I've personally made the mistake of accepting a job at a startup where I traded some salary for non-binding verbal assurances about future benefits. In some ways it was a similar position to yours - I was to build the company's software capability, and in return I would their CTO. In fact, all they really wanted me to do was fulfill a specific contract, which didn't interest me much, and which I wouldn't have taken if it weren't for the promise that I could "grow with the company". Later I was sacked, although the firm was doing quite well, but just didn't need me any more.
I have heard of similar things happening to others at startups.
The times that I've been employed by large companies I have found them to better at sticking to whatever deal was offered initially.
Perhaps this happens because startups know that in general they are not as attractive to job-seekers as large firms are. They can't offer more money, so they offer more talk.
What to do about it? My advice would be to only trust verbal assurance from people that you've known and trusted for a long time. For anyone else be cautious, and think about what they really want from you, rather than what they are saying. Or else just charge a surchage to work for a startup.
If you want to convince non-programmers to buy into Linux and open source software then you had better produce a quality product whether you are interested in it or not.
There are many programmers out there who share your opinion. We find Windows easier to use, and program in. Sure, there are some cool things you can do in Linux that you can't do (natively) in Windows, such as manage the whole system from the command line, but the things we actually need for programming, such as a good editor and debugger, and office tools (because we do work for businesses after all) work better in Windows.
Really, Microsoft, if you couldn't pay someone to come up with a better name, perhaps you could have asked around in-house. "Monad" wasn't too bad, and even "mash" would have been better than "PowerShell".
You mean if quality and reliability continue to improve that you appeal will continue to grow??? Why didn't someone let me in on this secret a long time ago!
You go into the garage for 6 months, and come back with a high quality and reliable nose hair puller, and start spending your millions.
The author is making the perfectly sensible point that the market is there, and it just needs quality and reliability to be exploited. Quality and reliability without a market aint worth nuttin.
"Value Add" - this is when you take a strip down a process to its bare bones and examine where the benefit to the company or customer is truly being applied. Steps along the way that don't increase that benefit are candidates for elimination or automation.
That's a good example of useful corporate speak. In discussions with other programmers we often question something by asking "what value does it add?". If the answer is close to zero, then it does indeed become a candidate for elimination. This is a simple expression of a powerful concept. Alternatives such as "what good does it do?", "can we do without it?", "do we really need it?" don't get to the heart of the matter as quickly.
eg.
"What good does it do?"
"Well it enables the user to save the Screech value, and use it next time he runs the program"
Vista has been released. It looks great, and is stable and secure. It's shipping in huge numbers. The server edition continues to increase Microsoft's share of that market. Programmers everywhere are using.Net.
If you think something is odd while you're writing it, imagine how it's going to look to someone else coming to it cold.
Working on one job, we received some third party code which included the comment on a #define "I don't know why this is needed, but it is". Some of us laughed at this, and thought the author must be a half wit. My view was that it was a great comment, as it was an aweful lot more useful than the #define without any explanation. Often we are reluctant to put in comments which admit that we don't fully understand something, but it is in these situations that a comment like "I don't know why this works" is most necessary. Sure, some people will think it looks foolish, but if you don't put it in, there will be others who are grateful that you've saved them the trouble of investigating the weirdness, only come up with, half a day later, the same conclusion as you.
Me too, and I've never even thought of keeping my code for re-use, and I've never noticed it missing. That is, I've never thought to myself "don't I have some code somewhere which does that?". 90% of the code I've written has been application specific. When I need general purpose code, I get it from somewhere else, or, very rarely, just write it from scratch. As you say, because our skills keep improving, and also because programming languages keep changing, if I've written the code previously, then I'll still prefer to write it again. However, these days, the framework which comes with Java, C#, Visual C++, etc, is so vast that one should (almost) never have to write a general purpose class. As others have said, there's also the web for any concievable general purpose class.
The question puzzled me, because in 20 years of programming I've never considered the issue!
The human brain does not have the capacity, or time, to properly process all the information it receives, so it uses all sorts of aids to free it from information overload. Thus it forms habits, learns from repetition, and relies on other peoples opinions. For the average person, finding the "best" music would be a mental task which is not worth the effort, (they've got other things to do) so they use public opinion to find music which is "good enough". Just like buying cars, or software, clothes, or food. Our brain uses "conformity" in most things, to free it to make personal decisions in the things which are most important to us, whatever they may be.
These days I mostly read freely (and legally) available short fiction and classics on the net (there's a lot of it out there).
Serious comment. How about using the local public library? The books are free, you get the pleasure of browsing, and you can find books which you would not normally encounter. You can also borrow commercial DVD's and music. For me, a Sunday afternoon at the local library is a treat.
This argument has been going on since the the dawn of the computer age. The history is that people want the new software, and the new sofware needs the new hardware.
Build your career on it.. it's the safest bet you get
I'm no fan of MS, and I really wanted to like what I saw,
I tried Linux for the same reason, in 1999, 2001, 2003, and each time I realized that I was just causing myself headaches, for no gain, so returned to Windows, with a little more respect. I realized that it is no accident that it works so well.
BSOD was a Win9x phenomenon. Making jokes about it 8 years later would be like making jokes about Linux installation or desktop, as it was in 1998.
I've been using win 2k, and xp, since 2001, and haven't seen one BSOD, and very rarely have to reboot.
Who modded this funny? I'd suggest "redundant", "off-topic", "same-ole, same-ole", "predictable", "obsolete", "cheap shot", "would have been funny 8 years ago"....
Slashdot Mirror
I've personally made the mistake of accepting a job at a startup where I traded some salary for non-binding verbal assurances about future benefits. In some ways it was a similar position to yours - I was to build the company's software capability, and in return I would their CTO. In fact, all they really wanted me to do was fulfill a specific contract, which didn't interest me much, and which I wouldn't have taken if it weren't for the promise that I could "grow with the company". Later I was sacked, although the firm was doing quite well, but just didn't need me any more.
I have heard of similar things happening to others at startups.
The times that I've been employed by large companies I have found them to better at sticking to whatever deal was offered initially.
Perhaps this happens because startups know that in general they are not as attractive to job-seekers as large firms are. They can't offer more money, so they offer more talk.
What to do about it? My advice would be to only trust verbal assurance from people that you've known and trusted for a long time. For anyone else be cautious, and think about what they really want from you, rather than what they are saying. Or else just charge a surchage to work for a startup.
Great post! Short, practical advice, from personal experience! thanx.
"Beware of Geeks bearing gifts"?
>> Does that mean that ed causes depressions?
:)
It sure does! Try doing THAT with your wimpy vi and emacs
No, I don't. I'm talking about what *other* people should do.
I had nearly run out of excuses to put off my studies.
Think I'll have a couple of beers, and watch television tonight.
except for the name!
"PowerShell" ugghhhh!
Really, Microsoft, if you couldn't pay someone to come up with a better name, perhaps you could have asked around in-house. "Monad" wasn't too bad, and even "mash" would have been better than "PowerShell".
The author is making the perfectly sensible point that the market is there, and it just needs quality and reliability to be exploited. Quality and reliability without a market aint worth nuttin.
eg.
"What good does it do?"
"Well it enables the user to save the Screech value, and use it next time he runs the program"
"And what value does that add?"
"er.. not much"
Vista has been released. It looks great, and is stable and secure. It's shipping in huge numbers. The server edition continues to increase Microsoft's share of that market. Programmers everywhere are using .Net.
Nice try, I almost replicated your sig.
Won't that be one year and one month after the end of "the year of the Linux desktop".
What will it matter what MSFT is doing then? I mean, Linux is all done, finished, polished, and being given away in millions of copies.
Me too, and I've never even thought of keeping my code for re-use, and I've never noticed it missing. That is, I've never thought to myself "don't I have some code somewhere which does that?". 90% of the code I've written has been application specific. When I need general purpose code, I get it from somewhere else, or, very rarely, just write it from scratch. As you say, because our skills keep improving, and also because programming languages keep changing, if I've written the code previously, then I'll still prefer to write it again. However, these days, the framework which comes with Java, C#, Visual C++, etc, is so vast that one should (almost) never have to write a general purpose class. As others have said, there's also the web for any concievable general purpose class.
The question puzzled me, because in 20 years of programming I've never considered the issue!
The human brain does not have the capacity, or time, to properly process all the information it receives, so it uses all sorts of aids to free it from information overload. Thus it forms habits, learns from repetition, and relies on other peoples opinions. For the average person, finding the "best" music would be a mental task which is not worth the effort, (they've got other things to do) so they use public opinion to find music which is "good enough". Just like buying cars, or software, clothes, or food. Our brain uses "conformity" in most things, to free it to make personal decisions in the things which are most important to us, whatever they may be.
The good news, for me, is that after an initial decline, both have been reasonably static for 20 years now.
It all comes down to the luck of the genetics.
Build your career on it.. it's the safest bet you get
I tried Linux for the same reason, in 1999, 2001, 2003, and each time I realized that I was just causing myself headaches, for no gain, so returned to Windows, with a little more respect. I realized that it is no accident that it works so well.
What, "belated" like the 1995 one when Microsoft tried to get on the internet, but failed, because they were too late?
Thanks. I did a google on BSOD and "Windows XP", and they do still happen. I stand corrected.
BSOD was a Win9x phenomenon. Making jokes about it 8 years later would be like making jokes about Linux installation or desktop, as it was in 1998.
I've been using win 2k, and xp, since 2001, and haven't seen one BSOD, and very rarely have to reboot.
Who modded this funny? I'd suggest "redundant", "off-topic", "same-ole, same-ole", "predictable", "obsolete", "cheap shot", "would have been funny 8 years ago"....