It seems like a losing proposition in the IT business to specialize too much. Now that you don't have a lifetime job, you will have a very narrow range of jobs that you can take. Mainframe maintenence isn't really a growth industry (well, maybe when the current engineers start retiring).
So why would you invest big bucks in a college degree for a career in a shrinking speciality in shrinking field?
Solutions: Ship the jobs to India or import Indians, or just grab some guy off the street and train him (or her).
[off-topic] Maybe I'm just saying this because of the demoralizing state of the economy: I don't think I'm going to stay in the IT business. I spent a lot of money on a BS and MS degree to get into this field and the IT world looks like its heading the way of Old Detroit. It's not too late to go to medical school.
I wish I had some mod points. I find it hilarious that you're being modded down as 'flamebait' while the parent post is modded up as 'insightful'. This is another good example of otherwise good people being caught in the "subtle racism" that still exists in today's America Utopia.
No one forced you to go to college or your wife to go to medical school. By your logic, you would have been better off financially just getting a job and not racking up such massive loans.
I'm in the same position as you -- wife in med school, still paying off my own loans. Choices were made by both of us to spend money to have more fulfilling jobs and make more money in the long run.
I don't think your story will get many tears from the average American.
What gets me more upset is when my tax money is wasted and the hands go into my pockets for more.
Part of the problem is all the bleeding edge features being added to current software is not really being used. How many more features can be packed into a word processor? It's not just bleeding edge technology that is having problems. What about the new air traffic control system? Didn't a software bug destroy a rocket that was being launched in Russia? 22% average failure rate for personal computers is accepted. What happens when they start doing climate control for our houses or perhaps opening windows and doors? That was the point the professor from Carnagie Mellon made.
I don't think the author called Japanese perfect. Sure the Playstation 2 had some bugs, but were they really that bad? I mean one bug let you enter a code to play other region DVDs. Not exactly a showstopper. I think you're doing a disservice to the legacy of Japanese influence here. You can attribute increasing chip yields to Japanese quality. Didn't American companies accept 50% yields in the early/mid 80s?
I do agree with your bottom line, what I don't agree with is that the problems we're seeing with software quality is entirely related to pushing the edge.
What are you talking about? 4 paragraphs out of the entire article does not equal shoddy journalism. I think you need to come up with a more legitimate criticism if you honestly think the article is a waste of time.
The thing is, on something like IRC they are the equivalent of the school administration. I hope some people take the original message to heart and try to apply some of the life lessons they learned the hard way in other forums and endeavors whether they involve school administration or not.
I say "what is the point?" Why learn how to sqeeze more out of processors that aren't used. I'm assuming we're talking PCs here. Would you rather a product be performance tuned and optimized for years just to sqeeze a few extra MB out your computer (all the time spent costs money which one would assume is passed on to the consumer).
I'm not trying to say current software engineering practices are perfect (they're not). I just find it kind of funny when I hear people waxing nostalgic for their 64K of RAM and 10 khz processors. "Kids today just don't know how to program!"
This looks like a case where the fastest way to make Mars' atmosphere breathable to humans is to wait until our technological knowledge increases. If I remember correctly, the quickest way to crack RSA encryption (40 bits?) was to wait 10 years for a better algorithm.
"As for undervaluing the contribution of IT, that was always the case. Sales & Marketing were the stars, always, and IT was an afterthought. That was true both in corporte culture as well as management opportunities. The sales guys, no matter how idiotic they were, got to move up the ladder far faster than the best of the IT staff. I always attributed that to the VPs not knowing what we did but actually did understand what the sales guys did."
Part of it is that the sales and marketing people make money in the eyes of the higher-ups and the IT/support staff take money. Probably has a lot to do with bosses understanding the sales side better, but a lot of it is the herd mentality. Some one with clout once said that every sales person you add to your force is another person out there bringing in $$$ while every person in the "support" side takes money out of the coffers. Things will change when one of the lemmings change the direction of the herd.
Slashdot Mirror
If you read the review, you're giving this crappy computer more credit than it deserves. You can't even hook it up to your television in any way.
It seems like a losing proposition in the IT business to specialize too much. Now that you don't have a lifetime job, you will have a very narrow range of jobs that you can take. Mainframe maintenence isn't really a growth industry (well, maybe when the current engineers start retiring).
So why would you invest big bucks in a college degree for a career in a shrinking speciality in shrinking field?
Solutions: Ship the jobs to India or import Indians, or just grab some guy off the street and train him (or her).
[off-topic]
Maybe I'm just saying this because of the demoralizing state of the economy: I don't think I'm going to stay in the IT business. I spent a lot of money on a BS and MS degree to get into this field and the IT world looks like its heading the way of Old Detroit. It's not too late to go to medical school.
If taste was the only reason people bought soft drinks then Coca Cola would be no more popular that Sam's Choice.
I wish I had some mod points. I find it hilarious that you're being modded down as 'flamebait' while the parent post is modded up as 'insightful'. This is another good example of otherwise good people being caught in the "subtle racism" that still exists in today's America Utopia.
No one forced you to go to college or your wife to go to medical school. By your logic, you would have been better off financially just getting a job and not racking up such massive loans.
I'm in the same position as you -- wife in med school, still paying off my own loans. Choices were made by both of us to spend money to have more fulfilling jobs and make more money in the long run.
I don't think your story will get many tears from the average American.
What gets me more upset is when my tax money is wasted and the hands go into my pockets for more.
You might want to look it up on Amazon (the dead-tree book) and read the reviews. It's not exactly a "how-to" document.
I've had to rely heavily on trial-and-error and the forums to get everything working.
Well, considering the people currently writing reviews are using reference designs, I think full scale stability testing is premature.
You should read the article. Intel is mentioned over and over in quotes by Ellison
http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q3/010917/index .html
I can't think of a circumstance where I would want to trust a 4-way server to an AMD chip. Love it for my desktop though.
A little off.
Mb = mega bits
MB = mega bytes
So, the original poster was correct (if not a little anal).
To the dense: It's a joke.
Part of the problem is all the bleeding edge features being added to current software is not really being used. How many more features can be packed into a word processor? It's not just bleeding edge technology that is having problems. What about the new air traffic control system? Didn't a software bug destroy a rocket that was being launched in Russia? 22% average failure rate for personal computers is accepted. What happens when they start doing climate control for our houses or perhaps opening windows and doors? That was the point the professor from Carnagie Mellon made. I don't think the author called Japanese perfect. Sure the Playstation 2 had some bugs, but were they really that bad? I mean one bug let you enter a code to play other region DVDs. Not exactly a showstopper. I think you're doing a disservice to the legacy of Japanese influence here. You can attribute increasing chip yields to Japanese quality. Didn't American companies accept 50% yields in the early/mid 80s? I do agree with your bottom line, what I don't agree with is that the problems we're seeing with software quality is entirely related to pushing the edge.
What are you talking about? 4 paragraphs out of the entire article does not equal shoddy journalism. I think you need to come up with a more legitimate criticism if you honestly think the article is a waste of time.
The thing is, on something like IRC they are the equivalent of the school administration. I hope some people take the original message to heart and try to apply some of the life lessons they learned the hard way in other forums and endeavors whether they involve school administration or not.
I say "what is the point?" Why learn how to sqeeze more out of processors that aren't used. I'm assuming we're talking PCs here. Would you rather a product be performance tuned and optimized for years just to sqeeze a few extra MB out your computer (all the time spent costs money which one would assume is passed on to the consumer). I'm not trying to say current software engineering practices are perfect (they're not). I just find it kind of funny when I hear people waxing nostalgic for their 64K of RAM and 10 khz processors. "Kids today just don't know how to program!"
This looks like a case where the fastest way to make Mars' atmosphere breathable to humans is to wait until our technological knowledge increases. If I remember correctly, the quickest way to crack RSA encryption (40 bits?) was to wait 10 years for a better algorithm.
Part of it is that the sales and marketing people make money in the eyes of the higher-ups and the IT/support staff take money. Probably has a lot to do with bosses understanding the sales side better, but a lot of it is the herd mentality. Some one with clout once said that every sales person you add to your force is another person out there bringing in $$$ while every person in the "support" side takes money out of the coffers. Things will change when one of the lemmings change the direction of the herd.