Yes, I am fully available. Please note that I keep this website up to date.

I would have to consider a couple of factors to give a straight answer. In general I don't mind any arrangement, as long as there is work to do.

I moved from Canada to Spain. There have been things I wanted to do in Canada before leaving and in Spain after arriving. Also note that my latest contracts have been pretty hectic, with minimal vacation taken in some years.

Leaving a country and starting a new life in another country can be complex and needs to be managed. I have been using AI extensively for various tasks, administrative, linguistic or technical alike. For instance with AI's help I wrote an application in Python that helps me hear phrases in Spanish. So I have been somewhat exposed to IT in one way or another. By now I am quite settled and already devoting full-time to IT.

I am willing to consider it. Of course some destinations I would prefer more than the others, so a number of factors apply. Such as the employment arrangement. For instance, I am open to more locations when it comes to short-term arrangements (number of months long).

I value being flexible. The same applies to my ability to relocate. For short-term arrangements I can relocate within days. In case of long commitments, I could relocate within a couple of weeks. Note that I recently relocated from Canada to Spain.

I may not know the actual location or working arrangement, but the work I'll be doing would be IT-related and ideally I would work at full capacity.

I am a senior developer. I know what I am doing. My managers quickly learn that I can be fully trusted, so my interaction with them is usually rather low and mostly focused on a bigger picture. I like working in a pleasant environment and I make sure I do my part. Managers and colleagues alike find me very open and always with a friendly attitude.

Clients are those who directly benefit from my work. I feel like I owe them, so I do care a great deal about their satisfaction. I always try to open any line of communication, preferably to talk to them in person, and assure them about me being always there for them throughout the project's life-cycle (and even beyond if circumstances permit). To make them comfortable letting me know any concerns or questions they might have. Let them know that if I am on board, I am on board fully.

It is a question of scope. Any budget change implies a scope redefinition. The best I can do, and that applies in general, is to scope out my work as clearly as I can. I am one of those people who document everything, so I do make sure my scopes are well understood by everybody involved.

There is one saying I like to use: "Relax and enjoy the crisis". Crises do happen. The best way to handle them is to calm down and try to see the big picture. Only then can you bring the best out of yourself and avoid more damage caused by rushed decisions. Crisis or not, I'm always trying my best. No matter what the outcome, doing my best gives me a calm, inner strength to which my colleagues respond well.

I don't look at my work in terms of achievements. Big achievements are often accompanied with big failures. And failing is something I try hard to avoid. I naturally try my best no matter what kind or what size of the project I work on. So I aim for more solid, risk-free performance.

Just like anybody, I have my limits, I can make a mistake here and there. There is that much I can do, but I make sure I do what I can. I am detail oriented, I handle complex issues very well and I test my code thoroughly. As a result, my work is usually at a very high standard. What I could improve are not so much my technical skills, but rather the soft skills. Such as PR skills towards the management - I tend to be more technical and less verbal.

Down to earth. I expect to be paid the market rate in a given location for a given occupation. I strongly believe that the relationship between employer and employee should be equal and mutually beneficial. I don't want to be paid more or less than what it should be.

Not particularly. But it is always nice to get some feedback once in a while. When I paint a wall I can see the wall before and after painting. I can get some visual satisfaction. I like when IT technology can present a similar satisfaction here and there (for instance in the form of a website or a report). Also clients are likely to appreciate something visual rather than some dry technical code.

I have done ETL on a number of projects. For instance when I had to divide one data model into two, or when I was moving data from one data model into another, more complex data model. Moving data from let's say DB2 to Oracle would be another example. Or importing or exporting data to structured or flat files.

The tighter the deadline, the more crucial the resource allocation. The key is to have all the ducks in a row. The scopes of the team members must be well defined. A targeted communication should be established and maintained as needed (but not overdone). The architects/DBAs should be involved heavily from the beginning of the work and testers towards the end of it. The direct exposure to the BSA/SME/documentation layer is essential during the whole time.

With tighter deadlines the whole team must act like a well-oiled machine. Issues must be identified and acted on early and decisively. Overall strategy should prioritize achieving tangible goals.

I try my best to come up with as detailed an estimate as possible. Once I have a final estimate I simply double it. Surprisingly, this approach gives very realistic results.

Assuming the specifications are already made and confirmed by the client, I would divide the allocated time into three more or less equal portions (depending on the project). In the first third I would target a proof of concept. For instance, to be able to process a typical transaction, through all the stages of its life-cycle, including client's acceptance. At the end of the second third all the core development should be done. The last third will be testing, bug-fixing and documenting, executed with user's closed involvement.

For example, I get involved in build processes. I've been deploying code into production environments as part of either the scheduled build process or emergency fixes. Another example would be developing a key infrastructure, such as data models, main transactions or control modules.

There was a requirement to generate files as a result of Oracle database batch run. Those files would be first copied to a dedicated Linux server and then FTPed to appropriate sites. Depending on the success of the FTP step, the original files would get archived and another database step would take place afterwards. And it all should happen in one transaction.

The requirement started and finished with a database task, indicating a database scope. Therefore I decided on a database solution. First, I would generate all the data files from the database, using Oracle packages. The combination of conditional file copying and FTP-ing required host OS commands, a task the plain Oracle database is not capable of. However, from the database I could generate whatever OS shell script I needed. With the use of Java I would then execute the generated script from within the database. After the script's successful completion the last database step would be executed in the same transaction. So in this case I had to utilize Oracle packages, Oracle scripting language PL/SQL, Linux shell scripting and Java.

It all depends on whether he or she has access to a development-friendly AI.

If access to AI is not available:
Every question you might have has most likely been asked and answered before. It is all on the Internet. Find a tutorial that suits you; understand, copy and modify code examples that meet your needs; paste the errors you are getting into a search engine when you get stuck; deal with one issue at a time and use logs, messages, or even color backgrounds (be creative) to validate your progress. You will most likely spend more time researching on the web than doing actual coding.

If access to AI is available:
Use it to the fullest. But make sure the communication is structured and you are in charge. AI is keen to provide results, but those results may not match what you need. Junk in, junk out. Run through your assignments with AI in words first. Coding comes later. Ask AI to summarize what you are telling it and make sure it is fully aligned with your needs. Save that list; you might use it during the development to remind AI what the goals are. Ask AI to generate the code in stages you can independently evaluate. At the end ask AI to create documentation.

Get two screens if you can. This way you can code in one and research in the other.

I always start with a big picture. I go to websites such as Wikipedia and I try to understand the purpose of the technology, its origins and what phases it went through so far. Then I look for web tutorials that meet my needs. By now I prefer more example based tutorials. I pay particular attention to the author of the tutorial. He/she must be a proven professional in a given field with a balanced view, presenting the technology with its industry standards and its limitations.

Lately, AI has fundamentally changed the way I approach a new technology. It is possible with AI's help to get reasonably good code fairly quickly. The key is to understand what the requirements are and make sure AI is fully aligned with them at all times.

Yes, I can. I have done it in the past, via VPN for instance. Some developers claim to lack concentration when working from home. Not with me; my working location doesn't influence my coding capabilities. In fact, when I work from home I might even lose track of time and work prolonged hours.

Sure, I don't see a reason why not. Improving my skills is something I constantly do, with or without the outside help.

For instance, cosmopolitan areas of Canada are very ethnically diverse. When I worked for CMiC in Toronto, from its 60 employees only 5 were born in Canada. I have learnt to work with people literally from all over the world - and enjoy it! There are different working cultures out there. In the working culture I come from, the work is not just the source of income, but the very purpose of life and a major source of pride. I am hard-working and goal-oriented and I have found that people of any cultural background positively respond to that. After all, it is work that brought us together. I like expanding my horizons, meeting new people with different views of life, so I do very well in an international environment.