Your options are perhaps limitless. I would suggest that before you decide on anything, ask yourself this one simple question: do you like solving tricky problems... brainteasers.. jigsaw puzzles? Programming is a lot like all of these activities combined and "on steroids."
If you think that you like these then learn Javascript. There are some excellent O'Reilly books on the topic and try doing the fun stuff like drawing graphics in HTML5. By the time you've done something fun, you've learned a ton of the language. Once you have these basic concepts down like functions, variables, structure, and reuse, then you are ready for formal training.
Do not go back to school until you have at least established that you like this sort of thing, that you can be good at it, and that it can compliment your career (or at least make a fun hobby). It'll just waste your money and your time and speaking as a former University professor, it is disheartening to see a student struggle who simply doesn't have the aptitude or interest.
There has been some research on this topic and the limited research suggests a 30% or more improvement in productivity with a second monitor. This is especially true with more experienced developers.
There are a lot of resources for this and they often point to different studies. So, if you aren't seeing productivity gains, you may be working very close to the metal where having specifications in front of you doesn't matter, or you may be very junior.
How many customers tried to use your software and found it unusable (lost sale there each time)? How many customers have stopped using your software due to frustration? How quickly can you get working fixes out the door? Does adding new features cause a lot of breakage? This is where you lose customers.
Often the best way to measure the value of test is to look at return customers. Customers who are satisfied buy new licenses, recommend your software, or mandate it internally. This is where your business grows. If you don't have that, then you need to fix your development and the first place to start is test.
Welcome change...but every two weeks. I do see this too often.. every day the manager comes in with a new idea and the team jumps on it. This is called a sprint hijack and can destroy morale and productivity. After a sprint begins, the team should be 'locked down' and any new ideas should be added to the backlog. When you do your sprint planning, then you go through the backlog and decide what's important.
You would never deliver if you had new requirements every day. Scrum is meant to always deliver and you should deliver something every two weeks.
Alright, I'll bite. What do you mean that you're doing it wrong. Agile is supposed to be many things but as long as you follow a few key ideas, it'll work better than waterfall.
1) Continuous delivery. Deliver something every two weeks. 2) Quickly fail. If a problem is found in a design or a project, find it early and save tons of money. 3) Small teams. No 80-person teams here. 4) Small tasks that you should accomplish quickly helping with visibility 5) Highly visible tasks and burndowns to help with "buy in" from upper mgmt 6) Open communication meaning that the team has the responsibility of fixing things, identifying poor performers, and helping people to succeed.
No manager... just scrum masters.
Just these few key points make a world of difference and can be key to success. I haven't seen it fail but maybe you were in a company of design-by-personality...
In fact, the only important new software companies in the last 12 years have been Facebook and Twitter and they are often cited as a counter example to those who hate the DMCA.
Ignoring their insignificance, can you think of one other...?
These companies succeeded because MS, Sun, and their ilk ignored these startup companies until they were large largely because the conglomerates didn't understand them or their significance. Now, MS tries to pay attn to all startups and we haven't seen a single company in 5 years (Twitter is 2006) since.
On a positive note...shutdowns have slowed as the conglomerates are seeing that their efforts in DMCA notices are "killing the golden goose" that they can later buyout and remain competitive.
Unfortunately, those companies who disappear can't be googled... because they no longer exist.
When I lived in Dallas, I personally witnessed two startups shut down by DMCA. One was a company my friend started doing security software for the Palm and WinCE.
The DCMA notoriously was touted as solving the online piracy problem. The cold reality is that almost ten thousand small companies have shuttered their doors in the last almost 15 years. New startups are forced to prove that they are not infringing and while waiting they must cease all development. This can take months and cost upwards of 100K meaning that most tech startups must simply shutter their doors. Microsoft alone has filed DCMA takedown notices almost 500 times and is successful at shuttering the company nearly every time.
Now, media sites can be shut down for being "copyright infringing" with very little evidence to the contrary. A small company cannot fight the likes of MS, IBM, Apple, Sun, or the host of other awful DCMA bastards and now they'll need to worry about Bartlesman, Dreamworks, Pixar, and the like. This simply makes it impossible to start a new media company because all that the media conglomerates have to do is claim that someone is stealing and without your company being informed, you can be shut down. The DCMA shuts down software and this new rule will shutdown new media.
The DCMA is one of the main reasons that more and more companies are successfully competing in software development overseas and why more and more software is coming from Russia, China, Norway, and so on. It is becoming impossible to create a new software startup. And now in the land of unintended consequences, we just shipped all of our movie, music, and game production overseas.
There have been no new Googles for over a decade and we wonder where all of the jobs are going.
Also, they are demanding immediate injunctive relief... which court is available that can read this complaint today. With courts slammed and Congress unable to approve judges (or do much of anything useful), where will anyone be able to provide "immediate" injunctive relief?
Lastly, Hurd hasn't done anything yet. They are finding him guilty without any proof, before the fact, and without due process. Boy is HP a bunch of brats... "we can't have him and you can't either".
In general, non-compete agreements are not enforceable. There are exceptions, but in this case, Hurd was fired/released and as such, non-competes are particularly egregious. The courts will have to decide, but this one is likely to work in Hurd's favor.
Game design and the creative process in general are trainable processes much like music, painting, dance sculpture, etc. There is creativity in all of these, but mostly it's about technical prowess.
Also, remember this? 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
I am working on an MMO and we have roughly 20 game designers now with plans to double that count. They write scripts, design the levels, gossip and NPC chat, GUI, user interaction, grouping, and all of the myriad of in-game features like trading, trade skills, and repairing weapons.
This is a highly technical field and only little bit creative.
It's not that hard. I've been in games for 15 years and some companies do have death-march schedules from time-to-time, but in general, that is extremely rare. Working less than a 50 hour workweek is also kinda rare. About 40% of projects I have worked on have been canceled. The perception that I never do anything serious with my life is met on the battlefield against the perception that making games rocks, and you can can guess who remains the victor in that contest year after year.
Your assessment that game companies don't last too long is correct: about five years on average and very few companies for whom I have worked still exist today. When in between game gigs, I have worked in business software, networking, embedded software, and even defense.
Still, in games, the money is above average, the challenges are far more interesting than you get working in business software, and the core competencies are very similar to RTOS development. Also, many things required in games like hard-core optimization, low-level design, memory management, and so on are mainstay of games which the business world never needs... I love that stuff. Plus, I get paid to do graphics one day, tools in C# another, writing scripting languages another (integrating Lua usually), and implementing a new chat window on another. It is always very interesting.
At this point, you feel a little queasy, but probably not enough to quit your job... it probably doesn't seem like a big enough deal over which to quit. But, your boss is demonstrating that he does not feel queasy which means that if this trend continues, you may be doing something very unseemly for him before you know it. Ethics is a hard one because you need to work and minor offenses that your boss approves don't really reflect on you, right? You are doing what you are told and you even wrote something on Slashdot which should help clear you conscience.
That fact is that all companies do some unethical things (which is why companies should be highly regulated IMHO). We should consider what it really means though for you to follow orders in this case.
First, you are validating your bosses bad behavior and in effect telling him that he's doing a good job. Second, you are encouraging other people to copy software. Third, you are not taking a stand and demonstrating to others that your own ethics might be less-than-stellar.
Lastly, there is the legal issue. You might just go to jail.
Other than quitting, you can simply find out the costs, present them to your boss as a plan for upgrade, and give it to him every few weeks. That way, you are taking initiative, demonstrating that you care, and showing that most software doesn't really cost very much. Also, encouraging the company to use open source might just push him toward being more ethical and get you a promotion.
A few years ago, I returned to university to study mathematics because computer science is too easy and I needed a challenge in my life. Along the way, I met this kid who was brilliant. He and I took Calc I and III together and he had close to perfect scores on all exams. I was surprised to learn that it was very easy for him, and thus boring. He decided to go into mechanical engineering. Now this is math related, but he was only interested in taking the bare minimum in math. It seemed like a waste, but for the same reasons that I took math instead of something easy, he didn't take some more math.
I've since met at least a dozen people who were excellent at math and didn't pursue it because it was boring for them as well.
Guys, Canada has freedoms that Americans would love to have returned after DCMA, FISA, Patriot, and TSA. I have lived here for two years, from Texas, and the sense that you are in control of your own info is a comfort and a relief. Visa does not have the right to my Social Security number (SIN) and my pile of junk mail is very small. No corporation or governmental agency is invading my life, checking my credit, or calling me every hour. Freedom from government and corporations is just as important as freedom of speech. Freedom reigns here in Canada. Put your personal info on a web searchable public record and every tele-vendor will be calling.
Privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed in the 4th and 9th amendments to the US Constitution and everyone in the US is so used to being Pwnd by corporations and governmental agencies that they've forgotten that no one has a right to your personal info... no one.... ever.
The games industry has a dearth of programmers. Good talent in general (artists, producers, and so on) is needed, but programmers are very high in demand and wages have skyrocketed. In the last 12 years, salaries have more than doubled (about 2 1/2 times). Still, we have had job postings on Monster, Dice, Gamasutra, local papers, web sites, and so on and we can't get good people. By good, we mean people who have worked on 1-2 games before and have more than 3 years experience and can answer simple questions like "what is a pointer in C++". This isn't a stringent requirement. We now have internal contests to obtain more resumes and we offer prizes if you can recommend someone and bring in his/her resume. Things are very tight. Wages are good and the hours are only slightly more than 40 per week depending on your area of expertise.
Speaking to other people on the train to work here in Vancouver, BC is enlightening. They need engineers for the mining industry here which is strong and becoming stronger (programmers, chemical engineers, civil, electrical, etc) . People won't even apply for these jobs paying 100k+ per year even though these are decent jobs with no ancillary requirements like travel, working in the cold (there is snow here in BC), or anything like that.
Jobs are plentiful here but even average talent is rare.
Try INDEO. It's hard to find much left after Intel bought the IP for it, but there are still tools for it and if you use DirectSound (on non-WinNT OS's like Win98), the Codec is built in. It guarantees an 8:1 compression ratio, lossless, and the DEC is still available in WinXP.
I have source for the DEC portion if you'd like to try using it. email me at mkawick@yahoo.com. The encoding is very similar so I'm sure that you can figure it out.
Humans looks up Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, and Julia Roberts. Dogs look up to Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, and Benji. Aliens have dozens of Idols. If AI is ever to progress, those robots will need idols.
You are creating rhetoric. The text of the Apogee document simply says that if you have licenses from them for software or products including, presumably, source code or games to port or such, they can revoke your license if you say nasty stuff about them. Say for example that you want the source for one of their crappy games to port it to the Playstation 2 and after getting the code along with a license to use it, you find that the source code is nearly unreadable and undocumented (like most source). So you create a website telling the world how bad Apogee's coding style is. They want the right to revoke your license. Big deal. I'd want the same thing. This does not infringe on your free speech. You can still say whatever you want. But be prepared to suffer the consequences if you have licensed something from them. Otherwise... they can't do anything unless what you say falls under liable or slander laws. The golden rule applies here. Be nice to others and they won't sue you. The press is always protected to a very high degree from such laws but there is a limit to that as well. Be responsible and objective in any commentary about any company, and you will probably never be sued. Also, reviews about products are never protected. About 8 years ago, Consumer Reports was sued by Isuzu for not being objective and essentially "picking on Isuzu." The jury found that Consumer Reports was not entirely objective but that Isuzu was somewhat more dangerous than other SUV's at the time. No reward was given. This example may not always apply in UCITA, but liable and slander have been around for a long time: since rule-of-law, about 450 years, long before the formation of the US. This rule was inherited from England. UCITA does a lot of things, but this declaration is not special, nor new. Don't take up arms yet.
Slashdot Mirror
Your options are perhaps limitless. I would suggest that before you decide on anything, ask yourself this one simple question: do you like solving tricky problems... brainteasers.. jigsaw puzzles? Programming is a lot like all of these activities combined and "on steroids."
If you think that you like these then learn Javascript. There are some excellent O'Reilly books on the topic and try doing the fun stuff like drawing graphics in HTML5. By the time you've done something fun, you've learned a ton of the language. Once you have these basic concepts down like functions, variables, structure, and reuse, then you are ready for formal training.
Do not go back to school until you have at least established that you like this sort of thing, that you can be good at it, and that it can compliment your career (or at least make a fun hobby). It'll just waste your money and your time and speaking as a former University professor, it is disheartening to see a student struggle who simply doesn't have the aptitude or interest.
There has been some research on this topic and the limited research suggests a 30% or more improvement in productivity with a second monitor. This is especially true with more experienced developers.
http://workawesome.com/productivity/dual-monitor-setup/
http://gigaom.com/collaboration/enhance-productivity-multiple-monitors/
There are a lot of resources for this and they often point to different studies. So, if you aren't seeing productivity gains, you may be working very close to the metal where having specifications in front of you doesn't matter, or you may be very junior.
- just another word for I want your money
Apple has become an evil empire. I still hold out hope for Google.
Other fuzzy costs:
How many customers tried to use your software and found it unusable (lost sale there each time)?
How many customers have stopped using your software due to frustration?
How quickly can you get working fixes out the door?
Does adding new features cause a lot of breakage? This is where you lose customers.
Often the best way to measure the value of test is to look at return customers. Customers who are satisfied buy new licenses, recommend your software, or mandate it internally. This is where your business grows. If you don't have that, then you need to fix your development and the first place to start is test.
Welcome change...but every two weeks. I do see this too often.. every day the manager comes in with a new idea and the team jumps on it. This is called a sprint hijack and can destroy morale and productivity. After a sprint begins, the team should be 'locked down' and any new ideas should be added to the backlog. When you do your sprint planning, then you go through the backlog and decide what's important.
You would never deliver if you had new requirements every day. Scrum is meant to always deliver and you should deliver something every two weeks.
Alright, I'll bite. What do you mean that you're doing it wrong. Agile is supposed to be many things but as long as you follow a few key ideas, it'll work better than waterfall.
1) Continuous delivery. Deliver something every two weeks.
2) Quickly fail. If a problem is found in a design or a project, find it early and save tons of money.
3) Small teams. No 80-person teams here.
4) Small tasks that you should accomplish quickly helping with visibility
5) Highly visible tasks and burndowns to help with "buy in" from upper mgmt
6) Open communication meaning that the team has the responsibility of fixing things, identifying poor performers, and helping people to succeed.
No manager... just scrum masters.
Just these few key points make a world of difference and can be key to success. I haven't seen it fail but maybe you were in a company of design-by-personality...
Just saying
Try these... some are companies, some are blogs... but you get the idea
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/02/microsoft-cryptome/
http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/first-amendment-under-attack-feds-shut/
http://boingboing.net/2010/07/23/dmca.html
http://vigilant.tv/article/3328/blackboxvotingorg-shut-down-under-dmca-for-linking
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2007/09/intellectual-property-laws-abused-in-quest-to-shutdown-lowes-sucks-com.ars
There are hundreds... I simply googled: "companies shut down by DMCA"
This one is plain weird:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/_improper_use_of_copyright.php
In fact, the only important new software companies in the last 12 years have been Facebook and Twitter and they are often cited as a counter example to those who hate the DMCA.
Ignoring their insignificance, can you think of one other...?
These companies succeeded because MS, Sun, and their ilk ignored these startup companies until they were large largely because the conglomerates didn't understand them or their significance. Now, MS tries to pay attn to all startups and we haven't seen a single company in 5 years (Twitter is 2006) since.
On a positive note...shutdowns have slowed as the conglomerates are seeing that their efforts in DMCA notices are "killing the golden goose" that they can later buyout and remain competitive.
Unfortunately, those companies who disappear can't be googled... because they no longer exist.
When I lived in Dallas, I personally witnessed two startups shut down by DMCA. One was a company my friend started doing security software for the Palm and WinCE.
My mistake... DMCA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act
The DCMA notoriously was touted as solving the online piracy problem. The cold reality is that almost ten thousand small companies have shuttered their doors in the last almost 15 years. New startups are forced to prove that they are not infringing and while waiting they must cease all development. This can take months and cost upwards of 100K meaning that most tech startups must simply shutter their doors. Microsoft alone has filed DCMA takedown notices almost 500 times and is successful at shuttering the company nearly every time.
Now, media sites can be shut down for being "copyright infringing" with very little evidence to the contrary. A small company cannot fight the likes of MS, IBM, Apple, Sun, or the host of other awful DCMA bastards and now they'll need to worry about Bartlesman, Dreamworks, Pixar, and the like. This simply makes it impossible to start a new media company because all that the media conglomerates have to do is claim that someone is stealing and without your company being informed, you can be shut down. The DCMA shuts down software and this new rule will shutdown new media.
The DCMA is one of the main reasons that more and more companies are successfully competing in software development overseas and why more and more software is coming from Russia, China, Norway, and so on. It is becoming impossible to create a new software startup. And now in the land of unintended consequences, we just shipped all of our movie, music, and game production overseas.
There have been no new Googles for over a decade and we wonder where all of the jobs are going.
Also, they are demanding immediate injunctive relief... which court is available that can read this complaint today. With courts slammed and Congress unable to approve judges (or do much of anything useful), where will anyone be able to provide "immediate" injunctive relief?
Lastly, Hurd hasn't done anything yet. They are finding him guilty without any proof, before the fact, and without due process. Boy is HP a bunch of brats... "we can't have him and you can't either".
At least they didn't try to have him killed.
In general, non-compete agreements are not enforceable. There are exceptions, but in this case, Hurd was fired/released and as such, non-competes are particularly egregious. The courts will have to decide, but this one is likely to work in Hurd's favor.
Game design and the creative process in general are trainable processes much like music, painting, dance sculpture, etc. There is creativity in all of these, but mostly it's about technical prowess.
Also, remember this? 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
I am working on an MMO and we have roughly 20 game designers now with plans to double that count. They write scripts, design the levels, gossip and NPC chat, GUI, user interaction, grouping, and all of the myriad of in-game features like trading, trade skills, and repairing weapons.
This is a highly technical field and only little bit creative.
There is also a small bit of management.
It's not that hard. I've been in games for 15 years and some companies do have death-march schedules from time-to-time, but in general, that is extremely rare. Working less than a 50 hour workweek is also kinda rare. About 40% of projects I have worked on have been canceled. The perception that I never do anything serious with my life is met on the battlefield against the perception that making games rocks, and you can can guess who remains the victor in that contest year after year.
Your assessment that game companies don't last too long is correct: about five years on average and very few companies for whom I have worked still exist today. When in between game gigs, I have worked in business software, networking, embedded software, and even defense.
Still, in games, the money is above average, the challenges are far more interesting than you get working in business software, and the core competencies are very similar to RTOS development. Also, many things required in games like hard-core optimization, low-level design, memory management, and so on are mainstay of games which the business world never needs... I love that stuff. Plus, I get paid to do graphics one day, tools in C# another, writing scripting languages another (integrating Lua usually), and implementing a new chat window on another. It is always very interesting.
At this point, you feel a little queasy, but probably not enough to quit your job... it probably doesn't seem like a big enough deal over which to quit. But, your boss is demonstrating that he does not feel queasy which means that if this trend continues, you may be doing something very unseemly for him before you know it. Ethics is a hard one because you need to work and minor offenses that your boss approves don't really reflect on you, right? You are doing what you are told and you even wrote something on Slashdot which should help clear you conscience.
That fact is that all companies do some unethical things (which is why companies should be highly regulated IMHO). We should consider what it really means though for you to follow orders in this case.
First, you are validating your bosses bad behavior and in effect telling him that he's doing a good job.
Second, you are encouraging other people to copy software.
Third, you are not taking a stand and demonstrating to others that your own ethics might be less-than-stellar.
Lastly, there is the legal issue. You might just go to jail.
Other than quitting, you can simply find out the costs, present them to your boss as a plan for upgrade, and give it to him every few weeks. That way, you are taking initiative, demonstrating that you care, and showing that most software doesn't really cost very much. Also, encouraging the company to use open source might just push him toward being more ethical and get you a promotion.
Could it be related to the Colony Collapse Disorder of behives? It sounds far-fetched to me too, but it may be..
A few years ago, I returned to university to study mathematics because computer science is too easy and I needed a challenge in my life. Along the way, I met this kid who was brilliant. He and I took Calc I and III together and he had close to perfect scores on all exams. I was surprised to learn that it was very easy for him, and thus boring. He decided to go into mechanical engineering. Now this is math related, but he was only interested in taking the bare minimum in math. It seemed like a waste, but for the same reasons that I took math instead of something easy, he didn't take some more math.
I've since met at least a dozen people who were excellent at math and didn't pursue it because it was boring for them as well.
Guys, Canada has freedoms that Americans would love to have returned after DCMA, FISA, Patriot, and TSA. I have lived here for two years, from Texas, and the sense that you are in control of your own info is a comfort and a relief. Visa does not have the right to my Social Security number (SIN) and my pile of junk mail is very small. No corporation or governmental agency is invading my life, checking my credit, or calling me every hour. Freedom from government and corporations is just as important as freedom of speech. Freedom reigns here in Canada. Put your personal info on a web searchable public record and every tele-vendor will be calling.
Privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed in the 4th and 9th amendments to the US Constitution and everyone in the US is so used to being Pwnd by corporations and governmental agencies that they've forgotten that no one has a right to your personal info... no one.... ever.
In much the same way, I would like to hear Bush or McCain be correct. They aren't often correct, let alone accurate.
The games industry has a dearth of programmers. Good talent in general (artists, producers, and so on) is needed, but programmers are very high in demand and wages have skyrocketed. In the last 12 years, salaries have more than doubled (about 2 1/2 times). Still, we have had job postings on Monster, Dice, Gamasutra, local papers, web sites, and so on and we can't get good people. By good, we mean people who have worked on 1-2 games before and have more than 3 years experience and can answer simple questions like "what is a pointer in C++". This isn't a stringent requirement. We now have internal contests to obtain more resumes and we offer prizes if you can recommend someone and bring in his/her resume. Things are very tight. Wages are good and the hours are only slightly more than 40 per week depending on your area of expertise.
Speaking to other people on the train to work here in Vancouver, BC is enlightening. They need engineers for the mining industry here which is strong and becoming stronger (programmers, chemical engineers, civil, electrical, etc) . People won't even apply for these jobs paying 100k+ per year even though these are decent jobs with no ancillary requirements like travel, working in the cold (there is snow here in BC), or anything like that.
Jobs are plentiful here but even average talent is rare.
Try INDEO. It's hard to find much left after Intel bought the IP for it, but there are still tools for it and if you use DirectSound (on non-WinNT OS's like Win98), the Codec is built in. It guarantees an 8:1 compression ratio, lossless, and the DEC is still available in WinXP.
I have source for the DEC portion if you'd like to try using it. email me at mkawick@yahoo.com. The encoding is very similar so I'm sure that you can figure it out.
Humans looks up Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, and Julia Roberts. Dogs look up to Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, and Benji. Aliens have dozens of Idols. If AI is ever to progress, those robots will need idols.
I'm all for it...
:)
You are creating rhetoric. The text of the Apogee document simply says that if you have licenses from them for software or products including, presumably, source code or games to port or such, they can revoke your license if you say nasty stuff about them. Say for example that you want the source for one of their crappy games to port it to the Playstation 2 and after getting the code along with a license to use it, you find that the source code is nearly unreadable and undocumented (like most source). So you create a website telling the world how bad Apogee's coding style is. They want the right to revoke your license. Big deal. I'd want the same thing. This does not infringe on your free speech. You can still say whatever you want. But be prepared to suffer the consequences if you have licensed something from them. Otherwise... they can't do anything unless what you say falls under liable or slander laws. The golden rule applies here. Be nice to others and they won't sue you. The press is always protected to a very high degree from such laws but there is a limit to that as well. Be responsible and objective in any commentary about any company, and you will probably never be sued. Also, reviews about products are never protected. About 8 years ago, Consumer Reports was sued by Isuzu for not being objective and essentially "picking on Isuzu." The jury found that Consumer Reports was not entirely objective but that Isuzu was somewhat more dangerous than other SUV's at the time. No reward was given. This example may not always apply in UCITA, but liable and slander have been around for a long time: since rule-of-law, about 450 years, long before the formation of the US. This rule was inherited from England. UCITA does a lot of things, but this declaration is not special, nor new. Don't take up arms yet.