I can assure you that any corporation has one thing in mind: Make profit. There various approaches to the schema, but the main goal is the same. You have to make money to please the investors or to enrich the founding members. Things like "good" and "evil" become irrelevant once profit and money is involved.
MSFT pays well, provides decent benefits and offers world class working environment. Yeah, there are a couple of nuts who like to drop an iPhone into a blender an then show the results to the public, but overall most of the employees are just people with _some_ paycheck mentality. The same can be said about employees of other big companies like Google, Cisco, IBM, etc.
Bashing MSFT is a favorite part time on Slashdot. Despite the facts that Vista sucks and Office still sucks, MSFT has people who are smart enough to figure out that if you cannot win the war, you should join the opponent. MSFT has a division that is in charge of open license products and part of the initiative will be highlighted at TechReady (next week in Seattle).
Will everything be Open Source? I highly doubt that. But if MSFT shows enough effort and releases enough software products that are open to modification then MSFT wins in many ways:
To develop something you must use some sort of a program. MSFT will give you trial version and sell you good ones. More developers, more sales.
It is possible to make money on Open Source software. I assume you can do something like software + service so people who write software will need to get tools somewhere, which brings me back to the first point.
Corporations love agreements with vendors. The problem with stuff that you can find on Sourceforge is the fact that if there is a problem, you may not get timely support. And support is what our corporate overlords love. That's why RedHat still makes money on subscriptions while anybody can download CenOS for free.
Good PR.
Also, looking at Linux and all beautiful things Open Source generates new ideas for MSFT. These ideas can turn into products just like the latest cross-platform monitoring software, System Center Operations Manage. The company swims in money and it can afford releasing some software for free. It is sort of like T.Boone Pickens investing into alternative energy. He may be pro-alternative energy and pro-energy independence, but make no mistake: He will make money on it:)
God knows that I would love to live in a society where lay offs and cheap labor and two week notices are the things of the past. However, our world is not based on what is right. If you want to survive, you must learn how to play the game. Go read The World is Flat and perhaps you'll get a thing or two.
I have been in very tough positions in my life and those hard situations taught me something really important: Learn how to adapt and how to survive. Nobody, except for you, is interested in your survival. Corporations and governments would love to have employees that are barely smart enough to do their jobs while keeping their mouths shut. They feed on the paycheck mentality and we, suckers, are going for it. A cycle of clean up in any industry is a good thing because every time it happens, it teaches us a valuable lesson.
I am too sorry for families that go through financial losses due to lay offs. So the first thing that you should do is to ensure that your family can survive and live on one income. This automatically translates into living within your means and having a well stocked savings account. I made a pact with my wife that we will never work in the same industry just for that freaking reason. I know it sounds cruel, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Unionize? Complain about Indians stealing my work? Kill all H1B visa employees? Encourage gov't subsidies of IT shops?
Once I realized that organic chemistry sucked, I decided not to get involved into anything related to chemistry, biology, medicine etc. I would be a great fucking disaster as a doctor or anybody who is even remotely responsible for well being of anything that lives and breathes. Also, I have monkeying around with grease and you won't find me in any garage fixing cars for living. I mean, I could do that for living, but I would suck and it would be totally unfair to other people (I am saying that because I had enough connections to land a cushy job in the field that is not of an interest to me). Unfortunately, there are still many people who got IT jobs just because. These byproducts of on-line universities and strong family connections tend to fuck things up and I honestly feel no problem if some of them lose their jobs while IT experiences downturn. Why? Because people who a knowledgeable and competent will always find jobs. This is not related only to IT. In every industry there is a good fraction of people who tend to spend most of time talking on the phone and doing things besides what the get paid for. How is losing those guys a problem? This so-called downturn mentioned by GS is a red flag to everybody (GS is good at creating panic) that perhaps it is time to review career plans, get some education and think about the future. So rock on:)
If you are a seasoned IT professional or somebody who is starting out, things are looking bright for you as long as you have what it takes to be an engineer. I welcome any sort of clean up or a downturn in IT economy because most of the time it means that the bottom of the IT-wannabes will be laid off. This will benefit everybody in the long run.
First of all, engineering, unlike being a pizza delivery person, requires some knowledge and a certain set of analytical skills that one is born with. You can train people to deliver pizzas and punch cards, but it is hard to train people to resolve problems or come up with elaborate solutions. While books and schools may help, you either get it or not from the very beginning. Downturn in IT will mean that people who were there just for the sake of it, will probably lose their jobs or move on. This is great for the folks who -- while being good peole -- are simply not suited for jobs in the field of information technology.
While we all cry about off-shore development labs and cheap labor around the world, we are forgetting one thing: Americans are cheap now. Due to the falling dollar it makes less sense to run costly operations overseas. With China, India and Russia on the rise, people in those countries may see little in jobs and environments that make them work for the global companies (aka capitalist pigs).I would not be too concerned about wages if I were you. In fact, bad conditions in the U.S. sent many people who are currently employed via visas overseasas. Several friends of mine have moved back to their home countries alrady because "There is nothing to do in the U.S." This happens because while U.S. economy may go down, the world's economy is still expanding and there are plenty of things that have to be done in Moscow, Mumbai and Beijing. Good fore those who go back home and establish companies there. Good for the rest of us who are here.
And finally the loss of IT jobs should not be seen as the judgement day. I found that many people with engineering and business skills are more than capable of starting their own businesses and running their own shows. If you do not belong to the first group of people -- the ones who were not doing anything productive -- and you're not on a visa -- and you cannot go back home to start something new -- use the settlement to start something new. Many large companies are losing business because of the bad decisions that were made across the corporate ladder. A bust is only a bust if you think this way. In reality, it is a great opportunity for improvement for those of us who would like to grab the bull by its horns.
Not sure how many people remember or care to know about the games of 1980 held in Moscow, but similar things happened there in order to promote the image of the USSR.
All people with questionable reputation were ordered to leave the city and the communist party spent a lot of time and money to ensure that everything was top notch (well, at least by the Soviet standards). Guess what happened when the games stopped?
If people cannot see through this dog and pony show that every country is going to put up in order to look good, then yeah, China's new green image is a great success!
Don't panic. This is the only advice that I can give to you becuase no matter what you do now, chances are that your role has been already been discussed and realigned by somebody. If you start worrying and stressing about the situation you will eventually hurt yourself (well, your health) and become miserable. Stay calm, update a resume and start looking for a job.
If you have never worked for a very large company, you will be in for surprise. As somebody has posted already, guys like HP, IBM and MSFT are different. Too much red tape. Takes forever to get simple stuff done. Internal IT help is non-existent (everything is outsourced to somewhere in India). In other words it is highly likely that you're going to be in for a chnage.
I have been on both sides of the equation and I can tell you for a fact that a regular Joe can do very little to affect his position. Unless you have a written contract in writing, your fate is up in the air. I guess you can really screw things up and act all negative about this deal. This way HR will blacklist your name and you'll become expandable right away. So stay calm, review your resume and enjoy the ride.
You don't sound like a person who knows a thing or two about farming. Jumping into "we can make it from corn" bandwagon is no better than relying only on oil for all engergy needs because crops are not renewable. See my other posts under the partent.
Sooner or later you will run out of land and resources. You will have to make choices between growing crops for food or growing crops for fuel. This is happening in Brazil already! Farmers choose to cut down rain forest and in order to grow crops for Ethanol production. Do you not see how stupid this is? You damage rain forest and stop food production in order to make fuel. This makes little sense especially to people who do not have luxury of having a grilled chicken every day. While millions of people starve, we turn food crops into fuel...
Yes, biofuels are a great idea as long as we can diversify them correctly. =
Crops are not renewable. Sooner or later you will exhaust the land and run out of places where you can plant soy, sugar cane, beets, corn, etc. On top of that biofuels carry high risks for food security and air quality. Are you aware of the fact that expansion of sugar cane (and Ethanol derived from it) is posing a real threat to rain forests in Brazil? Farmers who see enormous profit in sugar cane are giving up other crops and elininating rain forest. This is already happening in one country and what makes you think it does not spread around the world? Farmers in mid-West are already profiting from E85 expansion in the US. This impacts our food prices because corn that can be fed to cattle is being used for other purposes.
You cannot simply unplug gas and start using biodiesels everywhere. A chain reaction (depletion of rain forests, rising food prices, etc.) has started already. It will be hilarious if we start running out of food in order to support our driving habits.
I hate environmentalists who want us to stop using gas. I hate them with a great passion becuase they cannot see that switching from one type of fuel to another single type of fuel is equivalent to shooting ourselves in the foot. Running out of oil and gas prices are not the problem. The real problem is seeing gas/oil as the only source of energy that can be used for transportation. So let's ditch gas and start using biodiesel. How long do you think it will take until we start running out of biodiesel?
I have a friend who converted an older Benz into a car that runs on french fry oil. He gets his fuel for free so essentially he is not affected by the current gas prices. Twice a month he goes to a local college, gets a barrel of used oil and there you go. This was tits while he had the only veggie car in town. Guess what is happening when gallon goes past $4? That's right, everybody wants free oil from french fries. We are back to square one. While local restaurants may be able to supply enough oil for a hundred cars, there is no way in hell we can get enough products for everybody. Exactly the same thing will happen to people who jump from one source of energy to another. The answer to the problem is diversification.
What we have to do is to realize that everybody's needs are different. People who want to commute 40 miles per day can get away by using an electric car. Guys who want to target Rubicon trail will benefit from Diesel/electric combo (due to torque) and in some cases gasoline will be appropriate. And while I am highly pleased with the fact that a car company wants to step away from gas, I hope that this world is not going to jump on the bandwagon to find out that in 100 years we are back to exactly the same spot: Running out of fuel.
Foreign languages are priceless in today's world of constant internationalization. I work with people form Germany, Russia, Japan, Norway and Brazil. I speak one foreign language and I wish I knew more. In fact, not knowing Spanish has bitten me in the rear because I could have advanced my career by moving to Latin America where I would fly up the corporate ladder. As somebody who got hired (at least once) for my foreign language and IT skills, I firmly believe that speaking a foreign language is a good career boost.
We have been in many situations were customers from Asia and other parts of the world love to pay extra big bugs for specialists who speak their langauge. It is not that they don't want to speak English, it is the fact that they prefer to deal with people who can speak English and their own language just in case. Technical people who know English + one of CJK or Spanish are becoming priceless because Latin American and Asia are booming. When our company was rapidly expanding, we could not hire enough engineers who were fluent in several languages. Those who got hired received more than generous packages and relocation opportunities. While this may not be appealing to a married person with a couple of kids, a young single college graduate will sure appreciate a six month gig in Japan paid for by an employer. This really helps if you end up working in a small (but well paid) field. You help your employer with building a new customer base in a remote part of the world and suddenly you go from a college graduate to a young professional who brought a company XYZ to a new country. As you can tell from my post, I am all about speaking as many languages as possible.
The bottom line is: Learn language if you would like to be qualified for more opportunities when it comes to travel and corporate mobility. If you believe that your current town/city/country is the best place in the world, then do not bother.
I have looked at those keyboards in the past and I cannot believe that this company has guts to charge $130 for a keyboard that is not even ergonomic.
Why would anybody who spends a lot of time typing buy something that costs so much without offering any benefits? Yeah, it looks slick. So does any other keyboard that costs more than $10. Volume controls, etc. are becoming a commodity on most keyboards nowadays. So what am I paying for? The same goes to Apple with its innovative (cough) bluetooth keyboard that costs $80. Can't use that thing for more than 10 minutes.
Want to sell a keyboard for $100? Do the following:
Make it ergonomic. There is no reason not to do it. People have not been born to use keyboards, so make a product that is easy to use.
Make it easy to clean. Keyboards are freaking filthy. No ergonomic designs offer a method for easy cleaning.
Reduce the noise level.
Replace the defunct numeric key pad with a track ball so I don't have to reach out anytime I want to use my trackball/mouse on the table.
I have been bashing people who tell me that all IT jobs will be in India and China and Russia. This is not going to happen to every freaking job because each field depends on people who are competent. You may have a Ph.D. in Comp. Sci. or Mathematics, but you're completely useless if you cannot perform job related functions in a competent manner. That is why the number of jobs is always greater than the number of candidates who can do those jobs well. This applies to every country, not just the United States.
If I were to describe my job duties, I would say that I am a janitor because I get paid to resolve other people's messes. In most case I deal with IT people who cannot backup a production system or read the manual or at least be smart enough to call the support line before attempting to release the latest version of the software that relies on the components produced by our company. The number of well paid and "highly qualified" individuals who are in charge of extremely expensive systems is beyond your imagination. That is why these daily bloopers are really great for people like me who get paid to resolve them in a very efficient manner. No backup and have to go production in 3 hours with all the mess? Not a fucking problem. My hourly rate will be XXX.XXUSD per hour.
As bad as it sounds, stupid users can be a great source of revenue. However, I can't promise that you'll like them in a long run.
I live in CA. My office is about 2 miles from work. I don't need an SUV for weather and yet I have one in order go get out of the clusterfuck called Silicon Valley. Gas is not a problem since it still costs me less than $100/month (that is right, per month) to fill up and drive. If I go on a trip, it costs me around $300-400 to drive. The cost of gas, food and entertainment adds up to less than $1k for two people driving somewhere in the boonies. This is less than what I would pay to fly myself and my significant other to Hawaii or any other vacation destination.
My car has desert pinstripes. That is something that you won't see too often on any shiny cars. I have traversed many paths in the Sierras and spent time on the back roads of Death Valley and Nevada. And that is something that you cannot do in a Civic or a Prius. Many places that I visit require differential locks, armor (skid plates), at least 9" of clearance under the rear diff and rock sliders just to get through a trail. This equipment costs money as does good camping gear. But that is what life is about!
Some people collect Star Wars figures and spend all their money on big TVs, absolutely fucking useless gaming consoles and nice lawns. I prefer to get out and enjoy the nature at its best. So yeah, I guess I'll stick with an SUV.
Not too many students take advantage of AP courses because they're either not pushed hard enough or because the courses are never offered!
I was lucky to be able to select between various levels of AP calculus, physics and other subjects. After saving tons of money on tuition in college, I bragged about that to my friend who told me that he would have loved taking all those nice AP classes. But they were not offered in his high school (in a rural state). So there we have two student: One went to school in a suburban middle-upper class town and the other one had to face a high school in a rural setting. Just because I happened to be where I was, I gained advantage in knowledge (more AP classes) and in my financial situation (AP credits means I don't have to take the same classes in college). Brilliant, is it not?
You are lucky not only because you get to take AP classes in high school but also because you have a brain that is perhaps developed ahead of its years. Most people's brains are not fully formed until they're in mid-20s. Teenagers cannot assess risks and needs to the fullest extent not because they're dumb, but because their brains are not fully formed yet (look up the subject of brain development yourself). That is why sometimes it is necessary to push kids and have a one-to-one approach as opposed to treating everybody as the last four numbers of their social security number. Had my science teachers not gotten me involved in some extra circular activities that expanded my knowledge of the subjects the teachers taught, I would have never achieved what I have. This is exactly what this country lacks! We are told not to leave a child behind and make everybody equal instead of dedicating the best teachers to the kids who have either already achieved or have potential to achieve (with a little push).
I don't want to disappoint you, but there are plenty of kids in your high school who can do as well as you have done. They may not have all the wires there yet and somebody has to step in. When I was in the 7th grade my math grades were somewhere between low and high 60s. My family was going through a divorce. I just learned how to drink and to make out so there you have it. Teachers thought that I was going to be a complete waste until I had several serious talks. Two years later I became an example science student and while I never managed to get an A+ in all math subjects, I showed that it was quite possible to get from a barely passing point to an A. This was all because there was this nasty teacher who told me that she thought that I was cheating in her class where I got an A while my math grades sucked so bad. She believed that there was a natural relationship between the subject that she taught and math and thus I had to either cheat or be a complete ass to fail math so miserably. Pretty nice approach, huh? Anyway, it worked;)
I can tell you that the quality and the difficulty of the exams in the U.S. is a joke. I feel bad for American kids who really have to dumb themselves down because the system is working against them. We are losing a lot of young talent without even knowing it because our education is designed to educate everybody in the most efficient way of multiple choice tests.
I never had a multiple choice test until I came to the U.S. All of my previous science and math tests were written. I had to draw diagrams, explain my line of thought and show meaningful calculations. If my penmanship or analysis of the problem was not clear, I had to discuss it with the teacher in one-on-one fashion. It was quite common to talk to a teacher in order to resolve any questions that he or she may have about the work. If mistakes were genuine and not repetitive, then they did not influence the grade by that much. For example, if you did all calculations correctly and then missed a minus sign when writing the official result, this mistake would be circled and that's it. Overall, I was considered a good student who lacked some attention and I have always received A-/B+ for most of my work. It really sucked to write things out and explain complex problems on paper and then present everything in a legible manner -- if the teacher could not read it, it was a mistake -- but overall I am glad that my teachers pushed me this way. Physics and chemistry were the toughest subjects because you had to write so many freaking formulas that by the end of the test your hands could barely function. Damn, I miss those days.
Fast forward to my life in the U.S. The land of multiple choices really screwed me over because if I could not circle a correct answer I automatically failed the problem. I could hardly discuss any issues with many of my teachers because there was this stupid system in place and everything was decided by punch cards. On top of that, the level of math and science education in the United States was lagging behind of what I have experienced in second world country. Math problems were mediocre at best. Physics did not involve any thinking besides what was in the book -- well, at least in high level -- and for some reason organic chemistry was considered a college subject. Students got away with submitting hand drawn diagrams on what appeared to be toilet paper . And if you had good eye sight you can pass the course by circling the same multiple choice answers as your A-student friend. Are you really surprised that we are in Iraq and a financial mess right now?
You may think that education has little to do with skills in the real world, but I beg to differ. My recent encounters with some IT engineers make me thank all that hard work I used to put in graphs and analysis. The more people I meet the more I realize about the skills that one has to develop in order to do some rather basic tasks, like stating a problem and a possible work flow in a manner that other people will understand. Ask a fresh college grad to describe a problem on paper (no computer) and you'll get a bunch of gibberish written with a hand of what I would consider to be a fifth grader. Who cares about the material if you can punch two numbers into a TI-89 and circle a correct answer. Right?
Okay, smart ass, what do you suggest? Well, for starters let's teach kids who want to learn. Let's not try to teach everybody in the most efficient way possible. Let's not bring everybody down to the lowest common denominator. If school is not for you, then may be you should leave after the 9th grade and pickup a trade. A lower student to teacher ratio will allow reduction of multiple choice tests and more of the one-to-one work most kids need in order to to learn how to learn.
I am not a developer. I don't know all the insides of Java, C#, C++, Python or Ruby. Yet, I have to use these languages and other tools on a daily basis to make a living as somebody who works in the field of integration and system engineering. Programming languages for me are just like tools. I would like to use something that is easy to learn and that gets a job done. That's why I hate C++ and that is why I see Python and Ruby pushing Java out at least in many areas where performance and ability to multi-thread are not the top priorities.
Please spare me the inner details of every language and pros and cos and what is pure object oriented and what is not. I get paid to accomplish things and not to debate about the purity of a programming language. In the environment where you have to make two applications and throw one away, Python really shines. It is a great language for prototypes. It is easy to learn, relatively fast for what I need to do and it can be hooked up with Java or C++ without too many issues. The way I think about it, a language is like a tool. Many years ago everything had to be done by hand and then we developed power tools. I know some purists who love to build furniture and other objects using old school approach (no nails, just glue and hand work). Good for them. I like to use the latest tools that are proven to make my work easier. I don't doubt that Java will be alive and well many years from now, but it is very refreshing to have other high-level alternatives.
Quite a few people do not seem to get the difference between corporate accounts (thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue) and end users, the ones who are getting a shaft.
The rule and this whole deal is only about the end users who watched an ad and decided to apply for a loan or purchased some sort of a deal promised by Dell. These are the guys who got the short end of the stick.
We have had nothing but good things to say about Dell. Replacement parts always arrived ahead of schedule. Calls were prompt and right on target. Dell service was superb. That is because we are corporate customer that spends tons of money on their hardware and service. The cheapest servers that we buy cost several laptops. The performance machines that we get cost just as much as cars.
The problem described in the article is related to end users who expect XYZ and end up getting something different. This is a no brainer. If you get a computer for $700, then do you really expect a qualified person to talk to you for hours about a problem? Anybody who is remotely qualified to do such support will probably ask for $15-20 per hour. This means that several long phone calls from the same customer will wipe out the profit that you made on sale. I am sorry to break this to everybody, but hardware is becoming a commodity , much like Windows, and you are expected to know and act in a certain manner if you buy a laptop and get into a problem. No company in the right mind will hire qualified engineers, let's say the ones that can do Tier II and Tier III support, to answer phones. You do that and your business will die because you WILL NOT make any profit.
Dell is much like any other large business. They have plenty of customers and they generate plenty of revenue. If you don't like it, go get an Apple because Dell has another customer lined up already. They will make tons of money by dealing with large businesses and universities and people who are simply stuck with Dell because they don't want any other alternatives. Telling Dell or Microsoft that their end-user support sucks is like telling Bank of America that you're closing an account due to whatever reason.
Once in a while I resume reading Slashdot. And then I get comments like yours that make me realize why I stop reading and posting there. Did you read my comment? Did I say anything about who is right and who is wrong? I stated that there was a blog where the mom posted her side of the story. Is it true? I don't know. Is it false? I don't know.
This is a blog that is about to be taken down and it described why the woman did what she did. I don't think that this case is as black and white as some people think.
By the time people reach the age of 18, they should have some ideas of what they want to do for living. My only recommendations to my future kids are:
Do not be an asshole.
Try to do something to benefit this world.
Do whatever you like as long as you're financially independent and not a burden on anybody.
If they ask me about IT, it would not say anything except for the fact that it worked for me and that I did not mind it because with my character (work to live) and a decent income I was able to enjoy my life the way I wanted it. If anything, I will recommend my kids to have a nice life and steer them towards something that allows a person to live to the fullest potential; be it a career in science or a tattoo parlor. This world has enough boring people who fix printers, write buggy code, burn through dozens of Coke cans per day and look like guys who want to be in GAP commercials. Meh.
I can see how this can happen. Just because you live in the United States it does not mean that the whole world plays by your rules.
I grew up in the former Soviet Union and moved to the states when I was a teenager. I clearly remember the culture shock. Also, I have plenty of friends whose parents are still struggling with the fact that things are different in the U.S. as opposed to what they were used to. For example, in Russia a politician can go on state-run news program and openly blame Jews for everything. Want to see a steamy scene in a movie? No need to go to a theater. Just watch some of the flicks on TV. However, do not attempt to criticize the government!
In the U.S. you can have a bumper sticker that says "Fuck Bush" and nobody will stop you from expressing your views on a blog. And thousands will have heart attacks when they see a nipple on a TV screen during a Superbowl broadcast. Go figure...
Let it be said that I have always shared libertarian views on life. I believe in small goverments, low taxes and personal freedoms. Yet, none of that is relevant in this context because I cannot force or voice my opinion in a country that spends trillions of dollars on a useless war in Iraq. If we are bankrolling that operation, then small rescue missions are nothing. Using an isolated case as an example to raise money does not make sense: We have to either charge everybody or nobody. Since this nation has no problems waging wars it cannot afford,I say let everybody get a free ride. Otherwise, we'll have to charge somebody for all the military conflicts we managed to create.
The explorer in question put Nevada on the map for many people around the world. I belive that he paid enough taxes over the course of his life to deserve a search and rescue mission in case of his diappearence. If we single him out, then we do we stop? How much money did it cost to put Scott Peterson behind the bars? How much does the war on drugs cost? And what about all this money spent on cops?
Have you seen motorcycle cops in CA? They enjoy nice BMW bikes with all the latest gadgets. They use these bikes to pull you over and give you a ticket. Why not charge your more since they had to buy a motorcycle to catch you on the first place? What about air patrols? You think those Cessnas cost nothing? Of course, the list can go on and on until you finally realize that this is quite silly. The money that the state has spent did not evaporate. It went to law enforcement officials and other functions. People got paid and then they spend money somewhere else! It is one thing if Nevada had to raise the money by taxing everybody extra in order to save a lost explorer. But the state did not. The money was in the budget and it was to be spent on something.
Look, I am all about the bottom line but I still believe that in case of an emergency a person should not think "can I afford this?"
You obviously did not read the comments about MySQL posted by MySQL's ex-CEO. They are not taking MySQL away by any means. The core of the product will always be GPL! What they are going to do is to close source some add-ons in order to generate more revenue so they can pay developers who write those things. In other words, if you really want to get some latest gadgets for MySQL, you'll have to pay.
That is okay with me. Open Source at its finest:)
I don't know what wrong with you. I am not a doctor, but if you have good grades and you're from a good school, you should have no issues finding a job. Please notice how I say "any job."
I went to a public school and my grades were not fantastic. I got a job. My friends who went to public schools and earned decent grades got jobs too. My friends who went to good schools and got excellent grades found decent places of employment as well. And all of this was right after 9/11 and the economic downturn that caused many job losses.
You say that you're an excellent coder and I do not want to doubt those skills. However, you have to remember that today's economy is not really looking for people who are good at banging out C code. Have you ever thought of repositioning yourself as somebody who can solve problems? What about being just an IT guy with an open mind? Have you ever thought of looking for non-coding jobs in the fields of consulting, system engineering or network administration? I have many friends in those areas of IT and let me tell you, they started at more than 50K a year.
If you are still caught up in this MSFT vs the rest of the world BS, you have not learned anything. When did the gov't start looking into their practices? Yesterday? I think not. By now any normal person who uses Windows should know the BS that MSFT has continuously provided in a nice and a very expensive wrapper. You have to be out of your fucking mind to believe that the latest version of the OS provided by MSFT will be bug free. The software is bloated and always late. MS Office crashes and your work goes bye-bye. How long will it take anybody with more than two brain cells to realize that if you want to work and be vendor independent, you have to look for alternative solutions.
I am not a Mac lover-boy or a die-hard Linux fan. However, both of the platforms provide enough capabilities for Office work. I have been strongly advertising, suggesting and almost enforcing document formats that are other than MSFT. There was some friction at the beginning, but now my co-workers use Open Office and submit important documents in PDF or RTF formats. Hell, even HTML works:) I have not seen a PowerPoint presentation that cannot look cool as PDF file. That is unless you're trying to show off one of those "look, I made it move" stupid tricks that only dead beat sales guys will use to wake up the public. The point is that the future is in our hands. MSFT is just a company that tries to make some money but users still have the choice. Of course, in some cases choice is more limited but I found that as long as IT departments have open minds it is quite possible to use non-MSFT products for your daily routine. The only limitation I found was the fact that we are still lacking a good calendar/organizer solution in the Open Source space. Once there is a robust alternative to Out-fucking-crashed-again-look, MSFT will receive denials for M&S renewals.
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I can assure you that any corporation has one thing in mind: Make profit. There various approaches to the schema, but the main goal is the same. You have to make money to please the investors or to enrich the founding members. Things like "good" and "evil" become irrelevant once profit and money is involved.
MSFT pays well, provides decent benefits and offers world class working environment. Yeah, there are a couple of nuts who like to drop an iPhone into a blender an then show the results to the public, but overall most of the employees are just people with _some_ paycheck mentality. The same can be said about employees of other big companies like Google, Cisco, IBM, etc.
Bashing MSFT is a favorite part time on Slashdot. Despite the facts that Vista sucks and Office still sucks, MSFT has people who are smart enough to figure out that if you cannot win the war, you should join the opponent. MSFT has a division that is in charge of open license products and part of the initiative will be highlighted at TechReady (next week in Seattle).
Will everything be Open Source? I highly doubt that. But if MSFT shows enough effort and releases enough software products that are open to modification then MSFT wins in many ways: To develop something you must use some sort of a program. MSFT will give you trial version and sell you good ones. More developers, more sales.
It is possible to make money on Open Source software. I assume you can do something like software + service so people who write software will need to get tools somewhere, which brings me back to the first point.
Corporations love agreements with vendors. The problem with stuff that you can find on Sourceforge is the fact that if there is a problem, you may not get timely support. And support is what our corporate overlords love. That's why RedHat still makes money on subscriptions while anybody can download CenOS for free.
Good PR.
Also, looking at Linux and all beautiful things Open Source generates new ideas for MSFT. These ideas can turn into products just like the latest cross-platform monitoring software, System Center Operations Manage. The company swims in money and it can afford releasing some software for free. It is sort of like T.Boone Pickens investing into alternative energy. He may be pro-alternative energy and pro-energy independence, but make no mistake: He will make money on it :)
God knows that I would love to live in a society where lay offs and cheap labor and two week notices are the things of the past. However, our world is not based on what is right. If you want to survive, you must learn how to play the game. Go read The World is Flat and perhaps you'll get a thing or two.
I have been in very tough positions in my life and those hard situations taught me something really important: Learn how to adapt and how to survive. Nobody, except for you, is interested in your survival. Corporations and governments would love to have employees that are barely smart enough to do their jobs while keeping their mouths shut. They feed on the paycheck mentality and we, suckers, are going for it. A cycle of clean up in any industry is a good thing because every time it happens, it teaches us a valuable lesson.
I am too sorry for families that go through financial losses due to lay offs. So the first thing that you should do is to ensure that your family can survive and live on one income. This automatically translates into living within your means and having a well stocked savings account. I made a pact with my wife that we will never work in the same industry just for that freaking reason. I know it sounds cruel, but what the hell am I supposed to do? Unionize? Complain about Indians stealing my work? Kill all H1B visa employees? Encourage gov't subsidies of IT shops?
Once I realized that organic chemistry sucked, I decided not to get involved into anything related to chemistry, biology, medicine etc. I would be a great fucking disaster as a doctor or anybody who is even remotely responsible for well being of anything that lives and breathes. Also, I have monkeying around with grease and you won't find me in any garage fixing cars for living. I mean, I could do that for living, but I would suck and it would be totally unfair to other people (I am saying that because I had enough connections to land a cushy job in the field that is not of an interest to me). Unfortunately, there are still many people who got IT jobs just because. These byproducts of on-line universities and strong family connections tend to fuck things up and I honestly feel no problem if some of them lose their jobs while IT experiences downturn. Why? Because people who a knowledgeable and competent will always find jobs. This is not related only to IT. In every industry there is a good fraction of people who tend to spend most of time talking on the phone and doing things besides what the get paid for. How is losing those guys a problem? This so-called downturn mentioned by GS is a red flag to everybody (GS is good at creating panic) that perhaps it is time to review career plans, get some education and think about the future. So rock on :)
If you are a seasoned IT professional or somebody who is starting out, things are looking bright for you as long as you have what it takes to be an engineer. I welcome any sort of clean up or a downturn in IT economy because most of the time it means that the bottom of the IT-wannabes will be laid off. This will benefit everybody in the long run.
First of all, engineering, unlike being a pizza delivery person, requires some knowledge and a certain set of analytical skills that one is born with. You can train people to deliver pizzas and punch cards, but it is hard to train people to resolve problems or come up with elaborate solutions. While books and schools may help, you either get it or not from the very beginning. Downturn in IT will mean that people who were there just for the sake of it, will probably lose their jobs or move on. This is great for the folks who -- while being good peole -- are simply not suited for jobs in the field of information technology.
While we all cry about off-shore development labs and cheap labor around the world, we are forgetting one thing: Americans are cheap now. Due to the falling dollar it makes less sense to run costly operations overseas. With China, India and Russia on the rise, people in those countries may see little in jobs and environments that make them work for the global companies (aka capitalist pigs).I would not be too concerned about wages if I were you. In fact, bad conditions in the U.S. sent many people who are currently employed via visas overseasas. Several friends of mine have moved back to their home countries alrady because "There is nothing to do in the U.S." This happens because while U.S. economy may go down, the world's economy is still expanding and there are plenty of things that have to be done in Moscow, Mumbai and Beijing. Good fore those who go back home and establish companies there. Good for the rest of us who are here.
And finally the loss of IT jobs should not be seen as the judgement day. I found that many people with engineering and business skills are more than capable of starting their own businesses and running their own shows. If you do not belong to the first group of people -- the ones who were not doing anything productive -- and you're not on a visa -- and you cannot go back home to start something new -- use the settlement to start something new. Many large companies are losing business because of the bad decisions that were made across the corporate ladder. A bust is only a bust if you think this way. In reality, it is a great opportunity for improvement for those of us who would like to grab the bull by its horns.
Not sure how many people remember or care to know about the games of 1980 held in Moscow, but similar things happened there in order to promote the image of the USSR.
All people with questionable reputation were ordered to leave the city and the communist party spent a lot of time and money to ensure that everything was top notch (well, at least by the Soviet standards). Guess what happened when the games stopped?
If people cannot see through this dog and pony show that every country is going to put up in order to look good, then yeah, China's new green image is a great success!
Don't panic. This is the only advice that I can give to you becuase no matter what you do now, chances are that your role has been already been discussed and realigned by somebody. If you start worrying and stressing about the situation you will eventually hurt yourself (well, your health) and become miserable. Stay calm, update a resume and start looking for a job.
If you have never worked for a very large company, you will be in for surprise. As somebody has posted already, guys like HP, IBM and MSFT are different. Too much red tape. Takes forever to get simple stuff done. Internal IT help is non-existent (everything is outsourced to somewhere in India). In other words it is highly likely that you're going to be in for a chnage.
I have been on both sides of the equation and I can tell you for a fact that a regular Joe can do very little to affect his position. Unless you have a written contract in writing, your fate is up in the air. I guess you can really screw things up and act all negative about this deal. This way HR will blacklist your name and you'll become expandable right away. So stay calm, review your resume and enjoy the ride.
You don't sound like a person who knows a thing or two about farming. Jumping into "we can make it from corn" bandwagon is no better than relying only on oil for all engergy needs because crops are not renewable. See my other posts under the partent.
Sooner or later you will run out of land and resources. You will have to make choices between growing crops for food or growing crops for fuel. This is happening in Brazil already! Farmers choose to cut down rain forest and in order to grow crops for Ethanol production. Do you not see how stupid this is? You damage rain forest and stop food production in order to make fuel. This makes little sense especially to people who do not have luxury of having a grilled chicken every day. While millions of people starve, we turn food crops into fuel...
Yes, biofuels are a great idea as long as we can diversify them correctly. =
Crops are not renewable. Sooner or later you will exhaust the land and run out of places where you can plant soy, sugar cane, beets, corn, etc. On top of that biofuels carry high risks for food security and air quality. Are you aware of the fact that expansion of sugar cane (and Ethanol derived from it) is posing a real threat to rain forests in Brazil? Farmers who see enormous profit in sugar cane are giving up other crops and elininating rain forest. This is already happening in one country and what makes you think it does not spread around the world? Farmers in mid-West are already profiting from E85 expansion in the US. This impacts our food prices because corn that can be fed to cattle is being used for other purposes.
You cannot simply unplug gas and start using biodiesels everywhere. A chain reaction (depletion of rain forests, rising food prices, etc.) has started already. It will be hilarious if we start running out of food in order to support our driving habits.
I hate environmentalists who want us to stop using gas. I hate them with a great passion becuase they cannot see that switching from one type of fuel to another single type of fuel is equivalent to shooting ourselves in the foot. Running out of oil and gas prices are not the problem. The real problem is seeing gas/oil as the only source of energy that can be used for transportation. So let's ditch gas and start using biodiesel. How long do you think it will take until we start running out of biodiesel?
I have a friend who converted an older Benz into a car that runs on french fry oil. He gets his fuel for free so essentially he is not affected by the current gas prices. Twice a month he goes to a local college, gets a barrel of used oil and there you go. This was tits while he had the only veggie car in town. Guess what is happening when gallon goes past $4? That's right, everybody wants free oil from french fries. We are back to square one. While local restaurants may be able to supply enough oil for a hundred cars, there is no way in hell we can get enough products for everybody. Exactly the same thing will happen to people who jump from one source of energy to another. The answer to the problem is diversification.
What we have to do is to realize that everybody's needs are different. People who want to commute 40 miles per day can get away by using an electric car. Guys who want to target Rubicon trail will benefit from Diesel/electric combo (due to torque) and in some cases gasoline will be appropriate. And while I am highly pleased with the fact that a car company wants to step away from gas, I hope that this world is not going to jump on the bandwagon to find out that in 100 years we are back to exactly the same spot: Running out of fuel.
Foreign languages are priceless in today's world of constant internationalization. I work with people form Germany, Russia, Japan, Norway and Brazil. I speak one foreign language and I wish I knew more. In fact, not knowing Spanish has bitten me in the rear because I could have advanced my career by moving to Latin America where I would fly up the corporate ladder. As somebody who got hired (at least once) for my foreign language and IT skills, I firmly believe that speaking a foreign language is a good career boost.
We have been in many situations were customers from Asia and other parts of the world love to pay extra big bugs for specialists who speak their langauge. It is not that they don't want to speak English, it is the fact that they prefer to deal with people who can speak English and their own language just in case. Technical people who know English + one of CJK or Spanish are becoming priceless because Latin American and Asia are booming. When our company was rapidly expanding, we could not hire enough engineers who were fluent in several languages. Those who got hired received more than generous packages and relocation opportunities. While this may not be appealing to a married person with a couple of kids, a young single college graduate will sure appreciate a six month gig in Japan paid for by an employer. This really helps if you end up working in a small (but well paid) field. You help your employer with building a new customer base in a remote part of the world and suddenly you go from a college graduate to a young professional who brought a company XYZ to a new country. As you can tell from my post, I am all about speaking as many languages as possible.
The bottom line is: Learn language if you would like to be qualified for more opportunities when it comes to travel and corporate mobility. If you believe that your current town/city/country is the best place in the world, then do not bother.
I have looked at those keyboards in the past and I cannot believe that this company has guts to charge $130 for a keyboard that is not even ergonomic.
Why would anybody who spends a lot of time typing buy something that costs so much without offering any benefits? Yeah, it looks slick. So does any other keyboard that costs more than $10. Volume controls, etc. are becoming a commodity on most keyboards nowadays. So what am I paying for? The same goes to Apple with its innovative (cough) bluetooth keyboard that costs $80. Can't use that thing for more than 10 minutes.
Want to sell a keyboard for $100? Do the following:
Make it ergonomic. There is no reason not to do it. People have not been born to use keyboards, so make a product that is easy to use.
Make it easy to clean. Keyboards are freaking filthy. No ergonomic designs offer a method for easy cleaning.
Reduce the noise level.
Replace the defunct numeric key pad with a track ball so I don't have to reach out anytime I want to use my trackball/mouse on the table.
Then I'll buy the keyboard :)
I have been bashing people who tell me that all IT jobs will be in India and China and Russia. This is not going to happen to every freaking job because each field depends on people who are competent. You may have a Ph.D. in Comp. Sci. or Mathematics, but you're completely useless if you cannot perform job related functions in a competent manner. That is why the number of jobs is always greater than the number of candidates who can do those jobs well. This applies to every country, not just the United States.
If I were to describe my job duties, I would say that I am a janitor because I get paid to resolve other people's messes. In most case I deal with IT people who cannot backup a production system or read the manual or at least be smart enough to call the support line before attempting to release the latest version of the software that relies on the components produced by our company. The number of well paid and "highly qualified" individuals who are in charge of extremely expensive systems is beyond your imagination. That is why these daily bloopers are really great for people like me who get paid to resolve them in a very efficient manner. No backup and have to go production in 3 hours with all the mess? Not a fucking problem. My hourly rate will be XXX.XXUSD per hour.
As bad as it sounds, stupid users can be a great source of revenue. However, I can't promise that you'll like them in a long run.
I live in CA. My office is about 2 miles from work. I don't need an SUV for weather and yet I have one in order go get out of the clusterfuck called Silicon Valley. Gas is not a problem since it still costs me less than $100/month (that is right, per month) to fill up and drive. If I go on a trip, it costs me around $300-400 to drive. The cost of gas, food and entertainment adds up to less than $1k for two people driving somewhere in the boonies. This is less than what I would pay to fly myself and my significant other to Hawaii or any other vacation destination.
My car has desert pinstripes. That is something that you won't see too often on any shiny cars. I have traversed many paths in the Sierras and spent time on the back roads of Death Valley and Nevada. And that is something that you cannot do in a Civic or a Prius. Many places that I visit require differential locks, armor (skid plates), at least 9" of clearance under the rear diff and rock sliders just to get through a trail. This equipment costs money as does good camping gear. But that is what life is about!
Some people collect Star Wars figures and spend all their money on big TVs, absolutely fucking useless gaming consoles and nice lawns. I prefer to get out and enjoy the nature at its best. So yeah, I guess I'll stick with an SUV.
Not too many students take advantage of AP courses because they're either not pushed hard enough or because the courses are never offered!
I was lucky to be able to select between various levels of AP calculus, physics and other subjects. After saving tons of money on tuition in college, I bragged about that to my friend who told me that he would have loved taking all those nice AP classes. But they were not offered in his high school (in a rural state). So there we have two student: One went to school in a suburban middle-upper class town and the other one had to face a high school in a rural setting. Just because I happened to be where I was, I gained advantage in knowledge (more AP classes) and in my financial situation (AP credits means I don't have to take the same classes in college). Brilliant, is it not?
You are lucky not only because you get to take AP classes in high school but also because you have a brain that is perhaps developed ahead of its years. Most people's brains are not fully formed until they're in mid-20s. Teenagers cannot assess risks and needs to the fullest extent not because they're dumb, but because their brains are not fully formed yet (look up the subject of brain development yourself). That is why sometimes it is necessary to push kids and have a one-to-one approach as opposed to treating everybody as the last four numbers of their social security number. Had my science teachers not gotten me involved in some extra circular activities that expanded my knowledge of the subjects the teachers taught, I would have never achieved what I have. This is exactly what this country lacks! We are told not to leave a child behind and make everybody equal instead of dedicating the best teachers to the kids who have either already achieved or have potential to achieve (with a little push).
I don't want to disappoint you, but there are plenty of kids in your high school who can do as well as you have done. They may not have all the wires there yet and somebody has to step in. When I was in the 7th grade my math grades were somewhere between low and high 60s. My family was going through a divorce. I just learned how to drink and to make out so there you have it. Teachers thought that I was going to be a complete waste until I had several serious talks. Two years later I became an example science student and while I never managed to get an A+ in all math subjects, I showed that it was quite possible to get from a barely passing point to an A. This was all because there was this nasty teacher who told me that she thought that I was cheating in her class where I got an A while my math grades sucked so bad. She believed that there was a natural relationship between the subject that she taught and math and thus I had to either cheat or be a complete ass to fail math so miserably. Pretty nice approach, huh? Anyway, it worked ;)
Cheers!
I can tell you that the quality and the difficulty of the exams in the U.S. is a joke. I feel bad for American kids who really have to dumb themselves down because the system is working against them. We are losing a lot of young talent without even knowing it because our education is designed to educate everybody in the most efficient way of multiple choice tests.
I never had a multiple choice test until I came to the U.S. All of my previous science and math tests were written. I had to draw diagrams, explain my line of thought and show meaningful calculations. If my penmanship or analysis of the problem was not clear, I had to discuss it with the teacher in one-on-one fashion. It was quite common to talk to a teacher in order to resolve any questions that he or she may have about the work. If mistakes were genuine and not repetitive, then they did not influence the grade by that much. For example, if you did all calculations correctly and then missed a minus sign when writing the official result, this mistake would be circled and that's it. Overall, I was considered a good student who lacked some attention and I have always received A-/B+ for most of my work. It really sucked to write things out and explain complex problems on paper and then present everything in a legible manner -- if the teacher could not read it, it was a mistake -- but overall I am glad that my teachers pushed me this way. Physics and chemistry were the toughest subjects because you had to write so many freaking formulas that by the end of the test your hands could barely function. Damn, I miss those days.
Fast forward to my life in the U.S. The land of multiple choices really screwed me over because if I could not circle a correct answer I automatically failed the problem. I could hardly discuss any issues with many of my teachers because there was this stupid system in place and everything was decided by punch cards. On top of that, the level of math and science education in the United States was lagging behind of what I have experienced in second world country. Math problems were mediocre at best. Physics did not involve any thinking besides what was in the book -- well, at least in high level -- and for some reason organic chemistry was considered a college subject. Students got away with submitting hand drawn diagrams on what appeared to be toilet paper . And if you had good eye sight you can pass the course by circling the same multiple choice answers as your A-student friend. Are you really surprised that we are in Iraq and a financial mess right now?
You may think that education has little to do with skills in the real world, but I beg to differ. My recent encounters with some IT engineers make me thank all that hard work I used to put in graphs and analysis. The more people I meet the more I realize about the skills that one has to develop in order to do some rather basic tasks, like stating a problem and a possible work flow in a manner that other people will understand. Ask a fresh college grad to describe a problem on paper (no computer) and you'll get a bunch of gibberish written with a hand of what I would consider to be a fifth grader. Who cares about the material if you can punch two numbers into a TI-89 and circle a correct answer. Right?
Okay, smart ass, what do you suggest? Well, for starters let's teach kids who want to learn. Let's not try to teach everybody in the most efficient way possible. Let's not bring everybody down to the lowest common denominator. If school is not for you, then may be you should leave after the 9th grade and pickup a trade. A lower student to teacher ratio will allow reduction of multiple choice tests and more of the one-to-one work most kids need in order to to learn how to learn.
I am not a developer. I don't know all the insides of Java, C#, C++, Python or Ruby. Yet, I have to use these languages and other tools on a daily basis to make a living as somebody who works in the field of integration and system engineering. Programming languages for me are just like tools. I would like to use something that is easy to learn and that gets a job done. That's why I hate C++ and that is why I see Python and Ruby pushing Java out at least in many areas where performance and ability to multi-thread are not the top priorities.
Please spare me the inner details of every language and pros and cos and what is pure object oriented and what is not. I get paid to accomplish things and not to debate about the purity of a programming language. In the environment where you have to make two applications and throw one away, Python really shines. It is a great language for prototypes. It is easy to learn, relatively fast for what I need to do and it can be hooked up with Java or C++ without too many issues. The way I think about it, a language is like a tool. Many years ago everything had to be done by hand and then we developed power tools. I know some purists who love to build furniture and other objects using old school approach (no nails, just glue and hand work). Good for them. I like to use the latest tools that are proven to make my work easier. I don't doubt that Java will be alive and well many years from now, but it is very refreshing to have other high-level alternatives.
Quite a few people do not seem to get the difference between corporate accounts (thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue) and end users, the ones who are getting a shaft.
The rule and this whole deal is only about the end users who watched an ad and decided to apply for a loan or purchased some sort of a deal promised by Dell. These are the guys who got the short end of the stick.
We have had nothing but good things to say about Dell. Replacement parts always arrived ahead of schedule. Calls were prompt and right on target. Dell service was superb. That is because we are corporate customer that spends tons of money on their hardware and service. The cheapest servers that we buy cost several laptops. The performance machines that we get cost just as much as cars.
The problem described in the article is related to end users who expect XYZ and end up getting something different. This is a no brainer. If you get a computer for $700, then do you really expect a qualified person to talk to you for hours about a problem? Anybody who is remotely qualified to do such support will probably ask for $15-20 per hour. This means that several long phone calls from the same customer will wipe out the profit that you made on sale. I am sorry to break this to everybody, but hardware is becoming a commodity , much like Windows, and you are expected to know and act in a certain manner if you buy a laptop and get into a problem. No company in the right mind will hire qualified engineers, let's say the ones that can do Tier II and Tier III support, to answer phones. You do that and your business will die because you WILL NOT make any profit.
Dell is much like any other large business. They have plenty of customers and they generate plenty of revenue. If you don't like it, go get an Apple because Dell has another customer lined up already. They will make tons of money by dealing with large businesses and universities and people who are simply stuck with Dell because they don't want any other alternatives. Telling Dell or Microsoft that their end-user support sucks is like telling Bank of America that you're closing an account due to whatever reason.
Once in a while I resume reading Slashdot. And then I get comments like yours that make me realize why I stop reading and posting there. Did you read my comment? Did I say anything about who is right and who is wrong? I stated that there was a blog where the mom posted her side of the story. Is it true? I don't know. Is it false? I don't know.
http://meganhaditcoming.blogspot.com/
This is a blog that is about to be taken down and it described why the woman did what she did. I don't think that this case is as black and white as some people think.
By the time people reach the age of 18, they should have some ideas of what they want to do for living. My only recommendations to my future kids are:
Do not be an asshole.
Try to do something to benefit this world.
Do whatever you like as long as you're financially independent and not a burden on anybody.
If they ask me about IT, it would not say anything except for the fact that it worked for me and that I did not mind it because with my character (work to live) and a decent income I was able to enjoy my life the way I wanted it. If anything, I will recommend my kids to have a nice life and steer them towards something that allows a person to live to the fullest potential; be it a career in science or a tattoo parlor. This world has enough boring people who fix printers, write buggy code, burn through dozens of Coke cans per day and look like guys who want to be in GAP commercials. Meh.
I can see how this can happen. Just because you live in the United States it does not mean that the whole world plays by your rules.
I grew up in the former Soviet Union and moved to the states when I was a teenager. I clearly remember the culture shock. Also, I have plenty of friends whose parents are still struggling with the fact that things are different in the U.S. as opposed to what they were used to. For example, in Russia a politician can go on state-run news program and openly blame Jews for everything. Want to see a steamy scene in a movie? No need to go to a theater. Just watch some of the flicks on TV. However, do not attempt to criticize the government!
In the U.S. you can have a bumper sticker that says "Fuck Bush" and nobody will stop you from expressing your views on a blog. And thousands will have heart attacks when they see a nipple on a TV screen during a Superbowl broadcast. Go figure...
Let it be said that I have always shared libertarian views on life. I believe in small goverments, low taxes and personal freedoms. Yet, none of that is relevant in this context because I cannot force or voice my opinion in a country that spends trillions of dollars on a useless war in Iraq. If we are bankrolling that operation, then small rescue missions are nothing. Using an isolated case as an example to raise money does not make sense: We have to either charge everybody or nobody. Since this nation has no problems waging wars it cannot afford,I say let everybody get a free ride. Otherwise, we'll have to charge somebody for all the military conflicts we managed to create.
The explorer in question put Nevada on the map for many people around the world. I belive that he paid enough taxes over the course of his life to deserve a search and rescue mission in case of his diappearence. If we single him out, then we do we stop? How much money did it cost to put Scott Peterson behind the bars? How much does the war on drugs cost? And what about all this money spent on cops?
Have you seen motorcycle cops in CA? They enjoy nice BMW bikes with all the latest gadgets. They use these bikes to pull you over and give you a ticket. Why not charge your more since they had to buy a motorcycle to catch you on the first place? What about air patrols? You think those Cessnas cost nothing? Of course, the list can go on and on until you finally realize that this is quite silly. The money that the state has spent did not evaporate. It went to law enforcement officials and other functions. People got paid and then they spend money somewhere else! It is one thing if Nevada had to raise the money by taxing everybody extra in order to save a lost explorer. But the state did not. The money was in the budget and it was to be spent on something.
Look, I am all about the bottom line but I still believe that in case of an emergency a person should not think "can I afford this?"
You obviously did not read the comments about MySQL posted by MySQL's ex-CEO. They are not taking MySQL away by any means. The core of the product will always be GPL! What they are going to do is to close source some add-ons in order to generate more revenue so they can pay developers who write those things. In other words, if you really want to get some latest gadgets for MySQL, you'll have to pay. That is okay with me. Open Source at its finest :)
I don't know what wrong with you. I am not a doctor, but if you have good grades and you're from a good school, you should have no issues finding a job. Please notice how I say "any job."
I went to a public school and my grades were not fantastic. I got a job. My friends who went to public schools and earned decent grades got jobs too. My friends who went to good schools and got excellent grades found decent places of employment as well. And all of this was right after 9/11 and the economic downturn that caused many job losses.
You say that you're an excellent coder and I do not want to doubt those skills. However, you have to remember that today's economy is not really looking for people who are good at banging out C code. Have you ever thought of repositioning yourself as somebody who can solve problems? What about being just an IT guy with an open mind? Have you ever thought of looking for non-coding jobs in the fields of consulting, system engineering or network administration? I have many friends in those areas of IT and let me tell you, they started at more than 50K a year.
Don't give up though.
If you are still caught up in this MSFT vs the rest of the world BS, you have not learned anything. When did the gov't start looking into their practices? Yesterday? I think not. By now any normal person who uses Windows should know the BS that MSFT has continuously provided in a nice and a very expensive wrapper. You have to be out of your fucking mind to believe that the latest version of the OS provided by MSFT will be bug free. The software is bloated and always late. MS Office crashes and your work goes bye-bye. How long will it take anybody with more than two brain cells to realize that if you want to work and be vendor independent, you have to look for alternative solutions.
I am not a Mac lover-boy or a die-hard Linux fan. However, both of the platforms provide enough capabilities for Office work. I have been strongly advertising, suggesting and almost enforcing document formats that are other than MSFT. There was some friction at the beginning, but now my co-workers use Open Office and submit important documents in PDF or RTF formats. Hell, even HTML works :) I have not seen a PowerPoint presentation that cannot look cool as PDF file. That is unless you're trying to show off one of those "look, I made it move" stupid tricks that only dead beat sales guys will use to wake up the public. The point is that the future is in our hands. MSFT is just a company that tries to make some money but users still have the choice. Of course, in some cases choice is more limited but I found that as long as IT departments have open minds it is quite possible to use non-MSFT products for your daily routine. The only limitation I found was the fact that we are still lacking a good calendar/organizer solution in the Open Source space. Once there is a robust alternative to Out-fucking-crashed-again-look, MSFT will receive denials for M&S renewals.