Walking into the LinuxWorld expo this past January in New York City, you would think that HP, IBM and Novell were the most important and influential linux companies/organizations...
Yet all the way in the back corner, was the Free Software Foundation. Without their work, Linux would probably be a shadow of itself today.
Avi Rubin was on Screensavers (TechTV) the other day showing the vulnerabilities of eVoting. He showed how back doors can be placed in the program and votes can be manipulated. Pretty eye-opening stuff.
Your complaints are meaningless unless you specify the area in which you live. Saying "my coverage sucks" is uninformative and holds no weight.
I live in the metro NY area and my AT&T connection is average. Compared to the Sprint coverage, it seems to better, but my friends and family prefer Verizon and/or T-Mobile over both.
I agree with most of Joel's rants. I have been a rep at a local college(a highly reputable tech school) job fair numerous times.
I am truly amazed at how crappy some resumes are. Some students hand me resumes that are printed off-centered, bad photocopies, wrinkled from the folder they just stuffed it in, etc. If they can't take the time to print their resumes on quality paper and carry them in a resume binder, I tend to believe they are just as careless when they are working.
Spacing and formatting is also a huge problem. Highlight the most important aspects of your resume. When looking at hundreds of resumes in a few hours, you want to be able to easily spot education and skill set (especially when dealing with college students who have little experience).
Many applicants came to the job fair dressed in non-formal attire. This is not good. At least, wear a shirt and tie. Don't roll out of bed and throw on some jeans, take the time to look presentable.
Like Solsky says, do these factors hurt an applicant if they have they meet the necessary requirements, sometimes. When applying for a job, you are selling yourself and must put your best effort in every little detail. From resume to dress, you will be scrutinized and judged. Look your best.
I went to LinuxWorld on Thursday and it was my first time... some thoughts.
Good to see the large companies trying to get a piece of the linux pie.sigh Buzzwords were flying all over the place. Fed up, I started asking exhibitors at large companies for "scalable enterprise solutions". Most had answers! lol...
The.org pavillion rocked. By far the most knowledgeable and friendly people in the place. Spoke to some of the good people at geekcorps, FSF and gentoo. One thing I will never understand... why were the people at LILUG playing that stupid dancing game? They looked like a bunch of fools.
We sat in on a keynote Thursday afternoon, "The Impact of Open Standards on the Technology Industry". Absolutely useless. I was quiet amused at the people feverishly taking notes on very general topics.
Good experience, learned alot and will probably attend next year.
I bought a Compaq Presario 4770 and it had a keyboard where the space bar was split into a space bar on the right and backspace on the left. I've never seen anything like it since.
"I'm sure there is an ammendmant to the highway code specifically aimed at drivers of BMW, and other German manufactured cars, specifically allowing them to chuck the book out the window (preferably at 90Mph+) and issuing them with full ownership of whichever road they happen to be driving along..."
Also stated in that law is that all BMW drivers must have their fog lights on, regardless of the weather conditions.
Given the oppresive attitude towards women in the strict, wahabi society of Saudi Arabia, how are women in tech treated?
Women are already an overwhelming minority in the field, and I can imagine that it is not only uncommon, but very difficult for them to make even a minimal impact in the tech world there.
g8way writes "Now that Christmas is about, it's time for presents. Personally, I got toothpaste, tic-tacs, deodorant, and a McDonalds coupon book in the same package. What's your story of Christmas present mayhem?"
Slashdot Mirror
Us IT people would be alot happier if we had more attractive women working in our companies. I work with 50 software engineers, 47 males and 3 women.
Yes, we are that shallow. Nothing wrong with having some hot women in the office.
This is old news...
In any introductory Software Engineering course, they will discuss this as one of the first topics.
Humans make mistakes and mistakes can cause an OS to crash, a program to seg fault or for a few people to die. We, like our software, are fallibe.
Walking into the LinuxWorld expo this past January in New York City, you would think that HP, IBM and Novell were the most important and influential linux companies/organizations...
Yet all the way in the back corner, was the Free Software Foundation. Without their work, Linux would probably be a shadow of itself today.
They should be front and center, IMHO.
Chiara Trombetti, of the Humanitas Gavazzeni institute of Bergamo
Who? From where?
If you talk to your superiors as though you are afraid to speak your mind, they stop trusting your decisions
Excellent point. I've found being upfront and honest with higher ups does earn their respect.
Being relatively new to the workforce, I've found this to be an important lesson.
Avi Rubin was on Screensavers (TechTV) the other day showing the vulnerabilities of eVoting. He showed how back doors can be placed in the program and votes can be manipulated. Pretty eye-opening stuff.
google has a neat calculator feature.
try "5+5" or "milliseconds in an hour"
All posters that complain about coverage:
Your complaints are meaningless unless you specify the area in which you live. Saying "my coverage sucks" is uninformative and holds no weight.
I live in the metro NY area and my AT&T connection is average. Compared to the Sprint coverage, it seems to better, but my friends and family prefer Verizon and/or T-Mobile over both.
Curry is some of the healthiest stuff you can eat.
It also works wonders for your social life.
The Simpsons semi-jumped the shark when they appeared in that God awful mastercard ad during the Super Bowl.
I dont think this is a novel concept. When I started my comp sci degree, an assembly lang class was one of the first 3 classes.
Considering that the local Blockbuster charges a whopping $5.99 for a dvd rental, I hardly rent movies anymore.
Funny thing is, the Blockbuster near my girlfriend's house (10 minutes away, same type of neighborhood, economically), is $2.00 cheaper!
Insane!
Mos Def is actually one of the few rappers who has a brain. His lyrics are intelligent and he delivers them with great flow.
Check out the Blackstar album with Talib Kweli and his solo album Black on Both Sides.
Yes, he's tremendous
I agree with most of Joel's rants. I have been a rep at a local college(a highly reputable tech school) job fair numerous times.
I am truly amazed at how crappy some resumes are. Some students hand me resumes that are printed off-centered, bad photocopies, wrinkled from the folder they just stuffed it in, etc. If they can't take the time to print their resumes on quality paper and carry them in a resume binder, I tend to believe they are just as careless when they are working.
Spacing and formatting is also a huge problem. Highlight the most important aspects of your resume. When looking at hundreds of resumes in a few hours, you want to be able to easily spot education and skill set (especially when dealing with college students who have little experience).
Many applicants came to the job fair dressed in non-formal attire. This is not good. At least, wear a shirt and tie. Don't roll out of bed and throw on some jeans, take the time to look presentable.
Like Solsky says, do these factors hurt an applicant if they have they meet the necessary requirements, sometimes. When applying for a job, you are selling yourself and must put your best effort in every little detail. From resume to dress, you will be scrutinized and judged. Look your best.
I went to LinuxWorld on Thursday and it was my first time... some thoughts.
.org pavillion rocked. By far the most knowledgeable and friendly people in the place. Spoke to some of the good people at geekcorps, FSF and gentoo. One thing I will never understand... why were the people at LILUG playing that stupid dancing game? They looked like a bunch of fools.
Good to see the large companies trying to get a piece of the linux pie.sigh Buzzwords were flying all over the place. Fed up, I started asking exhibitors at large companies for "scalable enterprise solutions". Most had answers! lol...
The
We sat in on a keynote Thursday afternoon, "The Impact of Open Standards on the Technology Industry". Absolutely useless. I was quiet amused at the people feverishly taking notes on very general topics.
Good experience, learned alot and will probably attend next year.
Start doing some open source development and get some experience.
It also helps if you know people, so start networking as well.
I bought a Compaq Presario 4770 and it had a keyboard where the space bar was split into a space bar on the right and backspace on the left. I've never seen anything like it since.
"I'm sure there is an ammendmant to the highway code specifically aimed at drivers of BMW, and other German manufactured cars, specifically allowing them to chuck the book out the window (preferably at 90Mph+) and issuing them with full ownership of whichever road they happen to be driving along..."
Also stated in that law is that all BMW drivers must have their fog lights on, regardless of the weather conditions.
BMW is coming out with this option in a few years as well. Along with their Active Cruise control and Active steering this is a welcomed option.
Given the oppresive attitude towards women in the strict, wahabi society of Saudi Arabia, how are women in tech treated?
Women are already an overwhelming minority in the field, and I can imagine that it is not only uncommon, but very difficult for them to make even a minimal impact in the tech world there.
"You know Po-Mo.."
"Weird for the sake of being weird.."
g8way writes "Now that Christmas is about, it's time for presents. Personally, I got toothpaste, tic-tacs, deodorant, and a McDonalds coupon book in the same package. What's your story of Christmas present mayhem?"
your gift givers think you are fat and smelly
Rushmore is the best movie made in recent times.
First time I saw it, I had never laughed so hard. Now, when I watch it, it brings a tear to my eye.
And that soundtrack.... my gosh...
shedding some of those extra pounds and starting a table tennis tournament...
if you have a table, of course