Last week, on October 6th, I was dismissed from my development job which I had held for nearly 8 years. I quickly picked myself back up again (found a job by that Friday, the 8th, which I start work on this coming Monday), and had it really hammered home that even if you do work on an application for a company which helps to run that company, and you are the only developer of it - even your job isn't secure.
I have been wondering, though - before I got fired, after, and even now - what if I hadn't been able to find a job? The truth is, there were several possibilities (heh, had one come in from guru.com this morning that looked like it would be a cool deal as a smalltime temp contract) - but it seems like those possibilities are dwindling. Maybe it is the economy - but then again, maybe programming is going away?
I am 31, I only have a "technical associates degree" from a small school, hardly any college experience (a couple of community college classes), no real degree. I also have a mortgage, bills and a family (well, my wife and a dog - no kids yet) to take care of. My main domain of knowledge is computing, in all of its forms - and programming specifically. This is what I love, this is what I do best. Given a job having to do with computers, an employer can expect me to work very hard to make them do what they want them to do. I know there are others that feel this way to.
I can't afford to go back to school - I don't have the time, I certainly don't have the money. I am living my life now, just wanting enough to be comfortable, and have a little fun now and then. So - serious question - what happens to a person like me if all the programming/computer jobs go away?
The outcome of such a situation doesn't seem rosy. I likely would end up in a job I would hate, doing something just to keep the roof over my head. That isn't the kind of life I am willing to lead - working at a job I hate for less money than I feel I am worth. I can't think of any job I would really like, that I have the knowledge or ability to do, that doesn't involve computers. There are jobs that I wouldn't mind doing - but I don't know if they exist, nor do I have the required experience for them even if they did?
One thing my wife and I discussed when this occurred was basically "chucking it all": Liquidating *all* of our assets, except for bare basics, buying a cheap RV, sticking the rest of the money in an account somewhere (and maybe some in an IRA) - and then becoming road hippies and travelling the continent. That would be a better life than a dead end unforgiving hateful job.
But seriously - are there other options for people in mine or similar situations? People who have little money to spend to educate themselves on the "next thing" (what is that, anyhow?) - I can't even think of a career path that won't suffer the same or similar fate as programming, etc. Becoming a lawyer, or a doctor, or a "healthcare professional", or a biotechnologist (yeah, I have the time and money for any of those - right)? About the only job I might have a shot at, that can't be off-shored, and people would need - would be either an air-conditioning repairman or auto-mechanic (and I still don't have the money to pay for such education). Plus, I don't relish the thought at doing either of those jobs (harsh and hazardous working conditions - though either one sounds somewhat interesting to do).
Ideas, comments, suggestions? All I can do right now is work as hard as I can doing what I know for what it is worth while I can still get a job (and, as I stated before, I did find work) - and save my money, get rid of all of my debt - and hope there is a way out...
Were you wanting this to do actual work (coding and such), or just to play games? The answer will affect what screen and input type you need. Standard composite or s-video will not be enough (unless your screen is lower-res 640x480) to do any serious work with - but it would be ok for game playing (though icon text and the like will be difficult to read). Finally, if it hasn't been mentioned already, get in contact with these guys - they will be able to help you with your problems and needs.
As long as it's within a few miles, you've just evaporated hundreds of thousands of people.
One of the "half-truths" of an atomic bomb (as likely such a container bomb would be something like a Hiroshima-type bomb - unless it was a black-market device) is that if you are close enough to detonation, you are instantly vapor. The truth is a lot stranger: There were a few instances of people who were in the hospital in Hiroshima (whose courtyard area *was* ground zero), who got fairly lucky, and due to being where they were at the time (inside the hostpital on certain floors) - didn't get flash vaporized, or suffer any undue heat effects (that is, they didn't get massive burns). I am not sure if they suffered major radiation poisoning, but there were a few people who survived at "ground zero".
We really don't know what the effects on a real city that low-yield, Hiroshima-type device would have. Hiroshima wasn't your "typical city" of the time - most of the civilian housing was paper and wood construction (though, to be honest, many new subdivisions here in America aren't much better construction). Other larger buildings tended to be unreinforced concrete and brick. We (America) chose these targets precisely because they would yield the most physical destruction (the bombs were as much for demoralization as they were for destruction).
Now - all bets are off as you move out of the 10's of kiloton yields and into the 100's - ie, a black-market nuke (assumming they exist), or multi-stage fission or fission/fusion devices. Then your scenario becomes more plausible. That isn't to say any nuke wouldn't be bad - even a low yield nuke, or a very large ANFO bomb - would prove more to be a demoralizing tactic to the American public (a big, fat "you are not safe" message) than anything.
All of this talk (ie, terrorist nukes, govt surveillance, rfid implants, etc on-and-on) makes you wonder if the terrorists really are external forces...
Buckminster Fuller theorized (many years ago) that by using a geodesic structure to create a very large sphere (1 mile in diameter? Something huge), and covering that sphere with a clear membrane of sorts - that the air inside could heat up (from the sun) and lift the entire structure - instant "cloud" city...
I think if we are going to have a death penalty (federal or state), and we are going to have executions (federal or state), and those death penalties/executions can apply to minors - then minors need to have a say (voting or otherwise) in the election and/or governmental process. As it is, they have *no* say in regards to processes, laws, and who governs them - to be able to change things (whether that be for tougher legislations or less) in their favor.
Will we ever see this? I think there would have to be an age cutoff point, or maybe a representational system based on age (ie, 16-17 y/o representing the views of those younger than them, maybe by an electoral voting system or something) - for it to work properly (to filter out wierd things like "elmo for president"). Somehow I doubt it. We continue to see our kids as slaves and chattel that adults "own". We don't want to give them options, maybe out of fear that we might lose control (?) or something.
Or maybe we fear that they might do the right thing out of innocence - and show us supposed adults that we are truely idiots roaming the earth...?
In a way, this is true - I was listening yesterday to NPR, one of the guests was one of the more recent Nobel Prize winners (I think economics). He said he was amazed at how difficult it was to get anyone to listen to ideas and such he had to say before he won the prize, but after he won it was like he was an oracle from which every word was to be taken seriously - he instantly got audiences with presidents and other high members of governments constantly.
In this case, I don't think it was the money associated with the prize, but the fame of the prize - like being a Nobel Prize winner makes what you do and say that much better than the common guy who is doing and saying the exact same thing.
Any system that functions on nightmarish SQL constructs
...that if you have "nightmarish SQL constructs", someone didn't do a very good job of setting up and normalizing the tables properly in the first place...
The moral of the story? Computers arent as important as the people you know. Dont worry so much about your job, you can always just get another one. (just make sure you have some money set aside for the time in between jobs!)
Or in other words, it isn't what you know, it is who you know (though, if you know both, you are that much further ahead). And the comment about having savings is dead on...
AC, you are right - I did have that mistake (I did mean to emulate the BASIC - doh!), and you are correct that adding whitespace could help as well. Actually, the for() loop is the easy part - it's the printf command that would trip up many beginners. Finally, this example was probably too simple - start talking about anything involving keyboard or file I/O, and it really starts getting interesting.
As far as Python and your loop example - no, that doesn't look cryptic to me at all, nor does it to a lot of beginners. Heck, Python could be even simpler (no "next" clause), and the print would have been nearly identical to the BASIC version (which is why I like Python so much)...
Last Wednesday (October 6th), after faithfully serving the company I worked at doing software development (on an internally used software package that helped to run the business, no less) for 8 years, I got canned - out of the blue, no warning, no nothing. One minute, I was helping a co-worker with a problem in the software (bugs, gotta love 'em!), when I get a page to go to my supervisors office. I finish up what I am doing...
In my supervisor's office is my supe, and the manager of programming (long to explain, but I *wasn't* on the programming team). This guy is known for wanting new things in the package I was working on, generally difficult (but not impossible) to implement enhancements to make your skin crawl - so my first thought was "now what?". I didn't mind doing these additions; job security, ya know. Little did I know what was coming next...
"cr0sh - we've decided to cancel development on your project, and we won't be needing your services any longer"
GULP
My head was swimming, I was thinking "what am I going to tell my wife?", "how am I going to pay my mortgage", and "WTF - doesn't the past 8 years count for ANYTHING?"...
Apparently not - especially not in a "right-to-work" state. The thing that really galled me is that my supervisor didn't even know, and he is a VP in the company: they went behind and above him to fire me. He had no chance to make a case for me and my project, nor alert me to allow me to make a case for myself and the project. One minute I was working, next minute I am being shown the door (well, actually they were kind and let me pack up my desk - they were also kind enough to cut me a check for the three days I was there along with vacation pay, and some severance pay).
In the end, I am getting the last laugh: By Friday I had another job, and it is looking like by November or so I will be making what I was making there, possibly more. Plus, it is at a smaller company run by an entrepreneur who works hard to succeed in her niche, which involves the methodology of six sigma. Its a good thing to have friends and be able to network!
I quickly landed back on my feet thanks to several friends, my skillset, my resume, and the faith of another small company to take a chance on me. I plan to put everything I have into this new oppourtunity.
To my former employer:
You threw away a very valuable employee. Yeah, on the bottom line the software I developed may have looked like an expense, but I bet it saved you more money over the years than you spent on it. Good luck with whatever you do to the software, but I can guarantee that if you try to move to another system, it won't be half of what you had, and will probably cost twice as much or more to implement!
So, to all of you out there in a similar IT situation bitching about your job: be thankful you have a job - one day, it may not be there, and dinner will be dollar store macaroni and cheese meals.
I think it is pure hubris to be debating this question as we continue as a species to murder each other over resources and/or political gain. By continuing such struggles, we have implicitly decided that human life has no value. Until we move past this as a species and a society, how can we be arrogant enough to decide otherwise?
Yeah, son, we could have aborted you as a fetus, but we didn't because we value life. Now, go kill those brown-skinned people over there for your country and President...
I agree that Python is a much better language than BASIC. But to say BASIC has no place in today's world shows more ignorance than anything else.
I can't even begin to name the tons of business applications that have been developed with some dialect of BASIC - from PICK Basic to Business Basic to QuickBasic to VB - there have been many, many successful, fast, and very capable business applications built using this language.
All it is is a syntax: what is the difference if it is "FOR...NEXT" or "for (...){}"? As long as both compile down to native or can be interpreted, why should it matter? Why this "superiority" complex that everyone has over BASIC?
I will tell you this much - which is easier for anyone to read (not just beginners):
For i = 1 to 10 Step 2
Print "The number is "; i Next
or this:
for (i=1; i<11; i++){
printf ("The number is %d\n", i); }
?
Personally, I prefer the first over the second, though I can read and use either - simply because the syntax in BASIC is (usually) clearer. I can also typically hand the code to a beginner (or more importantly, a non-coder) and they can easily figure it out, too - because it is easily readable and understandable (at least to an english-language reading person).
You also can't say that BASIC lacks the power to do anything useful. If you think this, then you obviously missed many excellent demos, games and code examples that were created with QuickBasic, PowerBASIC, and VB during the latter half of the 1990's (and probably even today). I have seen amazing examples of video games, 3D games, 3D engines (google for "3D engine basic" and see what has been and can be done), RPGs, demo effects, etc. I would love to point out the business uses BASIC has been put to, but many of these examples tend to be in-house tools or only sold b2b.
BASIC has its purpose, and I think those who come down on it either have an inferiority complex, or simply don't understand what BASIC is truely capable of in today's modern dialects (GOTO, while still available in almost every incarnation of BASIC, typically is never used in BASIC software development, if the programmer knows what is good for him) - honestly, I think it is more of the latter rather than the former, but the vitriol some people spew makes me wonder...
I also want to reccommend Python as well as a good language, and possibly a good beginner language at that. Why? Because it preserves much of what BASIC had, while adding a lot that BASIC doesn't (although the very modern BASICs go a long way toward addressing these issues). Its syntax feels very much like BASIC, and that is a good thing.
Finally - your word on assembler is dead on. I think assembler should be taught early, so that programmers have some grasp of what actually goes on in a cpu as it executes the instructions (actually, learning how simple CPU hardware works, how an opcode/operand pair, represented by a series of bytes, the bits of which activates various pieces of the CPU, registers, memory, bus, etc - all in time to the all important clock - all of this would be good learning) - after all, at the base level, all a CPU is, is a very fast form of a player piano...
Then there are the loons, the serial killers. People who murder people for no apparent reason.
Actually, true serial killers do have a motive. According to "The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" by Harold Schechter and David Everitt (ISBN 0-671-53791-1), serial killings tend to be of a sexual nature, where within the murderer a lust for blood, gore and death builds up to a climax, at which point the serial killer "ejaculates" (sometimes litterally) by killing a victim. After the murder, there is a cool-down period (usually days to years), after which the cycle repeats.
Why are you printing your digital photos? They are digital, they are pure information, they can be transferred and stored indefinitely - as long as you keep transferring them to the "next" digital medium. You can email them, you can edit them, you can view them on your monitor, on your TV, on your projector, on your cell phone. You can put them on a website for others to view. Why the need for paper? If you wanted "real" photographs, why not just buy a real camera with real film (which, at least then - unless you have a very expensive ultra-megapixel camera - you can get quality enlargements from)?
Computers and computer technology give us the ability to get away completely from paper, yet there are still tons of people who cling to it. Yes, there are certain facets of life which need paper still - books, for example, still aren't fun to read on computer systems (but we are rapidly moving to e-ink and similar systems). But digital photography is an area that can be completely paperless - case in point: I have some very old images on my PC now that I digitized on my old Color Computer using a DS-9 (I think that is right) digitizer cartridge and a video camera - they are over 15 years old, but I can still view them no problem - this is the power of digital technology. I expect to be able to see all of my current digital pictures on my future machines as well (and, I will *still* be able to view my old CoCo digitized images).
As far as printers are concerned - my wife and I owned an Epson Color Sylus 700 or some POS like that. It was always blowing through ink and we replaced cartridges nearly every month. I got fed up, went down to a local surplus computer junk dealer, picked up a used HP LaserJet 6P and a refilled toner cartrige for $100.00, and never looked back. Excellent print quality (though B&W only - but we found we hardly used the color anyhow), always ready when we need it, no print head cleaning, can run just about any kind of paper through it (whereas the Epson I had to use 24lb paper to get a crisp image - cheaper 20lb would bleed and look blurry) - I simply love it.
I will never go back to using an inkjet (ok, I take that back - if I can ever get my Radio Shack CGP-220 running with my CoCo again, I might use that)...
That's an understatement, at best. I once (somehow) went to a conference on software quality assurrance, most of it was talking about UML and Rational Rose, etc - but all of it was in the context of designing systems not to fail - 5 9's or better uptime and such.
There was long discourse on fly-by-wire systems used by large commercial aircraft - and how expensive (big $$$$) it was to re-certify the software if even a single line was changed - the whole thing had to be retested, to verify that a single line change would not cause the entire system to crash. I am sure this extended to hardware and such as well (I mean, the hardware on which the software was running - which was some kind of three-way computer system which decided things by voting on action courses).
Now, hardly any of this related to my job at the time - I wasn't doing software and testing it because if it failed, people could die - so little of the conference related to me. But now that we are starting to see "drive-by-wire" vehicles and technology, I tend to wonder how much testing and redundancy they will put into it, from model year to model year. Somehow, I doubt it will be anywhere near as much as commercial aircraft manufacturers do (there are also probably FAA and government laws/rules to abide by as well) - the costs would be prohibitive at best. If anything happens, the costs will be passed on to the consumer.
I expect, at least for the first few generations of drive-by-wire, we are going to see a greater percentage of deaths and injuries from vehicles of this nature (compared to same model non-drive-by-wire vehicles)...
However, I wonder if I was ever crazy enough to get on a long stretch of road, and get my 6000+ lb 1979 Bronco with a 400 M-block (6.6L V-8) up to full speed (god, that would be VERY SCARY) - then keeping my foot on the accelerator, hit my brakes...
Somehow, I see the brakes catching on fire long before I would stop...
...until you realize most people would react real strangely to losing power steering and brakes. Still, better for the car to come to a stop than keep accellerating...
Check it out at my website, though I haven't done much on it in a while (maybe more will get done this winter). Basically, I took two bike frames (a women's 26" and a girl's 20"), cut them apart, and rewelded them into a recumbent frame. I plan on using a 90VDC motor likely running 12 or 24 VDC, coupled to the rear wheel via the chain. For the first run, it will be a direct switched system - maybe later I will add a controller. So far, it has been a fun "off-and-on" again project. Nothing too difficult to do - though I wonder how well it will work in the end. Something else to consider: I plan on using Amerityre's bicycle road-tread tires to cut down on friction, etc...
Long, long ago, in what seems like another life, I was a kid (ok, it was only 15 or so years ago). I owned a TRS-80 Color Computer (both 2 and 3), and I had a game - a game called "Gates of Delerium" by Diecom Software. This company released several great games for this computer, but some of their games (or maybe all of them - I only purchased the one) had copy protection on the floppy. These were 5.25 floppies, mind you...
Fast-forward to today: I get my Color Computers back from my parents house, and I have the grand idea to convert all of my old floppies from my Color Computer days to a current format (CD-R), and build an emulation box PC so I can still have some fun and nostalgia with my old friend. Most of my data converts fine. Some of my disks are coasters (hey, it is to be expected!). But then I get to the game I loved most - Gates of Delerium...
This game was an Ultima-style clone for the Color Computer 2. Two floppies for a whole lotta single-player RPG fun. The problem was, it was copy protected, in a way that made backup of the floppies impossible with the ordinary RS-DOS floppy backup command. You were expected to keep the main game floppy "in a safe place". The player disk you were meant to make backups of, so they were in a normal format (you had to play off of a backup, because the game would modify the data on the floppy as you played). My player disk and all of its backups appeared fine. My game disk - well, it wouldn't load anymore...
I have posted several times about this here on/. - how I own this game, and want to play it again, but the copy protection screwed me, and it appeared that I had an unplayable copy. To make matters worse, it appeared that this was one game that nobody else had EVER heard of, so my chances of ever playing it again were nil. I had contacted the former owner of Diecom, Dave Dies, who at the time told me that he had no problem with me distributing the game, or creating a clone, or anything - if I got it working. But things didn't look so good...
Here was a game I had bought and paid for, that I had a license to use - but because of the copy protection, I couldn't make a backup of it, and over the years it had degraded, and wouldn't work any more on my original hardware, let alone an emulator. I was almost resigned to accept its fate as being lost.
Recently, in the past couple of months, I was contacted by an individual, who had saw my posts here on Slashdot. He had wanted to know if I had any success with restoring it or anything. I had to tell him "no", and that I thought it was beyond reach. We struck up an email conversation, and it turned out he lived in Canada (where Diecom was located), in the same area as Diecom, and apparently Dave Dies as well. It was an interesting coincidence. As we talked, we tried (well, he suggested, I tried - he had owned GofD at one point, but had since misplaced the floppies, but had fond memories about it) various things with the actual floppies. I found that tracks 17-34 (35 track system) were readable as standard tracks, but tracks 0-16 were anything but standard. As we dissected things, he made mention of a conversation he had with another individual who was a contributor to MESS - to the Color Computer emulation port. This guy had apparently done some work with MESS and Diecom copy protection, and knew his way around.
Well, to make a long story (!) short - I got in contact with him, and we all began an exchange of information and such that eventually culminated in the successful restoration of Gates of Delerium. We later got an email from Dave Dies giving us permission to distribute this piece of abandonware (as well as any other Diecom Color Computer software) - if you are reading this, thank you, Dave Dies!!! It turned out that tracks 0-16 were written in a special non-standard format that couldn't be copied with the regular RS-DOS commands. It was possible to alter the ROM (in what is known as "all-ram" mode on the CoCo) to allow us to read these tracks, and transfer them to another f
I am not particularly worried about where I am going, but I do know that no job is secure (though I have been at my current employer for almost 8 years now). I understand that I must have "critical thinking skills", and that I must keep my knowledge evolving. However, none of this (or little of it) can be put on a resume for someone to hire me. Some of the knowledge may be so specialized that it is only possible to gain it from educational institutions (ie, University), or employer training.
For instance, say you wanted to proceed from being a game developer to working in bioinformatics. You could read all the O'Reilly and other books you want, practice perl, download and manipulate genome datasets, etc - but you still don't have that magic piece of paper that says you studied biology, genetics, etc - so how do you move into such a job? The only way (for this example) would be to get that piece of paper (or have somebody vouch for you - which could be easy, or could be very difficult, depending on your contacts) - which might be impossible from a time/money perspective.
By the way, when I talk about "back in the day", I wasn't talking about the IPO 1990's - I was talking about the 1970s-early 1980s. For a displaced auto or textile worker, if they wanted to move into an information technology job (data entry, programming, etc), they could possibly save up around $2000 and purchase a computer from Apple or Radio Shack, and have a fighting chance at learning, then quite possibly get a job in computers. They didn't need a degree to get a programming job, they just needed the familiarity. That doesn't (and can't) cut it today.
Finally, yes - nobody does seem to have an answer - not one that I like, but just an answer, period. I am not expecting the world to go back "to the way it was". I am not even expecting to stay a coder (though that is what I love to do) for the rest of my life. I do expect that my skillsets and knowledge have to change, and I have to keep up with that change. However, no one seems to have an idea as to what comes after information technology that can't just as easily be offshored. If it involves information in any way (the skills I have is with computers, thus, information - it isn't like I can become an engineer or something overnight on my own), it can be offshored and outsourced.
Currently, I have my eye on a couple of possibilities, things that I can learn on my own with having to go through the time and expense (which I don't have the time or money) of formal education. However, I don't know if either of them are something which will have any call for in the coming years...
Well, personally for me I only have two main debts - a credit card debt (that isn't very big), and my mortgage. I have no car payments anymore, and that money I was spending on car payments will go toward paying down my credit card debt.
As far as the mortgage is concerned, do you honestly think that barring some major windfall that any normal person can come up with the money in a fairly short time period to purchase a home outright for cash? If you are renting, with other bills, you probably don't have much money left over for savings - so it would take a long while to save up, assuming you can save more per year than home prices will rise. Even so, it may take you 10-15, maybe even 20 years to save up enough money to purchase that home outright (and in 20 years, you probably still wouldn't have enough saved). If you continue to pay rent, the money is just being flushed - at least with a mortgage, some portion of it goes toward the principal.
I agree with you on all other forms of debt - I will never buy a new car again - it just isn't worth it, and definitely not with a loan. Once my credit card is paid off, I will destroy it and never have another one again. These kinds of debt are crazy, and I wish someone had told me earlier in life just how evil they are. When it is gone, all of that money will go into savings.
That is my plan - but that still leaves me with a mortgage. If I followed your plan (which, as I agree, debt other than a mortgage is a bad thing - even a mortgage is bad, but how else is it possible to get a house?), I would likely never own a house, and constantly be flushing my money down the drain as rent - would that be any better?
I have no problem with any company making money on a product. Where I have the problem is with being "dependent" on a fossil source. It isn't that I have issues with using that source, mind you - I believe that petroleum and resultant products are a great boon for mankind (and computers certainly couldn't exist without 'em!). For such a source with so many products and uses, burning a vast majority of it seems a waste to me. I recognise that for certain uses, oil packs a punch like nothing else. But for most of our everyday energy needs other sources could and should be used. Considering the amount of stuff we simply throw away everyday to end up in landfills is staggering (though I think at some point we might actually mine those landfills for materials). I guess you might say it is waste that I am against, and I find the burning of fossil sources wasteful, done at the scale used today. There are better approaches.
Hell, one time back when I was in high school a friend of mine and I wore really baggy pants and we each snuck in all the snacks we could carry and a 2 liter bottle of coke - in our pockets. Of course, times were different, then, too (this was about 15 years ago)...
Assuming you're willing to continually expand your skill set, that means outsourcing is a good thing. If you're lazy and you want to continue to pull an above average paycheck for what was high-tech yesterday, you're out of luck.
Tell me, what is the new "high-tech" of today, that we are supposed to be expanding our skillset into?
Since many of the jobs being outsourced are in IT, what new skills are supposed to be aquired? Where do we go from here, and how do we do it if we don't have a job (we'll have plenty of time, but no money to upgrade our education).
For instance, you might say "bioinformatics" (biotech for IT, more or less - let's ignore the fact that it can be outsourced as well) - but if I am out of work, with a family, a house payment, a car payment, numerous bills, etc - where do I find the time (if I am in a current job) and money in order to attended a university (assumming one has a degree already and can simply add some classes - if not, then what?) to get a degree in all that I would need to be good at bioinformatics? Where would the guarantee be that after all the time and money spent (at least two to four years, I would imagine) - that those skills wouldn't have been outsourced as well?
I am seriously looking for an answer to this - and so are a lot of other people. It seems whenever outsourcing is brought up, the supporters (or non nay-sayers, perhaps) always say "increase or gain better skills" - but they never say how or in what, they are virtually silent on this.
Back in the day, an auto or a textile worker had a chance to pick up IT fairly easily and cheaply - for most companies, a degree or certification *was not* necessary to get a job in computers, so these people had a better chance to get a better job, and many did. But for today's IT worker, it is a completely different story.
Slashdot Mirror
I have been wondering, though - before I got fired, after, and even now - what if I hadn't been able to find a job? The truth is, there were several possibilities (heh, had one come in from guru.com this morning that looked like it would be a cool deal as a smalltime temp contract) - but it seems like those possibilities are dwindling. Maybe it is the economy - but then again, maybe programming is going away?
I am 31, I only have a "technical associates degree" from a small school, hardly any college experience (a couple of community college classes), no real degree. I also have a mortgage, bills and a family (well, my wife and a dog - no kids yet) to take care of. My main domain of knowledge is computing, in all of its forms - and programming specifically. This is what I love, this is what I do best. Given a job having to do with computers, an employer can expect me to work very hard to make them do what they want them to do. I know there are others that feel this way to.
I can't afford to go back to school - I don't have the time, I certainly don't have the money. I am living my life now, just wanting enough to be comfortable, and have a little fun now and then. So - serious question - what happens to a person like me if all the programming/computer jobs go away?
The outcome of such a situation doesn't seem rosy. I likely would end up in a job I would hate, doing something just to keep the roof over my head. That isn't the kind of life I am willing to lead - working at a job I hate for less money than I feel I am worth. I can't think of any job I would really like, that I have the knowledge or ability to do, that doesn't involve computers. There are jobs that I wouldn't mind doing - but I don't know if they exist, nor do I have the required experience for them even if they did?
One thing my wife and I discussed when this occurred was basically "chucking it all": Liquidating *all* of our assets, except for bare basics, buying a cheap RV, sticking the rest of the money in an account somewhere (and maybe some in an IRA) - and then becoming road hippies and travelling the continent. That would be a better life than a dead end unforgiving hateful job.
But seriously - are there other options for people in mine or similar situations? People who have little money to spend to educate themselves on the "next thing" (what is that, anyhow?) - I can't even think of a career path that won't suffer the same or similar fate as programming, etc. Becoming a lawyer, or a doctor, or a "healthcare professional", or a biotechnologist (yeah, I have the time and money for any of those - right)? About the only job I might have a shot at, that can't be off-shored, and people would need - would be either an air-conditioning repairman or auto-mechanic (and I still don't have the money to pay for such education). Plus, I don't relish the thought at doing either of those jobs (harsh and hazardous working conditions - though either one sounds somewhat interesting to do).
Ideas, comments, suggestions? All I can do right now is work as hard as I can doing what I know for what it is worth while I can still get a job (and, as I stated before, I did find work) - and save my money, get rid of all of my debt - and hope there is a way out...
Were you wanting this to do actual work (coding and such), or just to play games? The answer will affect what screen and input type you need. Standard composite or s-video will not be enough (unless your screen is lower-res 640x480) to do any serious work with - but it would be ok for game playing (though icon text and the like will be difficult to read). Finally, if it hasn't been mentioned already, get in contact with these guys - they will be able to help you with your problems and needs.
One of the "half-truths" of an atomic bomb (as likely such a container bomb would be something like a Hiroshima-type bomb - unless it was a black-market device) is that if you are close enough to detonation, you are instantly vapor. The truth is a lot stranger: There were a few instances of people who were in the hospital in Hiroshima (whose courtyard area *was* ground zero), who got fairly lucky, and due to being where they were at the time (inside the hostpital on certain floors) - didn't get flash vaporized, or suffer any undue heat effects (that is, they didn't get massive burns). I am not sure if they suffered major radiation poisoning, but there were a few people who survived at "ground zero".
We really don't know what the effects on a real city that low-yield, Hiroshima-type device would have. Hiroshima wasn't your "typical city" of the time - most of the civilian housing was paper and wood construction (though, to be honest, many new subdivisions here in America aren't much better construction). Other larger buildings tended to be unreinforced concrete and brick. We (America) chose these targets precisely because they would yield the most physical destruction (the bombs were as much for demoralization as they were for destruction).
Now - all bets are off as you move out of the 10's of kiloton yields and into the 100's - ie, a black-market nuke (assumming they exist), or multi-stage fission or fission/fusion devices. Then your scenario becomes more plausible. That isn't to say any nuke wouldn't be bad - even a low yield nuke, or a very large ANFO bomb - would prove more to be a demoralizing tactic to the American public (a big, fat "you are not safe" message) than anything.
All of this talk (ie, terrorist nukes, govt surveillance, rfid implants, etc on-and-on) makes you wonder if the terrorists really are external forces...
Buckminster Fuller theorized (many years ago) that by using a geodesic structure to create a very large sphere (1 mile in diameter? Something huge), and covering that sphere with a clear membrane of sorts - that the air inside could heat up (from the sun) and lift the entire structure - instant "cloud" city...
Will we ever see this? I think there would have to be an age cutoff point, or maybe a representational system based on age (ie, 16-17 y/o representing the views of those younger than them, maybe by an electoral voting system or something) - for it to work properly (to filter out wierd things like "elmo for president"). Somehow I doubt it. We continue to see our kids as slaves and chattel that adults "own". We don't want to give them options, maybe out of fear that we might lose control (?) or something.
Or maybe we fear that they might do the right thing out of innocence - and show us supposed adults that we are truely idiots roaming the earth...?
In this case, I don't think it was the money associated with the prize, but the fame of the prize - like being a Nobel Prize winner makes what you do and say that much better than the common guy who is doing and saying the exact same thing.
...that if you have "nightmarish SQL constructs", someone didn't do a very good job of setting up and normalizing the tables properly in the first place...
Or in other words, it isn't what you know, it is who you know (though, if you know both, you are that much further ahead). And the comment about having savings is dead on...
As far as Python and your loop example - no, that doesn't look cryptic to me at all, nor does it to a lot of beginners. Heck, Python could be even simpler (no "next" clause), and the print would have been nearly identical to the BASIC version (which is why I like Python so much)...
Last Wednesday (October 6th), after faithfully serving the company I worked at doing software development (on an internally used software package that helped to run the business, no less) for 8 years, I got canned - out of the blue, no warning, no nothing. One minute, I was helping a co-worker with a problem in the software (bugs, gotta love 'em!), when I get a page to go to my supervisors office. I finish up what I am doing...
In my supervisor's office is my supe, and the manager of programming (long to explain, but I *wasn't* on the programming team). This guy is known for wanting new things in the package I was working on, generally difficult (but not impossible) to implement enhancements to make your skin crawl - so my first thought was "now what?". I didn't mind doing these additions; job security, ya know. Little did I know what was coming next...
"cr0sh - we've decided to cancel development on your project, and we won't be needing your services any longer"
GULP
My head was swimming, I was thinking "what am I going to tell my wife?", "how am I going to pay my mortgage", and "WTF - doesn't the past 8 years count for ANYTHING?"...
Apparently not - especially not in a "right-to-work" state. The thing that really galled me is that my supervisor didn't even know, and he is a VP in the company: they went behind and above him to fire me. He had no chance to make a case for me and my project, nor alert me to allow me to make a case for myself and the project. One minute I was working, next minute I am being shown the door (well, actually they were kind and let me pack up my desk - they were also kind enough to cut me a check for the three days I was there along with vacation pay, and some severance pay).
In the end, I am getting the last laugh: By Friday I had another job, and it is looking like by November or so I will be making what I was making there, possibly more. Plus, it is at a smaller company run by an entrepreneur who works hard to succeed in her niche, which involves the methodology of six sigma. Its a good thing to have friends and be able to network!
I quickly landed back on my feet thanks to several friends, my skillset, my resume, and the faith of another small company to take a chance on me. I plan to put everything I have into this new oppourtunity.
To my former employer:
You threw away a very valuable employee. Yeah, on the bottom line the software I developed may have looked like an expense, but I bet it saved you more money over the years than you spent on it. Good luck with whatever you do to the software, but I can guarantee that if you try to move to another system, it won't be half of what you had, and will probably cost twice as much or more to implement!
So, to all of you out there in a similar IT situation bitching about your job: be thankful you have a job - one day, it may not be there, and dinner will be dollar store macaroni and cheese meals.
I think it is pure hubris to be debating this question as we continue as a species to murder each other over resources and/or political gain. By continuing such struggles, we have implicitly decided that human life has no value. Until we move past this as a species and a society, how can we be arrogant enough to decide otherwise?
Yeah, son, we could have aborted you as a fetus, but we didn't because we value life. Now, go kill those brown-skinned people over there for your country and President...
Hypocrisy at its finest...
I can't even begin to name the tons of business applications that have been developed with some dialect of BASIC - from PICK Basic to Business Basic to QuickBasic to VB - there have been many, many successful, fast, and very capable business applications built using this language.
All it is is a syntax: what is the difference if it is "FOR...NEXT" or "for (...){}"? As long as both compile down to native or can be interpreted, why should it matter? Why this "superiority" complex that everyone has over BASIC?
I will tell you this much - which is easier for anyone to read (not just beginners):
or this:
?
Personally, I prefer the first over the second, though I can read and use either - simply because the syntax in BASIC is (usually) clearer. I can also typically hand the code to a beginner (or more importantly, a non-coder) and they can easily figure it out, too - because it is easily readable and understandable (at least to an english-language reading person).
You also can't say that BASIC lacks the power to do anything useful. If you think this, then you obviously missed many excellent demos, games and code examples that were created with QuickBasic, PowerBASIC, and VB during the latter half of the 1990's (and probably even today). I have seen amazing examples of video games, 3D games, 3D engines (google for "3D engine basic" and see what has been and can be done), RPGs, demo effects, etc. I would love to point out the business uses BASIC has been put to, but many of these examples tend to be in-house tools or only sold b2b.
BASIC has its purpose, and I think those who come down on it either have an inferiority complex, or simply don't understand what BASIC is truely capable of in today's modern dialects (GOTO, while still available in almost every incarnation of BASIC, typically is never used in BASIC software development, if the programmer knows what is good for him) - honestly, I think it is more of the latter rather than the former, but the vitriol some people spew makes me wonder...
I also want to reccommend Python as well as a good language, and possibly a good beginner language at that. Why? Because it preserves much of what BASIC had, while adding a lot that BASIC doesn't (although the very modern BASICs go a long way toward addressing these issues). Its syntax feels very much like BASIC, and that is a good thing.
Finally - your word on assembler is dead on. I think assembler should be taught early, so that programmers have some grasp of what actually goes on in a cpu as it executes the instructions (actually, learning how simple CPU hardware works, how an opcode/operand pair, represented by a series of bytes, the bits of which activates various pieces of the CPU, registers, memory, bus, etc - all in time to the all important clock - all of this would be good learning) - after all, at the base level, all a CPU is, is a very fast form of a player piano...
Actually, true serial killers do have a motive. According to "The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" by Harold Schechter and David Everitt (ISBN 0-671-53791-1), serial killings tend to be of a sexual nature, where within the murderer a lust for blood, gore and death builds up to a climax, at which point the serial killer "ejaculates" (sometimes litterally) by killing a victim. After the murder, there is a cool-down period (usually days to years), after which the cycle repeats.
Oh, come on, laugh!!!
Computers and computer technology give us the ability to get away completely from paper, yet there are still tons of people who cling to it. Yes, there are certain facets of life which need paper still - books, for example, still aren't fun to read on computer systems (but we are rapidly moving to e-ink and similar systems). But digital photography is an area that can be completely paperless - case in point: I have some very old images on my PC now that I digitized on my old Color Computer using a DS-9 (I think that is right) digitizer cartridge and a video camera - they are over 15 years old, but I can still view them no problem - this is the power of digital technology. I expect to be able to see all of my current digital pictures on my future machines as well (and, I will *still* be able to view my old CoCo digitized images).
As far as printers are concerned - my wife and I owned an Epson Color Sylus 700 or some POS like that. It was always blowing through ink and we replaced cartridges nearly every month. I got fed up, went down to a local surplus computer junk dealer, picked up a used HP LaserJet 6P and a refilled toner cartrige for $100.00, and never looked back. Excellent print quality (though B&W only - but we found we hardly used the color anyhow), always ready when we need it, no print head cleaning, can run just about any kind of paper through it (whereas the Epson I had to use 24lb paper to get a crisp image - cheaper 20lb would bleed and look blurry) - I simply love it.
I will never go back to using an inkjet (ok, I take that back - if I can ever get my Radio Shack CGP-220 running with my CoCo again, I might use that)...
There was long discourse on fly-by-wire systems used by large commercial aircraft - and how expensive (big $$$$) it was to re-certify the software if even a single line was changed - the whole thing had to be retested, to verify that a single line change would not cause the entire system to crash. I am sure this extended to hardware and such as well (I mean, the hardware on which the software was running - which was some kind of three-way computer system which decided things by voting on action courses).
Now, hardly any of this related to my job at the time - I wasn't doing software and testing it because if it failed, people could die - so little of the conference related to me. But now that we are starting to see "drive-by-wire" vehicles and technology, I tend to wonder how much testing and redundancy they will put into it, from model year to model year. Somehow, I doubt it will be anywhere near as much as commercial aircraft manufacturers do (there are also probably FAA and government laws/rules to abide by as well) - the costs would be prohibitive at best. If anything happens, the costs will be passed on to the consumer.
I expect, at least for the first few generations of drive-by-wire, we are going to see a greater percentage of deaths and injuries from vehicles of this nature (compared to same model non-drive-by-wire vehicles)...
However, I wonder if I was ever crazy enough to get on a long stretch of road, and get my 6000+ lb 1979 Bronco with a 400 M-block (6.6L V-8) up to full speed (god, that would be VERY SCARY) - then keeping my foot on the accelerator, hit my brakes...
Somehow, I see the brakes catching on fire long before I would stop...
...until you realize most people would react real strangely to losing power steering and brakes. Still, better for the car to come to a stop than keep accellerating...
Check it out at my website, though I haven't done much on it in a while (maybe more will get done this winter). Basically, I took two bike frames (a women's 26" and a girl's 20"), cut them apart, and rewelded them into a recumbent frame. I plan on using a 90VDC motor likely running 12 or 24 VDC, coupled to the rear wheel via the chain. For the first run, it will be a direct switched system - maybe later I will add a controller. So far, it has been a fun "off-and-on" again project. Nothing too difficult to do - though I wonder how well it will work in the end. Something else to consider: I plan on using Amerityre's bicycle road-tread tires to cut down on friction, etc...
Fast-forward to today: I get my Color Computers back from my parents house, and I have the grand idea to convert all of my old floppies from my Color Computer days to a current format (CD-R), and build an emulation box PC so I can still have some fun and nostalgia with my old friend. Most of my data converts fine. Some of my disks are coasters (hey, it is to be expected!). But then I get to the game I loved most - Gates of Delerium...
This game was an Ultima-style clone for the Color Computer 2. Two floppies for a whole lotta single-player RPG fun. The problem was, it was copy protected, in a way that made backup of the floppies impossible with the ordinary RS-DOS floppy backup command. You were expected to keep the main game floppy "in a safe place". The player disk you were meant to make backups of, so they were in a normal format (you had to play off of a backup, because the game would modify the data on the floppy as you played). My player disk and all of its backups appeared fine. My game disk - well, it wouldn't load anymore...
I have posted several times about this here on /. - how I own this game, and want to play it again, but the copy protection screwed me, and it appeared that I had an unplayable copy. To make matters worse, it appeared that this was one game that nobody else had EVER heard of, so my chances of ever playing it again were nil. I had contacted the former owner of Diecom, Dave Dies, who at the time told me that he had no problem with me distributing the game, or creating a clone, or anything - if I got it working. But things didn't look so good...
Here was a game I had bought and paid for, that I had a license to use - but because of the copy protection, I couldn't make a backup of it, and over the years it had degraded, and wouldn't work any more on my original hardware, let alone an emulator. I was almost resigned to accept its fate as being lost.
Recently, in the past couple of months, I was contacted by an individual, who had saw my posts here on Slashdot. He had wanted to know if I had any success with restoring it or anything. I had to tell him "no", and that I thought it was beyond reach. We struck up an email conversation, and it turned out he lived in Canada (where Diecom was located), in the same area as Diecom, and apparently Dave Dies as well. It was an interesting coincidence. As we talked, we tried (well, he suggested, I tried - he had owned GofD at one point, but had since misplaced the floppies, but had fond memories about it) various things with the actual floppies. I found that tracks 17-34 (35 track system) were readable as standard tracks, but tracks 0-16 were anything but standard. As we dissected things, he made mention of a conversation he had with another individual who was a contributor to MESS - to the Color Computer emulation port. This guy had apparently done some work with MESS and Diecom copy protection, and knew his way around.
Well, to make a long story (!) short - I got in contact with him, and we all began an exchange of information and such that eventually culminated in the successful restoration of Gates of Delerium. We later got an email from Dave Dies giving us permission to distribute this piece of abandonware (as well as any other Diecom Color Computer software) - if you are reading this, thank you, Dave Dies!!! It turned out that tracks 0-16 were written in a special non-standard format that couldn't be copied with the regular RS-DOS commands. It was possible to alter the ROM (in what is known as "all-ram" mode on the CoCo) to allow us to read these tracks, and transfer them to another f
For instance, say you wanted to proceed from being a game developer to working in bioinformatics. You could read all the O'Reilly and other books you want, practice perl, download and manipulate genome datasets, etc - but you still don't have that magic piece of paper that says you studied biology, genetics, etc - so how do you move into such a job? The only way (for this example) would be to get that piece of paper (or have somebody vouch for you - which could be easy, or could be very difficult, depending on your contacts) - which might be impossible from a time/money perspective.
By the way, when I talk about "back in the day", I wasn't talking about the IPO 1990's - I was talking about the 1970s-early 1980s. For a displaced auto or textile worker, if they wanted to move into an information technology job (data entry, programming, etc), they could possibly save up around $2000 and purchase a computer from Apple or Radio Shack, and have a fighting chance at learning, then quite possibly get a job in computers. They didn't need a degree to get a programming job, they just needed the familiarity. That doesn't (and can't) cut it today.
Finally, yes - nobody does seem to have an answer - not one that I like, but just an answer, period. I am not expecting the world to go back "to the way it was". I am not even expecting to stay a coder (though that is what I love to do) for the rest of my life. I do expect that my skillsets and knowledge have to change, and I have to keep up with that change. However, no one seems to have an idea as to what comes after information technology that can't just as easily be offshored. If it involves information in any way (the skills I have is with computers, thus, information - it isn't like I can become an engineer or something overnight on my own), it can be offshored and outsourced.
Currently, I have my eye on a couple of possibilities, things that I can learn on my own with having to go through the time and expense (which I don't have the time or money) of formal education. However, I don't know if either of them are something which will have any call for in the coming years...
As far as the mortgage is concerned, do you honestly think that barring some major windfall that any normal person can come up with the money in a fairly short time period to purchase a home outright for cash? If you are renting, with other bills, you probably don't have much money left over for savings - so it would take a long while to save up, assuming you can save more per year than home prices will rise. Even so, it may take you 10-15, maybe even 20 years to save up enough money to purchase that home outright (and in 20 years, you probably still wouldn't have enough saved). If you continue to pay rent, the money is just being flushed - at least with a mortgage, some portion of it goes toward the principal.
I agree with you on all other forms of debt - I will never buy a new car again - it just isn't worth it, and definitely not with a loan. Once my credit card is paid off, I will destroy it and never have another one again. These kinds of debt are crazy, and I wish someone had told me earlier in life just how evil they are. When it is gone, all of that money will go into savings.
That is my plan - but that still leaves me with a mortgage. If I followed your plan (which, as I agree, debt other than a mortgage is a bad thing - even a mortgage is bad, but how else is it possible to get a house?), I would likely never own a house, and constantly be flushing my money down the drain as rent - would that be any better?
I have no problem with any company making money on a product. Where I have the problem is with being "dependent" on a fossil source. It isn't that I have issues with using that source, mind you - I believe that petroleum and resultant products are a great boon for mankind (and computers certainly couldn't exist without 'em!). For such a source with so many products and uses, burning a vast majority of it seems a waste to me. I recognise that for certain uses, oil packs a punch like nothing else. But for most of our everyday energy needs other sources could and should be used. Considering the amount of stuff we simply throw away everyday to end up in landfills is staggering (though I think at some point we might actually mine those landfills for materials). I guess you might say it is waste that I am against, and I find the burning of fossil sources wasteful, done at the scale used today. There are better approaches.
Hell, one time back when I was in high school a friend of mine and I wore really baggy pants and we each snuck in all the snacks we could carry and a 2 liter bottle of coke - in our pockets. Of course, times were different, then, too (this was about 15 years ago)...
Tell me, what is the new "high-tech" of today, that we are supposed to be expanding our skillset into?
Since many of the jobs being outsourced are in IT, what new skills are supposed to be aquired? Where do we go from here, and how do we do it if we don't have a job (we'll have plenty of time, but no money to upgrade our education).
For instance, you might say "bioinformatics" (biotech for IT, more or less - let's ignore the fact that it can be outsourced as well) - but if I am out of work, with a family, a house payment, a car payment, numerous bills, etc - where do I find the time (if I am in a current job) and money in order to attended a university (assumming one has a degree already and can simply add some classes - if not, then what?) to get a degree in all that I would need to be good at bioinformatics? Where would the guarantee be that after all the time and money spent (at least two to four years, I would imagine) - that those skills wouldn't have been outsourced as well?
I am seriously looking for an answer to this - and so are a lot of other people. It seems whenever outsourcing is brought up, the supporters (or non nay-sayers, perhaps) always say "increase or gain better skills" - but they never say how or in what, they are virtually silent on this.
Back in the day, an auto or a textile worker had a chance to pick up IT fairly easily and cheaply - for most companies, a degree or certification *was not* necessary to get a job in computers, so these people had a better chance to get a better job, and many did. But for today's IT worker, it is a completely different story.
No one seems to have an answer, either.