I'm currently trying to hire an entry-level developer. There a lot of little things that separate school work from on the job work. Pick your favorite language and do a bunch of detailed research on the challenges corporate developers face. Speaking from a Java perspective, how are big projects built (Maven, Ant, Cruise Control, etc.), how are dependencies handled using those tools? How is automated testing handled (JUnit, Selenium, etc.) ? What other libraries are typically used? (Spring, Hibernate, Struts, etc. etc) You don't need to be an expert in all this stuff, but learn the basics and be able to describe what you've done with these tools, what you liked about them, disliked about them, pros and cons etc.
I think even a couple weeks of researching and using these tools would put you well above your peers the next time you go to an interview. In the interview, ask good questions: "How do you handle automated testing?" "Oh, you're using Hibernate, do you use it's query language?" Questions like this can demonstrate you understand (at least to some degree) the tools they are using.
If you have plenty of money, I would go ahead and do it. However, if you're not rich, I think you'd be better served putting the money in a college fund. Then the money will almost certainly be of use to your child. The cord blood might help if your child gets a certain disease and if that disease is treatable with cord blood cells and if the disease responds to the treatment, and if this company hasn't gone out of business. Too many ifs for me.
The companies harvesting cord blood are doing so because they can make money. From what I've read the medical community is not convinced it is worthwhile.
RTFA. Yes, taxable/non-taxable items are different in every state (marshmallows, clothing, tractors, white goods, etc. The list is huge) but the coalition discussed in the article is going to standardize those items accross all participating states. All those silly item-by-item exceptions would go away.
It's funny how many comments that go against the prevailing slashdot group-think are modded down as 'trolls' (despite being thoughful and well-written) while post after post piling abuse on M$ are modded up.
My wife considered this and spoke to a opthamalogist. She said that the surgery is worth doing now, but the technology is improving quickly, so if you are not dying to do it now, wait a couple years and it will be that much better, with lower risks.
If you're not in a rush, give them a few more years to figure out the side effects better.
My company gave all techies a good training class on an interview style called behavioral interviewing.
Traditionally, interviewers would ask clever questions requiring the candidate to think on their feet. Of course, if the candidate has heard that question before, they will slam-dunk the answer regardless of their intelligence/ability. From earlier stories, lots of/.'ers follow this approach. The main problem with this approach is being able to quickly answer a handful of difficult questions in an interview doesn't mean that person will write good code day in and day out or be a good employee. IMHO, it measures interviewing ability more than the ability to get work done.
The other approach is to ask the candidate what they've done and how they did it.
Describe the design patterns you used on your last project
Describe a difficult algorithm you had to write recently and how you wrote it.
Describe a problem you had on your last project and how you solved it.
Describe your role on your project team.
etc...
Then, take their answer and drill into more details on it. Try to understand their process of working and solving problems on a real project.
I think this approach works well.
The Chicago Tribune did an editorial on this question.
The fraud at Enron was more complicated than the outright theft at Adelphia or the insider trading at IMClone. Many of the offshore partnerships were actually legal. The justice department needs to wade through thousands of business deals to find which ones constitute fraud.
Hopefully the Justice department is patiently building a good case instead of throwing a lousy case at Enron quickly.
You might not be alone, but I don't agree. Certainly Javascript can do some cool stuff, but you can't count on it working for all your users. Do your processing on the server and you don't have this worry.
I use Javascript if I'm doing Intranet development where I don't have to worry (as much) about people disabling JS, and I know every user is on the same broswer and version, but I stay away from it for Internet development.
Also, people interested in creating eye-candy use flash instead of JS. So it's in a no-mans land where creative folks don't like it much, and most developers would rather use server-side processing anyway.
You may think this case is important, but wait 'til you hear about my patent on the "if" statement. Every time you put "if" in your program, I get a nickel. Too bad you didn't patent it first, huh?
Time for me to sit back and watch the money roll in.
"Farmers certainly piss off the casual, 4-hour-per-night player"
I haven't played these games, but 4 hours a night is a casual player!? Good Lord, man. I can't imagine what a dedicated player devotes, much less a 'farmer'.
Makes me feel good about my decision NOT to play these games.
Per the LinuxWorld column, below is my letter commenting on the settlement. Don't just complain about MS. Copy it, change it to your liking, and fax it to the number in the address!
Renata Hesse, Trial Attorney
Suite 1200, Antitrust Division
Department of Justice
601 D Street NW
Washington, DC 20530;
(facsimile) 202-616-9937
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am a computer programmer and consider myself knowledgeable of the computer industry. I am writing concerning the proposed Microsoft settlement with the Department of Justice. Since Microsoft has already been found guilty, I consider the existing settlement to be severely lacking in several areas. As it is currently written, the settlement will not prevent Microsoft from continuing their anti-competitive behavior. Also, it provides no penalty for Microsoft's past behavior. A meaningful settlement needs, at a minimum, the following:
Both the Windows API and Microsoft document formats (MS Word, MS Excel, etc) must be made freely available to anyone who wants them.
Microsoft networking protocols must be standardized by a standards body. This will prevent Microsoft from using their private, proprietary protocols to seize control of new applications used on the Internet.
Microsoft products should be provided only as extra-cost options on personal computers. The software should also be available for the same price as the difference between a computer loaded with Microsoft products, and one without any Microsoft products. This will prevent Microsoft from "bunding" an entire kitchen sink of applications with Windows, increasing the price of Windows (either directly or indirectly), and preventing competition.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm currently trying to hire an entry-level developer. There a lot of little things that separate school work from on the job work. Pick your favorite language and do a bunch of detailed research on the challenges corporate developers face. Speaking from a Java perspective, how are big projects built (Maven, Ant, Cruise Control, etc.), how are dependencies handled using those tools? How is automated testing handled (JUnit, Selenium, etc.) ? What other libraries are typically used? (Spring, Hibernate, Struts, etc. etc) You don't need to be an expert in all this stuff, but learn the basics and be able to describe what you've done with these tools, what you liked about them, disliked about them, pros and cons etc.
I think even a couple weeks of researching and using these tools would put you well above your peers the next time you go to an interview. In the interview, ask good questions: "How do you handle automated testing?" "Oh, you're using Hibernate, do you use it's query language?" Questions like this can demonstrate you understand (at least to some degree) the tools they are using.
Good luck.
running linux on your communicator
running linux on your phaser
why microsoft sucks
Natilie Portman running Linux naked
running linux on your tribble
If you have plenty of money, I would go ahead and do it. However, if you're not rich, I think you'd be better served putting the money in a college fund. Then the money will almost certainly be of use to your child. The cord blood might help if your child gets a certain disease and if that disease is treatable with cord blood cells and if the disease responds to the treatment, and if this company hasn't gone out of business. Too many ifs for me.
The companies harvesting cord blood are doing so because they can make money. From what I've read the medical community is not convinced it is worthwhile.
Joel on software has covered this point in a good article: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog00000000 69.html.
For someone that can "speek fluent English", I think your proofreading skills may be the problem. picknic? cheep? to expensive?
sheesh.
RTFA. Yes, taxable/non-taxable items are different in every state (marshmallows, clothing, tractors, white goods, etc. The list is huge) but the coalition discussed in the article is going to standardize those items accross all participating states. All those silly item-by-item exceptions would go away.
It's funny how many comments that go against the prevailing slashdot group-think are modded down as 'trolls' (despite being thoughful and well-written) while post after post piling abuse on M$ are modded up.
Hopefully I won't be called a troll for this!
My wife considered this and spoke to a opthamalogist. She said that the surgery is worth doing now, but the technology is improving quickly, so if you are not dying to do it now, wait a couple years and it will be that much better, with lower risks.
If you're not in a rush, give them a few more years to figure out the side effects better.
Traditionally, interviewers would ask clever questions requiring the candidate to think on their feet. Of course, if the candidate has heard that question before, they will slam-dunk the answer regardless of their intelligence/ability. From earlier stories, lots of
The other approach is to ask the candidate what they've done and how they did it.
- Describe the design patterns you used on your last project
- Describe a difficult algorithm you had to write recently and how you wrote it.
- Describe a problem you had on your last project and how you solved it.
- Describe your role on your project team.
- etc...
Then, take their answer and drill into more details on it. Try to understand their process of working and solving problems on a real project.I think this approach works well.
The Chicago Tribune did an editorial on this question.
The fraud at Enron was more complicated than the outright theft at Adelphia or the insider trading at IMClone. Many of the offshore partnerships were actually legal. The justice department needs to wade through thousands of business deals to find which ones constitute fraud.
Hopefully the Justice department is patiently building a good case instead of throwing a lousy case at Enron quickly.
You might not be alone, but I don't agree. Certainly Javascript can do some cool stuff, but you can't count on it working for all your users. Do your processing on the server and you don't have this worry. I use Javascript if I'm doing Intranet development where I don't have to worry (as much) about people disabling JS, and I know every user is on the same broswer and version, but I stay away from it for Internet development. Also, people interested in creating eye-candy use flash instead of JS. So it's in a no-mans land where creative folks don't like it much, and most developers would rather use server-side processing anyway.
You may think this case is important, but wait 'til you hear about my patent on the "if" statement. Every time you put "if" in your program, I get a nickel. Too bad you didn't patent it first, huh?
Time for me to sit back and watch the money roll in.
Renata Hesse, Trial Attorney
Suite 1200, Antitrust Division
Department of Justice
601 D Street NW
Washington, DC 20530;
(facsimile) 202-616-9937
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am a computer programmer and consider myself knowledgeable of the computer industry. I am writing concerning the proposed Microsoft settlement with the Department of Justice. Since Microsoft has already been found guilty, I consider the existing settlement to be severely lacking in several areas. As it is currently written, the settlement will not prevent Microsoft from continuing their anti-competitive behavior. Also, it provides no penalty for Microsoft's past behavior. A meaningful settlement needs, at a minimum, the following:
Sincerely,
Michael J. Green
concerned, informed Citizen