Science is all about theories. There are no facts when it comes to how the universe was created. Why can't a teacher tell his students that many people believe God created the universe?
No, science ISN'T about theories. Its about ascertaining repeatable, provable facts of our material world. Supernatural theories (e.g. one that involves the existance of an entity, when there is no repeatable, provable existance of said entity) are not dealt with science. By definition, they are unscientific.
This is not like telling students some new theory that someone thought up 5 minutes ago. People have believed in Christ for over 2000 years. It seems like it should be mentioned in the biology class.
Bhuddists believe the universe may not have a beginning. I'm not an expert in Bhuddist belief's, but I remember reading one Bhuddist's recollections of a conversation with Dali Lama. The Universe could've been created just moments ago, and created to appear to have a past. And they've been believing in ideas like this before Christ was in diapers. Yet neither idea is provable and repeatable. Science is the search for truths in a material world. Period.
Many people believe God created everything, and as people, we're doing our best to describe and measure what he created. I'm not advocating replacing science text books with the bible. But to leave out something that a majority of people in the USA believe is wrong.
To every idiot that says "Evolution is JUST a theory.", I respond with, "The Bible is JUST a book." Its funny how so many people get upset when you trivialize their dogma. ID never had a leg to stand on, unless you count Creationism, which was banned from being taught in schools in 1987. Now please stop hurting science.
I've attended lectures from a professor who's work is partly responsible for RFID. Everyone is really wow'd by his smarts. One day, he just stood up and said, "You know what is the #1 valuable asset to success in this business? The one thing that CEO value the most?" We all listened intently. "Social skills." He went on to list other attributes. Technological Skills (i.e l33tness) was #3 or #4.
Again, with your boss or CEO, YMMV, but now that the idea that LIMITLESS TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE is just an outsourcing contract away.
CEOs with Tech backgrounds might diagree. And that's okay, I disagree. But I still make it a point to communicate to my PM in as friendly and straight forward as possible.
I'm not sure if you are aware or not but here in PA, A "Waste Engineer" - read garbage man - makes a comparable salary as me... a Network Administrator for a mid-sized bank. They even have better benefits. You'd be surprised at the average garbage man pay, I know I was when a buddy of mine went into the business straight out of High School and is a rich bastard while I have student loans and a stressful job.
Not to mention in PA, a garbage collector (who makes more then a network admin) only works 3 days a week. I think they're 12 hour days (36 hour work week). So they make a lot more per hour then entry level or mid-level coders.
Thankfully, with the rise of telecommuting, geeks will make great stay-at-home dads. I love how my workplace let's me do that.
Now I can't wait for the day for my wife to come home from the office and give me a black eye because Dinner wasn't ready when she got home....because I was totally owning in Half Life 2.
Did you go to Pitt too? Hehe. Pitt's CompEng program is the largest school in the College of Engineering (at pitt, obviously). About 550. And out of that 550, about 35 were girls. At least that was the satistics I heard from department staff I met with while involved with the IEEE.
A lot of the girls COULD hack it. But there were a few who were getting by on their looks.
As for thoughts towards inequality, I just wonder why I can remember the names of the girls who were nothing but project burdens, but I can't remember the names of any of the countless male engineers that I ran into that, even after 3 years of programming classes, couldn't code a damn thing in java.
So part of the problem is that since there are so few women entering into these programs, they are much more visible. Think about it, you're in a room with 50 people. 3 are tall blondes, and the other 47 are just brown haired guys with glasses wearing a black t-shirt (maybe with a "no i won't fix your computer slogan"), jeans, and sneakers. Who do think is going to stand out? And who's going to be the topic of scuttlebutt more?
I remember reading somewhere that some private schools started segregating math classes by sex. They found that women, when in a group by themselves, did better at Math. They were more inclined to ask questions, work together in groups, admin difficulties grasping the material or just plain speak up when they saw the teacher make a mistake. Throw back in the guys that make "knowing the answer" a competition and the girls go back to being mute.
I find the practice of 'preying on india's poor' abhorrent.
When I was in college, I did a project discussing the very unethical research conducted by Nazi Scientists in Concentration camps and the biological and chemical warfare projects the japanese undertook.
However, for all the suffering inflicted by the nazi doctors, the west, after winning the war, took the research and used to pioneer procedures such as the heart transplant. (Please do not construe this as an apology for the holocaust or condoning the holocaust. I'm just saying that unethical medical research led to breakthroughs.)
Now, not to seem to alarmist, but the point I wanted to make is: China's record of disregard for human rights. Apathy toward prisoner's rights in general (most people don't really care to think about the quality of life of all the people they're feeding and housing via their tax dollars.) The need for medical test subjects for emerging fields (BioTech, New Vaccines, etc).
If its not happening now, I think it will. And I'm not the first to suggest it. In Larry Niven's 'Known Space' Universe, condemned criminals (life in prison or death sentence) had their organs harvested so that healthy people could extend their life span (before the scientists in the 'Known Space' universe discovered 'Booster Spice').
Soon, immortality will just be a few affordable transplants away!
You do realize this is Microsoft we're talking about...the company that famously doesn't "get video games" and yet releases a video game system....err..home media center...err...online service whatchamacallit 360.
Combine this with "Music Television" that doesn't play music. Or, for that matter, "get" consumers. Teens watch it because every other teen is watching it. Thankfully years of public education has taught our future generations that they are what they own.
It WILL be WMA. It WILL be chock full of DRM goodness. It WILL not have any music worth listening to for less the $.79 (realistically, maybe $.99 -- but something new and hot will be $2.00 because labels still think that everyone is a dumb as that idiot who spends $3.00 for a Green Day Ring Tone) It WILL NOT have a good ease of use or conveinence factor. it WILL NOT be compatible with existing devices (like the Xbox 360) It WILL be bundled with Vista, and even after you install iTunes, BitTorrent, eDonkey, and Limewire (for all your music needs of course) it will still pester you ALL THE TIME to buy their crap.
The headline for this could be "Largest Software Monopoly and Largest Media Monopoly launch Doomed Venture, Destined to Profit."
One of the better books to buy is the Pragmatic Programmer.
Its an easy, relaxed read. Its broad scope gives guidance for programming novice and expert alike. It teaches you to appreciate your own craftsmanship as a developer, and discusses (in generalities) the tools you need to master to be called a 'software developer'. It also includes good starting points (recommendations) for things (like Subversion or CVS for source control, Perl for Macros)
All in all, I would recommend it as a must-have for serious programmers.
Yes, you're right. The iPod Video probably started development back in 03. It has the same form factor as a 4G iPod. The iPod 4G has a similar form factor the (proud owner of one) 3G iPod. Guess what the 3G iPod's form factor was based on? The second-gen iPod. Do you see where this is going?
No? Well, guess what the second gen iPod's form factor was based on? No, not the damned Nomad! The (again, proud owner) First Generation 5GB iPod.
Which came out in 2001. So I hope that this EXTRA OBVIOUS explanation of my reasoning (iPod form factor, while 'evolved' still bears resembleance to its predacessors) helps you make sense of my post!
I love how they claim this isn't a ripoff of the iPod video. In the article (yes, I still read them) the creative spokesdroid states "This has been in design for over a year."
Its too bad the iPod's form factor has pretty much been the same since coming out in 2001.
That is more of a cultural thing as well as more rowdiness caused by high levels of testosterone.
Please don't say you don't actually buy into that myth.
Teens mis-behave because high schools these days resemble a jail better than they anything educational.
If high testosterone was the cause of all the acting up, why didn't we hear about renaissance painter apprentices getting into scuffles all the time, and being thrown out of their profession because they stayed up late, drinking too much wine, riding their horse too fast, and chasing after girls.
They didn't act up because they were doing something that was a) real b) valuable to them and c) were treated as young adults to be mentored.
Modern education doesn't have a), b), or c) right now. Why do you think college is now a requirement to prove a candidate is mature, responsible, and educated?
The poor wireless only happened with the first gen Alum. PowerBooks. It was a really stupid design bug. However, most people don't use their PCMCIA slot (which is why the consumer iBook doesn't have one). Since you own a powerbook, I'd suggest spending the $60 to get a PCMCIA wireless card, or even better, one of those USB wireless adapters that are flash-drive sized. Then your powerbook won't suffer.
>>Oh, I don't, know, maybe the new OS they're planning on releasing next year called Windows Vista? >>Perhaps? The new Internet Explorer? The new Windows Media Player? The new Hotmail? The new MSN Search?
The new hotmail? Copying Gmail. And the New Yahoo. Bottomline: The let hotmail become a disgrace, and it collasped in on itself. They had to upgrade it to save it.
The new internet explorer? You mean "the less secure firefox knock-off"?
The new windows media player? You USE windows media player?
The new MSN search? You mean Google?
Look, people at MS use google to search MSDN. They don't use MSN, they don't use MSDN. They use iPod+iTunes. They use Firefox. Not everyone. YMMV. But MS is having trouble doing anything but following anyone, and back when Billg "had that revelation about the road ahead" and turned the company on a dime to focus on the internet, they were leaders. Not anymore. They let things stagnate, and that's death in this industry.
Sony is a big company like MS that faces this problem. Many times, sony's releasing divisions are competitors. Sony's DVD players let you pirate DVDs -- including ones from Sony Pictures. It happens.
MS doesn't do this -- they try to "bundle" all their products. And the end result so far is a whole worth less then the sum of the parts. So many of these lackluster products aren't "newsworthy" because all they're doing is catching up to their competitors.
I'd disagree when it comes to their powerbook announcements. Nothing really groundbreaking since the 12" and 17" were announced. But, they *do* manage to spin marginal improvements very well, and their big announcements like there 'quad' G5 spectacular.
Did you even read any articles about the Powerbooks yesterday? 46% brighter screen. And additional 1 hour of battery life, and HD-resolution display on the 17 inch powerbook. Top it off with the "sudden motion sensor", 8X SuperDrive all down the line, and better HD and video, and you've got a sweet machine. I plan on upgrading from my old VAIO to one of the new powerbooks.
While this might not be groundbraking, (like an x86 powerbook would be -- coming in June) its an impressive commitment to the PowerPC line. Apple is providing products people will WANT NOW so there is no incentive to hold off for an x86.
I think Apple has gotten a media spotlight because 'creative' people sort of believe in 'apple's vision'. Remember, when Apple first came out, selling personal computers (before macs) it was all about "The personal computing experience." As in YOUR personal computing experience. The mac was just taking that one step farther. Not to sound too much like a steve jobs fanboy, but when the mac was released, in an interview, he said something like "We made the mac because we believe we'd all rather be poets and songwriters rather then investment bankers."
Now -- what do you think is EASIER to write about? "Apple shows off cool new PERSONAL gadget" or "Dell "We build shit-cheap boxes. Yup, that's all." unviels a PC for the home that is $50 cheaper then the last cheap PC they showed off for the home. Whoopty.
So apple's panache makes them easy to write about, and let's face it, journalists are lazy. They've got deadlines. So you're going to get the PH re-hash a lot of the time, and apple makes that easy by turning their product releases into "media events".
And if you don't think journalists are lazy, read any science column in the newspaper.
A) This was your fisrt job. If you truly feel you can judge everything about the working world from your first job, you're shallow, incompetent and pathetic.
And if you're confident enough in judging my experience by only a 3,000 word article, it would stand to reason that you are either a) infinite in your wisdom, or b) Equally (if not more so) shallow, incompetent, and pathetic. B) If you think succesful companies don't have cubicles, you're in for a very rude awakening when you get jobs #2 and #3, etc.
The defense contractor I work for is one the major ones. And I have an office. The sound you're hearing is me NOT having a rude awakening. C) You were working for a startup. You should have demanded a very lucrative stock package. Most startups (and I really need to stress most--ask the SBA) fail! That's a risk you take and the stock package is the payoff if the comapny succeeds.
Nuclear Utility contractors aren't exactly start ups. You have to be established in one field or another and working inside the plant to get a chance to play with software. So rather, the company in question would give the appearance of a steady paycheck, with the potential for rapid expansion. (Assuming a certain software package isn't so customized for one plant or fleet that it can be sold to another fleet of power plants w/o customization.) D).NET is highly untested and nuclear power plants are the zenith of mission critical. If any nuclear power plants adopt.NET to run their plant, I'm moving to the moon.
And if we can screw the lightbulb that keeps you open for business in a little tigher, you might realize that one of the most regulated industries in america might have regulations about what software can do what, and perhaps they were followed. That some of the paperwork might need a DATABASE. For all intents and purposes, the software developed was "class c" software -- not mission critical. And mission critical decisions of plant management couldn't be made with data coming from that system.
The advice I was giving (the article) was written because I found myself telling a lot of friends of mine the same advice over and over as they got closer to graduation. Unlike a lot of people graduating from my class, I did land a job in my field. A job. So that gave me credibility as opposed to all the recent grads who had to move back in with their parents.
I'm still getting calls from recruiters. I have skillsets that are in demand. So I'm going to leverage that. You need a developer, but won't give him an office he wants? Too bad. Life goes on for both parties.
Since today is a day where I'm offering free advice: I pity you for easily accepting mediocrity into your life.
Most jobs suck. Come to terms with that, and you'll be a man, my son.
No thanks, I prefer to roll up my sleeves, work someplace enjoyable with a future, and move on when it serves me best.
Do I love my new job? Hell yeah. In three years? Who knows?
Will work always fulfill 100% of your career passions? No. But there are ways around that, from night classes to involvement in open source projects. But if we were to just accept suckitude "because that's what manly men do" there would be no linux, no GUI, no automobile safety systems, and a heck of a lot of other things.
Where in the article did I state I had no work experience?
For the record, I worked 3 summer internships. I had an undergraduate TAship in the mandatory VHDL microprocessor design class. I worked part time for a small.NET shop (where I had no office, no cube, but just a computer in the hallway outside the VP's office.)
When it comes to outsourcing, its not a magic bullet for companies. There are drawbacks. And, luckily, there are industries where outsourcing is Just Not Done(tm). A few examples:
The nuclear industry. Defense Contractors. Government Contracting.
And there still is potential for high salaries through government contracting. I know a security consultant for the government that recently told me his company bills the government $400/hr for his time. They pay him less then a third of that.
Personal growth is something you do on your own time not on company's time. They ain't paying ya to discover your inner calling.
Nor was I suggesting that you start listening to "The inner you" at work. If you had read the article, you know that under personal growth I was talking about getting the job skills you want: you know, experience?
For example, if you're dealing with oracle -- you're working in an oracle shop -- will they pay you to get oracle certified? Same with paying for graduate degrees -- an "old hand" that gets an MBA can now leverage his technical knowledge from a newly aquired business perspective. That can better the company, and help the "old hand" get a better job.
Maybe I shouldn't have titled it under "personal growth". Maybe "career growth". But to misquote a white house official, "you write the article with the editors you've got, not the ones you want."
Compensation & Overtime has been ruled null & void by the the greater supply of IT people. We are interchangeable. If you don't like and tell that to management they'll find a replacement for you, not pay you more. Every programmer thinks he's the hot shit. Don't let that get to your head.
Unless you've signed a contract paying "salary" without overtime, then its still your right. And while there is a greater supply of people trying to get jobs in the IT field, the scope of qualified people isn't nearly as large.
Do a monster.com search for.NET jobs with 3-5 years experience and compare it to entry level (1). There's a huge disconnect. Experience is still valuable. And if you take the time to find out and know "what you're worth", which means figuring out the cost of living in your area, the value of your skillset, and the industry averages for your region, I think most people will find out that they're withing the range for "average" or "better". Despite the "oversupply". So even if you think you're hot shit, my advice (figuring out how much you're REALLY worth) is still valid.
No, he stated his remedy. Hire people who have self-control. You know, the kind who doesn't bray to the world at large what he did on last night's date or how her child delivery went in explicit detail. Self control and maturity will yield a decently quiet work place all on its own.
I would say the chances of a company hiring a work force where each and every one of them has that level of self control and maturity is as likely as slashdot.org porting their codebase to C# and.NET.
Eric Sink, of EricSink.com has an article regarding the harzards of hiring.
Your best bet is an environment where developers, with a little help from headphones and music can ignore the outside world.
For most, I would say that an office, or shared office, works best. (Which is why I wrote "Don't work in Cubicles, ever.")
In draft versions of this essay, i went to talk about how service positions i worked in the university ended up taking a lot more time then estimated. Combine that with the last semester senior crunch, and you've got no time for anything else.
Friend of mine advised me to cut it from the essay. The focus of the article was on pointing out "warning signs". We felt it made the article drift off topic and add little value.
In hindsight, should I have looked for other jobs? Yes, maybe. Should I have left my former position earlier? Yes, maybe.
Life is six-of-one, half dozen of the other. As for ego, this is a field clogged with smart people and competitive people. You need one, and it has to be able to take a few hits. You never know when something you write/do/say might end up on slashdot where anyone can sum up who you are in two sentenances without ever having met, studied with, interviewed, or worked with you.
I work for a university so I see it all the time, the undergrad that thinks that their degree (and no real experience) should net them a great, high paying job in a low stress environment where they get what they want.
Uh, its nice of you to assume, but I had experience -- I interned 3 out of the 4 summers I went to school. And no, I don't think a degree entitles you to anything. I've read all those reports saying the bubbles popped and the 'dream jobs' were good.
If we were all in offices, it would just make shit much harder and necessitate twice weekly staff meetings.
Wow..a twice weekly meeting. That's exactly what we at my new job (where we have offices). I don't seem to mind spending 2 hours/week relating my accomplishments to my supervisor. That seems to work for him.
Just because they don't agree with you, doesn't make them dumb. That's true, but its also possible the converse is true: They do not agree with me because they are dumb. I'm not saying that it was the case, but as I said in the article -- IF you are hired to provide technical expertise, to people who clearly need guidance, and they disregard it, you are in a bad situation. Assuming you're right, and SomethingBad(tm) happens as a result of their blantant disregard, you will often still be blamed (SomethingBad(tm) happened for technical reasons, and he's the technical expert...so...)
However it's not at all cost effective, nor within the amount of money available to us. Each year our group requests several hundred thousands of dollars for upgrades, and we never get near that much. However, we don't cry about management not supporting us. They want to know what we'd like, and we tell them. They weigh that, and decide based off of our resources what we can afford to get.
So, what you're saying is that either your entire department's eyes go for the SuperBigAndShiney(tm) hardware when commoddity hardware its better suited to the task, or that each year, because of management's tight fist on spending, you are falling behind the times or being out paced by competitors no so financially limited.
It might be my inexperience talking, but it sounds like your workplace has bigger problems then whether or not cubicles are good or bad.
Slashdot Mirror
You know you're on the right track when Pat Robertson is damning you to hell.
Science is all about theories. There are no facts when it comes to how the universe was created. Why can't a teacher tell his students that many people believe God created the universe?
No, science ISN'T about theories. Its about ascertaining repeatable, provable facts of our material world. Supernatural theories (e.g. one that involves the existance of an entity, when there is no repeatable, provable existance of said entity) are not dealt with science. By definition, they are unscientific.
This is not like telling students some new theory that someone thought up 5 minutes ago. People have believed in Christ for over 2000 years. It seems like it should be mentioned in the biology class.Bhuddists believe the universe may not have a beginning. I'm not an expert in Bhuddist belief's, but I remember reading one Bhuddist's recollections of a conversation with Dali Lama. The Universe could've been created just moments ago, and created to appear to have a past. And they've been believing in ideas like this before Christ was in diapers. Yet neither idea is provable and repeatable. Science is the search for truths in a material world. Period.
Many people believe God created everything, and as people, we're doing our best to describe and measure what he created. I'm not advocating replacing science text books with the bible. But to leave out something that a majority of people in the USA believe is wrong.To every idiot that says "Evolution is JUST a theory.", I respond with, "The Bible is JUST a book." Its funny how so many people get upset when you trivialize their dogma. ID never had a leg to stand on, unless you count Creationism, which was banned from being taught in schools in 1987. Now please stop hurting science.
Look, after hearing 20 million odd /.er's bitch and moan about how BOYS AND GIRLS are different, I'm going to put it to bed FOR EVERYONE.
If we don't keep our ratio a perfect, utopian 50/50, there might not EVER be another Female Captain on Star Trek.
And really, after considering what a fine show ST:Voyager was, we all know what a great loss that would be.
I've attended lectures from a professor who's work is partly responsible for RFID.
Everyone is really wow'd by his smarts.
One day, he just stood up and said, "You know what is the #1 valuable asset to success in this business? The one thing that CEO value the most?"
We all listened intently.
"Social skills."
He went on to list other attributes. Technological Skills (i.e l33tness) was #3 or #4.
Again, with your boss or CEO, YMMV, but now that the idea that LIMITLESS TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE is just an outsourcing contract away.
CEOs with Tech backgrounds might diagree. And that's okay, I disagree. But I still make it a point to communicate to my PM in as friendly and straight forward as possible.
Not to mention in PA, a garbage collector (who makes more then a network admin) only works 3 days a week. I think they're 12 hour days (36 hour work week). So they make a lot more per hour then entry level or mid-level coders.
Thankfully, with the rise of telecommuting, geeks will make great stay-at-home dads.
I love how my workplace let's me do that.
Now I can't wait for the day for my wife to come home from the office and give me a black eye because Dinner wasn't ready when she got home....because I was totally owning in Half Life 2.
Did you go to Pitt too? Hehe.
Pitt's CompEng program is the largest school in the College of Engineering (at pitt, obviously). About 550. And out of that 550, about 35 were girls. At least that was the satistics I heard from department staff I met with while involved with the IEEE.
A lot of the girls COULD hack it. But there were a few who were getting by on their looks.
As for thoughts towards inequality, I just wonder why I can remember the names of the girls who were nothing but project burdens, but I can't remember the names of any of the countless male engineers that I ran into that, even after 3 years of programming classes, couldn't code a damn thing in java.
So part of the problem is that since there are so few women entering into these programs, they are much more visible. Think about it, you're in a room with 50 people. 3 are tall blondes, and the other 47 are just brown haired guys with glasses wearing a black t-shirt (maybe with a "no i won't fix your computer slogan"), jeans, and sneakers. Who do think is going to stand out? And who's going to be the topic of scuttlebutt more?
I remember reading somewhere that some private schools started segregating math classes by sex. They found that women, when in a group by themselves, did better at Math. They were more inclined to ask questions, work together in groups, admin difficulties grasping the material or just plain speak up when they saw the teacher make a mistake. Throw back in the guys that make "knowing the answer" a competition and the girls go back to being mute.
I find the practice of 'preying on india's poor' abhorrent.
When I was in college, I did a project discussing the very unethical research conducted by Nazi Scientists in Concentration camps and the biological and chemical warfare projects the japanese undertook.
However, for all the suffering inflicted by the nazi doctors, the west, after winning the war, took the research and used to pioneer procedures such as the heart transplant. (Please do not construe this as an apology for the holocaust or condoning the holocaust. I'm just saying that unethical medical research led to breakthroughs.)
Now, not to seem to alarmist, but the point I wanted to make is:
China's record of disregard for human rights.
Apathy toward prisoner's rights in general (most people don't really care to think about the quality of life of all the people they're feeding and housing via their tax dollars.)
The need for medical test subjects for emerging fields (BioTech, New Vaccines, etc).
If its not happening now, I think it will.
And I'm not the first to suggest it. In Larry Niven's 'Known Space' Universe, condemned criminals (life in prison or death sentence) had their organs harvested so that healthy people could extend their life span (before the scientists in the 'Known Space' universe discovered 'Booster Spice').
Soon, immortality will just be a few affordable transplants away!
You do realize this is Microsoft we're talking about...the company that famously doesn't "get video games" and yet releases a video game system....err..home media center...err...online service whatchamacallit 360.
m l (Article is Titled "Price As A Signal").
Combine this with "Music Television" that doesn't play music. Or, for that matter, "get" consumers. Teens watch it because every other teen is watching it. Thankfully years of public education has taught our future generations that they are what they own.
And multi-tiered pricing? That's what they labels are doing to have more power over artists. Check out: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/11/18.ht
It WILL be WMA.
It WILL be chock full of DRM goodness.
It WILL not have any music worth listening to for less the $.79 (realistically, maybe $.99 -- but something new and hot will be $2.00 because labels still think that everyone is a dumb as that idiot who spends $3.00 for a Green Day Ring Tone)
It WILL NOT have a good ease of use or conveinence factor.
it WILL NOT be compatible with existing devices (like the Xbox 360)
It WILL be bundled with Vista, and even after you install iTunes, BitTorrent, eDonkey, and Limewire (for all your music needs of course) it will still pester you ALL THE TIME to buy their crap.
The headline for this could be "Largest Software Monopoly and Largest Media Monopoly launch Doomed Venture, Destined to Profit."
One of the better books to buy is the Pragmatic Programmer.
Its an easy, relaxed read.
Its broad scope gives guidance for programming novice and expert alike.
It teaches you to appreciate your own craftsmanship as a developer, and discusses (in generalities) the tools you need to master to be called a 'software developer'.
It also includes good starting points (recommendations) for things (like Subversion or CVS for source control, Perl for Macros)
All in all, I would recommend it as a must-have for serious programmers.
Yes, you're right. The iPod Video probably started development back in 03. It has the same form factor as a 4G iPod.
The iPod 4G has a similar form factor the (proud owner of one) 3G iPod.
Guess what the 3G iPod's form factor was based on? The second-gen iPod.
Do you see where this is going?
No?
Well, guess what the second gen iPod's form factor was based on?
No, not the damned Nomad! The (again, proud owner) First Generation 5GB iPod.
Which came out in 2001.
So I hope that this EXTRA OBVIOUS explanation of my reasoning (iPod form factor, while 'evolved' still bears resembleance to its predacessors) helps you make sense of my post!
Happy Holidays!
I love how they claim this isn't a ripoff of the iPod video.
In the article (yes, I still read them) the creative spokesdroid states "This has been in design for over a year."
Its too bad the iPod's form factor has pretty much been the same since coming out in 2001.
Nice try, tho.
Please don't say you don't actually buy into that myth.
Teens mis-behave because high schools these days resemble a jail better than they anything educational.
If high testosterone was the cause of all the acting up, why didn't we hear about renaissance painter apprentices getting into scuffles all the time, and being thrown out of their profession because they stayed up late, drinking too much wine, riding their horse too fast, and chasing after girls.
They didn't act up because they were doing something that was a) real b) valuable to them and c) were treated as young adults to be mentored.
Modern education doesn't have a), b), or c) right now. Why do you think college is now a requirement to prove a candidate is mature, responsible, and educated?
The poor wireless only happened with the first gen Alum. PowerBooks. It was a really stupid design bug. However, most people don't use their PCMCIA slot (which is why the consumer iBook doesn't have one). Since you own a powerbook, I'd suggest spending the $60 to get a PCMCIA wireless card, or even better, one of those USB wireless adapters that are flash-drive sized. Then your powerbook won't suffer.
>>Oh, I don't, know, maybe the new OS they're planning on releasing next year called Windows Vista? >>Perhaps? The new Internet Explorer? The new Windows Media Player? The new Hotmail? The new MSN Search?
The new hotmail? Copying Gmail. And the New Yahoo. Bottomline: The let hotmail become a disgrace, and it collasped in on itself. They had to upgrade it to save it.
The new internet explorer? You mean "the less secure firefox knock-off"?
The new windows media player? You USE windows media player?
The new MSN search? You mean Google?
Look, people at MS use google to search MSDN. They don't use MSN, they don't use MSDN. They use iPod+iTunes. They use Firefox. Not everyone. YMMV. But MS is having trouble doing anything but following anyone, and back when Billg "had that revelation about the road ahead" and turned the company on a dime to focus on the internet, they were leaders. Not anymore. They let things stagnate, and that's death in this industry.
Sony is a big company like MS that faces this problem. Many times, sony's releasing divisions are competitors. Sony's DVD players let you pirate DVDs -- including ones from Sony Pictures. It happens.
MS doesn't do this -- they try to "bundle" all their products. And the end result so far is a whole worth less then the sum of the parts. So many of these lackluster products aren't "newsworthy" because all they're doing is catching up to their competitors.
I'd disagree when it comes to their powerbook announcements. Nothing really groundbreaking since the 12" and 17" were announced. But, they *do* manage to spin marginal improvements very well, and their big announcements like there 'quad' G5 spectacular.
Did you even read any articles about the Powerbooks yesterday? 46% brighter screen. And additional 1 hour of battery life, and HD-resolution display on the 17 inch powerbook. Top it off with the "sudden motion sensor", 8X SuperDrive all down the line, and better HD and video, and you've got a sweet machine. I plan on upgrading from my old VAIO to one of the new powerbooks.
While this might not be groundbraking, (like an x86 powerbook would be -- coming in June) its an impressive commitment to the PowerPC line. Apple is providing products people will WANT NOW so there is no incentive to hold off for an x86.
I think Apple has gotten a media spotlight because 'creative' people sort of believe in 'apple's vision'.
Remember, when Apple first came out, selling personal computers (before macs) it was all about "The personal computing experience." As in YOUR personal computing experience. The mac was just taking that one step farther. Not to sound too much like a steve jobs fanboy, but when the mac was released, in an interview, he said something like "We made the mac because we believe we'd all rather be poets and songwriters rather then investment bankers."
Now -- what do you think is EASIER to write about? "Apple shows off cool new PERSONAL gadget" or "Dell "We build shit-cheap boxes. Yup, that's all." unviels a PC for the home that is $50 cheaper then the last cheap PC they showed off for the home. Whoopty.
So apple's panache makes them easy to write about, and let's face it, journalists are lazy. They've got deadlines. So you're going to get the PH re-hash a lot of the time, and apple makes that easy by turning their product releases into "media events".
And if you don't think journalists are lazy, read any science column in the newspaper.
A) This was your fisrt job. If you truly feel you can judge everything about the working world from your first job, you're shallow, incompetent and pathetic. .NET is highly untested and nuclear power plants are the zenith of mission critical. If any nuclear power plants adopt .NET to run their plant, I'm moving to the moon.
And if you're confident enough in judging my experience by only a 3,000 word article, it would stand to reason that you are either a) infinite in your wisdom, or b) Equally (if not more so) shallow, incompetent, and pathetic.
B) If you think succesful companies don't have cubicles, you're in for a very rude awakening when you get jobs #2 and #3, etc.
The defense contractor I work for is one the major ones. And I have an office. The sound you're hearing is me NOT having a rude awakening.
C) You were working for a startup. You should have demanded a very lucrative stock package. Most startups (and I really need to stress most--ask the SBA) fail! That's a risk you take and the stock package is the payoff if the comapny succeeds.
Nuclear Utility contractors aren't exactly start ups. You have to be established in one field or another and working inside the plant to get a chance to play with software. So rather, the company in question would give the appearance of a steady paycheck, with the potential for rapid expansion. (Assuming a certain software package isn't so customized for one plant or fleet that it can be sold to another fleet of power plants w/o customization.)
D)
And if we can screw the lightbulb that keeps you open for business in a little tigher, you might realize that one of the most regulated industries in america might have regulations about what software can do what, and perhaps they were followed. That some of the paperwork might need a DATABASE. For all intents and purposes, the software developed was "class c" software -- not mission critical. And mission critical decisions of plant management couldn't be made with data coming from that system.
The advice I was giving (the article) was written because I found myself telling a lot of friends of mine the same advice over and over as they got closer to graduation. Unlike a lot of people graduating from my class, I did land a job in my field. A job. So that gave me credibility as opposed to all the recent grads who had to move back in with their parents.
I'm still getting calls from recruiters. I have skillsets that are in demand. So I'm going to leverage that. You need a developer, but won't give him an office he wants? Too bad. Life goes on for both parties.
Since today is a day where I'm offering free advice: I pity you for easily accepting mediocrity into your life.
Most jobs suck. Come to terms with that, and you'll be a man, my son.
No thanks, I prefer to roll up my sleeves, work someplace enjoyable with a future, and move on when it serves me best.
Do I love my new job? Hell yeah. In three years? Who knows?
Will work always fulfill 100% of your career passions? No. But there are ways around that, from night classes to involvement in open source projects. But if we were to just accept suckitude "because that's what manly men do" there would be no linux, no GUI, no automobile safety systems, and a heck of a lot of other things.
Where in the article did I state I had no work experience?
.NET shop (where I had no office, no cube, but just a computer in the hallway outside the VP's office.)
For the record, I worked 3 summer internships. I had an undergraduate TAship in the mandatory VHDL microprocessor design class. I worked part time for a small
When it comes to outsourcing, its not a magic bullet for companies. There are drawbacks. And, luckily, there are industries where outsourcing is Just Not Done(tm). A few examples:
The nuclear industry.
Defense Contractors.
Government Contracting.
And there still is potential for high salaries through government contracting. I know a security consultant for the government that recently told me his company bills the government $400/hr for his time. They pay him less then a third of that.
Your (american) tax dollars at work.
Concerned Onlooker:
I don't know you, you don't know me, but thank you. I liked your comment.
Personal growth is something you do on your own time not on company's time. They ain't paying ya to discover your inner calling. Nor was I suggesting that you start listening to "The inner you" at work. If you had read the article, you know that under personal growth I was talking about getting the job skills you want: you know, experience? For example, if you're dealing with oracle -- you're working in an oracle shop -- will they pay you to get oracle certified? Same with paying for graduate degrees -- an "old hand" that gets an MBA can now leverage his technical knowledge from a newly aquired business perspective. That can better the company, and help the "old hand" get a better job. Maybe I shouldn't have titled it under "personal growth". Maybe "career growth". But to misquote a white house official, "you write the article with the editors you've got, not the ones you want." Compensation & Overtime has been ruled null & void by the the greater supply of IT people. We are interchangeable. If you don't like and tell that to management they'll find a replacement for you, not pay you more. Every programmer thinks he's the hot shit. Don't let that get to your head. Unless you've signed a contract paying "salary" without overtime, then its still your right. And while there is a greater supply of people trying to get jobs in the IT field, the scope of qualified people isn't nearly as large. Do a monster.com search for .NET jobs with 3-5 years experience and compare it to entry level (1). There's a huge disconnect. Experience is still valuable. And if you take the time to find out and know "what you're worth", which means figuring out the cost of living in your area, the value of your skillset, and the industry averages for your region, I think most people will find out that they're withing the range for "average" or "better". Despite the "oversupply". So even if you think you're hot shit, my advice (figuring out how much you're REALLY worth) is still valid.
No, he stated his remedy. Hire people who have self-control. You know, the kind who doesn't bray to the world at large what he did on last night's date or how her child delivery went in explicit detail. Self control and maturity will yield a decently quiet work place all on its own. I would say the chances of a company hiring a work force where each and every one of them has that level of self control and maturity is as likely as slashdot.org porting their codebase to C# and .NET.
Eric Sink, of EricSink.com has an article regarding the harzards of hiring.
Your best bet is an environment where developers, with a little help from headphones and music can ignore the outside world.
For most, I would say that an office, or shared office, works best. (Which is why I wrote "Don't work in Cubicles, ever.")
In draft versions of this essay, i went to talk about how service positions i worked in the university ended up taking a lot more time then estimated. Combine that with the last semester senior crunch, and you've got no time for anything else.
:)
Friend of mine advised me to cut it from the essay. The focus of the article was on pointing out "warning signs". We felt it made the article drift off topic and add little value.
In hindsight, should I have looked for other jobs? Yes, maybe. Should I have left my former position earlier? Yes, maybe.
Life is six-of-one, half dozen of the other.
As for ego, this is a field clogged with smart people and competitive people. You need one, and it has to be able to take a few hits. You never know when something you write/do/say might end up on slashdot where anyone can sum up who you are in two sentenances without ever having met, studied with, interviewed, or worked with you.
Some people would call those people "ass clowns".
Not me, tho.
I work for a university so I see it all the time, the undergrad that thinks that their degree (and no real experience) should net them a great, high paying job in a low stress environment where they get what they want.
Uh, its nice of you to assume, but I had experience -- I interned 3 out of the 4 summers I went to school.
And no, I don't think a degree entitles you to anything. I've read all those reports saying the bubbles popped and the 'dream jobs' were good.
If we were all in offices, it would just make shit much harder and necessitate twice weekly staff meetings.
Wow..a twice weekly meeting. That's exactly what we at my new job (where we have offices). I don't seem to mind spending 2 hours/week relating my accomplishments to my supervisor. That seems to work for him.
Just because they don't agree with you, doesn't make them dumb.
That's true, but its also possible the converse is true: They do not agree with me because they are dumb.
I'm not saying that it was the case, but as I said in the article -- IF you are hired to provide technical expertise, to people who clearly need guidance, and they disregard it, you are in a bad situation. Assuming you're right, and SomethingBad(tm) happens as a result of their blantant disregard, you will often still be blamed (SomethingBad(tm) happened for technical reasons, and he's the technical expert...so...)
However it's not at all cost effective, nor within the amount of money available to us. Each year our group requests several hundred thousands of dollars for upgrades, and we never get near that much. However, we don't cry about management not supporting us. They want to know what we'd like, and we tell them. They weigh that, and decide based off of our resources what we can afford to get.
So, what you're saying is that either your entire department's eyes go for the SuperBigAndShiney(tm) hardware when commoddity hardware its better suited to the task, or that each year, because of management's tight fist on spending, you are falling behind the times or being out paced by competitors no so financially limited.
It might be my inexperience talking, but it sounds like your workplace has bigger problems then whether or not cubicles are good or bad.