I'm still kicking myself over this. About a month ago, Dell had this for $78, with a $20 rebate to boot. Too bad I didn't see it until the morning after when they pulled it.
I have read through the majority and am partly through Breyer. The majority seems to indicate that the law is not unconstitutional, but that it may not be the best idea Congress has had. So far, Breyer seems to echo my exact sentiments, that this is indicitive of a perpetual extension and that it impedes rather than promotes the useful arts and sciences.
I work at a recently profitable startup, and we had a very similar experience. Initially, we had a low cost package deal that covered what our clients needed. The problem was, they all thought it was "too good". Essentially, they mistrusted it because they thought we had to be cutting corners somewhere to provide it. So, we itemized everything, doubled the prices, and all of a sudden they all wanted to buy it. Not a damn thing changed from a technical perspective, but our customers found our pricing more acceptable.
Basically, because they can't do what we do, they want to believe it is valuable. Buisness people gauge value using economic measurements, like cost. It is important to recognize this, and not undervalue your own work (you don't hear about accountants cutting prices because it's easy for them).
I have nearly the same situation. I live two and a half hours from my "office".
I had a couple of things that made this easy for me. First, I hold a fairly high position among my company's technical staff. Second, our CTO is almost exclusively a telecommuter (he live very near me). These things made it easier to me from the start, so I might would ask around your office to see who else is interested.
Now, onto how I convinced my boss. The big concern will be productivity and communication. Your boss cannot see your productivity the same way when you are at home, because you are not there talking to your coworkers or at your desk. Hence he cannot see you. So, you need to be sure that he will be able to see your productivity. You need to hit milestones, or at the very least warn well in advance if a milestone is to be missed. If you've show the ability to manage your time well in the past, that will help here. Also, you will need to make excessive use of the phone. Make sure that your coworkers can quickly find the number for the phone by your desk at home (you probably should consider getting a seperate line for this). Additionally, you should probably start doing some work from home. This will ensure that you do not experiece an immediate drop in productivity if you convince your boss, which could very quickly get your telecommuter status revoked.
So basically, here is what I would have before I go in and ask:
- A quantitative measuring system for tracking your productivity.
- A plan for maintaining communication with your co-workers (this may be the most important item to your boss)
- Evidence that you are (not "can be", but "are") just as productive working from home.
I recently graduated with bachelors degrees in both computer engineering and computer science. My school is ranked in the top 25 for both of these programs, and here are some observations for people looking at going into one of these programs.
First, you can probably do both. If you are inclined towards doing OS work, or mathematically intensive programming like graphics, then your computer science electives are probably valid as courses in computer engineering.
A second thing to look at is your school's courses for computer engineers vs computer scientists vs electrical engineers. If you look at the courses for the two engineering programs, and see alot of similarities in the sophomore and junior years (within the major curriculum), you might want to look at another school. For the computer science side of it, you will want to look at how many required courses are on things such as object theory or other things that are not related to hardware.
Around my sophomore year, I found out what really interested me. I basically chose courses that focused on microprocessor and ASIC design, compiler design, and operating systems. You need to figure out what you enjoy doing. If you really like working on UI's, databases, or other things that operate at a high logic level, then computer science is probably where you want to be. If you really like making things go fast or logical design, then computer engineering is for you. As I said before, your particular interests may overlap, but I think you'll get more out of school if you figure out what you enjoy and focus on it rather than just following what the course catalog says.
A few other observations:
-You will run into quite a few people who (in my opinion) don't belong in either program. You will meet CS students who can't code and CPE students who never bother learning about hardware. It is important that you learn to ignore them, because they are future management types and you need to get an early start at dealing with them.
-Look at the third level circuits course in computer engineering. If it is the same as the electrical engineers, look at another school. Computer and electrical engineers are focusing on completely different aspects of circuits at this point, and your college should recognize this.
-If you do both majors, you'll go through more weed out courses. These are classes to get rid of the people who don't belong in your major. Your first two circuits and programming courses will probably be weed outs. If you have any talent, you'll get through both fine.
-Hardware engineers typically make about $10K more a year than programmers after a few years out. However, CPE's and CS that do the same job, generally get paid the same, so deciding if you want to work in hardware or software is important.
-Don't get trapped doing something you hate. If you hate doing OO crap, then CS probably isn't for you. If you despise working on compilers and hardware, CPE isn't for you. You probably have to do whatever you choose for a long time after you get out of college, so make sure you like it.
-Have fun. This is far more important than anything else in school. If you don't have fun in college, you'll never have fun again, and that would really suck.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm still kicking myself over this. About a month ago, Dell had this for $78, with a $20 rebate to boot. Too bad I didn't see it until the morning after when they pulled it.
Majority Decision
Stevens Dissent
Breyer Dissent
Each is about 30 pages long.
I have read through the majority and am partly through Breyer. The majority seems to indicate that the law is not unconstitutional, but that it may not be the best idea Congress has had. So far, Breyer seems to echo my exact sentiments, that this is indicitive of a perpetual extension and that it impedes rather than promotes the useful arts and sciences.
But it is lacking the goodness of the TURBO BUTTON!
I work at a recently profitable startup, and we had a very similar experience. Initially, we had a low cost package deal that covered what our clients needed. The problem was, they all thought it was "too good". Essentially, they mistrusted it because they thought we had to be cutting corners somewhere to provide it. So, we itemized everything, doubled the prices, and all of a sudden they all wanted to buy it. Not a damn thing changed from a technical perspective, but our customers found our pricing more acceptable.
Basically, because they can't do what we do, they want to believe it is valuable. Buisness people gauge value using economic measurements, like cost. It is important to recognize this, and not undervalue your own work (you don't hear about accountants cutting prices because it's easy for them).
I find that Seahorse is pretty easy to use.
I have nearly the same situation. I live two and a half hours from my "office".
I had a couple of things that made this easy for me. First, I hold a fairly high position among my company's technical staff. Second, our CTO is almost exclusively a telecommuter (he live very near me). These things made it easier to me from the start, so I might would ask around your office to see who else is interested.
Now, onto how I convinced my boss. The big concern will be productivity and communication. Your boss cannot see your productivity the same way when you are at home, because you are not there talking to your coworkers or at your desk. Hence he cannot see you. So, you need to be sure that he will be able to see your productivity. You need to hit milestones, or at the very least warn well in advance if a milestone is to be missed. If you've show the ability to manage your time well in the past, that will help here. Also, you will need to make excessive use of the phone. Make sure that your coworkers can quickly find the number for the phone by your desk at home (you probably should consider getting a seperate line for this). Additionally, you should probably start doing some work from home. This will ensure that you do not experiece an immediate drop in productivity if you convince your boss, which could very quickly get your telecommuter status revoked.
So basically, here is what I would have before I go in and ask:
- A quantitative measuring system for tracking your productivity.
- A plan for maintaining communication with your co-workers (this may be the most important item to your boss)
- Evidence that you are (not "can be", but "are") just as productive working from home.
I recently graduated with bachelors degrees in both computer engineering and computer science. My school is ranked in the top 25 for both of these programs, and here are some observations for people looking at going into one of these programs.
First, you can probably do both. If you are inclined towards doing OS work, or mathematically intensive programming like graphics, then your computer science electives are probably valid as courses in computer engineering.
A second thing to look at is your school's courses for computer engineers vs computer scientists vs electrical engineers. If you look at the courses for the two engineering programs, and see alot of similarities in the sophomore and junior years (within the major curriculum), you might want to look at another school. For the computer science side of it, you will want to look at how many required courses are on things such as object theory or other things that are not related to hardware.
Around my sophomore year, I found out what really interested me. I basically chose courses that focused on microprocessor and ASIC design, compiler design, and operating systems. You need to figure out what you enjoy doing. If you really like working on UI's, databases, or other things that operate at a high logic level, then computer science is probably where you want to be. If you really like making things go fast or logical design, then computer engineering is for you. As I said before, your particular interests may overlap, but I think you'll get more out of school if you figure out what you enjoy and focus on it rather than just following what the course catalog says.
A few other observations:
-You will run into quite a few people who (in my opinion) don't belong in either program. You will meet CS students who can't code and CPE students who never bother learning about hardware. It is important that you learn to ignore them, because they are future management types and you need to get an early start at dealing with them.
-Look at the third level circuits course in computer engineering. If it is the same as the electrical engineers, look at another school. Computer and electrical engineers are focusing on completely different aspects of circuits at this point, and your college should recognize this.
-If you do both majors, you'll go through more weed out courses. These are classes to get rid of the people who don't belong in your major. Your first two circuits and programming courses will probably be weed outs. If you have any talent, you'll get through both fine.
-Hardware engineers typically make about $10K more a year than programmers after a few years out. However, CPE's and CS that do the same job, generally get paid the same, so deciding if you want to work in hardware or software is important.
-Don't get trapped doing something you hate. If you hate doing OO crap, then CS probably isn't for you. If you despise working on compilers and hardware, CPE isn't for you. You probably have to do whatever you choose for a long time after you get out of college, so make sure you like it.
-Have fun. This is far more important than anything else in school. If you don't have fun in college, you'll never have fun again, and that would really suck.