Hey, that's a rather unfair comparison. The Hurricane Pam exercise accurately pointed out everything bad that would happen in case of a category-5 hurricane, and it also outlined the government's areas where they were not prepared (well, up until the point when the exercise was cancelled, that is). The exercise itself could have been very useful, had the government actually used information from this exercise. However, gross amounts of miscommunication (which seems to be the norm in the US government these days) led to the katrina disaster.
Like you, I used to have a rather generic and cushy job which I sacrificed to do something more interesting. I used to work for a software engineering firm in Indianapolis, which is the most godawful city in the planet. I'd worked several similar jobs to get me through college, but doing it fulltime was another story. Like your job, it was great on the surface... semi-casual work environment, great pay, and the work was neither too boring nor too interesting.
I'm somewhat young (so take my words with a grain of salt), and I felt that for the first time in my life I was finally in a position to fully do what I wanted with my life. Rotting away in software engineering firms wasn't what I had planned for my future, so over the course of several months, I agressively saved up my paychecks, taught myself German, and then quit my job. I moved to Berlin, where I now work freelance writing audio processing software. The nature of the work is very challenging, and I feel that I've grown a lot in terms of my programming and math abilities since I started doing this. Plus, I always loved music, and I'm also a DJ/producer, so being able to work with one's passion is now a freedom which I greatly cherish. In my old life, 5.00PM was a time I used to look forward to, as it meant the end of my working day. Now, my work doesn't feel like "work" anymore, so I let it just absorb my life.
Of course, being a DJ and working freelance doesn't exactly bring home the bacon as working in a professional firm used to. However, actually leading a life that I love is worth every cent of it. Looking back on it, the things that I had to sacrifice to get here (sold almost all of my possessions, got rid of the car, etc.) are all things that I don't even miss. Of course, there are certain hardships involved in this tradeoff, but I think overall it was worth it. If things start getting rough financially, then I'll pick up another part-time job, but I wouldn't do the corporate world again... I just don't know if I can deal with that crap anymore.
My advice to you: do what your heart tells you and never look back. Money isn't everything.:)
Yes, I agree with your point, but I think that you are inadvertently creating an euphamism treadmill by doing this. Perhaps you should instead seek to be a positive example of what a Christian should be, so by effecting people that you know, you can help to "win" the term back...
Just out of curiosity, why do you keep calling yourself a "Christ follower"? This is the second thread I've seen you use that term in. Is there anything wrong with "Christian"?....or is it that you don't want to be associated with actual Christians for whatever reason, so you've made up your own misnomer for it?
My story is a simple one. I love music. I have over 1,000 CDs and have spent a lot of time meticulously ripping them with my friend CDex [sourceforge.net]
You're going to be very heartbroken when in 7-10 years you find that all of these cd's have become corrupt and the media has disintigrated over time...
You joke, but I was thinking the exact same thing. I would definitely use.Mac if it had a limited free version. I don't need the hosting or another damn email address or any of that... but it would be nice to sync ical, addressbook, and safari over it.
The last time I was in a war zone, I was forced to split a man open with my canteen because I couldn't get the full 800Mbps transfer rate to my external hard drive. Nevermind the fact I couldn't find a power supply for that thing anywhere in the desert... that mofo had to die!
Agreed. This page combines everything that is ugly and annoying about the internet and condenses it into a single, visual eyesore. I'm surprised that some spammer hasn't shelled out 1,000$ to have a big, pixelated cock-and-balls with "buy v14gra h3r3!" written on the shaft straight in the middle of the page...
I think if anything, this is a better argument for learning C# on a Windows environment. It's all about diversification, man... if you keep sticking to what you know, you'll put yourself into a corner, and it will make it harder for you to branch out later. And, as a superficial bonus, the more points like this you have on your resumé, the better it will look to a potential hiring officer.
I also learned to code under unix, starting with c/c++ and eventually picking up bash, perl, etc. In college, I thought linux was the shit, and I was going to focus my career specifically on unix development. I scorned windows-weenies (well, I still do that, heh), and assumed that the unix development environment was god's gift to programmers. After graduation, I picked up a job software engineering. The firm I worked for had a variety of clients with different platform and language requirements, and although I assumed I would be doing unix coding, guess what team I ended up on? That's right, a C# project for XP. I spent the first month cursing the Windows programming paradigm, then the second month struggling to re-adjust to OOP. By the third month, I thought C# was pretty cool, and I was about ready to sign my soul over to satan... ok, so I wasn't a.NET fanatic, but still, I think that C# is a more elegantly designed language than Java.
I quit that job awhile back and now I write audio processing software in C++ for OSX and Windows. Linux is pretty much worththess as far as audio and music applications go (imho), so the closest I get to pure unix programming is busting out the occaisional '#include <unistd.h>' in a carbon application. I still prefer unix development under OSX to visual studio, but after all of the above struggle, I can say that I'm sufficiently comfortable developing and porting under Windows as well.
So, the point of the story is that when you're in school, it's better to take classes in things that you don't know about, instead of just picking up easy A's in classes that you don't have to sweat as much in. You'll thank yourself later, and even if you don't immediately use the stuff that you learn, it's useful to know how to adapt to foreign development languages and environments. Doing this in college is pretty non-consequential... if you don't get the hang of it right away, then you get a bad grade and a miserable semester. If you don't catch on in the real world, it could mean weeks of lost time, bad reviews, and most importantly, unhappiness at your job.
Slashdot Mirror
Unlike, say, Microsoft....
If Edison were alive today, he would have said that success as an engineer is about 5% inspiration and 95% marketing.
I'm sorry, but I think that I'm not alone in saying that "buttocks" and "goatse man" are at least an order of magnitude of obscenity apart.
I don't care if every other f*cking word is a curse.
Thank you very much for putting in that asterik instead of actually typing out a letter 'u'. I was almost offended!
Hey, that's a rather unfair comparison. The Hurricane Pam exercise accurately pointed out everything bad that would happen in case of a category-5 hurricane, and it also outlined the government's areas where they were not prepared (well, up until the point when the exercise was cancelled, that is). The exercise itself could have been very useful, had the government actually used information from this exercise. However, gross amounts of miscommunication (which seems to be the norm in the US government these days) led to the katrina disaster.
And to the GP, you will find if you pay attention, that most rich people who's names you know have worked very hard.
I just knew that Paris Hilton was good at something!
Like you, I used to have a rather generic and cushy job which I sacrificed to do something more interesting. I used to work for a software engineering firm in Indianapolis, which is the most godawful city in the planet. I'd worked several similar jobs to get me through college, but doing it fulltime was another story. Like your job, it was great on the surface... semi-casual work environment, great pay, and the work was neither too boring nor too interesting.
:)
I'm somewhat young (so take my words with a grain of salt), and I felt that for the first time in my life I was finally in a position to fully do what I wanted with my life. Rotting away in software engineering firms wasn't what I had planned for my future, so over the course of several months, I agressively saved up my paychecks, taught myself German, and then quit my job. I moved to Berlin, where I now work freelance writing audio processing software. The nature of the work is very challenging, and I feel that I've grown a lot in terms of my programming and math abilities since I started doing this. Plus, I always loved music, and I'm also a DJ/producer, so being able to work with one's passion is now a freedom which I greatly cherish. In my old life, 5.00PM was a time I used to look forward to, as it meant the end of my working day. Now, my work doesn't feel like "work" anymore, so I let it just absorb my life.
Of course, being a DJ and working freelance doesn't exactly bring home the bacon as working in a professional firm used to. However, actually leading a life that I love is worth every cent of it. Looking back on it, the things that I had to sacrifice to get here (sold almost all of my possessions, got rid of the car, etc.) are all things that I don't even miss. Of course, there are certain hardships involved in this tradeoff, but I think overall it was worth it. If things start getting rough financially, then I'll pick up another part-time job, but I wouldn't do the corporate world again... I just don't know if I can deal with that crap anymore.
My advice to you: do what your heart tells you and never look back. Money isn't everything.
...being able to handle fights, drugs, and relationships
All at the same time? Pssssh, mature my arse!
No news here - move along.
Wow, great catchphrase! I think it could replace "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters."
Transformers are equally culpable of silently sipping power.
Transformers... more than meets the eye!
Yes, I agree with your point, but I think that you are inadvertently creating an euphamism treadmill by doing this. Perhaps you should instead seek to be a positive example of what a Christian should be, so by effecting people that you know, you can help to "win" the term back...
Just out of curiosity, why do you keep calling yourself a "Christ follower"? This is the second thread I've seen you use that term in. Is there anything wrong with "Christian"? ....or is it that you don't want to be associated with actual Christians for whatever reason, so you've made up your own misnomer for it?
I'll keep this in mind next time my kid walks in on me & the missus doing the horizontal tango....
Why they celebrate birthdays and not conception days (they're so adamant at trying to control non-believers definitions of "life").
I think because singing "Happy Fuckday to You" just isn't very family-friendly, when you get down to it.
Sure! Feel free to link to this slashdot article from your lameass blog!
Foreigners who will have limited ability to communicate strategy with them. They may be decent players, but if we can't talk we can't team well.
Good God, where did you learn to speak English?!
My story is a simple one. I love music. I have over 1,000 CDs and have spent a lot of time meticulously ripping them with my friend CDex [sourceforge.net]
You're going to be very heartbroken when in 7-10 years you find that all of these cd's have become corrupt and the media has disintigrated over time...
AMEN. Cringley is a moron, and a troll. It amazes me that /. continues to post rubbish by this guy.
You joke, but I was thinking the exact same thing. I would definitely use .Mac if it had a limited free version. I don't need the hosting or another damn email address or any of that... but it would be nice to sync ical, addressbook, and safari over it.
I just hacked your Mel Gibson, though.
No software is perfect. Hence, "beta" really means "use at your own risk". If you don't like it, wait until they drop the beta.
The last time I was in a war zone, I was forced to split a man open with my canteen because I couldn't get the full 800Mbps transfer rate to my external hard drive. Nevermind the fact I couldn't find a power supply for that thing anywhere in the desert... that mofo had to die!
Austria was re-annexed into Germany way back in the early 1940's. Didn't read your high school history textbooks?!
Agreed. This page combines everything that is ugly and annoying about the internet and condenses it into a single, visual eyesore. I'm surprised that some spammer hasn't shelled out 1,000$ to have a big, pixelated cock-and-balls with "buy v14gra h3r3!" written on the shaft straight in the middle of the page...
I think if anything, this is a better argument for learning C# on a Windows environment. It's all about diversification, man... if you keep sticking to what you know, you'll put yourself into a corner, and it will make it harder for you to branch out later. And, as a superficial bonus, the more points like this you have on your resumé, the better it will look to a potential hiring officer.
.NET fanatic, but still, I think that C# is a more elegantly designed language than Java.
:)
I also learned to code under unix, starting with c/c++ and eventually picking up bash, perl, etc. In college, I thought linux was the shit, and I was going to focus my career specifically on unix development. I scorned windows-weenies (well, I still do that, heh), and assumed that the unix development environment was god's gift to programmers.
After graduation, I picked up a job software engineering. The firm I worked for had a variety of clients with different platform and language requirements, and although I assumed I would be doing unix coding, guess what team I ended up on? That's right, a C# project for XP. I spent the first month cursing the Windows programming paradigm, then the second month struggling to re-adjust to OOP. By the third month, I thought C# was pretty cool, and I was about ready to sign my soul over to satan... ok, so I wasn't a
I quit that job awhile back and now I write audio processing software in C++ for OSX and Windows. Linux is pretty much worththess as far as audio and music applications go (imho), so the closest I get to pure unix programming is busting out the occaisional '#include <unistd.h>' in a carbon application. I still prefer unix development under OSX to visual studio, but after all of the above struggle, I can say that I'm sufficiently comfortable developing and porting under Windows as well.
So, the point of the story is that when you're in school, it's better to take classes in things that you don't know about, instead of just picking up easy A's in classes that you don't have to sweat as much in. You'll thank yourself later, and even if you don't immediately use the stuff that you learn, it's useful to know how to adapt to foreign development languages and environments. Doing this in college is pretty non-consequential... if you don't get the hang of it right away, then you get a bad grade and a miserable semester. If you don't catch on in the real world, it could mean weeks of lost time, bad reviews, and most importantly, unhappiness at your job.
And we all know how much that sucks.
You can tell that to all the ultrasparc3's sitting in the corner of my old office's basement. Oh yeah, and my dreamcast, too.