Winnie Tu

Construction: an industry loaded with opportunity!

Blog, Featured, Interns Posted: August 11, 2017

We always thought we’d be dressed in blazers and heels for our first business trip — not steel-toed workboots and polos.

So when HCSS President and CEO Mike Rydin initially told us on about our potential trip to Ohio, we were, at first, shocked and speechless. Mike was sending us to Ohio with the HCSS marketing team to conduct video interviews of people who work in the construction industry about their jobs. We asked them questions like:

“Tell us about your educational background.”

“What do you love about construction?”

“How did you get started in the industry?”

“What does your job role entail?”

Their answers, along with videos and photos of Ohio landmarks and construction sites, will be turned into a video for that will help high school and college students learn about construction and get pumped to join the industry. Our goal is to help recruit young people to the industry and show them that the stereotype of “hardhat-wearing strong men sweating in the sun all day while hammering things and pouring concrete” isn’t an entirely accurate view of working in construction.

We flew to Columbus, Ohio, on a Sunday afternoon and started working around Cincinnati at 3 a.m. the following morning.

During that first day, we had to interview construction workers for John R. Jurgensen Company, Eaton Asphalt Paving Co., Inc, and Kelchner. We also met instructors, volunteers, and attendees of Rosie’s Girls, a summer program through the YWCA that introduces girls ages 11 to 13 to STEM-related careers and teaches basic skills in carpentry and other trades.

We toured Messer Construction Company’s new headquarters, currently under construction, visited the University of Cincinnati to interview a professor and more construction workers, stopped by the Great American Ballpark (home of the Cincinnati Reds), and did a little bit of sightseeing.

Looking back on it, it’s surreal that we fit two states (we went into Kentucky) and so many site visits into one day. We’re the type of interns that enjoy having important tasks to accomplish, so the busy schedule was perfect for us. As Josephine De La Baume put it, “you can really only enjoy life when you’re extremely busy.” Any idle seconds we spent in Ohio would equate to missed interviews, sites, pictures, experiences, and memories.

Jackie Alf, Executive Vice President of John R. Jurgensen Co., HCSS intern Jackie Rosenthal, HCSS Project Manager Karen Hall, and HCSS intern Leona Ellankil stand in front of the Roebling Suspension Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Cincinnat, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky.

During our second day, we met with employees at The Jurgensen Companies’ headquarters and also interviewed workers at a road construction site in Middletown, Ohio, before watching a blast at Melvin Stone Company’s limestone quarry in Wilmington. The purpose of the blast was to harvest some limestone rock from the quarry wall to use as aggregate in different construction jobs, and it was a real treat seeing that explosion.We also toured the quarry and saw the tracks on which the carts of limestone travel.

Jackie and Leona pose in front of the blast site at the limestone quarry in Wilmington, Ohio.

On the third day, we interviewed The Beaver Excavating Co. workers at the Harrison Hills High School construction site in Cadiz, Ohio. The site was a learning experience for both of us, as we learned about dynamic compaction, which features a crane dropping a weight to compact dirt on the ground so that the building on top of the ground won’t cave in once it’s built. We were even lucky enough to see the process in action at the job site. It was also interesting to see how proud the employees and students were of the site — a school at which they would soon teach and learn, respectively. Later in the day we shot some B-roll, or extra footage, at Piedmont Lake before interviewing tradesmen at Ohio CAT Construction Equipment in Columbus.
On our final day in Ohio, we interviewed employees at Kokosing Construction Company, Inc., in Westerville before returning home to Houston. The people we interviewed at Kokosing expressed stories about themselves or people they know who were able to move up in roles in the construction industry, like being promoted from laborer to estimator.
We came back from Ohio with such a deep appreciation and excitement for construction. We met more than 50 people in the industry and had experiences we never even imagined. The state of Ohio and its construction companies treated us well, and we hope we can give back to them with successful videos.

Jackie’s Thoughts

I was honored to be invited to Ohio on behalf on I Build America. It was one of the most eye-opening events I’ve experienced. One of the trip’s highlights was getting to know the stories and passions of so many people, all of whom I would have never even met if it wasn’t for this opportunity.

I was even somewhat envious of the young construction workers I met: many of them were around 20 years old, with a house, a wife or husband, kids, cars, fun vacations, tradeskills, no college debt, and jobs they thoroughly enjoyed. You can bet that I’ll be doing my part to let my friends in high school and college know what a great career choice the construction industry is. In fact, I’ve already begun doing so.

I think it’s time we realize the trades and construction are just as important, if not more so, than other industries that require college degrees. Without roads, how would an ambulance get from an emergency scene to the hospital? Without buildings, where would businessmen be officed? The construction industry should no longer be overlooked by so many young people.

The trip also helped me realize four things I want in my own career: a job that includes travel, a job that is well paying, a job that enables me to meet and get to know many interesting people on a personal level, and a job that stirs up a strong passion within me.

Jackie interviewing Jim Rocchi, Eastern Ohio Director of Outreach for the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio

Leona’s Thoughts

Prior to this internship and trip, I always had this mindset that the construction industry revolved around hard hats and working outdoors. But in reality, there is so much more to it.

Going on this trip helped me to realize there are numerous jobs for people in this industry, including estimators, foremen, project managers, laborers, supervisors, and much more! The jobs can vary from working either outdoors or indoors, or both.

I was honored to have the ability to interview people in this industry for our ‘I Build America’ video, during which I was able to see each person’s passion for their job, and and I enjoyed every second of it.

Something interesting that I noticed on this trip was the number of women working in the construction industry. They were truly inspiring, and each one of them showed how much confidence, power, and knowledge they bring to the table. On our visit to Rosie’s Girls, we met a woman who was pregnant with a baby due just two weeks later. Yet she still continued to work as a carpenter and to show the young girls how awesome her job is. This situation gave me a new perspective on life, that I or any women can do anything we set our minds to.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to go on this trip. It had a huge impact on how I view the construction industry. To all high school or college students looking for a career path to follow, look into the construction industry.

Leona listens to an interview at a John R. Jurgensen site and completing a checklist.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work for R&D

Blog, Interns Posted: July 21, 2017

Robin Sharma, a leadership advisor, states “The bigger the dream, the more important the team.” The research and development team at HCSS has big dreams and ideas that make it important and beneficial to the company, and that’s why I believe R&D is the dream team of HCSS.

I am currently a summer intern for the R&D team, and during the two months I’ve been working here, I have seen a group of many people with many different mindsets working together and creating unique products for the company. The projects I have been assigned don’t feel like work because I truly enjoy projects that can make an impact on the company and the R&D team in the near future.

The R&D team consists of 11 members. Each has a different viewpoint, but each viewpoint is moving towards the beginning of a new, improved product and process. Seeing the interactions between the members of the team has given me the opportunity to learn new lessons about the work environment and life itself. The main lesson that I picked up from this team that will help me throughout life is to never give up because there is always a solution for every problem.

Looking at my internship so far, I have seen how the R&D team truly works. The team works for everyone; it works for themselves, co-workers, the company, and — most importantly — for the customers.

Not only do I love working with the team, but also I love working for the company itself. HCSS truly cares for its employees by offering so many benefits like wellness programs and Friday lunches. HCSS has a huge impact on its employees and the construction industry too.This internship is exactly what I was looking for; I am able to gain valuable hands-on experience, learn memorable lessons, and acquire new professional skills. I am sincerely thankful to HCSS for giving me the opportunity to intern work for a team that I believe is the dream team.

Credit: Photography by Leona Ellankil

Inside Two Brains – The Interview

Blog, Featured, Talent Posted: July 21, 2017

Readers note: The following story features two different perspectives. One showcases the thoughts of Augustine, the interviewee, while the other showcases the interviewer, Allan’s, thoughts. It turns out, second chances may not be as rare as they seem. This was a unique moment that occurred as part of the HCSS recruitment process.

Augustine: When I received my screening call from Allan, I was incredibly nervous. I tried to be as confident as I could, but let’s be real — I was not as prepared as I should have been, and you could hear it in my voice and see it in my hands.

Prior to our conversation, I did some very basic preparation for this interview. I researched the company and Allan and I skimmed over a few classic interview questions. This was my major mistake.

The interview started, fortunately, with the general opening questions, and everything was going relatively great. Relative is key, though, as I was still clumsy. But the conversation was moving along fine until Allan posed a question that stopped me dead in my tracks.

It was about detail orientation. In hindsight, lot of things went wrong here, the first being the fact that I could not bring the definition of detail orientation to my mind. This led to a series of “ums” and “uhs” and a deafening silence as I sat there paralyzed. There was no way to move past or around the current situation — no good way at all. I had absolutely no idea what to say.

Allan: As I was interviewing Augustine, I could tell she was nervous. After I asked the preliminary questions, like, “How did your hear about us? What makes you interested in joining our team?” I began to ask some deeper questions to see which internship, if any, would be a potential fit.

Augustine knew Tom Webb, HCSS Senior Vice President of Strategy and Research and Development, which shows the initial connection she had to our organization. She was also a student at Texas A&M University and had a lot of positive energy over the phone. Augustine expressed interest in both our Quality Assurance and Strategic Support internship opportunities.

But unfortunately, she struggled with her interview. A bunch of “ums,” “likes,” and “uhs” were thrown out there. I started to contemplate whether Augustine would be a good fit, but there was something that made me pause before making a firm decision.

Augustine: Then Allan started saying things that did not make sense to me, at least given my performance. I fully expected to hear the typical next phrases like, “Thank you, we got what we needed,” or “ That will be all.” However, Allan started saying something along the lines of “reconnect at a later date,” and “you seem a bit nervous,” and, “I am going to send you some resources if that would be okay?” He even asked if we could reschedule the interview and said we would talk soon. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked.

For some reason, God did not choose to close that door. Instead he gave me a second chance, and Allan decided to give me a second chance as well. And this time, there was no way I was going to blow it.

Allan: When Augustine started stumbling, I reflected on my experience as a college freshman interviewing for a scholarship program. The interviewer was an alumnus of my high school, and we bonded over some of my favorite teachers. Then she went straight to the structured, behavior-based interview question. I didn’t even know what a behavior-based interview question was at the time. Around the seventh question, I started to stumble over my words and struggle to find things to say. The fact of the matter is, I didn’t get into that scholarship program.

I didn’t give up so easily though. Afterwards, I took the initiative to go to the Texas A&M Career Center to learn more about the types of questions being asked by interviewers and how to tell my story more effectively. The counselors looked at me funny since I was only a freshman, but I explained my situation and they offered to help.

As I reflected on that experience, I wished that the interviewer had seen my potential and taken me under her wing to give me another shot. This is where the human side of hiring comes into play. I saw the potential in Augustine, and I knew that this was the right moment for me to impact her life.

I wrapped up her interview and advised her to utilize A&M’s resources. We then set up a follow-up date to talk again.

Augustine: Allan sent me resources — from my own school no less — that I studied and memorized. I compiled a list of about 20 potential interview questions and practiced answering each one using a resource called the S.T.A.R method. I wanted to show Allan (and HCSS) that I was not only prepared for this interview, but that I was truly grateful for the second chance.

I felt a lot more confident during the second interview — still nervous, but much more prepared. Allan asked me a couple of questions for which I utilized my new knowledge and confidence to communicate effectively.

Allan: When we talked for the second time, the difference was night and day. Augustine was poised and articulate, yet she showed her fun personality. I was confident to move her on to the on-site interviews, where the feedback from the other interviewers was that she would be a great culture fit.

Although we ended up filling both of the original QA and Strategy Support internships that had been available, she stood out so much that we ended up opening another QA internship role specifically for her. I decided to email, and then called Augustine to see if she was still available.

Augustine: Unfortunately I did not get the jobs that I applied for, and about a week passed before I received a very unexpected but exciting email and subsequent call from Allan. When he offered me a recently-opened QA position for the summer, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and could not wait for my first day.

Allan: On her first day, Augustine stopped by the recruiting office to thank me. I couldn’t be more proud of her. Not only did she take my feedback to help her improve, she ended up getting the opportunity to join an amazing company.

Stories such as this begin with an interest in joining our team. Explore our open opportunities at careers.hcss.com.

Career Change is Possible When the Right Company Supports You

Blog, Development Posted: June 30, 2017

Like many college students, I changed my major path during my university career.

I was a pharmacy student who realized one semester in, after studying and working in a pharmacy, that it wasn’t what I wanted in a career. I took some time off to decide what I did want in a career, and web development caught my attention. It offers a lot of creative freedom to allow me to build something from scratch to a final product and showcase what I have made.

The transition to a computer science major was not always smooth sailing. Unlike people who have been coding their whole life, I was still very new to the field, and I had so much more to learn. Since pharmacy and computer science are two polar opposite fields, it felt as if I even had to relearn how I learn things. Computer science emphasizes problem solving and hands-on experience instead of memorization, which took some getting used to.

When I saw a job posting from HCSS looking for interns, I was very excited to apply. Instead of focusing on the number of years of experience potential hires have, the company focuses more on the candidate’s ability and willingness to learn. I landed a position at HCSS as a data analyst intern for BidHistory.com, and after the product was discontinued, instead of losing my job, the company offered me a position in the product management team. Since then, I have gained many valuable skills, such as website development, SQL, and much more. I also received lots of guidance and support from fellow HCSS employees, which helped me greatly.

A year later, I transitioned into the software development intern position, and even as an intern I got to work on actual product software. I started on smaller bugs and slowly gained enough knowledge to fix bigger problems and add features. I enjoy the work that I do, and my coworkers are fun and amazing! I get to contribute to great products and have a positive impact on the company.

It has been two years since I changed my career path, and the experience has been quite a pleasant journey. I plan to stay at HCSS after I graduate because of the great experience I had here as an intern. Everyone is always ready to jump in and help me learn when I am having any problems, and I’m never afraid to ask questions because I know that I will always learn something new from my coworkers. HCSS has allowed me to step into the world of software development, and it is truly a great place to work because of the awesome people, beautiful facilities, and great benefits.

5 Things I Have Learned Working at HCSS (An Intern’s Perspective)

Blog, Interns Posted: June 30, 2017

1. Talk to people; they’ll talk back.

They really will. There are no cold shoulders here at HCSS. I have not encountered one cold person, which shows that HCSS employs a really awesome group of individuals. If you want to meet people, say hi to them. Ask them odd questions, like, “What is your favorite song to dance to?” or “What was the last midnight snack you ate?”

Even if you don’t know the person super well, still ask because:

• All people are important and no one is a waste of time.

• In 3 seconds you can achieve a different level of depth.

• It keeps you on your toes so you don’t become an automated robot whose day always seems to be going ‘okay’ or ‘fine’ or ‘good.’

2. Sore? Take the slide.

The slide is not only fun to ride down but also really convenient when your legs are sore from company-sponsored strength training or bootcamp or just working out in general. And the slide leads rights to my office pod so it works out really well. I am living large. But not too large. Appreciation is key.

3. Working hard or hardly working?

Contrary to popular belief, office perks like ping pong tables, workout classes, team sports, a stocked kitchen, basketball, full locker rooms, and hoverboards actually promote productivity and high-quality work. I can’t imagine a workplace without these components — partly because this is my first professional workplace experience (and boy is the bar set high), but mainly because I have noticed the outcome of investing in these amenities. For instance, all of these things develop an engaging community within the company, which leads to more cohesive teamwork and an overall more positive work environment, which boosts productivity. And by encouraging movement, blood circulates better through the body, which sharpens the mind and stimulates creativity, also boosting productivity. Who knew ping pong tables and basketball courts had such a positive impact on work environment?

4. Running isn’t as bad as it seems.

I hate(d) running before working at HCSS. I don’t know if it’s because it seems to be a cardio favorite around here or because I really don’t like it and want to get better at it or because HCSS has facilities that allow for an early morning run before work that makes it more appealing, but since coming here, I have actually really enjoyed the sport. I think my mindset has changed. I no longer perceive it as a death sentence but rather as a opportunity to work hard to get better at something, instead of just automatically accepting defeat and moving on. This builds character. Running builds character.

5. True success comes from pure intentions.

HCSS encourages the Socratic question of “Why?” especially in regards to the reasons HCSS operates the way it does. From discussions that have stemmed from this question, I have found a very admirable idea that I really like and think should be every company’s mindset: True success comes from pure intentions. This can be applied to all areas of life. HCSS is focused on providing the best customer service in the industry. They are here to serve their customers. Monetary profit is a byproduct and not the main focus. They take pride in the quality of their work and the satisfaction of their customers. They didn’t come into the game aiming to make more money and dominate the field, they came because they saw a need that hadn’t been fulfilled, and they wanted to provide this service in the best way. They continue to grow and attain success because their intentions remain pure.

Career Fair SWAG

Blog, Talent Posted: June 13, 2017

While I’m not giving you a free clicky pen or a drawstring bag, I am about to provide you with the best piece of recruiting SWAG you will get all summer — knowledge. Below, I have broken down the essentials to nailing your next appearance at your local career fair.

S – Study

Let’s think about what happens 99 percent of the time at a career fair. You show up to the booth and then wait in line to shake the hand of the recruiter at the booth. You leave your résumé, walk away, and think to yourself, “I really hope they remember me.” I hate to be the bearer of unfortunate news, but you just did exactly what the other 100-plus candidates did, and it’s not likely that the recruiter will remember you from any of them.

The best way to make a great first impression and separate yourself from the crowd is to do your research (AKA Study up) on the company and their current openings. It shows you cared enough to do actual work by researching and then applying what you learned. It also potentially gives you access to an actual, personal conversation instead of being one of 100 handshakes. Which would you rather get?

Let’s do some quick scene study:

YOU:
“What do you guys do and do you have any openings for my skills?

ALSO YOU:
Oh, by the way, here is my résumé.”

RECRUITER:
(In a robotic monotone voice)
“Thanks for the résumé. We’ll keep it on file. We’re a software company who creates software for construction companies. Thanks for stopping by. Make sure you apply online. Bye!”

**END SCENE**

Not the most dynamic scene, right? You didn’t make a real impression, and the recruiter in this scene probably said the exact same thing to you that he’s said 100 times to 100 different people that day.

Now let’s look at this scene:

YOU:
“I saw that you guys are a great company and conveniently located right down the street from my favorite restaurant. Also, I’m really interested in the marketing position you have open. Here is my résumé with my latest project at the top. Do you think my skills and experience would fit with that particular role?”

RECRUITER:
(Mind blown)
“As a matter of fact, I do think your résumé matches up with what we’re looking for. Would you mind stepping to the side and telling me more about what you’ve been working on?”

**END SCENE**

Which scene would you prefer – the first, or the second? Obviously you want the second one — duh. I’d choose that every day of the week. There is a dramatic difference with only just a small amount of effort applied!

As recruiters, we are all guilty of robotically reciting the same bit over and over again. So when you walk up prepared and we finally get to have a conversation, our brains become engaged and we are much more likely to recall that conversation and, in turn, you. A little bit of work will go a long way.

W – Wake up early

Want to know how a career fair works from an insider’s perspective? The recruiters show up early in the morning to set up, go get some bagels or muffins from the continental breakfast, snag a cup of coffee to go, and walk back to our booth and wait. We then proceed to check LinkedIn on our phones and make some tweets announcing that we are at the career fair. Then it happens — the whole reason why we came! A candidate walks up! We stand up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with literally as much enthusiasm we are going to have all day. If you show up early, you are getting every recruiter in that room at their peak, before the long day takes its toll.

SIDE NOTE: As a candidate, pay attention the next time you go to a career fair. There will eventually be a point where those behind the booths will start sitting down. At that point, your chances of being remembered go down as well. That is a sign that Mr. or Ms. Recruiter is now starting the process of checking out. They have been on their feet all day, and they are counting the minutes until the fair is over.

Last thing on this point: do not be that person that sees a company packing up and approaches them. You might as well put your résumé in the trash – at this point the recruiters are not in a place to accept résumés anymore. And you are now running the risk of being seen as late and preventing them from leaving. Do yourself a favor – show up early!

A – Appearance

Don’t judge a book by its cover. It sounds nice in theory, but let’s be honest – we all judge books, movies, and products by their covers. Walking through a career fair is no exception.

Before I go any further, I am not saying that if you do not have a suit and tie, you are straight out of luck. What I am saying, however, is that whatever you do wear, make sure it reflects how great you are and is not distracting. You want us talking to you and remembering your résumé and your attitude, not your wrinkled tie or coffee-stained shirt.

Think of this as a pseudo-blind audition. Dress for the part you are looking to play. You would not dress in athletic shorts and a student organization t-shirt if you were auditioning for the part of “trendy business analyst” or “suave sales professional.” You would wear something to impress the casting agent, and something that is appropriate for the character you are looking to play.

Recruiters and casting agents alike are less likely to fault you for overdressing than they are to fault you for underdressing.

G – Good Follow-up

Like I mentioned above, recruiters are likely to interact with more than 100 candidates at a large career fair. That means you can do everything right and still slip through the cracks. When we get back to the office, we are coming back to a day’s worth of catch-up work. Unfortunately, one of the last things on our mind is unpacking our career fair bag. Where do you think your résumé is? It is in that bag! And while this bag situation is not always the case, it is good for you to follow up on your career fair conversation every time.

Whether you formally apply online or send an informal email, staying in front of the recruiter is critical. Before you walk away from the career fair booth, you want to try and make sure you get either a business card or our contact information. Not all follow-up is good, and everything is better in moderation, so make sure you give it a few days before you panic. And once you do email, I would encourage you to leave it at that. You do not want to blur the line between diligent and annoying.

So there you have it: the best career fair SWAG you will receive this summer! If you can remember these four keys to success, I guarantee you will start receiving more calls and having better/more productive career fair conversations.

Happy hunting!

Have a question or a comment? Reach out anytime to the Talent Acquistion team at recruiting@hcss.com.

An Easy Error Animation for Android

Blog, Development Posted: May 22, 2017

Let’s say a user is filling out a form, and they accidentally skip a required field. How can we bring this to their attention? Here’s what we did for a safety inspections app:

Showing a Snackbar is easy enough, but the secret sauce is in the error animation. As it turns out, this “shake” animation can be built in about 10 lines of xml! The technique is borrowed from StepStone Tech’s awesome material stepper library (https://github.com/stepstone-tech/android-material-stepper).

Essentially, we are modifying the horizontal position of the view using a CycleInterpolator. All values here can be modified to taste. Here’s the animation xml we used.


/res/anim/two_cycle_interpolator
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<cycleInterpolator
 xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:cycles="2"/>

/res/anim/shake_error
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<translate xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
 android:duration="400"
 android:fromXDelta="0%"
 android:interpolator="@anim/two_cycle_interpolator"
 android:toXDelta="8%" />

Now to apply it to a view, it’s as simple as:


Animation animation = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(getContext(), R.anim.shake_error);
view.startAnimation(animation);

Ta da! Super easy, and a nice user experience.

Inside What? The Start of #InsideHCSS

Blog, Featured, Talent Posted: May 22, 2017

The idea for #insideHCSS stemmed from discussions regarding a separate initiative, which turned out to be our Inside HCSS blog. The blog would be an outlet for our HCSS employees to share their perspectives on the company, providing greater insight for prospective job seekers and customers alike.

However, there was constant discussion on the type of content to be shown. As thoughts such as, “What if it included perspectives at a vendor conference? Is that even relevant?” or “Are we going to restrict it to only culture-related items?” were thrown around, the initiative seemed like it would be shot down. Fortunately, with support from our Director of Digital Marketing, Skyler Moss, the blog was launched.

During the “holding pattern,” I was thinking about alternative options for employees to share their experiences. Daniel Chee, one of our Technical Support Analysts, had already started the Inside HCSS Instagram account. I’ve been part of launching a hashtag campaign in the past, so I thought, ‘Why not at HCSS?” So our hashtag, #insideHCSS, was born. It’s a transparent way to easily organize and showcase content from various social media channels on what life is like at HCSS.

Partnering with our Social Media Intern, Jack Briscoe, and our avid employee ambassador Daniel, we launched a Friday lunch presentation in mid-November 2016 to introduce the hashtag and its purpose to the rest of the organization. We hosted some contests to promote the hashtag and keep it top-of-mind for employees whenever they captured an HCSS-related moment. And as we scale even further, the hashtag also helps current teammates see any fun departmental activities that are going on at all times.

There’s no made-in-heaven company profile here. Currently, our careers website pulls up photos and videos in real time so that anyone can get the insider’s perspective. It’s really exciting to see the movement we’ve created that gives others insight into our culture.

Are we the right fit for you? Check out #insideHCSS and see if we’re your next career home.

Retrofitting an Android Database with “_id” — or, Is that even English?

Blog, Development Posted: March 22, 2017

Tech Talk: Is that even English?

Sometimes when you walk the halls of HCSS, you’ll see employees riding hoverboards and hear the sounds of shooting NERF guns. And occasionally you’ll even hear what sounds like a completely foreign language being spoken.

This is true especially in our development department. Michael Nguyen, an android developer at HCSS, wanted to share this piece with all the other techies out there.

Retrofitting an Android Database with “_id”

Android SQLite is pretty much vanilla SQLite, but with one caveat: if you want to use ContentProviders, CursorAdapters, and other handy framework widgets, you will need to have a column named “_id”.

In most cases, this means your primary key should be “_id”. Unfortunately, at HCSS, our database wasn’t designed with “_id” in mind, so our primary keys are “id” or “ID”, somewhat inconsistently. To work around it, we needed to ensure that each content provider query returns a cursor containing an “_id” column.

Here’s how we did it.


/** Ensure queries have an "_id" field by aliasing the idField to “_id”. */
private String[] ensureProjection_id(String[] projection, String idField) {
if (projection == null) {
return new String[] {"*", idField + " AS _id"};
}
String[] newProjection = new String[projection.length + 1];
System.arraycopy(projection, 0, newProjection, 0, projection.length);
newProjection[projection.length] = idField + " AS _id";
return newProjection;
}

In ContentProvider.query, we simply replace the specified query projection with the result of the above method. Voila! Now the resulting cursors contain an “_id” column, and CursorAdapters work as expected.

Note that aliasing _id should only be done if the original query projection contains the idField. .Imagine something like ‘SELECT DISTINCT firstName FROM person’. If _id is aliased, we would get repeated names, since DISTINCT would also consider the _id in determining if a record is distinct.

Did you get that?
Michael loves material design, open source, and thinks android O should be named “Oreo”.

Welcome to the Family

Blog, More Posted: March 6, 2017

If you are one of the 130,000 people descending upon Las Vegas for the ConExpo-Con/Agg Convention beginning March 7, and you plan on visiting one (if not all) of the HCSS booths, let me be the first to say, “Welcome.” Once you arrive, get scanned in and have a beer on us while we show you our cool toys. We will be bringing 80 HCSS employees, including executives, programmers, marketers, support specialists, and salesmen to the convention to welcome you to the HCSS Family.

We value your time. We know that you could find hundreds of iterations of programs that can be made to estimate, job cost, manage your fleet, and provide solid cloud solutions. You’ll find these technology vendors spread across the 2.5 million square feet of convention space eager to sell you on the quick solution at the best price to answer why you stepped up to their booth in the first place.

However, when you step into the HCSS booth, we hope that you feel the difference. At HCSS, we have one unified mission: To help our customers dramatically improve their business. This motto has been ingrained into our company since we were founded 31 years ago. To this purpose, we hold annual meetings for the 5,000+ companies that use our software to meet, collaborate, share experiences, and help each other provide a better tool to improve the industry. Our customers quickly learn that by lifting each other up, they improve the overall quality and value of the services that they provide, learn better processes, and find partners they can rely on.

To further this goal, we have online forums to connect our customers directly with our product managers in charge of the future of the software. We believe that clarity and open communication with the people that use our software is the only way to provide the absolute best product and service. Our technical support specialist are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help answer simple how-to questions and solve complex IT problems that may happen at a moment’s notice or even on high-pressure bid day.

To secure the future of our industry, we donate the latest versions of our software to hundreds of universities across the United States to aid them in their learning process and give students tangible skills that they can take with them to prospective employers and internships. If the youth is our future, we believe we need to arm them with the tools to be successful and happy in their career.

When you step into our booth, our goal is not just to sell you a solution. We’d like to welcome you into one of the largest families in the construction industry. We take care of our employees as though we were born of the same fiber, and we treat each of our customers with that same conviction.

In this family, we are highly competitive, we hold each other accountable, and best of all, we look out for each other. IBuildAmerica.com was founded by HCSS to help bring awareness and pride to the construction industry, and to the people that work hard everyday to bring critical infrastructure to millions of Americans.

When you stop by one of our booths, you may be coming as a visitor, but let me be the first to say, “Welcome to the Family.”

If you’d like to see more of what we stand for, check out our Mission and Values at http://www.hcss.com/about-us.

If you’d like to know more about the I Build America movement, visit www.Ibuildamerica.com.

If you’d like to see all the fun we have in the office, visit our Instagram Account at www.instagram.com/insidehcss.

Daniel Chee, one of our Technical Support Professionals, felt compelled to welcome HCSS customers (and non-customers) attending the largest construction conference in the country, ConExpo.

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