Sounds to me they've already dumped some "important" people to let someone unqualified (no offense intended, but that's how it seems) do the job. I doubt they'd be too troubled about doing it again. It's true you might be able to get a little extra if you demand it right before a deadline, but you'll also end up out of a job right after the deadline, so I wouldn't suggest that. Your best option is to do your homework, then tactfully broach the subject. By doing your homework, I mean find out how much someone doing your job can expect to make at similar jobs in your area. That gives you justification for why you should be paid more. You could also put out some feelers about whether there are jobs available; but be careful, because your company might not want to keep you if they think you're going to leave. Anyway, once you've done that, approach them with an attitude of "we need to renegotiate my contract." This is important. You do not want to simply state that they need to pay you more; that would make them defensive. You also shouldn't approach it like you're begging for money, because then you're putting the decision entirely in their hands. Instead, come with a list of changes you'd be interested in seeing: title, money, underlings, etc. Much like buying a car, you want to aim a little better than you expect to get, so you've got room to haggle. Be firm but not aggressive or offensive; remember that you are selling a valuable commodity. If you do this right you can earn their respect and make them feel you deserve more; and you'll probably get both a small to medium raise and a better title.
I took the quiz, but when I realized how stupid and biased it was, I quit answering and clicked the button at the bottom. Unsurprisingly, I got a really low score. I'm willing to bet that plenty of participants didn't answer all the questions, and that skewed the results.
Well, the troll is not entirely wrong. That guy got a slightly larger severance package, but none of us would have traded it for the months we got to keep working there (it was a very good place to work). As for "flooding" the market, I assure you our small group of programmers did nothing of the kind, and none of us had any trouble finding a job.
I think this sounds like a large-scale example of the famous Prisoner's Dilemma. Collectively, we might be better off if a lot fewer people went to traditional colleges; but individually, each person is likely to be better off if they do go to a traditional college.
I agree. At one company that I worked for, there was one programmer who just never joined the group. He was a good programmer, and a decent enough guy, but he just didn't socialize. When the company started going under, and layoffs started, he was the first to go. I'm certain it was because the Powers That Were felt (correctly) that would have the least impact on morale, compared to firing any of the rest of us.
The statement relies on the given that the proper owner, or "loser," is identified (certainly a given in this case). I believe you're thinking instead of the principle that "Possession is nine tenths of the law." But that only counts in cases where the proper owner cannot be proven, which makes it mutually exclusive from the "Finders Keepers" concept.
Taking an item that was left somewhere is stealing. "Finders keepers, losers weepers" doesn't apply in the real world. Most people/companies won't press charges if you give it back, but they can. This is especially true if you do anything other than seeking to return it to its proper owner. For example, something like taking the item apart and posting pictures of it while admitting that you know it's stolen property.
Perhaps I should clarify. I know the original poster is graduating, and obviously can ask his school for help. My point is that he can also seek help from other local colleges if there are any.
At my university, the College of Engineering had a co-op and internship office. Anyone from the university could sign up with the office and have their resumes submitted to companies. This meant that you would be applying for positions with companies who were specifically looking for entry-level candidates. In addition to this, companies could post job openings, and anyone, even people who had never attended the university, could go in and browse those postings. Again, these posting are specifically for entry-level positions, so you're not competing against much more qualified people. I got my first two jobs through that program: the first an internship and the second a summer job. That summer job led to a full-time job that has led directly to all of the jobs I have had since. If you have any local colleges or universities, you might want to check and see if they have something similar.
This sounds a lot like the "Good Enough Software" policies that certain companies used to have. It's true that having a few minor bugs is acceptable; in fact, it's pretty much inevitable. But you should expect to have bugs that you haven't even noticed at the time you ship your software. If you start ignoring the bugs you do know about, you increase the total number considerably. From there, it's a slippery slope. Pretty soon, you'll be answering bug reports with a chorus of "Minor, leave it," and your code will be riddled with tons of minor bugs. Your users will go from "huh" to "what?" to "dammit" to "f*ck this!" Your software will look sloppy and unprofessional, and even if none of the bugs are showstoppers, your customers will be looking for alternatives.
Not likely. It's been broken a few times before, but it always gets fixed very quickly. Also, if you use it for a media player like I do, just don't play those games until there's a fix.
Remember that unhappy people tend to be five to ten times more vocal than happy people. Most of us who agree with this are just muttering, "Cool" and moving on.
Put the homebrew channel and a media player on a wii. You can watch media files from your network or off a usb drive; you can view web pages, including flash video, using the available web browser; and of course, you can also play games. The price is pretty good, too. The down side is that it's only 480p at best.
I knew that it was silly of people to claim that one or two islands could be affected by sea levels without affecting all islands, everywhere. But I couldn't find any data to back up or explain what specifically was happening in this case. I suspected it was either plate tectonics or erosion; turns out it's both. Thank you.
I'm really not. Not at all. Don't worship me. Don't send money to my PO Box. Certainly do not make tax-deductible contributions to charitable organizations in my name. Please, really, stop it.
I think what he means is that the same characters can be used for unrelated sounds in Chinese. At least in English, you can get close by writing phonetically, but in Chinese there's no equivalent. At least as far as I'm aware.
Wouldn't this be something you could get best from their teachers? Not that there's anything wrong with asking Google or Slashdot, but the first place I would go is to their teachers. One would think - or at least hope - that they would have additional tools they could give you to help your kids study.
It's much more likely and far more reasonable that you could have cached images on your computer without your consent than contraband in your car without your consent. The prosecution could still argue that you are responsible, but they would have a difficult time overcoming the "reasonable doubt" of innocence. On the other hand, if you had contraband in your car, you would have to give a reason why it could be there without your knowledge. After all, your car didn't pick them up itself. Still, if you did so, and it was sufficient to provide a reasonable doubt (ie. just saying so isn't enough), then charges would probably be dropped.
Generally, when teaching kids how to program, you should not teach them a "simple" language. You need to teach them the core concepts of programming, and there's no language better than C/C++ for that. First you teach them basic concepts in C, then you add OO using C++. Once they understand the fundamentals as used in C++, they will be able to convert to any of the other languages fairly easily. On the other hand, if they start off with an easier, but - for lack of a better term - less precise, language, they will have a much harder time ever transferring to other languages. C++ is the best teaching language for exactly the reason why many people don't like to program with it - it makes you understand the differences in the concepts you are using.
I can understand the desire to simplify things for the sake of the competition, and maybe for some of the students you might need to, but I think you would be doing them a disservice in the long run.
If possible, force people to fill out paperwork when making a support request. People hate paperwork, even if it's short and easy, so they will be willing to do a little actual thinking to avoid it. If the paperwork asks them to copy the text of the error message, it may prompt the user to actually read the message. Those users who can't even handle something that simple will hopefully ask someone more than half-capable, who will solve the problem without bothering you. At the very least, you will hopefully get the text of the error message so you can read it.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, I don't trust one word of what comes from China's propagandists. Does anyone know of any press release from Google about this?
Sounds to me they've already dumped some "important" people to let someone unqualified (no offense intended, but that's how it seems) do the job. I doubt they'd be too troubled about doing it again. It's true you might be able to get a little extra if you demand it right before a deadline, but you'll also end up out of a job right after the deadline, so I wouldn't suggest that. Your best option is to do your homework, then tactfully broach the subject. By doing your homework, I mean find out how much someone doing your job can expect to make at similar jobs in your area. That gives you justification for why you should be paid more. You could also put out some feelers about whether there are jobs available; but be careful, because your company might not want to keep you if they think you're going to leave. Anyway, once you've done that, approach them with an attitude of "we need to renegotiate my contract." This is important. You do not want to simply state that they need to pay you more; that would make them defensive. You also shouldn't approach it like you're begging for money, because then you're putting the decision entirely in their hands. Instead, come with a list of changes you'd be interested in seeing: title, money, underlings, etc. Much like buying a car, you want to aim a little better than you expect to get, so you've got room to haggle. Be firm but not aggressive or offensive; remember that you are selling a valuable commodity. If you do this right you can earn their respect and make them feel you deserve more; and you'll probably get both a small to medium raise and a better title.
I took the quiz, but when I realized how stupid and biased it was, I quit answering and clicked the button at the bottom. Unsurprisingly, I got a really low score. I'm willing to bet that plenty of participants didn't answer all the questions, and that skewed the results.
Well, the troll is not entirely wrong. That guy got a slightly larger severance package, but none of us would have traded it for the months we got to keep working there (it was a very good place to work). As for "flooding" the market, I assure you our small group of programmers did nothing of the kind, and none of us had any trouble finding a job.
I think this sounds like a large-scale example of the famous Prisoner's Dilemma. Collectively, we might be better off if a lot fewer people went to traditional colleges; but individually, each person is likely to be better off if they do go to a traditional college.
I agree. At one company that I worked for, there was one programmer who just never joined the group. He was a good programmer, and a decent enough guy, but he just didn't socialize. When the company started going under, and layoffs started, he was the first to go. I'm certain it was because the Powers That Were felt (correctly) that would have the least impact on morale, compared to firing any of the rest of us.
Won't that be pronounced "Sext"?
The statement relies on the given that the proper owner, or "loser," is identified (certainly a given in this case). I believe you're thinking instead of the principle that "Possession is nine tenths of the law." But that only counts in cases where the proper owner cannot be proven, which makes it mutually exclusive from the "Finders Keepers" concept.
Taking an item that was left somewhere is stealing. "Finders keepers, losers weepers" doesn't apply in the real world. Most people/companies won't press charges if you give it back, but they can. This is especially true if you do anything other than seeking to return it to its proper owner. For example, something like taking the item apart and posting pictures of it while admitting that you know it's stolen property.
You're going to need to buy a tablet PC, because a laptop doesn't mount to the dash or headrest.
What, you've never heard of duct tape?
Now try it with Monopoly money.
Perhaps I should clarify. I know the original poster is graduating, and obviously can ask his school for help. My point is that he can also seek help from other local colleges if there are any.
At my university, the College of Engineering had a co-op and internship office. Anyone from the university could sign up with the office and have their resumes submitted to companies. This meant that you would be applying for positions with companies who were specifically looking for entry-level candidates. In addition to this, companies could post job openings, and anyone, even people who had never attended the university, could go in and browse those postings. Again, these posting are specifically for entry-level positions, so you're not competing against much more qualified people. I got my first two jobs through that program: the first an internship and the second a summer job. That summer job led to a full-time job that has led directly to all of the jobs I have had since. If you have any local colleges or universities, you might want to check and see if they have something similar.
This sounds a lot like the "Good Enough Software" policies that certain companies used to have. It's true that having a few minor bugs is acceptable; in fact, it's pretty much inevitable. But you should expect to have bugs that you haven't even noticed at the time you ship your software. If you start ignoring the bugs you do know about, you increase the total number considerably. From there, it's a slippery slope. Pretty soon, you'll be answering bug reports with a chorus of "Minor, leave it," and your code will be riddled with tons of minor bugs. Your users will go from "huh" to "what?" to "dammit" to "f*ck this!" Your software will look sloppy and unprofessional, and even if none of the bugs are showstoppers, your customers will be looking for alternatives.
Not likely. It's been broken a few times before, but it always gets fixed very quickly. Also, if you use it for a media player like I do, just don't play those games until there's a fix.
Regardless of what you get, invest in a bunch of cyber clean and clean out your notebook regularly.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/b88d/
Remember that unhappy people tend to be five to ten times more vocal than happy people. Most of us who agree with this are just muttering, "Cool" and moving on.
Put the homebrew channel and a media player on a wii. You can watch media files from your network or off a usb drive; you can view web pages, including flash video, using the available web browser; and of course, you can also play games. The price is pretty good, too. The down side is that it's only 480p at best.
I knew that it was silly of people to claim that one or two islands could be affected by sea levels without affecting all islands, everywhere. But I couldn't find any data to back up or explain what specifically was happening in this case. I suspected it was either plate tectonics or erosion; turns out it's both. Thank you.
I'm really not. Not at all. Don't worship me. Don't send money to my PO Box. Certainly do not make tax-deductible contributions to charitable organizations in my name. Please, really, stop it.
I think what he means is that the same characters can be used for unrelated sounds in Chinese. At least in English, you can get close by writing phonetically, but in Chinese there's no equivalent. At least as far as I'm aware.
Wouldn't this be something you could get best from their teachers? Not that there's anything wrong with asking Google or Slashdot, but the first place I would go is to their teachers. One would think - or at least hope - that they would have additional tools they could give you to help your kids study.
It's much more likely and far more reasonable that you could have cached images on your computer without your consent than contraband in your car without your consent. The prosecution could still argue that you are responsible, but they would have a difficult time overcoming the "reasonable doubt" of innocence. On the other hand, if you had contraband in your car, you would have to give a reason why it could be there without your knowledge. After all, your car didn't pick them up itself. Still, if you did so, and it was sufficient to provide a reasonable doubt (ie. just saying so isn't enough), then charges would probably be dropped.
Generally, when teaching kids how to program, you should not teach them a "simple" language. You need to teach them the core concepts of programming, and there's no language better than C/C++ for that. First you teach them basic concepts in C, then you add OO using C++. Once they understand the fundamentals as used in C++, they will be able to convert to any of the other languages fairly easily. On the other hand, if they start off with an easier, but - for lack of a better term - less precise, language, they will have a much harder time ever transferring to other languages. C++ is the best teaching language for exactly the reason why many people don't like to program with it - it makes you understand the differences in the concepts you are using.
I can understand the desire to simplify things for the sake of the competition, and maybe for some of the students you might need to, but I think you would be doing them a disservice in the long run.
If possible, force people to fill out paperwork when making a support request. People hate paperwork, even if it's short and easy, so they will be willing to do a little actual thinking to avoid it. If the paperwork asks them to copy the text of the error message, it may prompt the user to actually read the message. Those users who can't even handle something that simple will hopefully ask someone more than half-capable, who will solve the problem without bothering you. At the very least, you will hopefully get the text of the error message so you can read it.