I think people have a natural tendency to think things were better "back in the good old days". I don't think it was better, we were just more easily amused because we were younger.
I remember as a kid in the early 90's on my 386SX20 with 4 mb of ram playing games like Police Quest, King's Quest, The Colonel's Bequest, Leisure Suit Larry, Wolfenstein 3D, Captain Comic, Duke Nukem, etc. I also must've spent thousands of hours on NES games like Super Mario. And back in those days PC and console games weren't quite the same experience as going to the arcade, so I must've spent hundreds of dollars a quarter at a time on games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Daytona USA, etc.
Fun times!
The impression I get from my Russian friends is that in Putin's Russia you are free to do pretty much anything you want as long as it does not involve criticizing the government. So for those 99% of Russians who do not care about politics, it's just as much a free country as the US is (maybe more).
And the main reason there's a shortage of "skilled workers" is because the HR people think the way you do. They don't realize that a CS degree isn't supposed to teach the latest software technologies (which you rightly pointed out become obsolete quickly), but rather to teach the fundamental concepts of computer science, which NEVER become obsolete, and once someone masters them he can pick up any new software technology like that *snaps fingers*.
Since the technology changes so rapidly, it will ALWAYS be the case that the vast majority of people in the field don't have the latest skills.
When the HR people realize that a competent CS graduate who knows Java can learn C# and become productive in it in no time, that's when the US's desperate labor shortage will end. Sadly I don't think it'll happen any time soon, because HR people are morons.
Powered USB will encourage manufacturers to design peripherals which consume more power, which will negatively impact the earth. They should think of ways for PCs to consume less power, not more.
I've always maintained that the least-environmetally-detrimental cars are cheap subcompacts such as the Geo Metro. The Metro got 58 mpg (look it up on wikipedia if you don't believe me). The Metro is no longer in production (didn't sell well) but cars such as the Chevy Aveo, Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris come pretty close. Yet you will not see many subcompacts in the driveways of supposedly environmentally-conscious yuppies, because a Chevy Aveo doesn't have that "I'm better than you" image.
You'd think that a large and relatively modern country like Russia would be developing all its own software and wouldn't need to pirate software made by American companies.
I disagree, what you say may be true of a 2 year degree from community college, but a Bachelor's degree in CS from an accredited university demonstrates that a person has at least a certain minimum level of competence. If some people in your graduating class are morons then that is a problem with your university, because in my university no one got the CS BSc degree without deserving it. In our CS program we had some incredibly difficult courses (the algorithm analysis and design course in the final year was the hardest) and an incompetent person definitely couldn't pass it.
A community college's computer degree teaches the latest software skills, while a BSc in CS teaches one the fundamental concepts of computer science that enable you to teach yourself any software skills.
I'm obviousyl not advocating that a new grad should qualify to be a senior developer or project lead, but at the very least he should at least be able to find real programming work rather than be forced to teach secretaries how to use email or something semi-technical like that.
Agreed, but if comp-sci grads (who we agree are qualified to do more than just be code monkeys) can't even find programming jobs, then surely something is wrong with our industry.
Every time I hear someone complain about the "desperate shortage of skilled programmers" I want to punch him in the face.
To see how false this is, all one needs do is look at the extremely low percentage of recent comp-sci grads who can find work as programmers. The majority of them have to work in some semi-technical job such as tech support, or in some cases can't find jobs in the computer field at all.
When I graduated, it took me 8 months to find a job, meanwhile the entire time so-called experts were claiming a desperate shortage of programmers and demanding an increase in the H-1B quota.
The problem is that employers too often have ridiculously specific requirements. Ten years ago, a typical job ad would say something like "C++ programmer needed, with 2 years experience". Today, a typical ad requires "6 years Java experience in a commercial environment, 3 years J2EE web-based development, Swing, JSP, Servlets, EJB, XML, DOM/SAX, advanced knowledge of application servers (primarily Weblogic and WebSphere), Advanced knowledge of database connectivity and integration. (Oracle, DB2 and SQL Server). And when they can't find someone with/exactly/ the skills they're looking for, they complain about a labor shortage. They don't realize that a skilled C++ programmer could become productive in C# in a very short amount of time, because these are transferable skills. That would be like Chevy refusing to hire a skilled Ford mechanic. It just doesn't happen in any other field but ours. And if they absolutely/have/ to have someone who meets those exact requirements, then they could find him if they offered a high enough salary.
Why in the world would anyone privileged enough to live in the US want to leave it? Thousands of people risk their lives to get here. The only reasons any American would have to leave the US is because:
1) He is a liberal leftist freedom-hating jihad-supporting communist who thinks the US is "too religious" or "too capitalist" or some nonsense like that, in which case I say good ridddance, America already has too many people like you, and you don't contribute anything to make this a better country anyway.
2) He is especially lazy and doesn't like to work, in which case he will probably have a better life in some welfare state like Sweden. In this case I also say good riddance. The US is a great place to live if you are hardworking, but welfare and other type of social services are not as easy to get as in some other countries, so the lazy would be better off someplace else.
3) He is neither of the above, but is seriously naive and honestly believes that he will have a better life in some other place, in which case I hope he comes to his senses before he makes this terrible decision, because he'll regret it.
I moved to the US from Canada to get the benefits of lower taxes and greater personal freedom (ie the right to bear arms) and would never want to live anywhere else. Sure there are less government-funded services than in Canada, but for someone who very rarely uses them anyways (I haven't seen a doctor in years), I am willing to sacrifice them if it means I get to keep a significantly larger portion of my income.
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You guys are all missing the main reason this find is so significant for Serbia: The Croatians are gonna be super jealous!
So little Billy sees a pair of boobies. So what? In Europe many (most?) beaches are topless and it's not hurting the kids.
I had some bully problems in high school myself. Good times...
I think people have a natural tendency to think things were better "back in the good old days". I don't think it was better, we were just more easily amused because we were younger. I remember as a kid in the early 90's on my 386SX20 with 4 mb of ram playing games like Police Quest, King's Quest, The Colonel's Bequest, Leisure Suit Larry, Wolfenstein 3D, Captain Comic, Duke Nukem, etc. I also must've spent thousands of hours on NES games like Super Mario. And back in those days PC and console games weren't quite the same experience as going to the arcade, so I must've spent hundreds of dollars a quarter at a time on games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Daytona USA, etc. Fun times!
The impression I get from my Russian friends is that in Putin's Russia you are free to do pretty much anything you want as long as it does not involve criticizing the government. So for those 99% of Russians who do not care about politics, it's just as much a free country as the US is (maybe more).
And the main reason there's a shortage of "skilled workers" is because the HR people think the way you do. They don't realize that a CS degree isn't supposed to teach the latest software technologies (which you rightly pointed out become obsolete quickly), but rather to teach the fundamental concepts of computer science, which NEVER become obsolete, and once someone masters them he can pick up any new software technology like that *snaps fingers*. Since the technology changes so rapidly, it will ALWAYS be the case that the vast majority of people in the field don't have the latest skills. When the HR people realize that a competent CS graduate who knows Java can learn C# and become productive in it in no time, that's when the US's desperate labor shortage will end. Sadly I don't think it'll happen any time soon, because HR people are morons.
Powered USB will encourage manufacturers to design peripherals which consume more power, which will negatively impact the earth. They should think of ways for PCs to consume less power, not more.
I've always maintained that the least-environmetally-detrimental cars are cheap subcompacts such as the Geo Metro. The Metro got 58 mpg (look it up on wikipedia if you don't believe me). The Metro is no longer in production (didn't sell well) but cars such as the Chevy Aveo, Honda Fit, and Toyota Yaris come pretty close. Yet you will not see many subcompacts in the driveways of supposedly environmentally-conscious yuppies, because a Chevy Aveo doesn't have that "I'm better than you" image.
You'd think that a large and relatively modern country like Russia would be developing all its own software and wouldn't need to pirate software made by American companies.
If she was so lacking in skills then how did she get the job in the first place? Your interview process should've uncovered that she was incompetent.
I disagree, what you say may be true of a 2 year degree from community college, but a Bachelor's degree in CS from an accredited university demonstrates that a person has at least a certain minimum level of competence. If some people in your graduating class are morons then that is a problem with your university, because in my university no one got the CS BSc degree without deserving it. In our CS program we had some incredibly difficult courses (the algorithm analysis and design course in the final year was the hardest) and an incompetent person definitely couldn't pass it.
A community college's computer degree teaches the latest software skills, while a BSc in CS teaches one the fundamental concepts of computer science that enable you to teach yourself any software skills.
I'm obviousyl not advocating that a new grad should qualify to be a senior developer or project lead, but at the very least he should at least be able to find real programming work rather than be forced to teach secretaries how to use email or something semi-technical like that.
Agreed, but if comp-sci grads (who we agree are qualified to do more than just be code monkeys) can't even find programming jobs, then surely something is wrong with our industry.
Every time I hear someone complain about the "desperate shortage of skilled programmers" I want to punch him in the face. To see how false this is, all one needs do is look at the extremely low percentage of recent comp-sci grads who can find work as programmers. The majority of them have to work in some semi-technical job such as tech support, or in some cases can't find jobs in the computer field at all. When I graduated, it took me 8 months to find a job, meanwhile the entire time so-called experts were claiming a desperate shortage of programmers and demanding an increase in the H-1B quota. The problem is that employers too often have ridiculously specific requirements. Ten years ago, a typical job ad would say something like "C++ programmer needed, with 2 years experience". Today, a typical ad requires "6 years Java experience in a commercial environment, 3 years J2EE web-based development, Swing, JSP, Servlets, EJB, XML, DOM/SAX, advanced knowledge of application servers (primarily Weblogic and WebSphere), Advanced knowledge of database connectivity and integration. (Oracle, DB2 and SQL Server). And when they can't find someone with /exactly/ the skills they're looking for, they complain about a labor shortage. They don't realize that a skilled C++ programmer could become productive in C# in a very short amount of time, because these are transferable skills. That would be like Chevy refusing to hire a skilled Ford mechanic. It just doesn't happen in any other field but ours. And if they absolutely /have/ to have someone who meets those exact requirements, then they could find him if they offered a high enough salary.
1) He is a liberal leftist freedom-hating jihad-supporting communist who thinks the US is "too religious" or "too capitalist" or some nonsense like that, in which case I say good ridddance, America already has too many people like you, and you don't contribute anything to make this a better country anyway.
2) He is especially lazy and doesn't like to work, in which case he will probably have a better life in some welfare state like Sweden. In this case I also say good riddance. The US is a great place to live if you are hardworking, but welfare and other type of social services are not as easy to get as in some other countries, so the lazy would be better off someplace else.
3) He is neither of the above, but is seriously naive and honestly believes that he will have a better life in some other place, in which case I hope he comes to his senses before he makes this terrible decision, because he'll regret it.
I moved to the US from Canada to get the benefits of lower taxes and greater personal freedom (ie the right to bear arms) and would never want to live anywhere else. Sure there are less government-funded services than in Canada, but for someone who very rarely uses them anyways (I haven't seen a doctor in years), I am willing to sacrifice them if it means I get to keep a significantly larger portion of my income.