ASP.NET GridView datastringformat - custom date format

To create custom data format (or any standard string format used by Microsoft):

DataFormatString="{0:MM/dd/yyyy}"


For standard formats:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.boundfield.dataformatstring(v=vs.110).aspx


Sample:
http://dlastlee.com/Apps/SWRM/Releases.aspx

C# GridView - Hide Cell/Link When Value is NULL

By default, I could not get GridView to hide hyperlink (HyperLinkField) when the tag value is null. I tried searching for a way to get around this and did not find a simple solution.

First, the solution that I decided to do was just to update my query to provide the text when there is a value and an empty string if the value is null. I do this using a CASE...WHEN...END in my sql query.

For example:

SELECT *, newcolumn = CASE WHEN column IS NULL THEN '' ELSE 'text' END FROM table

In the gridview, I set gridview's DataTextField = newcolumn.

For example:

<asp:HyperLinkField DataNavigateUrlFields="columnid" DataNavigateUrlFormatString="http://www.dlastlee.com/?id={0}" HeaderText="column" DataTextField="newcolumn" />

Another method from what I found was to use an ItemTemplate. http://forums.asp.net/t/1210815.aspx?Conditional+Logic+on+HyperlinkField


For some reason, this was actually very difficult to find. I wonder if I am doing something incorrectly. I couldn't possibly be the only person to want to do this. Everyone seems to want to hide a column.


I used this logic for list of movies that links to other sites:
http://dlastlee.com/Apps/Generic/FilmographyMovies.aspx

HR - Replacement to Resumes?

The resume was a method to transfer the knowledge of a person's skillsets to the company. With today's technology to easily store all skillsets into a central location, I believe companies should have a method to determine which skillsets to review instead of depending on candidates to "highlight" the skills that they think is what the company is looking for.

It is great skill to be able to market oneself in 1-2 pages, but like marketing there are hidden variables that may make a difference. Why would a company hire someone because they know how to market themselves? And then compensate the candidate accordingly? What can end up is someone being compensated not according to skillsets or personal situations, thus causing more dissatisfaction within the group.

That is the industry standard. I believe there is room for companies that can make use of modern technology to filter actual skillsets that give better gauge on an employees potential fit to the company. Happy employer, happy employee would make a more cost effective benefit to both parties.

There should be patterns to a person like they have for personalities (16personalities.com). Basically a corporate HR should be able to see current skillsets and potential future growths. Reality is that people are not looking to change to do the same thing, so to poach star employees for lower cost is to move them to a new position.

In conclusion, the whole process to have candidates sell themselves then have corporations pick the best sales pitch seems quite backwards. Corporations have the dataset on what types of skillsets make a good candidate. Candidates are more valuable when they can focus on what they do well and not waste some talents on self-marketing or understanding their value in the market. Bridging this gap would be a win-win for bother employer and employee.

HR - Years of Experience

I have never understood the whole "X-Y years of experience" because this seems to be a metric that does not mean anything and nearly impossible to gauge. I have worked with people with 20+ years of experience yet struggle with the basics. If anything, I have more concerns that someone has been doing the same thing for 20+ years especially in the technology industry. There are some exceptions like chefs, service providers, etc. But even then, that is not a strong indication of knowledge or skill.

In my experience, I find that the more "experienced" colleagues to be much slower at completing tasks and quite inflexible in learning new ideas. Maybe I pick things up faster. I end up wasting a lot of time just waiting getting trained or training others. On top of that, they seem to get flustered and stressed over changes making improvements ever harder to adopt. Although, I have found that these types of colleagues usually have decent work ethics.

On the other hand, those who appear to be less experienced have many variables that make them hard to determine what quality of work is expected. Work ethic is very difficult to judge within a couple hours but easily seen after a month. Learning curve is also another large variable. 

What if someone is experienced but has short exposure to new skill? What does it even mean to have 2 years of experience? I worked at a small business where I had to work on many things at the same time. I could claim 20 different skills at 2 years, but I will not be as good as someone who does one thing for 2 years. On paper, I would look better and other person could be filtered even if I am deemed unfit after an interview. 

So at the end of the day, what does "years of experience" even say about a candidate? I've worked jobs where they requested 5-10 years yet I learn most of it within a few months and excel my colleagues within a year. I think this description is such a waste of space while misleading everyone.

As a candidate, this shows me the HR has no idea what the position entails. This is a way to summarize the job description without knowing what they are looking for, yet a method to make it look like they did some research because nothing looks better than numbers. And sadly, knowledgeable candidates know how to game the system.

My goal with the Human Resource Management application is to better understand the roles and candidates. I believe good companies need a better method to hire quality candidates and for good candidates to find good companies, so there must be a method to bridge this gap.

As of 1/9/2016, there has been little development. The database is still being constructed and most of my attention is still on the other applications.

http://dlastlee.com/Apps/HRM/