I started on the help desk for a financial software company. It took me a little less than a year to get poached by a hedge fund I dealt with every day. Now I'm sitting on a trading floor gaining loads of experience not related to computers at all. Basically, I've shifted gears and am on track for a trader oriented role.
Granted, I spent a lot of time doing quantitative work with clients to back up the software, but I basically answered phones all day (in jeans and a t-shirt, how I miss that).
For a niche skill set, with great people skills, you can definitely get yourself in the backdoor of some firms. You're greatest ally is the boutique firm with no huge IT infrastructure.
I work for the residential computing services department of a major university (27,000), and we handle it via a registration process. We lock all new users into a quarentine zone and then force them to patch and scan their OS with our tool. The tool reports the results to us, and then lets them out of netjail. Although it took a lot of effort to implement, the payoff is beautiful. Furthermore, the moment we detect malicious activity on a computer, we throw them right back in netjail.
The solution lies in users educating themselves on the vulnerabilities of their web browsers and the consequences of software that is distributed with AdWare. I work at a university and my department is responsible for dealing with the residential networks and their users. We often have to shut down users who become comprimised and start spamming the hell out of people. Often times a student will look at me and say "I didn't know something like this could happen". Well my office is taking a new direction next year. Including a class held weekly on securing your computer and not downloading that hot new "Osama Bin Laden" game you saw in your buddies AIM profile. I think the legislation will be used to do more harm then good. Software accountability would be nice, but will never happen. The users need to begin to realize that the powerful piece of computer has the potential for bad as well as good. And they'd better learn to control it.
Isn't there a reason Bittorrent was developed? Why are they reinventing the wheel to lessen the load of those oh so large PDF files that professors distribute? I don't remember the last time my professor wanted to send me a DIVX movie. Sounds pointless to me.
It seems that in todays day and age, protests just don't cut it. Look at the more recent Harvard protest, the police greeted them with food and clean clothes rather than night sticks and tear gas. No one really cared about the stuedents and their beliefs, partly because so many insignificent protests have diluted their true meaning. When I stood in Pittsburgh and protested the DMCA, did anyone notice or care? "Ohhhh another one of those stupid protesters". Picketers and protestors are treated more like beggers than people that have a strong political view. Obviously violent means are not the answers. So how do we protest these "oppressions"? In my eyes I see the digital front to be the next site of protest. We see this now in web sites such as/. Organizations use the web to promote knowledge about injustices, and have information on how to fight them. But this I feel is no enough. I think every/. reader is a techie, a techie with knowledge and technicle power. We control the new age of communications. I feel that/. readers are among the people that are really pushing the envelope of what is possible, or are at least utilizing this envelope pushing technology. It is through this power that I feel many protests can be made. Now I'm not quite sure how this power can be harnessed, if at all. I don't pretend to have all the answers. But I think that once a collective front of protest has formed, it had better find an effective way to protest. And I am merely recommending that someone notice that/. readers make up a small, but very valuable minority in the digital world. Maybe if we all formed a union and formed a digital picket line...
Don't flame me, please:)
Media can be categorized into two groups: manipulative and reflective. Many shows that target young teens today (I know, I'm one) are manipulative, and give a different idea about what society actually is. Because of this media created world kids live in today, they see the "beatnicks" of our generation as outcasts, and treat them the same. The difference between this trend today, and fifty years ago, is that media has also gotten more violent. Killing not necissarily, but definately bullying, giving kids the tools to really emotionally upset some other kids today. Sports have gotten more violent, animosity between players directly influences kids. This situation is often reversed, I've often seen people designated "uncool" treating the supposed "cool" kids horribly, when they're just trying to be nice. It's a deep rooted war, and both sides are to blame, it's just that one group seems to be bigger in some situations.
The media is not only to blame for these rifts. By creating controversy over racial, religious, sexual, and other unnecissary issues, teens begin to make generalizations. The most obvious thing I can see in my school is the "Shades of Color" club, which promotes black awareness and such. They continually fight a civil rights battle that is already won. And I as the succeptible teen can't help but feel differently about African Americans. Movies about inter-racial relationships and them being a controversy, only serve to hurt our youth. If you stop making a controversy about homosexuality and its place in the world, kids will grow up without thinking twice about their best friend saying "I'm gay", they'll except it, and won't treat their friend any differently. Prejuidice is learned behavior, but until the world around our youth realizes this, it will constantly stay this way. Yes you all can probably cite numerous cases of persecution, but from my viewpoint as a teen, this is what is being communicated to us. Despite what the parents of the world think, they're sheltering hand only serves to hinder us, but the sad truth is, I doubt anyone will learn from this.
I don't understand why you need to classify map makers, couldn't you say that they are in their own category? Why do you need to categorize a field, it doesn't serve a purpose.
Whats the difference between napster and IRC, besides the file search function? Besides that, why isn't CuteMX by Globalscape being included in this lawsuit? The point of the cassette/minidisc decks I don't think is valid. Napster provides a global means for which to distribute songs. Duplicating decks only allow for backup copies to be created, which (I believe) is legal. But again I raise the point that napster is nothing more then a glorified IRC system, with DCC built into the client. P.S. For those of you who don't know what CuteMX is, its a Media exchange system. Allowing you to distribute music, sound, video, and pictures. All of these media forms can be copyrighted. Both Napster and GlobalScape are mearly providing the forum, while the users themselves are actually performing the ripping.
You've got to be joking if you think this is nothing. Why does it have to stop here? Why does id have to stop with this information? What if they started ripping the ID number out of your P3 and more. Blizzard tried this with email address and I find it annoying that this is considered market research. Winamp has a little survey to see who is using their program, but its optional. Why isn't this optional? Why am I required to send out info about me and my computer? Maybe the information isn't that harmful, but like I said before it can always grow.
Slashdot Mirror
I started on the help desk for a financial software company. It took me a little less than a year to get poached by a hedge fund I dealt with every day. Now I'm sitting on a trading floor gaining loads of experience not related to computers at all. Basically, I've shifted gears and am on track for a trader oriented role.
Granted, I spent a lot of time doing quantitative work with clients to back up the software, but I basically answered phones all day (in jeans and a t-shirt, how I miss that).
For a niche skill set, with great people skills, you can definitely get yourself in the backdoor of some firms. You're greatest ally is the boutique firm with no huge IT infrastructure.
I work for the residential computing services department of a major university (27,000), and we handle it via a registration process. We lock all new users into a quarentine zone and then force them to patch and scan their OS with our tool. The tool reports the results to us, and then lets them out of netjail. Although it took a lot of effort to implement, the payoff is beautiful. Furthermore, the moment we detect malicious activity on a computer, we throw them right back in netjail.
The solution lies in users educating themselves on the vulnerabilities of their web browsers and the consequences of software that is distributed with AdWare. I work at a university and my department is responsible for dealing with the residential networks and their users. We often have to shut down users who become comprimised and start spamming the hell out of people. Often times a student will look at me and say "I didn't know something like this could happen". Well my office is taking a new direction next year. Including a class held weekly on securing your computer and not downloading that hot new "Osama Bin Laden" game you saw in your buddies AIM profile. I think the legislation will be used to do more harm then good. Software accountability would be nice, but will never happen. The users need to begin to realize that the powerful piece of computer has the potential for bad as well as good. And they'd better learn to control it.
Isn't there a reason Bittorrent was developed? Why are they reinventing the wheel to lessen the load of those oh so large PDF files that professors distribute? I don't remember the last time my professor wanted to send me a DIVX movie. Sounds pointless to me.
It seems that in todays day and age, protests just don't cut it. Look at the more recent Harvard protest, the police greeted them with food and clean clothes rather than night sticks and tear gas. No one really cared about the stuedents and their beliefs, partly because so many insignificent protests have diluted their true meaning. When I stood in Pittsburgh and protested the DMCA, did anyone notice or care? "Ohhhh another one of those stupid protesters". Picketers and protestors are treated more like beggers than people that have a strong political view. Obviously violent means are not the answers. So how do we protest these "oppressions"? In my eyes I see the digital front to be the next site of protest. We see this now in web sites such as /. Organizations use the web to promote knowledge about injustices, and have information on how to fight them. But this I feel is no enough. I think every /. reader is a techie, a techie with knowledge and technicle power. We control the new age of communications. I feel that /. readers are among the people that are really pushing the envelope of what is possible, or are at least utilizing this envelope pushing technology. It is through this power that I feel many protests can be made. Now I'm not quite sure how this power can be harnessed, if at all. I don't pretend to have all the answers. But I think that once a collective front of protest has formed, it had better find an effective way to protest. And I am merely recommending that someone notice that /. readers make up a small, but very valuable minority in the digital world. Maybe if we all formed a union and formed a digital picket line...
Don't flame me, please :)
Media can be categorized into two groups: manipulative and reflective. Many shows that target young teens today (I know, I'm one) are manipulative, and give a different idea about what society actually is. Because of this media created world kids live in today, they see the "beatnicks" of our generation as outcasts, and treat them the same. The difference between this trend today, and fifty years ago, is that media has also gotten more violent. Killing not necissarily, but definately bullying, giving kids the tools to really emotionally upset some other kids today. Sports have gotten more violent, animosity between players directly influences kids. This situation is often reversed, I've often seen people designated "uncool" treating the supposed "cool" kids horribly, when they're just trying to be nice. It's a deep rooted war, and both sides are to blame, it's just that one group seems to be bigger in some situations.
The media is not only to blame for these rifts. By creating controversy over racial, religious, sexual, and other unnecissary issues, teens begin to make generalizations. The most obvious thing I can see in my school is the "Shades of Color" club, which promotes black awareness and such. They continually fight a civil rights battle that is already won. And I as the succeptible teen can't help but feel differently about African Americans. Movies about inter-racial relationships and them being a controversy, only serve to hurt our youth. If you stop making a controversy about homosexuality and its place in the world, kids will grow up without thinking twice about their best friend saying "I'm gay", they'll except it, and won't treat their friend any differently. Prejuidice is learned behavior, but until the world around our youth realizes this, it will constantly stay this way. Yes you all can probably cite numerous cases of persecution, but from my viewpoint as a teen, this is what is being communicated to us. Despite what the parents of the world think, they're sheltering hand only serves to hinder us, but the sad truth is, I doubt anyone will learn from this.
I don't understand why you need to classify map makers, couldn't you say that they are in their own category? Why do you need to categorize a field, it doesn't serve a purpose.
Whats the difference between napster and IRC, besides the file search function? Besides that, why isn't CuteMX by Globalscape being included in this lawsuit? The point of the cassette/minidisc decks I don't think is valid. Napster provides a global means for which to distribute songs. Duplicating decks only allow for backup copies to be created, which (I believe) is legal. But again I raise the point that napster is nothing more then a glorified IRC system, with DCC built into the client. P.S. For those of you who don't know what CuteMX is, its a Media exchange system. Allowing you to distribute music, sound, video, and pictures. All of these media forms can be copyrighted. Both Napster and GlobalScape are mearly providing the forum, while the users themselves are actually performing the ripping.
You've got to be joking if you think this is nothing. Why does it have to stop here? Why does id have to stop with this information? What if they started ripping the ID number out of your P3 and more. Blizzard tried this with email address and I find it annoying that this is considered market research. Winamp has a little survey to see who is using their program, but its optional. Why isn't this optional? Why am I required to send out info about me and my computer? Maybe the information isn't that harmful, but like I said before it can always grow.