To that end we are in agreement. IT should receive more respect than it has. Never have I seen a profession where the clients knew less about its value, nor treated those servicing them with greater contempt. I almost think our clients suffer from a massive inferiority complex, and try to hide it by acting as asses.
It boggles the mind that they would never treat their plumber, their mechanic, their electrician, their doctor, their lawyer, and so forth with any amount of this disrespect. Yet the people who can make your paycheck disappear, have you arrested for illicit content placed on your hard drive, forward your emails to your SO about your affair with one of your coworkers...the list goes on, the clients treat like dirt, and think we are constantly plotting against them. If I were going to do something to you, of a permanent nature, you wouldn't have time to think of a conspiracy theory; that's a promise I believe I might be able to deliver on. So, if you have time to think of a conspiracy theory, you know it wasn't me. ^_^
While not diminishing the work that miners do, nor the hazardous conditions they work in, game programmers at companies such as EA enjoy no special treatment; to the contrary, they are, if the various posted accounts are true, treated as slaves, paid very poorly, and burn out by the time they have the sense to seek employment elsewhere in the industry. The former sentence may be an understatement.
"Supporters say the bill would level the playing field for brick-and-mortar retailers in the state who are already required to charge Connecticut sales tax to consumers who purchase these products in their stores."
An argument could easily be made that the playing field is already level. The advantage of ordering online is one of cost, with typically lower prices and less of a drain on local infrastructure (it costs the state / local government more to provide fire / police protection / emergency medical services / roads / etc. to a few dozen brick-and-mortar stores than to a single warehouse), and possibly hard to get items (ones which cannot be carried locally, for lack of space in a store; commercial space being at a premium). The advantage to brick-and-mortar stores is time, with the more popular items you are typically looking for already in stock, hence the price premium ("I need this item today").
As such, the advantages on both sides balance each other out fairly well.
This tax, of course, is then a simple cash grab. Going off a stereotype of legislatures, we will assume that the state coffers are beginning to, if not already are, empty. As such, someone took a look at things that are considered popular enough to tax (demand is unlikely to change, so it's *free* money they can skim off the top, without impacting the industry; this is also an economics-FAIL, but the people in charge love to hear things that confirm their bias), and barfed up a semi-palatable reason for this new tax.
To this end, I might be able to help. I occasionally fix up resumes for people (for free), so if the poster (or anyone else) would like help here, just leave a comment below with your email address (modified to use 'at' instead of '@', so the spammers don't pick it up, hopefully). No promises that you will get whatever job you are applying to, of course, but I have noticed most resumes look like train-wrecks.
I'll check back later, to see if anyone takes me up on the offer.
IT is a meritocracy. As such, the only true test is one of actual performance, which cannot be granted with a degree, certification, or other form of writ. And it's not the dumping ground of careers, it's just one that doesn't require a hideous amount of investment (money) to get started in, though it does require a lot of time and patience. What more, the major contributors to the field are people with Bachelor degrees, not PhDs. As such, you can see the effects of your work earlier, and self-modify easier.
Many of the other fields are regulated, with high barriers to entry, and that hasn't necessarily improved the quality of service. It has only limited the field to those with enough resources to play in it.
What more, understanding technology is a science, creating technology is an art.
And IT is only looked down upon by the people who are unaware how much they owe their lives to its existence. Were it not for computers, nay electronics in general, we'd still be living in the Dark Ages. As such, looking down on IT is akin to looking down on the Earth; it's below you because it's supporting you, not because you're superior to it (when has the air ever supported your weight?). Remove that support, and your life as you know it is over (without IT, society would fall apart in weeks; without the Earth, you'd drift into space).
As such, let the business people, many of whom are high on their belief in their superiority to the trolls / dwarves / elves who perform IT, continue to f*ck up with their games on the Market and their chronic attempts at outsourcing critical functions. I point to their handiwork at some of the larger companies, such as HP, where they considered spinning off their computer business. Their mismanagement of their respective companies is quickly becoming legendary, and soon they will fall. No one will want to hire a business major, for fear they will drive the business into the ground.
Because game programming is hell on earth. To people who are not IT, it sounds awesome (design your own game! could it be cooler?). But to those inside, it's working the coal mines.
Nonsense. IT, especially the upper levels, is not about just having the right degree, it's about being able to contribute something of worth. No one cares if you have a CS degree from Princeton if you can't program something to save your life.
As it stands, the technology realm is conceptually one of a meritocracy. Companies doing the hiring may not be, but the realm itself is.
Hush. Some of the more interesting CS professors out there dual-majored in Psychology. They usually end up doing Human/Computer Interfaces.
With a Psychology degree alone, they end up doing a lot of Lisp / Scheme.
And what more, I see it as a good thing that someone wants to expand their understanding of other fields, if only for monetary gain. That's something to be encouraged, not mocked.
I would go for the degree, to be honest. The economy being what it is, I have some doubts that potential employers are willing to entertain the idea of a non-IT major in an IT major slot. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying you are not capable of doing IT, nor that you are not good at it (some of the best programmers do not have an IT-related degree), only that the current bias is one of fear / a safety strategy when it comes to employers.
One thing in particular, I will note, is your lack of experience with C++ / Java. While it's not required, I do recommend becoming comfortable with those languages. Throw in C# if you want to do MS work (always a money-maker), some web languages (just HTML / Javascript / etc., almost a requirement these days), and perhaps study some Windows / Linux / Unix administration books. If you go the O'Reilly route, it should cost you about $500 to get all the books you'll want (O'Reilly being the standard; if you don't have a zoo, you need one).
Indeed. One of the original horror stories, so far as I'm concerned.
Why? Because when you're in high-school, you believe that it's just a story. Later on, you find out it's a commentary on communities in general -> everyone goes along with a tradition / way of thought, because it's how they've always done things. The only people who call for change are those who find themselves the odd-man out, and typically only after they've been selected as a sacrifice; the people throwing stones are just happy it isn't them.
To that end, Brave New World and 1984 are nightmares in their own right. Change = death, usually to the heretic. Just once in my lifetime, I'd like to see the gods say "No" to the status quo (and someone please protect me from the consequences of that wish, as someone who has read the HHGTTG might say (Arthur Dent and the Seer comes to mind)). A tale comes to mind, of the Babylonian king selecting another to be king for the day, only for said person to be sacrificed at the end of the day -> instead, the real king died, and left the other guy on the throne; apparently he ruled well. But I'd prefer a stronger, lasting dose; perhaps my own life is filled with too much bitterness.
Have you tried Virgin Mobile? They have Android phones, including the Motorola Triumph, which has a 1 Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM. I've loaded it up with CyanogenMod, which while not officially supported, is being worked on. I'm running it on my phone right now (though it does have the odd issue of freezing at the boot screen if you leave it alone too long, but then, it's beta). Add in a 32GB microSD, and it's hour of fun.
There are two ways to improve your coding that I know of, that can be done without someone else's input.
1.) Download code from the many online repositories, and study it. More experienced programmers have interesting tricks that help make your code both better, and more readable. For instance:
When I was a novice programmer, I would wrap entire statements in an if{} like:
if(var == true) {
doSomething(); }
which at first seems ok, until you run into bigger blocks of code. By the time you get to:
you start to lose track of the trailing curly bracket.
After studying some code, I realize it is simpler to do this:
if(var == false) {
return; } doSomething();
where you find the conditions that would not trigger a block of code to run, and return early. It makes the code so much easier to work with.
Additionally, if you are dealing with multiple errors, such as when you are dealing with users entering information into a database app, it's easier to just declare a more global string, append the errors to it (when validating), then check if the string is empty before sending the data to the database (if it's not empty, just display the string in a simple textbox at the top, with bold red font).
2.) Read books on the language / books containing good code. I think O'Reilly has a book called "Beautiful Code" which may help you there.
Since I program primarily in a MS environment, it has helped me to realize, after dealing with their APIs and what not for quite some time, that you need to balance between abstraction and pragmatism. Too much abstraction, as I've encountered in a Java environment, and you are chasing methods, constants, and fields all over the place. It can take hours to understand some piece of code with one too many layers of abstraction. On the other hand, not enough abstraction results in VBish code, with God-functions, which are also a headache. You want to segment your code so that you can get work done, and still be able to understand what you are doing without having to read the comments.To that end, think of good, but relatively short, variable and method names. Do not be afraid to give a variable a lengthier, but descriptive name. In today's day and age, you don't need to save disk space by sacrificing readability.
Agreed. The moderation of these comments, as of 9:33 PM EST, is fairly sad.
Instead of holding the media to a higher standard, posters have digressed into "it's not as bad as Fox News"-style argument.
But I digress, this is the media we are talking about, which has often been summarized in one quote: "They call it a medium because it’s neither rare nor well done."
*puts on hard hat* Okay, I am ready for the inevitable down-moderation.
Nonsense. One of a programmer's favorite past-times is to rewrite a program in a new language.
Why? Because it gives us a chance to ditch some of the *shudder* old hackish code. A clean break, with an explanation that "what once was, is no longer."
Sadly, we are quickly approaching a time when your kid saying "Daddy / Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a drug dealer" will be seen as more respectable than the alternatives.
Indeed. Surprisingly, Japan receives more of my entertainment business than the US. I dare say that despite my meager income, they've been making out quite well.
And will continue to do so, provided they don't go insane like the MPAA / RIAA.
Slashdot Mirror
Because while he may have been doing something of an illicit nature, the people bringing him down were no saints.
To that end we are in agreement. IT should receive more respect than it has. Never have I seen a profession where the clients knew less about its value, nor treated those servicing them with greater contempt. I almost think our clients suffer from a massive inferiority complex, and try to hide it by acting as asses.
It boggles the mind that they would never treat their plumber, their mechanic, their electrician, their doctor, their lawyer, and so forth with any amount of this disrespect. Yet the people who can make your paycheck disappear, have you arrested for illicit content placed on your hard drive, forward your emails to your SO about your affair with one of your coworkers...the list goes on, the clients treat like dirt, and think we are constantly plotting against them. If I were going to do something to you, of a permanent nature, you wouldn't have time to think of a conspiracy theory; that's a promise I believe I might be able to deliver on. So, if you have time to think of a conspiracy theory, you know it wasn't me. ^_^
While not diminishing the work that miners do, nor the hazardous conditions they work in, game programmers at companies such as EA enjoy no special treatment; to the contrary, they are, if the various posted accounts are true, treated as slaves, paid very poorly, and burn out by the time they have the sense to seek employment elsewhere in the industry. The former sentence may be an understatement.
"Supporters say the bill would level the playing field for brick-and-mortar retailers in the state who are already required to charge Connecticut sales tax to consumers who purchase these products in their stores."
An argument could easily be made that the playing field is already level. The advantage of ordering online is one of cost, with typically lower prices and less of a drain on local infrastructure (it costs the state / local government more to provide fire / police protection / emergency medical services / roads / etc. to a few dozen brick-and-mortar stores than to a single warehouse), and possibly hard to get items (ones which cannot be carried locally, for lack of space in a store; commercial space being at a premium). The advantage to brick-and-mortar stores is time, with the more popular items you are typically looking for already in stock, hence the price premium ("I need this item today").
As such, the advantages on both sides balance each other out fairly well.
This tax, of course, is then a simple cash grab. Going off a stereotype of legislatures, we will assume that the state coffers are beginning to, if not already are, empty. As such, someone took a look at things that are considered popular enough to tax (demand is unlikely to change, so it's *free* money they can skim off the top, without impacting the industry; this is also an economics-FAIL, but the people in charge love to hear things that confirm their bias), and barfed up a semi-palatable reason for this new tax.
To this end, I might be able to help. I occasionally fix up resumes for people (for free), so if the poster (or anyone else) would like help here, just leave a comment below with your email address (modified to use 'at' instead of '@', so the spammers don't pick it up, hopefully). No promises that you will get whatever job you are applying to, of course, but I have noticed most resumes look like train-wrecks.
I'll check back later, to see if anyone takes me up on the offer.
*shrugs*
IT is a meritocracy. As such, the only true test is one of actual performance, which cannot be granted with a degree, certification, or other form of writ. And it's not the dumping ground of careers, it's just one that doesn't require a hideous amount of investment (money) to get started in, though it does require a lot of time and patience. What more, the major contributors to the field are people with Bachelor degrees, not PhDs. As such, you can see the effects of your work earlier, and self-modify easier.
Many of the other fields are regulated, with high barriers to entry, and that hasn't necessarily improved the quality of service. It has only limited the field to those with enough resources to play in it.
What more, understanding technology is a science, creating technology is an art.
And IT is only looked down upon by the people who are unaware how much they owe their lives to its existence. Were it not for computers, nay electronics in general, we'd still be living in the Dark Ages. As such, looking down on IT is akin to looking down on the Earth; it's below you because it's supporting you, not because you're superior to it (when has the air ever supported your weight?). Remove that support, and your life as you know it is over (without IT, society would fall apart in weeks; without the Earth, you'd drift into space).
As such, let the business people, many of whom are high on their belief in their superiority to the trolls / dwarves / elves who perform IT, continue to f*ck up with their games on the Market and their chronic attempts at outsourcing critical functions. I point to their handiwork at some of the larger companies, such as HP, where they considered spinning off their computer business. Their mismanagement of their respective companies is quickly becoming legendary, and soon they will fall. No one will want to hire a business major, for fear they will drive the business into the ground.
Then working for yourself might be a good idea.
Because game programming is hell on earth. To people who are not IT, it sounds awesome (design your own game! could it be cooler?). But to those inside, it's working the coal mines.
Nonsense. IT, especially the upper levels, is not about just having the right degree, it's about being able to contribute something of worth. No one cares if you have a CS degree from Princeton if you can't program something to save your life.
As it stands, the technology realm is conceptually one of a meritocracy. Companies doing the hiring may not be, but the realm itself is.
Hush. Some of the more interesting CS professors out there dual-majored in Psychology. They usually end up doing Human/Computer Interfaces.
With a Psychology degree alone, they end up doing a lot of Lisp / Scheme.
And what more, I see it as a good thing that someone wants to expand their understanding of other fields, if only for monetary gain. That's something to be encouraged, not mocked.
I would go for the degree, to be honest. The economy being what it is, I have some doubts that potential employers are willing to entertain the idea of a non-IT major in an IT major slot. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying you are not capable of doing IT, nor that you are not good at it (some of the best programmers do not have an IT-related degree), only that the current bias is one of fear / a safety strategy when it comes to employers.
One thing in particular, I will note, is your lack of experience with C++ / Java. While it's not required, I do recommend becoming comfortable with those languages. Throw in C# if you want to do MS work (always a money-maker), some web languages (just HTML / Javascript / etc., almost a requirement these days), and perhaps study some Windows / Linux / Unix administration books. If you go the O'Reilly route, it should cost you about $500 to get all the books you'll want (O'Reilly being the standard; if you don't have a zoo, you need one).
Indeed. One of the original horror stories, so far as I'm concerned.
Why? Because when you're in high-school, you believe that it's just a story. Later on, you find out it's a commentary on communities in general -> everyone goes along with a tradition / way of thought, because it's how they've always done things. The only people who call for change are those who find themselves the odd-man out, and typically only after they've been selected as a sacrifice; the people throwing stones are just happy it isn't them.
To that end, Brave New World and 1984 are nightmares in their own right. Change = death, usually to the heretic. Just once in my lifetime, I'd like to see the gods say "No" to the status quo (and someone please protect me from the consequences of that wish, as someone who has read the HHGTTG might say (Arthur Dent and the Seer comes to mind)). A tale comes to mind, of the Babylonian king selecting another to be king for the day, only for said person to be sacrificed at the end of the day -> instead, the real king died, and left the other guy on the throne; apparently he ruled well. But I'd prefer a stronger, lasting dose; perhaps my own life is filled with too much bitterness.
Agreed. Read what you enjoy. That's the key to enjoying reading in general.
Got modded with a -1 Offtopic, +1 Insightful. I win. ;-)
Have you tried Virgin Mobile? They have Android phones, including the Motorola Triumph, which has a 1 Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM. I've loaded it up with CyanogenMod, which while not officially supported, is being worked on. I'm running it on my phone right now (though it does have the odd issue of freezing at the boot screen if you leave it alone too long, but then, it's beta). Add in a 32GB microSD, and it's hour of fun.
There are two ways to improve your coding that I know of, that can be done without someone else's input.
1.) Download code from the many online repositories, and study it. More experienced programmers have interesting tricks that help make your code both better, and more readable. For instance:
When I was a novice programmer, I would wrap entire statements in an if{} like:
if(var == true) {
doSomething();
}
which at first seems ok, until you run into bigger blocks of code. By the time you get to:
if(var == true) {
doSomething();
doSomething2();
doSomething3();
doSomething4();
doSomething5();
doSomething6();
doSomething7();
doSomething8();
}
you start to lose track of the trailing curly bracket.
After studying some code, I realize it is simpler to do this:
if(var == false) {
return;
}
doSomething();
where you find the conditions that would not trigger a block of code to run, and return early.
It makes the code so much easier to work with.
Additionally, if you are dealing with multiple errors, such as when you are dealing with users entering information into a database app, it's easier to just declare a more global string, append the errors to it (when validating), then check if the string is empty before sending the data to the database (if it's not empty, just display the string in a simple textbox at the top, with bold red font).
2.) Read books on the language / books containing good code. I think O'Reilly has a book called "Beautiful Code" which may help you there.
Since I program primarily in a MS environment, it has helped me to realize, after dealing with their APIs and what not for quite some time, that you need to balance between abstraction and pragmatism. Too much abstraction, as I've encountered in a Java environment, and you are chasing methods, constants, and fields all over the place. It can take hours to understand some piece of code with one too many layers of abstraction. On the other hand, not enough abstraction results in VBish code, with God-functions, which are also a headache. You want to segment your code so that you can get work done, and still be able to understand what you are doing without having to read the comments.To that end, think of good, but relatively short, variable and method names. Do not be afraid to give a variable a lengthier, but descriptive name. In today's day and age, you don't need to save disk space by sacrificing readability.
I'll just leave this here: The Whitest Kids U' Know
Agreed. The moderation of these comments, as of 9:33 PM EST, is fairly sad.
Instead of holding the media to a higher standard, posters have digressed into "it's not as bad as Fox News"-style argument.
But I digress, this is the media we are talking about, which has often been summarized in one quote: "They call it a medium because it’s neither rare nor well done."
*puts on hard hat* Okay, I am ready for the inevitable down-moderation.
Only if I am working overtime. At which point my rates are negotiated as a percentage of the offending country's GDP.
Nonsense. One of a programmer's favorite past-times is to rewrite a program in a new language.
Why? Because it gives us a chance to ditch some of the *shudder* old hackish code. A clean break, with an explanation that "what once was, is no longer."
All of this, of course, while being paid. ;-)
Never going to happen. One of the perks of our 'democracy' is the ability to appoint your friends to power without interference from the voters.
And yet some people would have you believe it is...
Sadly, we are quickly approaching a time when your kid saying "Daddy / Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a drug dealer" will be seen as more respectable than the alternatives.
Or South Korea.
Indeed. Surprisingly, Japan receives more of my entertainment business than the US. I dare say that despite my meager income, they've been making out quite well.
And will continue to do so, provided they don't go insane like the MPAA / RIAA.