I used to help out with a chess organization's website. We had a bulletin board; however, I modified the verification code to ignore the input from the captcha. I added a paragraph instructing the potential user to search the site for the answer to a question. We went from 3 - 5 malicious accounts per day down to 0 since that was implemented.
I've noticed that right after an Apple spec update, their prices are similar to their competitors' products in the same class; However, during the year the other manufacturers drop prices or update more frequently than does Apple. If one does this comparison 6 months from now Apple will be collecting a tax.
I used to work in a call center for a credit card company as an IT guy. One of my colleagues found a better job; however, he could use the extra cash and offered to work part time nights for the credit agency; well, one of the big boss men in the building said no, because he only gave a week's notice. Thus the boss man questioned his loyalty to the company.
Even though my friend had about a week to go, I didn't see him again; however, I did about pee on myself when the big boss man boomed through the IT office door. He was red as could be. His only words were "Where's DONNY!" He left the IT office and stormed through the building looking for him. Donny had hightailed it out of there long before then.
Donny found a thank you letter from the boss man on a public share drive. Anyone in the company could have seen it. The thank you letter was for a competitor of ours. Donny took it upon himself to forward that letter to everyone in the building and to everyone at corporate. (My IT manager made me delete the email before I could read it.) Donny called eventually and told us that it read something like the following, "All, I'd just like to point out the loyalty to our company that Mr. X. Attached is a letter that he wrote to Company Y."
You all are probably thinking what a riot. The funniest part is yet to come. Evidently, Mr. Boss man was really good at what he did, so a few months later he received a huge promotion from the company. I so wanted to tell Steve, "I guess you should be sending Donny a thank you letter, huh?"
I would always recommend a degree. You do pay for a degree; however, money is not the only currency. Your time is also required. People always like to bring up Bill Gates. He is an anomaly. You aren't Bill Gates. Being Bill Gates doesn't mean being as smart as he. He is bright, ambitious, and extremely lucky (AKA in the right place at the right time). If you were as lucky as he, then you wouldn't be asking/. about this.
I have met two more than competent software engineers guys that didn't have a degree. Both of them say that no degree closes a lot of doors.
For example, one gentleman worked for MS. He could only get in the door by working for a contracting company; he worked for Boeing in the same manner. Neither company would even talk to him.
The other gentleman that I know worked his way up during the dotcom boom. At that time there was such a shortage of IT workers that he was picked up. He showed talent and he survived the bust. He is different than most non-degree guys; he actually learned CS on his own. His studies didn't cover 100% of a CS degree; however, it was pretty close. He read a lot of pure theory books and was a true autodidact.
I obviously recommend getting the degree; it was a lot of fun. If you don't find it enjoyable, then you don't need to be working in the field. (NOTE: I do understand that you are asking about a sysadmin job; however, I do believe that my experiences apply there too.)
I taught high school math for about 2 years. In Virginia the Algebra I test is all multiple choice. The school district teaches to the test. The test is super easy. They get to use TI-83 calculators.
To give an example as to how some teachers taught to the test read this. While solving systems of equations some teachers took out the calculator and showed the students how to enter the problem into a matrix and had the calculator spit out the answer.
Ax = b -> x = inverse(A)*b
How's that for teaching to the test. Those kids learned how to solve a problem by typing it into a computer. There's no comprehension needed. I can teach a monkey to do that.
On a lighter note, once when there was no solution or infinite solutions, the calculator spit out an error complaining about the matrix A being singular. One teacher came to me and asked what was wrong with the calculator.
If you are worried about key recovery, then you should only run FIPS approved software. I'm surprised that any open source developer would not clear keys after use.
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I sent Google an email asking them to use KITT. I guess that purchasing the rights to KnightRider would be too expensive. Oh well.
What is your chess rating?
The world is flat; it only appears to be round, because it is periodic. :)
I used to help out with a chess organization's website. We had a bulletin board; however, I modified the verification code to ignore the input from the captcha. I added a paragraph instructing the potential user to search the site for the answer to a question. We went from 3 - 5 malicious accounts per day down to 0 since that was implemented.
I've noticed that right after an Apple spec update, their prices are similar to their competitors' products in the same class; However, during the year the other manufacturers drop prices or update more frequently than does Apple. If one does this comparison 6 months from now Apple will be collecting a tax.
I used to work in a call center for a credit card company as an IT guy. One of my colleagues found a better job; however, he could use the extra cash and offered to work part time nights for the credit agency; well, one of the big boss men in the building said no, because he only gave a week's notice. Thus the boss man questioned his loyalty to the company. Even though my friend had about a week to go, I didn't see him again; however, I did about pee on myself when the big boss man boomed through the IT office door. He was red as could be. His only words were "Where's DONNY!" He left the IT office and stormed through the building looking for him. Donny had hightailed it out of there long before then. Donny found a thank you letter from the boss man on a public share drive. Anyone in the company could have seen it. The thank you letter was for a competitor of ours. Donny took it upon himself to forward that letter to everyone in the building and to everyone at corporate. (My IT manager made me delete the email before I could read it.) Donny called eventually and told us that it read something like the following, "All, I'd just like to point out the loyalty to our company that Mr. X. Attached is a letter that he wrote to Company Y." You all are probably thinking what a riot. The funniest part is yet to come. Evidently, Mr. Boss man was really good at what he did, so a few months later he received a huge promotion from the company. I so wanted to tell Steve, "I guess you should be sending Donny a thank you letter, huh?"
I would always recommend a degree. You do pay for a degree; however, money is not the only currency. Your time is also required. People always like to bring up Bill Gates. He is an anomaly. You aren't Bill Gates. Being Bill Gates doesn't mean being as smart as he. He is bright, ambitious, and extremely lucky (AKA in the right place at the right time). If you were as lucky as he, then you wouldn't be asking /. about this.
I have met two more than competent software engineers guys that didn't have a degree. Both of them say that no degree closes a lot of doors.
For example, one gentleman worked for MS. He could only get in the door by working for a contracting company; he worked for Boeing in the same manner. Neither company would even talk to him.
The other gentleman that I know worked his way up during the dotcom boom. At that time there was such a shortage of IT workers that he was picked up. He showed talent and he survived the bust. He is different than most non-degree guys; he actually learned CS on his own. His studies didn't cover 100% of a CS degree; however, it was pretty close. He read a lot of pure theory books and was a true autodidact.
I obviously recommend getting the degree; it was a lot of fun. If you don't find it enjoyable, then you don't need to be working in the field. (NOTE: I do understand that you are asking about a sysadmin job; however, I do believe that my experiences apply there too.)
I taught high school math for about 2 years. In Virginia the Algebra I test is all multiple choice. The school district teaches to the test. The test is super easy. They get to use TI-83 calculators. To give an example as to how some teachers taught to the test read this. While solving systems of equations some teachers took out the calculator and showed the students how to enter the problem into a matrix and had the calculator spit out the answer. Ax = b -> x = inverse(A)*b How's that for teaching to the test. Those kids learned how to solve a problem by typing it into a computer. There's no comprehension needed. I can teach a monkey to do that. On a lighter note, once when there was no solution or infinite solutions, the calculator spit out an error complaining about the matrix A being singular. One teacher came to me and asked what was wrong with the calculator.
If you are worried about key recovery, then you should only run FIPS approved software. I'm surprised that any open source developer would not clear keys after use.