I consider myself a moderate libertarian. This is why it's only "moderate". I honestly do think this kind of software should be illegal; in fact I thought it WAS. In my opinion, no one has a legitimate reason to spy on someone else's computing habits, parents included. If you break down privacy you break down society, there's things you just don't want to know about other people, and said other people just as much do not want you to know about them.
And please, don't compare this to gun rights. Guns as self defense are a deterrent, but spy software doesn't work that way. You can't deter spying against you with spy software. People are still going to have spy software and use it, but it should be as difficult to use as possible, and victims should have legal defense against it if they discover the culprit.
By the way, I understand the fine line between VPN type software and spy software when it comes to functionality, so I understand the hurdles when it comes to illegalizing spy software. I'm just stating my opinion.
Looking at personal experience, and the experience of other women I knew who've entered and exited the industry, I can't really say any single thing is to blame. I don't think it's nature. Nature may account for a 40:60 discrepancy, but not a 10:90. Growing up and throughout my adult life, I was never overtly pressured to give up my geeky pursuits. But that more speaks to not having parents who micromanaged their children's lives. One of the things that nearly led me to give it up completely was herd mentality. For me, it's not very strong, but for others I've known, it is. I've known many women who were fully capable to [x] (not just programming) but don't because they don't want to stand out. Men as boys can be pretty overt about this(eww, girls!), but it goes both ways.
Back to the herd mentality thing, I did have an "off" feeling in high school and in college, periods of uncertainty, etc. because I knew I was going against the current. I have the same thing occasionally when it comes to male dominated interests I have, while female dominated and balanced interests don't give me that feeling. I just eventually almost completely stopped caring altogether and straightened my priorities. Some people can't do that. Other people never had that issue to begin with. I think the former outweighs the latter, and this will cause the discrepancy we have now to snowball. It probably will widen further in the foreseeable future.
As for sexual harassment, it exists, but I've only experienced it at one place, in the four places I've worked at in Silicon Valley. It was at a startup with a culture not common to Silicon Valley companies. It's not as prevalent as others would make you think. That aside, men obviously tone it down when speaking to me directly (versus speaking to other men) and I find myself watercooler socializing with the engineering women more than men, but that's just how society in general is. We have a pretty decent amount of equality these days, and I'm glad it's there, but you can't change how people behave overnight.
(and just for reference, I'm a software engineer in the gaming industry. and yes I'm female. and no, I don't consider myself average...)
Every time I've played German boardgames in real life, backstabbing, blocking, and competition was everyone's M.O. There's some cooperation in certain games but ultimately everyone's out for themselves.
I'd be willing to bet he's just a perfectionist. It's not unusual for people who create art to never be satisfied with their own work, while praising the works of others.
It's a supplement, really. I'll use myself as an example. iTunes and CDs can't get my business. I'm too open minded in my music tastes and just listen to whatever Pandora or the local radio stations (that have online streams) bring to me. But RB has opened my wallet wide, I've spent well over $150 on RB DLC. My criteria is simply "will be fun to play on drums".
But like I said, it's a supplement. I'm an odd case when it comes to music, and by using more mediums to sell their work, artists can find more super-niche markets like me to squeeze in every last penny of a song's value, but by no means would it ever replace iTunes.
Finally, keep in mind that these old bands like AC/DC, Metallica, and The Beatles aren't entirely hip to the new trends. Also, these games are separate games and NOT downloadable content. (DLC) AC/DC I know is one band that flat out rejects iTunes. They don't have to because their main audience is in their 40's, 50's, 60's and will probably buy traditional media for the rest of their lives. RB: AC/DC and GH: Metallica are simply extensions of traditional media.
I'm always too late for these. And this one actually resembles my story. Pssh.
Anyway, if you do see my reply in the sea of others, I was in QA for some time before making it into development. There were a few dynamics with my moving from QA to dev. Personal projects is one of them. Back when I was trying to get my foot in the door (for real, more on that later) I was spending almost all my free time on personal projects. It was stressful not really having a work-life balance for awhile, and I'll admit that stress did surface a bit at work, but it was necessary. I combined these personal projects into a portfolio on my website.
Now speaking of foot in the door, your foot is not in the door. It's not in the door until you're developing or programming and getting paid to do it. There is a bit of a stigma moving from QA to dev, and if you've been there for a long time you may have been typecast by your co-workers, and won't be able to move up. That was my case, and I eventually parted ways with my QA company and found development work in a start-up. The pay was little more than QA, but that was the true "foot in the door" for me. I kept building up my portfolio while working at this company (though with a better work-life balance) and when that gig ended, I got into an established company with higher hiring standards and significantly higher pay, all thanks to my work experience and my portfolio.
So the short of it is: You can get in, you just really have to want it. (and, of course, you need to display an appropriate level of competence!)
While it's probably an interview issue, don't overdo it or overstress about it either. It'll take a certain level of comfort with not only the source material but the interviewers as well. Also, learn from your mistakes in previous interviews. Depending on your specialty you'll come across many repeat questions. Try to recall the ones you botch in one interview, study up on those so you'll be ready if they come up at another interview.
You should also be prepared for the worst. If you don't know something, be honest about it. If you're not 100% sure about something, take a good guess but be honest that you're not 100% about it. Your ability to gauge your own abilities and your character are determined by how you overcome your shortcomings.
Finally, you'll probably have the most luck starting with a startup. It'll get your foot in the door. My first gig was a startup, and when that gig ended ended, I got into an established company with very little effort. I had no luck whatsoever before the startup.
Unless the non-disclosure clause is a part of the agreement upon submission of the app, what they're doing isn't really legally binding. It's like me saying "Upon reading this Slashdot reply, you agree to give me $5000."
Example one: Tribe of proto-humans hear tall grass rattling, look over, see the grass rattling, and then a lion pops out. Two of their tribe are killed. Later on, the same thing happens but a mere rabbit pops out, but they take precautions due to the extreme circumstances of the last incident. Proto-humans realize that A doesn't always lead to B, but it can, so they take precautions for the remainder of their lives.
Example two: Ancient humans walk under a ladder. Shortly after, a stampede of spooked cattle crush several of their members. Thus the "walk under a ladder" superstition is born. (not really, but lets just pretend that's the origin)
Proto-humans were not stupid. There's a HUGE difference between superstition and carefulness/instinct based on a clearly defined sequence of events that occured in their past. That example is terrible. The other example is just describing a precursor the scientific method. A better way would have to gather every herb around, take a sample of 10 people with the illness per herb classification, give them that herb (or a combination of herbs) and study the results. But such methodology wasn't common back then...
That said, are automated trading systems going to be this decade's great Ponzi scheme? I can't believe so many people can be so lazy with their investments to send the stock tumbling that much.
It looks like the ones who'll ultimately get burned from this are are those who are careless with their money. But how soon before people take advantage of viral networking to manipulate Google's algorithms for determining popular news, bring up old doom and gloom articles to intentionally tank a stock so they can buy while it's cheap?
Sensational or not, it's still ridiculous and obvious. It's a programmer's choice how PgUp PgDn performs in their app and both are incredibly easy to implement in a program. Either scroll based on the size of the window or scroll based on that, multiplied by the result simple mathematical relative difference equation of zoomed area vs. not zoomed area. I'm sure Ben Franklin humbly pay tribute to these "inventors". Hah.
I would agree with this, except that they didn't expand the ban to the entire media, which is where they went wrong. Now I'm realistic, ultimately it's a tongue-in-cheek ban because they can't do anything about leaking to the international press, or some random New Zealander posting on the internet, but innocent peoples' lives are permanently destroyed when they're accused of a heinous crime and their name gets out. It's like they say, the accusation is on page 1, and the retraction is on page 36.
While there's leaps that have been made in computer animation that are obvious even in a low resolution YouTube video, it still has the same problems that Polar Express has...a lack of expression. "Emily"'s facial expression was still pretty bland and robotic, and seemed to be lacking the range of motion seen in a real human. Unless it was an oversight that the animators missed in their demo...but I doubt it.
I've been hearing these complaints from iPhone users and it's not the iPhone or Infineon's fault. I call it the "teetering on the edge of networks" bug because it happens when 3G's around 1-2 bars while edge is around 3-4. It appears that the phone's trying to get the best possible connection but when 3G and EDGE are about the same, the phone will switch between networks, often repeatedly, causing dropped calls, download problems and whatnot. This is all assumption, but I've been privied to enough to AT&T phones to feel I almost hit the nail on the head here. I only wish there were a "to hell with 3G" option available on any of these phones so I could confirm my theory.
First they came for the bees, and I did not speak out because I was not a bee.
Then they came for the electro-sensitive, and I did not speak out because I was not electro-sensitive.
Then they came for the ethernet cables, and I did not speak out because I stopped using ethernet cables.
Then they came for me, and I enjoyed worldwide wireless coverage on my laptop. Woohoo!
The only exception being retired people on government sponsored healthcare (which I know is the focus of the article), but if we're talking a 40 year old death and a 50 year old death, don't forget the 50 year old likely contributed 10 more years worth of income into the system. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if seniors with healthier habits retire later and/or make more money throughout their lifetimes. I'd love to see a study of that.
I work with mobile phones by profession, and can tell you this isn't true.
What is NOT crippled, with rare exceptions:
- Any phone that supports SD cards will allow the user to use anything except applications and themes from that SD card. My personal Motorola phone's ringtone resides on an SD card.
- USB cables are another backdoor, and many manufacturers put the enabling software on their website. You can also get USB+software combos from Radio Shack for $20 for virtually any device. Some carriers provide roughly the same software/cables for a bit more. (d'oh...)
- None of the J2ME devices block web installation of unsigned apps. (* see below for exceptions)
What IS crippled, depending on the carrier:
- Some carriers prevent installing unsigned network apps, and make unsigned HTTP apps a pain to use. (i.e. Google Maps)
- Themes, which are a bit more complex than simple single files like PNG's and mp3's.
- BREW devices don't let users install their own apps.
I'm not defending these practices, just putting them in perspective.
To be fair, mobile phones still have a lot of kinks to work out, and security measures could render services unusuable on many devices. Just think about the time complexity involved with real-time decryption which would be one possible solution, phones can't handle this. You can't really criticize them for this, as the mobile space is a bit chaotic right now and they had to make a business decision: Lose revenue by not supporting several popular phones, or let a few geeks get free TV. I'd say they made the right choice.
I won't say "dying breed" because there will always be people inclined to take function over fashion, but anyone in marketing will tell you that style, more than function, brings in the green. Function appeals to a niche market.
Incidentally, I purchased a Zune last month. Still a little sore over Apple's treatment of third party developers re: iPhone... (which is an even rarer take than function > style)
I have a Windows Media Edition laptop with a dedicated video card, purchased specifically for media and gaming. Assuming the titles it offers are decent, I will definitely take the plunge and subscribe to this. My 17" widescreen laptop is not loud at all, only gets hot after hours of gaming(only), and I could take it anywhere -- watch movies while doing chores or just relaxing in bed. Don't underestimate the power of the small screen. (if 17" at HD resolution is really that small) Going beyond YouTube-type services, there's been successful technology for streaming video to cell phones for years.
But you're right that they do need to support Macs, if it's not already too late.
I know we're all getting off topic here, but mine in a nutshell: No degree, some college, silicon valley, entered through Java. (though could have entered through PHP)
Long version: I'd learned from RL friends about high concentrations of Java programmers out of work, among other horror stories. I'd heard that the Silicon Valley area is saturated with umemployed programmers, that "all" of Java is outsourced. Prior employers told me that there's no way I'd find programming work without a degree. And yet I received two job offers on the same day, one doing Java (J2ME specifically) and another doing PHP. Still not sure how that happened (as I had tried before with no bites), but it may be a combination of...
- Having the right level of confidence. Not being full of oneself while not being too timid. (and sadly, this can't be taught. I failed here too often.)
- I had spent a great deal of free time [burnout level] in the 10 months leading up to my entry into the profession by working on several personal projects, which I did show off at my interviews. In doing so I learned a number of new concepts.
- I made my resume and contact info very available, and posted a portfolio. Note that making contact info very available will result in spam. It's worth it.
- I paid great attention to the inner workings of previous workplaces, even the one that told me I didn't have a chance. Understanding the business model of the sector you're looking to move into, as well as understanding the tasks of the various engineers there, is a huge plus.
- I'm starting at a somewhat lower price. Until you're an established programmer, you're seen as a risk.
- I saved up enough to weather the storm of a long job hunt. (3+ months living expenses)
- I focused on the mobile space, which is still evolving, as well as its current tools. (J2ME/BREW) You need to specialize. Finding employment as a programmer is like playing the stock market, bet on a sector that will grow and you'll win. Mobile applications is one example, and I do expect it to continue to grow for at least 10 years. More sectors will surely pop up over time, just as many of the current sectors will shrink, or stablize to the point where development is not a high priority.
- I understand general software/hardware concepts and the major universal programming concepts. I can learn whatever specific concepts need to be learned.
- Timing was surely a factor. Those wily venture capitalists are at it again!
While I haven't taken the path that you have, my story should be helpful. Now that I have the rest of my life to worry about, I may end up going back to school and majoring in math instead of CS. What I don't know in CS varies from language to language and can be learned on the job, while math is universal, and it can be a back-up plan if the doom-and-gloom phophecies of penny programmers come true.
Slashdot Mirror
I consider myself a moderate libertarian. This is why it's only "moderate". I honestly do think this kind of software should be illegal; in fact I thought it WAS. In my opinion, no one has a legitimate reason to spy on someone else's computing habits, parents included. If you break down privacy you break down society, there's things you just don't want to know about other people, and said other people just as much do not want you to know about them.
And please, don't compare this to gun rights. Guns as self defense are a deterrent, but spy software doesn't work that way. You can't deter spying against you with spy software. People are still going to have spy software and use it, but it should be as difficult to use as possible, and victims should have legal defense against it if they discover the culprit.
By the way, I understand the fine line between VPN type software and spy software when it comes to functionality, so I understand the hurdles when it comes to illegalizing spy software. I'm just stating my opinion.
Looking at personal experience, and the experience of other women I knew who've entered and exited the industry, I can't really say any single thing is to blame. I don't think it's nature. Nature may account for a 40:60 discrepancy, but not a 10:90. Growing up and throughout my adult life, I was never overtly pressured to give up my geeky pursuits. But that more speaks to not having parents who micromanaged their children's lives. One of the things that nearly led me to give it up completely was herd mentality. For me, it's not very strong, but for others I've known, it is. I've known many women who were fully capable to [x] (not just programming) but don't because they don't want to stand out. Men as boys can be pretty overt about this(eww, girls!), but it goes both ways.
Back to the herd mentality thing, I did have an "off" feeling in high school and in college, periods of uncertainty, etc. because I knew I was going against the current. I have the same thing occasionally when it comes to male dominated interests I have, while female dominated and balanced interests don't give me that feeling. I just eventually almost completely stopped caring altogether and straightened my priorities. Some people can't do that. Other people never had that issue to begin with. I think the former outweighs the latter, and this will cause the discrepancy we have now to snowball. It probably will widen further in the foreseeable future.
As for sexual harassment, it exists, but I've only experienced it at one place, in the four places I've worked at in Silicon Valley. It was at a startup with a culture not common to Silicon Valley companies. It's not as prevalent as others would make you think. That aside, men obviously tone it down when speaking to me directly (versus speaking to other men) and I find myself watercooler socializing with the engineering women more than men, but that's just how society in general is. We have a pretty decent amount of equality these days, and I'm glad it's there, but you can't change how people behave overnight.
(and just for reference, I'm a software engineer in the gaming industry. and yes I'm female. and no, I don't consider myself average...)
Every time I've played German boardgames in real life, backstabbing, blocking, and competition was everyone's M.O. There's some cooperation in certain games but ultimately everyone's out for themselves.
...recycled "slow news day" stories linking games and youth aggression linked to aggressive behavior in gamers.
I'd be willing to bet he's just a perfectionist. It's not unusual for people who create art to never be satisfied with their own work, while praising the works of others.
It's a supplement, really. I'll use myself as an example. iTunes and CDs can't get my business. I'm too open minded in my music tastes and just listen to whatever Pandora or the local radio stations (that have online streams) bring to me. But RB has opened my wallet wide, I've spent well over $150 on RB DLC. My criteria is simply "will be fun to play on drums".
But like I said, it's a supplement. I'm an odd case when it comes to music, and by using more mediums to sell their work, artists can find more super-niche markets like me to squeeze in every last penny of a song's value, but by no means would it ever replace iTunes.
Finally, keep in mind that these old bands like AC/DC, Metallica, and The Beatles aren't entirely hip to the new trends. Also, these games are separate games and NOT downloadable content. (DLC) AC/DC I know is one band that flat out rejects iTunes. They don't have to because their main audience is in their 40's, 50's, 60's and will probably buy traditional media for the rest of their lives. RB: AC/DC and GH: Metallica are simply extensions of traditional media.
I'm always too late for these. And this one actually resembles my story. Pssh.
Anyway, if you do see my reply in the sea of others, I was in QA for some time before making it into development. There were a few dynamics with my moving from QA to dev. Personal projects is one of them. Back when I was trying to get my foot in the door (for real, more on that later) I was spending almost all my free time on personal projects. It was stressful not really having a work-life balance for awhile, and I'll admit that stress did surface a bit at work, but it was necessary. I combined these personal projects into a portfolio on my website.
Now speaking of foot in the door, your foot is not in the door. It's not in the door until you're developing or programming and getting paid to do it. There is a bit of a stigma moving from QA to dev, and if you've been there for a long time you may have been typecast by your co-workers, and won't be able to move up. That was my case, and I eventually parted ways with my QA company and found development work in a start-up. The pay was little more than QA, but that was the true "foot in the door" for me. I kept building up my portfolio while working at this company (though with a better work-life balance) and when that gig ended, I got into an established company with higher hiring standards and significantly higher pay, all thanks to my work experience and my portfolio.
So the short of it is: You can get in, you just really have to want it. (and, of course, you need to display an appropriate level of competence!)
While it's probably an interview issue, don't overdo it or overstress about it either. It'll take a certain level of comfort with not only the source material but the interviewers as well. Also, learn from your mistakes in previous interviews. Depending on your specialty you'll come across many repeat questions. Try to recall the ones you botch in one interview, study up on those so you'll be ready if they come up at another interview.
You should also be prepared for the worst. If you don't know something, be honest about it. If you're not 100% sure about something, take a good guess but be honest that you're not 100% about it. Your ability to gauge your own abilities and your character are determined by how you overcome your shortcomings.
Finally, you'll probably have the most luck starting with a startup. It'll get your foot in the door. My first gig was a startup, and when that gig ended ended, I got into an established company with very little effort. I had no luck whatsoever before the startup.
Unless the non-disclosure clause is a part of the agreement upon submission of the app, what they're doing isn't really legally binding. It's like me saying "Upon reading this Slashdot reply, you agree to give me $5000."
I look forward to the backlash.
Example one: Tribe of proto-humans hear tall grass rattling, look over, see the grass rattling, and then a lion pops out. Two of their tribe are killed. Later on, the same thing happens but a mere rabbit pops out, but they take precautions due to the extreme circumstances of the last incident. Proto-humans realize that A doesn't always lead to B, but it can, so they take precautions for the remainder of their lives.
Example two: Ancient humans walk under a ladder. Shortly after, a stampede of spooked cattle crush several of their members. Thus the "walk under a ladder" superstition is born. (not really, but lets just pretend that's the origin)
Proto-humans were not stupid. There's a HUGE difference between superstition and carefulness/instinct based on a clearly defined sequence of events that occured in their past. That example is terrible. The other example is just describing a precursor the scientific method. A better way would have to gather every herb around, take a sample of 10 people with the illness per herb classification, give them that herb (or a combination of herbs) and study the results. But such methodology wasn't common back then...
Ouch.
That said, are automated trading systems going to be this decade's great Ponzi scheme? I can't believe so many people can be so lazy with their investments to send the stock tumbling that much.
It looks like the ones who'll ultimately get burned from this are are those who are careless with their money. But how soon before people take advantage of viral networking to manipulate Google's algorithms for determining popular news, bring up old doom and gloom articles to intentionally tank a stock so they can buy while it's cheap?
Sensational or not, it's still ridiculous and obvious. It's a programmer's choice how PgUp PgDn performs in their app and both are incredibly easy to implement in a program. Either scroll based on the size of the window or scroll based on that, multiplied by the result simple mathematical relative difference equation of zoomed area vs. not zoomed area. I'm sure Ben Franklin humbly pay tribute to these "inventors". Hah.
I would agree with this, except that they didn't expand the ban to the entire media, which is where they went wrong. Now I'm realistic, ultimately it's a tongue-in-cheek ban because they can't do anything about leaking to the international press, or some random New Zealander posting on the internet, but innocent peoples' lives are permanently destroyed when they're accused of a heinous crime and their name gets out. It's like they say, the accusation is on page 1, and the retraction is on page 36.
Now CONVICTED criminals, that's another story.
While there's leaps that have been made in computer animation that are obvious even in a low resolution YouTube video, it still has the same problems that Polar Express has...a lack of expression. "Emily"'s facial expression was still pretty bland and robotic, and seemed to be lacking the range of motion seen in a real human. Unless it was an oversight that the animators missed in their demo...but I doubt it.
That said, we're definitely getting closer...
I've been hearing these complaints from iPhone users and it's not the iPhone or Infineon's fault. I call it the "teetering on the edge of networks" bug because it happens when 3G's around 1-2 bars while edge is around 3-4. It appears that the phone's trying to get the best possible connection but when 3G and EDGE are about the same, the phone will switch between networks, often repeatedly, causing dropped calls, download problems and whatnot. This is all assumption, but I've been privied to enough to AT&T phones to feel I almost hit the nail on the head here. I only wish there were a "to hell with 3G" option available on any of these phones so I could confirm my theory.
V1ag@ra and Ci@li5 now half priice!
Because I laughed when I read the summary.
First they came for the bees, and I did not speak out because I was not a bee.
Then they came for the electro-sensitive, and I did not speak out because I was not electro-sensitive.
Then they came for the ethernet cables, and I did not speak out because I stopped using ethernet cables.
Then they came for me, and I enjoyed worldwide wireless coverage on my laptop. Woohoo!
The only exception being retired people on government sponsored healthcare (which I know is the focus of the article), but if we're talking a 40 year old death and a 50 year old death, don't forget the 50 year old likely contributed 10 more years worth of income into the system. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if seniors with healthier habits retire later and/or make more money throughout their lifetimes. I'd love to see a study of that.
I work with mobile phones by profession, and can tell you this isn't true.
What is NOT crippled, with rare exceptions:
- Any phone that supports SD cards will allow the user to use anything except applications and themes from that SD card. My personal Motorola phone's ringtone resides on an SD card.
- USB cables are another backdoor, and many manufacturers put the enabling software on their website. You can also get USB+software combos from Radio Shack for $20 for virtually any device. Some carriers provide roughly the same software/cables for a bit more. (d'oh...)
- None of the J2ME devices block web installation of unsigned apps. (* see below for exceptions)
What IS crippled, depending on the carrier:
- Some carriers prevent installing unsigned network apps, and make unsigned HTTP apps a pain to use. (i.e. Google Maps)
- Themes, which are a bit more complex than simple single files like PNG's and mp3's.
- BREW devices don't let users install their own apps.
I'm not defending these practices, just putting them in perspective.
To be fair, mobile phones still have a lot of kinks to work out, and security measures could render services unusuable on many devices. Just think about the time complexity involved with real-time decryption which would be one possible solution, phones can't handle this. You can't really criticize them for this, as the mobile space is a bit chaotic right now and they had to make a business decision: Lose revenue by not supporting several popular phones, or let a few geeks get free TV. I'd say they made the right choice.
...then new laws would never get passed.
I won't say "dying breed" because there will always be people inclined to take function over fashion, but anyone in marketing will tell you that style, more than function, brings in the green. Function appeals to a niche market.
Incidentally, I purchased a Zune last month. Still a little sore over Apple's treatment of third party developers re: iPhone... (which is an even rarer take than function > style)
I have a Windows Media Edition laptop with a dedicated video card, purchased specifically for media and gaming. Assuming the titles it offers are decent, I will definitely take the plunge and subscribe to this. My 17" widescreen laptop is not loud at all, only gets hot after hours of gaming(only), and I could take it anywhere -- watch movies while doing chores or just relaxing in bed. Don't underestimate the power of the small screen. (if 17" at HD resolution is really that small) Going beyond YouTube-type services, there's been successful technology for streaming video to cell phones for years.
But you're right that they do need to support Macs, if it's not already too late.
I know we're all getting off topic here, but mine in a nutshell: No degree, some college, silicon valley, entered through Java. (though could have entered through PHP)
Long version:
I'd learned from RL friends about high concentrations of Java programmers out of work, among other horror stories. I'd heard that the Silicon Valley area is saturated with umemployed programmers, that "all" of Java is outsourced. Prior employers told me that there's no way I'd find programming work without a degree. And yet I received two job offers on the same day, one doing Java (J2ME specifically) and another doing PHP. Still not sure how that happened (as I had tried before with no bites), but it may be a combination of...
- Having the right level of confidence. Not being full of oneself while not being too timid. (and sadly, this can't be taught. I failed here too often.)
- I had spent a great deal of free time [burnout level] in the 10 months leading up to my entry into the profession by working on several personal projects, which I did show off at my interviews. In doing so I learned a number of new concepts.
- I made my resume and contact info very available, and posted a portfolio. Note that making contact info very available will result in spam. It's worth it.
- I paid great attention to the inner workings of previous workplaces, even the one that told me I didn't have a chance. Understanding the business model of the sector you're looking to move into, as well as understanding the tasks of the various engineers there, is a huge plus.
- I'm starting at a somewhat lower price. Until you're an established programmer, you're seen as a risk.
- I saved up enough to weather the storm of a long job hunt. (3+ months living expenses)
- I focused on the mobile space, which is still evolving, as well as its current tools. (J2ME/BREW) You need to specialize. Finding employment as a programmer is like playing the stock market, bet on a sector that will grow and you'll win. Mobile applications is one example, and I do expect it to continue to grow for at least 10 years. More sectors will surely pop up over time, just as many of the current sectors will shrink, or stablize to the point where development is not a high priority.
- I understand general software/hardware concepts and the major universal programming concepts. I can learn whatever specific concepts need to be learned.
- Timing was surely a factor. Those wily venture capitalists are at it again!
While I haven't taken the path that you have, my story should be helpful. Now that I have the rest of my life to worry about, I may end up going back to school and majoring in math instead of CS. What I don't know in CS varies from language to language and can be learned on the job, while math is universal, and it can be a back-up plan if the doom-and-gloom phophecies of penny programmers come true.