I'm an engineer. Social media stuff doesn't interest me, or the latest fads. Presumably if these "technologies" are important then we'll hear about them through normal channels without having to hang out in the same bars that novice programmers do. A thousand startups go bust every single day, why should I waste brain cells trying to keep track of them?
I don't even know what they are. Slack? I thought it meant goofing off, until today I find out it's a product. HipChat, it's that annoying thing on the side of Jira, and I can only assume it combines the worst of hipsters and chat programs in one dysfunction. Now Microsoft "Teams"? WTF does Microsoft know aobut teams, they barely have anyone there who knows how to program properly much less have enough of them to form a team.
The "political science" is not settled though. Relevant parts of concern to political scientists are, "how can I continue to to receive campaign donations from major greenhouse gas producers?"
We use phones with touch. We don't use desktop computers with touch very often. It's not at all comfortable to reach out at arm's length to touch a screen all day. They should have at least had the foresight to default to touch on devices where touch made sense and default to standard interface on devices where the standard interface was the norm.
Windows 8 did put the desktop in the background. They make it hard to find, and made it nearly impossible to boot up to the desktop by default. In fact when preview users figured out how to change the registry to boot up to the desktop that the very next preview release disabled this feature. This says that Microsoft made it an intentional goal to push their Metro interface and store up front first.
I don't recall anyone ever asking for the walled garden on the desktop. I don't recall anyone asking for it even on a phone 15 years ago (when even feature phones were relatively rare). Definitely no one ever asked that one company be the gate keeper for all software that ever appears on their computer, that you must always ask for permission from the computer maker before using third party software. Third party software is what made Microsoft succeed, no one ever bought Windows because they wanted Windows, they bought it because they want to run applications most of which are third party.
The Windows 10 reboots for upgrades are NOT just for a tiny handful of 0 day exploits. Windows 10 will forcibly reboot even if the update is not security related, even it its just an update to the UI, and even if the update has been proven by others to brick your computer and there is no opt-out for home or small business uers.
Both are going to be terrible. We're now arguing over which one we're more likely to survive four years of. Saying that one is evil and the other one is perfectly find and upstanding is just short sighted. This is not a sports event, so don't treat it like My Team Rules versus Your Team Sucks.
But programers have the power to leave if they get too stressed. However it doesn't happen as often as you'd think it should happen. Maybe they're concerned that their skills don't translate well to other companies, maybe they believe the myth that their stock options will let them retire early, but I suspect quite of lot of them are convinced that the 60-80 hour work week is "normal" and it will be that way everywhere they go.
Did they upgrade or did they just get new computers that came with Windows 7 by default? How many actually went out and purchased a box full of Windows 7? I personally only purchased three copies of windows in my life, the rest of the time it was what I got with the machine. The latest purchase was Windows 8, and *only* because it was the Pro version for $15.
Nobody likes the ribbons. Microsoft is oblivious to customer concerns because their goals are to add features and maybe fix them later. Customer desires to not fit into their business plans, they treat Windows users like an annoyance (the real customers are the OEMs). No customers ever asked for a touch screen interface, no customers ever asked that the desktop be deprecated in Windows 8, no customers ever asked for a broken implementation of a phone applet store, no customers ever asked for Microsoft to reboot their computers to apply updates when they were in the middle of a game or skype call.
Windows 8.1 was mostly an apology, Windows VP was fired, we were allowed to boot to desktop again, etc. Then Windows 10 reversed course and doubled down; the store centric model was still front and center, the start menu was just the metro start page but not full screen, the update policy was just insane, etc.
The whole attitude from Microsoft is a dramatic shift from how they behaved during XP/7 time frames. Maybe it's the new CEO, maybe they're feeling more and more irrelevant and are panicking because desktops are not the big thing they once were, but something has changed in Redmond behavior.
You sound like a Microsoft employee. If there's no reason to upgrade then why upgrade? It is not a better OS, there are no new must have features (voice search for a desktop, that's just absurd). Windows 8.1 is much better, though it's slowly being eroded by adding Windows 10 malfunctions (all Windows updates are starting to require that you have all previous updates). Windows 7 is good too, but I think Windows 8 saved a bunch of memory, whereas Windows 10 hasn't really added anything except for a new business model and a large reduction in customer support.
Networking is talking to everyone. The tech people won't get you many new jobs, but the managers might, people in other departments might, and so on. At least in my experience that's where I got the best leads.
I'm unfaimilar with Facebook. What is "check in at Standing Rock" mean? They just list their location as being there or something? Couldn't we all just list our location as 10 feet behind Obama and see if the secret service freaks out?
But what they hate worse than pirates is bad publicity when a grandma talks to the newspapers. I practically guarantee that they'll claim it was a mistake and fix the problem for her. That is, fix the problem for her but no one else. Public shaming works better than the lawsuit.
Apple has not really told us why we want the new Macbook Pro instead of keeping the old Macbook Pros that are working just fine. Given the new model I suspect many customers would prefer a used Macbook Pro instead of a new one.
I see people who think they need to work long hours. But they are never asked to put in the long hours for no extra compensation (in US companies). Instead management has figured out how to make the employees voluntarily do this. It may be peer pressure, everyone else stays late so you feel you should also. Or they figure out ways for you to agree to do certain work and then the deadlines aren't feasible. Older workers often tend to push back against this, one reason I think they're discriminated against.
Agile is very good at making me work longer I feel - I voluntarily agree to take on a task and claim I will finish it in two weeks, ie, I promise I will finish in time, then I end up working longer and longer hours in order to make me uphold my promise. Agile has moved me from a relaxed work pace where I get everything done to a hectic and stressful work pace where I feel I am constantly trying to catch up.
I have "contacts" who may be VPs, but at really unimportant companies for the most part. And I wouldn't rely on them for a job and I know what they do and I wouldn't want to work at those places:-) People you work with as an engineer are not generally promoted to the VP level and higher, that's extremely rare except in the startup industry where everyone is a chief of something. Sure I have those people on my linkedin, because everyone wants to link to everyone else, but I'm probably not going to use them to find a job even if they do remember me.
Similarly, I'm not the right person for any of my contacts to get a job. I'll probably just pass on the resume to someone else or refer to the online list of open reqs. I've been asked before "what do you think about this person" and I'm stuck, because I often it's someone I only briefly worked with, or for a different field, etc.
If it's someone I like I'll then I'm in a quandary because I know all the bad things about my company and why would I want to subject someone I like to that environment? I also don't want the up coming recrimination of "why didn't you tell me my boss was going to be a jerk!?"
People often go into tech because they really have difficulty talking to non-tech people. Networking is a social skill, engineering is not necessarily a social skill. It's definitely a drawback, you can be the best engineer ever and then never get the job if the ones hiring you dislike your personality. Otherwise we could fill up engineering with a bunch of marketing people.
The problem with older programmers is that the younger programmers keep changing the definitions. There really is nothing new in programming languages but we keep getting new words. Doesn't help that each new language defines its own terms as well. This is nothing new though, we've had "procedure", "function", "subroutine" etc, forever. Just a matter of keeping up with the new slang; the variable used to be called "foo", now it's called "FooFunctorFactory".
Slashdot Mirror
I'm an engineer. Social media stuff doesn't interest me, or the latest fads. Presumably if these "technologies" are important then we'll hear about them through normal channels without having to hang out in the same bars that novice programmers do. A thousand startups go bust every single day, why should I waste brain cells trying to keep track of them?
I've done that. 54 years and still no disturbances from Slack or HipChat.
I don't even know what they are. Slack? I thought it meant goofing off, until today I find out it's a product. HipChat, it's that annoying thing on the side of Jira, and I can only assume it combines the worst of hipsters and chat programs in one dysfunction. Now Microsoft "Teams"? WTF does Microsoft know aobut teams, they barely have anyone there who knows how to program properly much less have enough of them to form a team.
Yes. Support your local economy.
If you use a chalkboard then it's mathematics. If you do experiments then it's science. If you actually make something happen then it's engineering.
The "political science" is not settled though. Relevant parts of concern to political scientists are, "how can I continue to to receive campaign donations from major greenhouse gas producers?"
No matter what languages, there was just way too much phlegm in that post.
We use phones with touch. We don't use desktop computers with touch very often. It's not at all comfortable to reach out at arm's length to touch a screen all day. They should have at least had the foresight to default to touch on devices where touch made sense and default to standard interface on devices where the standard interface was the norm.
Windows 8 did put the desktop in the background. They make it hard to find, and made it nearly impossible to boot up to the desktop by default. In fact when preview users figured out how to change the registry to boot up to the desktop that the very next preview release disabled this feature. This says that Microsoft made it an intentional goal to push their Metro interface and store up front first.
I don't recall anyone ever asking for the walled garden on the desktop. I don't recall anyone asking for it even on a phone 15 years ago (when even feature phones were relatively rare). Definitely no one ever asked that one company be the gate keeper for all software that ever appears on their computer, that you must always ask for permission from the computer maker before using third party software. Third party software is what made Microsoft succeed, no one ever bought Windows because they wanted Windows, they bought it because they want to run applications most of which are third party.
The Windows 10 reboots for upgrades are NOT just for a tiny handful of 0 day exploits. Windows 10 will forcibly reboot even if the update is not security related, even it its just an update to the UI, and even if the update has been proven by others to brick your computer and there is no opt-out for home or small business uers.
Both are going to be terrible. We're now arguing over which one we're more likely to survive four years of. Saying that one is evil and the other one is perfectly find and upstanding is just short sighted. This is not a sports event, so don't treat it like My Team Rules versus Your Team Sucks.
But programers have the power to leave if they get too stressed. However it doesn't happen as often as you'd think it should happen. Maybe they're concerned that their skills don't translate well to other companies, maybe they believe the myth that their stock options will let them retire early, but I suspect quite of lot of them are convinced that the 60-80 hour work week is "normal" and it will be that way everywhere they go.
Did they upgrade or did they just get new computers that came with Windows 7 by default? How many actually went out and purchased a box full of Windows 7? I personally only purchased three copies of windows in my life, the rest of the time it was what I got with the machine. The latest purchase was Windows 8, and *only* because it was the Pro version for $15.
Nobody likes the ribbons. Microsoft is oblivious to customer concerns because their goals are to add features and maybe fix them later. Customer desires to not fit into their business plans, they treat Windows users like an annoyance (the real customers are the OEMs). No customers ever asked for a touch screen interface, no customers ever asked that the desktop be deprecated in Windows 8, no customers ever asked for a broken implementation of a phone applet store, no customers ever asked for Microsoft to reboot their computers to apply updates when they were in the middle of a game or skype call.
Windows 8.1 was mostly an apology, Windows VP was fired, we were allowed to boot to desktop again, etc. Then Windows 10 reversed course and doubled down; the store centric model was still front and center, the start menu was just the metro start page but not full screen, the update policy was just insane, etc.
The whole attitude from Microsoft is a dramatic shift from how they behaved during XP/7 time frames. Maybe it's the new CEO, maybe they're feeling more and more irrelevant and are panicking because desktops are not the big thing they once were, but something has changed in Redmond behavior.
You sound like a Microsoft employee. If there's no reason to upgrade then why upgrade? It is not a better OS, there are no new must have features (voice search for a desktop, that's just absurd). Windows 8.1 is much better, though it's slowly being eroded by adding Windows 10 malfunctions (all Windows updates are starting to require that you have all previous updates). Windows 7 is good too, but I think Windows 8 saved a bunch of memory, whereas Windows 10 hasn't really added anything except for a new business model and a large reduction in customer support.
Networking is talking to everyone. The tech people won't get you many new jobs, but the managers might, people in other departments might, and so on. At least in my experience that's where I got the best leads.
Sail in on the Mayflower?
(too soon to be funny?)
I'm unfaimilar with Facebook. What is "check in at Standing Rock" mean? They just list their location as being there or something? Couldn't we all just list our location as 10 feet behind Obama and see if the secret service freaks out?
But what they hate worse than pirates is bad publicity when a grandma talks to the newspapers. I practically guarantee that they'll claim it was a mistake and fix the problem for her. That is, fix the problem for her but no one else. Public shaming works better than the lawsuit.
Apple has not really told us why we want the new Macbook Pro instead of keeping the old Macbook Pros that are working just fine. Given the new model I suspect many customers would prefer a used Macbook Pro instead of a new one.
Having an ARM CPU control part of the keyboard is not a feature. It is merely an implementation detail.
No one wants to hold your steeing wheel while you put on your makeup.
I see people who think they need to work long hours. But they are never asked to put in the long hours for no extra compensation (in US companies). Instead management has figured out how to make the employees voluntarily do this. It may be peer pressure, everyone else stays late so you feel you should also. Or they figure out ways for you to agree to do certain work and then the deadlines aren't feasible. Older workers often tend to push back against this, one reason I think they're discriminated against.
Agile is very good at making me work longer I feel - I voluntarily agree to take on a task and claim I will finish it in two weeks, ie, I promise I will finish in time, then I end up working longer and longer hours in order to make me uphold my promise. Agile has moved me from a relaxed work pace where I get everything done to a hectic and stressful work pace where I feel I am constantly trying to catch up.
I have "contacts" who may be VPs, but at really unimportant companies for the most part. And I wouldn't rely on them for a job and I know what they do and I wouldn't want to work at those places :-) People you work with as an engineer are not generally promoted to the VP level and higher, that's extremely rare except in the startup industry where everyone is a chief of something. Sure I have those people on my linkedin, because everyone wants to link to everyone else, but I'm probably not going to use them to find a job even if they do remember me.
Similarly, I'm not the right person for any of my contacts to get a job. I'll probably just pass on the resume to someone else or refer to the online list of open reqs. I've been asked before "what do you think about this person" and I'm stuck, because I often it's someone I only briefly worked with, or for a different field, etc.
If it's someone I like I'll then I'm in a quandary because I know all the bad things about my company and why would I want to subject someone I like to that environment? I also don't want the up coming recrimination of "why didn't you tell me my boss was going to be a jerk!?"
People often go into tech because they really have difficulty talking to non-tech people. Networking is a social skill, engineering is not necessarily a social skill. It's definitely a drawback, you can be the best engineer ever and then never get the job if the ones hiring you dislike your personality. Otherwise we could fill up engineering with a bunch of marketing people.
For every company, you always do better bypassing HR in order to get a job.
The problem with older programmers is that the younger programmers keep changing the definitions. There really is nothing new in programming languages but we keep getting new words. Doesn't help that each new language defines its own terms as well. This is nothing new though, we've had "procedure", "function", "subroutine" etc, forever. Just a matter of keeping up with the new slang; the variable used to be called "foo", now it's called "FooFunctorFactory".