was responsible for the reports to locate them and give them to me seperately, he told me that they weren't crap and that he asked the girl to get rid of all the obsolete entries a long time ago.
She kept overwriting new work with old and hence the rubbish from the old versions were kept in with the new.
I had 3 days to clean everything up, do the office system from scratch and add a lot of new funcitonality in order to meet the business requirements.
She wasn't happy when I told her I was going to start a new office system because it would mean that she did nothing. She told me she came in at 9am in the morning to 4pm or sometimes 5pm to work on the system.
The sad part is that she wasn't lying. I wanted to go off at her but I didn't because it wasn't her fault for being incompetent.
In the end I not only did the entire web system by myself but the office system as well.
The project leader wasn't all that helpful throughout the project.
On the day of the presentation I wanted to discuss the office system and I had given her the responsibility to explain the web system. She wasn't happy, she was complaining that she was more comfortable with the office system than the web system.
The web system was very easy to use.
Basic logging into the page to access certain parts was all that was required.
I showed her how to use it and then she said that it wasn't fair that I tell her to explain the web system because she spent time preparing for the office system.
I told her that the office system was recreated and she wouldn't know how to use it.
She argued the web system was too difficult to use and she was more comfortable with the office system she'd never seen before the day.
Eventually I let her have her way.
During the presentation she was trying to explain the office system's functionality.
During this time she made several major errors in her explanations which after she had finished I eneded up explaining the office system from scratch.
During my explanations I kept using the letter "I" when refering to what we've(I've) done with the systems.
This isn't a habbit of mine.
I never refer to myself doing something unless I really did.
In the end we we're praised and criticised for our work.
When Michael(one of the teachers involved in marking the whole system) seen my web system he shook his head when he'd seen the colours.
He did the same when I said that I should have added more functionality. That time was good because I had thought there was a lack of functionality.
I myself was criticised for using the letter "I" when refering to what we've(I've) done.
I wrote the web system all by myself without aid except from Diplo about session variables(thanks buddy) and I also had rewritten the office system from scratch in 3 days.
She said that it wasn't possible because it had taken her 6 months to do so (which was impossible because we had about 3 months to finish the project).
Lessons learnt?
Do everything yourself. Teamwork is feasible only if you have competent team members.
