I apologize for coming in late but I've been offline longer than usual. At forty-six I receive at least five phone calls a day and anywhere from six to ten emails every day asking if I am available for work. To be fair I only do contract work and usually only take three to six months contracts, so I must agree that a person over thirty will likely never get a full time position at any company unless they are willing to work for much less than they deserve.
That being said, I can only offer the following advice in remaining in demand as a software engineer even into your forties and beyond. I'm being brutal for a reason so unless you have a clear rebuttal don't reply..
1) And this sucks. If you haven't been programming almost your entire life, twelve, thirteen possibly as late as sixteen, you don't have a chance.
2) You have nothing to do with open source, shareware, kumbaya software, game programming.
3) Don't even try to be a jack of all trades, pick a poison and stick with it.
___a) Case in point. I bit the bullet at Sprint circa 2002 and focused exclusively on.Net, which at the time was not even close to being a sure thing.
___b) I hated C the first time I saw it in the fall of 1987 but was smart enough to realize that C# was the future if you wanted to develop MS software.
4) This is probably the worse part of staying relevant after 40. While I love my wife and children, I don't have any hobbies, I don't go to movies, I don't read fiction. What I do is read Slashdot, shameless plug, and make sure that I am one of the first people anywhere on this planet that masters any new technology coming down the pike.
5) HTML5, HTML5, HTML5, HTML5 and in the MS world MVC3 / Razor.
6) 51Degrees, 51Degrees. If you are over forty and don't know what that is your getting very close to being too late.
You do realize if I was paid the same amount of money I am making know, I would go back to building mansions in the Hamptons.
I started programming in High School thirty years ago and yes it was GW-Basic but it was programming. There is such a high demand for developers that companies are starting to hire junior developers with two years experience in.Net and C#. We need to start offering programming as an elective in all US schools, even it it is just html, javascript and css as a starter.
You start teaching High School freshman using Microsofts Express software, by their Junior year they will be interning at Fortune 500 companies and very likely will start working at graduation. Depending on their abilities and especially if they are a natural programmer, there is no limit on what they can make.
This should also be true for any other language currently being used in the business world.
True story. My previous contract was with LPS - Aptitude Solutions in Maitland. One of the top developers there was a long haul trucker who after getting injured on the job was offered cross training. They gave him an IQ test and he scored in the 140s but they forced him to take it again because he was 6'4" 300 lbs and looked like he could snap your neck with one hand like a twig.
After realizing that he wasn't stupid they put him in a six month C class. Not C++, not C#, not objective C but plain old pain in the ass C. By the third month he was conducting the class when the teacher was out sick or otherwise.
So what the hell does this mean?
1) College will never teach you how to program in the real world, not now, not ever.
2) If you get a CS degree but can't program you may find work but it will never pay a high salary until you moved into PM.
3) The demand for natural programmers completely outweighs the need for a degree.
So what do you do?
This part is actually simpler than I thought when I started writing this post.
1) Whether you are a Freshman in High School or someone who has just graduated with a non-CS degree, your best bet is to endure the joy, the pain, the good, the evil that is C. Buy any book on it, download free compilers from anywhere and program, program, program. If you can successfully program seriously basic applications such as a Calculator or a Text Editor without putting a bullet in your head, you may very well be a natural programmer.
2) Pick your poison. I committed to C# in 2005 and have never looked back. Short term contracts for me have been the most lucrative and most reliable and generally speaking pay in the range of $45.00 to $75.00 per hour and usually last three to six months. The longest I went between contracts in the past three years has been about three weeks. I will defer to the Java, C++ developers on slashdot but believe that if you are highly skilled you will be successful in those languages as well.
I couldn't find your email so I'm just going to post. Please send me and an email at wdhowellsr@gmail.com with all of your issues with the Olive Gardens in Alaska. I walk by the entire management department for Olive Garden every day and although I've been there only two weeks they are serious about their brands. Being just a contractor I can't promise anything but an Olive Garden without bread sticks isn't an Olive Garden.
It's funny that you should say that because he asked me a similar question about the security failings of previous contracts and how I would overcome them. As I work with WCF often I talked about the problems with using the out of the box implementations and how encryption, handshakes and at the very least not publishing methods can reduce security breaches.
Now I wouldn't have shown him the security breaches but if you simply said that you know for a fact that many companies that you have worked for never change their passwords you would have been fine.
I know, that's exactly what I thought when the head developer told me that. But if you think about it, if you are the largest -- Insert Anything -- company in the world you are a target and if you have ever eaten at Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Long Horn Steak House, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze or Seasons 52 a single recipe or trade secret could be worth millions.
Olive Garden's Seafood Portofino with Minestrone Soup is without question the best recipe of it's type I have ever tasted, and don't get me started on the bread sticks.
I'm currently working a contract with Darden Restaurants, the largest full service retaurant company in the world, and as you can imagine they are very serious about security. During the meet and greet the head developer asked me if I had left any back doors at my previous contracts. I looked at him strange because the thought never even crossed my mind which is the difference between a hack and a professional.
After I replied, he told me a story about a programmer interviewing for a position at Darden who had very good qualifications. He was asked the same question and immediately said, "Let me show you my back door", and proceeded to log into a company web site and pull up their web site administration page. The programmer actually seemed shocked when told that there is no way Darden could hire him.
There is a fine line between genius and insanity but stupid is all by itself.
Imagine for a moment that Apple actually created a separate Business devision and to be crazy let's also imagine that they don't follow the same sucks to be you atitude when it comes to customer requirements, just maybe, we might see a fully integrated Business IT Environment where things actually worked together.
Apple stays out of Corporate for one reason and one reason alone, they know that they don't have what it takes to hack it in the Fortune 500 world. When I was implementing MIcrosoft SMS 1.0 at Sprint in the late nineties, the software was so bad that we had a monthly "Come to Jesus" meeting where the top Executives at Sprint would rip several new holes in Microsoft Management and they listened and it was finally implemented because they knew their ass was on the line.
Apple's ass is never on the line and to be honest I'm glad it isn't. Do you know how many "Insanely Great" products in the last century never saw the light of day because either their ass was on the line or the inventor decided to bend over and take it. While Apple will never ever compete in the Corporate World, I think Steve rests in peace knowing that they still make "Insanely Great" products.
By the way no one in my family owns an Apple product though I'm leaning toward an iPad but don't like restrictive development rules.
RIP Steve Jobs
Check your wireless networks and you will likely find the TSA showing up on your computer. They don't show up all of the time but they obviously don't care that you know.
This is why I shouldn't post at 12:43 am. My wife said I couldn't us the c word. Although I think it is fair to say the c word does require a good deal of work.
I hate to say this but when you have Bing, Google, and Yahoo saying that if I clean the dishes, use microdata, I can get laid in a search engine sense, I'm sorry the dishes will be cleaned. I don't know if this is live but let's be honest, they have us by our proverbial search engine balls. The days of free and fair elections, I mean fair SEO are as dead as Rep. Weiner's political career. Do you realize that he never had sex with any of those women. I'm not sure about you but if I'm going to ruin my career and my marriage, I'm going to at the very least factor the equation, define PI until I pass out, prove that (a)ss + (b)reasts = c
Actually I forgot the most important part. The biggest advantage that I have over other programmers with my level of experience is business and social skills. I know it may be a pain in the arse but being able to communicate effectively with non-technical management will give you the upper hand in either permanent or contract work.
I have been told on many occasions that the only reason I landed a contract was because I clearly communicated what I would be able to offer the client.
My son is twelve and I've already started him programming, but I've been beating my head against the wall trying to get the local school board to introduce programming as an elective or at the very least as an after school club. The good news is that you still have a much better head start than anyone graduating with a CS degree. The bad news is that, with an apology to html / javascript developers, having even advanced html and javascript experience is no longer a lead in to any programming position.
This is where I make a shout out to my slashdotter step-brothers and sisters regarding free software tools and training. There is no such thing as an expert programmer jack of all languages, it is in fact impossible to be both a MS guru and a JAVA etc. guru unless you are a masochist. So if you are up for it the first thing that you need to do is try each technology and make a choice. I cannot speak to the free JAVA and other opensource enterprise tools available but recommend searching Slashdot for free opensource development tools.
As far as a guaranteed Microsoft route to programming employment, and this is just my humble opinion, go immediately to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/default.aspx and download Visual C# 2010 Express. If you are as familiar with javascript as you say it will not be that confusing. Watch and read every single possible tutorial, lab, video or anything else you can get your hands on and code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code until your forearms hurt. If your brain hasn't fried and you still want more than go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/rampup/default and not to repeat myself but, Watch and read every single possible tutorial, lab, video or anything else you can get your hands on and code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code until your forearms hurt.
Now for the fun part, summer vacation. If you like me found that experience only slightly less satisfying than sex - keep in mind I've been married for twenty-five years - you are ready for the next step. From scratch create a Asp.NET / C# n-tier E-Commerce web site that includes all the bells and whistles including plug-ins from USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex and any other you would like.
Now for the part that will guarantee you a job after graduation, Pro Bono. There is someone that you or your parents know that are cheaper than my father (don't get me started, he would buy two-ply toilet paper and take the time to separate it into different rolls) and offer to build them an E-Commerce web site for free.
If you nail the site, you will suddenly be getting calls from a lot of people wanting you for side jobs. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to charge $15.00 / hour and remember to get letters of reference.
Hopefully by then end of the summer you have friends and family calling you left and right. But remember that you need to follow this simple rule:
Code, Code, Code, Code
Read, Read, Read, Read
Slashdot, Slashdot, Slashdot
On a final serious note. Don't dispair is you decide that we are all out of our freaking minds and this programming thing is like bamboo shoots up your fingernails. You have to be a special kind of (I still can't think of a word after thirty years) to be a programming guru of any technology.
I wish you the best and recommend that any slashdotter, anonymous coward or otherwise, forward this email to every school age person that they know.
I'm going to go and give my wife a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the mouth and get back to programming.
Unfortunately the market does expect more experience than any college graduate can get in four years. I started programming at fourteen as a freshman in HS and at 45 can honestly say I have thirty years of coding experience. I also jumped in on the beta of the up and coming MS.Net technology circa 2000 so actually have ten years experience with.Net.
I can only speak to programming but we should be exposing kids in middle school to all of the different languages and let them go to town if it is something that they like. Summer interning in High School would probably lead to a direct hire on graduation and they can get their degree on the company's dime. At the very least they will be three or four years ahead of any other graduate when they are out looking for work.
On a final note I can say definitely that no cares about a college degree if you have the required experience.
I agree completely but I'm an enterprise.Net developer whose clients refuse to use anything other than Microsoft or Oracle databases. Unfortunately Oracle doesn't currently offer a virtual installation.
When Microsoft came out with the first.Net products I decided to take the plunge and focus on MS.Net developing exclusively and it's worked out pretty well.
I tested Rackspace cloud services for a client that has seasonal swings in site hits but could not recommend it because MS SQL Server was not available on the virtual servers. I even pestered my brother-in-law at MS.
They now have MS SQL Server available on a per vserver basis.
I'm definitely looking at them again because you can programmatically create and destroy new server instances and you only pay for the time they exist.
The reality is that long before climate change destroys what we know as the modern world, it will crash and burn because of policies unrelated to climate. The United States throws out more food each day then can feed the entire world. The amount of garbage we produce is so great that it has already created thousands of square miles of floating debris in the world's oceans. If you take the top five most famous proponents of Climate Change, their combined daily carbon footprint exceeds literally thousands, tens of thousands, or more likely millions of third world families.
Nothing will ever change unless there is money to be made. Al Gore is a millionaire because he has heavily invested in industries that would benefit by the theories on Carbon Dioxide as a pollutant. Personally I’m comfortable in saying that this world is screwed either economically or politically long before the oceans rise at all.
It reminds me of a comment that Charles Manson made to Geraldo Rivera when he was asked about being crazy. He said, "I was crazy when it meant something." Hypocrisy has become so common that it doesn't mean anything anymore.
If you had no electricity for a week, how screwed would you be? Just saying.
Big Smirk. I consider my brother who warned them and showed up to be pretty close. Like I said to Shadow, I'm not saying anything about god or religion but rather that anyone who thinks he knows everything is an idiot.
Your right about the gas illustration, it was to obvious. But if you teach your children that there is nothing to fear if conventional wisdom is that there is nothing to fear, there screwed.
Spaz. That is true. However if he flew to Africa and spent a week drinking goats blood and chanting with witch doctors it would probably not be so good.
My brother was a missionary in Sierra Leone. Like I said Shadow, "This has nothing to do with religion." But you are welcome to call my brother delusional. In forty-five years my arrogance has been tempered by dozens of personal experiences I cannot explain.
One of the things I find most amusing is how people who arrogantly deny that there are things that they don't understand are usually the most surprised when they experience them.
You are quite right, I was intentionally vague. This is definitely not the forum for presenting personal experiences that defy rational explanation but provide clarity without question. My intial reaction was to give him a sure thing method but was smart enough to edit my post.
Slashdot Mirror
I apologize for coming in late but I've been offline longer than usual. At forty-six I receive at least five phone calls a day and anywhere from six to ten emails every day asking if I am available for work. To be fair I only do contract work and usually only take three to six months contracts, so I must agree that a person over thirty will likely never get a full time position at any company unless they are willing to work for much less than they deserve.
.Net, which at the time was not even close to being a sure thing.
That being said, I can only offer the following advice in remaining in demand as a software engineer even into your forties and beyond. I'm being brutal for a reason so unless you have a clear rebuttal don't reply..
1) And this sucks. If you haven't been programming almost your entire life, twelve, thirteen possibly as late as sixteen, you don't have a chance.
2) You have nothing to do with open source, shareware, kumbaya software, game programming.
3) Don't even try to be a jack of all trades, pick a poison and stick with it.
___a) Case in point. I bit the bullet at Sprint circa 2002 and focused exclusively on
___b) I hated C the first time I saw it in the fall of 1987 but was smart enough to realize that C# was the future if you wanted to develop MS software.
4) This is probably the worse part of staying relevant after 40. While I love my wife and children, I don't have any hobbies, I don't go to movies, I don't read fiction. What I do is read Slashdot, shameless plug, and make sure that I am one of the first people anywhere on this planet that masters any new technology coming down the pike.
5) HTML5, HTML5, HTML5, HTML5 and in the MS world MVC3 / Razor.
6) 51Degrees, 51Degrees. If you are over forty and don't know what that is your getting very close to being too late.
You do realize if I was paid the same amount of money I am making know, I would go back to building mansions in the Hamptons.
I started programming in High School thirty years ago and yes it was GW-Basic but it was programming. There is such a high demand for developers that companies are starting to hire junior developers with two years experience in .Net and C#. We need to start offering programming as an elective in all US schools, even it it is just html, javascript and css as a starter.
You start teaching High School freshman using Microsofts Express software, by their Junior year they will be interning at Fortune 500 companies and very likely will start working at graduation. Depending on their abilities and especially if they are a natural programmer, there is no limit on what they can make.
This should also be true for any other language currently being used in the business world.
"How do you know if you've never tried it?"
Good point, thanks for the book reference. Can I say again how much I love Anonymous Cowards, they are so easy to ignore.
Creating an account on Slashdot is so easy a caveman can do it and we won't ignore you anymore.
True story. My previous contract was with LPS - Aptitude Solutions in Maitland. One of the top developers there was a long haul trucker who after getting injured on the job was offered cross training. They gave him an IQ test and he scored in the 140s but they forced him to take it again because he was 6'4" 300 lbs and looked like he could snap your neck with one hand like a twig.
After realizing that he wasn't stupid they put him in a six month C class. Not C++, not C#, not objective C but plain old pain in the ass C. By the third month he was conducting the class when the teacher was out sick or otherwise.
So what the hell does this mean?
1) College will never teach you how to program in the real world, not now, not ever.
2) If you get a CS degree but can't program you may find work but it will never pay a high salary until you moved into PM.
3) The demand for natural programmers completely outweighs the need for a degree.
So what do you do?
This part is actually simpler than I thought when I started writing this post.
1) Whether you are a Freshman in High School or someone who has just graduated with a non-CS degree, your best bet is to endure the joy, the pain, the good, the evil that is C. Buy any book on it, download free compilers from anywhere and program, program, program. If you can successfully program seriously basic applications such as a Calculator or a Text Editor without putting a bullet in your head, you may very well be a natural programmer.
2) Pick your poison. I committed to C# in 2005 and have never looked back. Short term contracts for me have been the most lucrative and most reliable and generally speaking pay in the range of $45.00 to $75.00 per hour and usually last three to six months. The longest I went between contracts in the past three years has been about three weeks. I will defer to the Java, C++ developers on slashdot but believe that if you are highly skilled you will be successful in those languages as well.
I couldn't find your email so I'm just going to post. Please send me and an email at wdhowellsr@gmail.com with all of your issues with the Olive Gardens in Alaska. I walk by the entire management department for Olive Garden every day and although I've been there only two weeks they are serious about their brands. Being just a contractor I can't promise anything but an Olive Garden without bread sticks isn't an Olive Garden.
It's funny that you should say that because he asked me a similar question about the security failings of previous contracts and how I would overcome them. As I work with WCF often I talked about the problems with using the out of the box implementations and how encryption, handshakes and at the very least not publishing methods can reduce security breaches.
Now I wouldn't have shown him the security breaches but if you simply said that you know for a fact that many companies that you have worked for never change their passwords you would have been fine.
I know, that's exactly what I thought when the head developer told me that. But if you think about it, if you are the largest -- Insert Anything -- company in the world you are a target and if you have ever eaten at Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Long Horn Steak House, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze or Seasons 52 a single recipe or trade secret could be worth millions.
Olive Garden's Seafood Portofino with Minestrone Soup is without question the best recipe of it's type I have ever tasted, and don't get me started on the bread sticks.
Damn, now I'm hungry.
I'm currently working a contract with Darden Restaurants, the largest full service retaurant company in the world, and as you can imagine they are very serious about security. During the meet and greet the head developer asked me if I had left any back doors at my previous contracts. I looked at him strange because the thought never even crossed my mind which is the difference between a hack and a professional.
After I replied, he told me a story about a programmer interviewing for a position at Darden who had very good qualifications. He was asked the same question and immediately said, "Let me show you my back door", and proceeded to log into a company web site and pull up their web site administration page. The programmer actually seemed shocked when told that there is no way Darden could hire him.
There is a fine line between genius and insanity but stupid is all by itself.
Imagine for a moment that Apple actually created a separate Business devision and to be crazy let's also imagine that they don't follow the same sucks to be you atitude when it comes to customer requirements, just maybe, we might see a fully integrated Business IT Environment where things actually worked together.
Apple stays out of Corporate for one reason and one reason alone, they know that they don't have what it takes to hack it in the Fortune 500 world. When I was implementing MIcrosoft SMS 1.0 at Sprint in the late nineties, the software was so bad that we had a monthly "Come to Jesus" meeting where the top Executives at Sprint would rip several new holes in Microsoft Management and they listened and it was finally implemented because they knew their ass was on the line.
Apple's ass is never on the line and to be honest I'm glad it isn't. Do you know how many "Insanely Great" products in the last century never saw the light of day because either their ass was on the line or the inventor decided to bend over and take it. While Apple will never ever compete in the Corporate World, I think Steve rests in peace knowing that they still make "Insanely Great" products.
By the way no one in my family owns an Apple product though I'm leaning toward an iPad but don't like restrictive development rules. RIP Steve Jobs
Check your wireless networks and you will likely find the TSA showing up on your computer. They don't show up all of the time but they obviously don't care that you know.
This is why I shouldn't post at 12:43 am. My wife said I couldn't us the c word. Although I think it is fair to say the c word does require a good deal of work.
My wife said I couldn't use the c work.
I hate to say this but when you have Bing, Google, and Yahoo saying that if I clean the dishes, use microdata, I can get laid in a search engine sense, I'm sorry the dishes will be cleaned. I don't know if this is live but let's be honest, they have us by our proverbial search engine balls. The days of free and fair elections, I mean fair SEO are as dead as Rep. Weiner's political career. Do you realize that he never had sex with any of those women. I'm not sure about you but if I'm going to ruin my career and my marriage, I'm going to at the very least factor the equation, define PI until I pass out, prove that (a)ss + (b)reasts = c
Couldn't get the superscripts to work.
Actually I forgot the most important part. The biggest advantage that I have over other programmers with my level of experience is business and social skills. I know it may be a pain in the arse but being able to communicate effectively with non-technical management will give you the upper hand in either permanent or contract work.
I have been told on many occasions that the only reason I landed a contract was because I clearly communicated what I would be able to offer the client.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
My son is twelve and I've already started him programming, but I've been beating my head against the wall trying to get the local school board to introduce programming as an elective or at the very least as an after school club. The good news is that you still have a much better head start than anyone graduating with a CS degree. The bad news is that, with an apology to html / javascript developers, having even advanced html and javascript experience is no longer a lead in to any programming position.
This is where I make a shout out to my slashdotter step-brothers and sisters regarding free software tools and training. There is no such thing as an expert programmer jack of all languages, it is in fact impossible to be both a MS guru and a JAVA etc. guru unless you are a masochist. So if you are up for it the first thing that you need to do is try each technology and make a choice. I cannot speak to the free JAVA and other opensource enterprise tools available but recommend searching Slashdot for free opensource development tools.
As far as a guaranteed Microsoft route to programming employment, and this is just my humble opinion, go immediately to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/default.aspx and download Visual C# 2010 Express. If you are as familiar with javascript as you say it will not be that confusing. Watch and read every single possible tutorial, lab, video or anything else you can get your hands on and code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code until your forearms hurt. If your brain hasn't fried and you still want more than go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/rampup/default and not to repeat myself but, Watch and read every single possible tutorial, lab, video or anything else you can get your hands on and code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code, code until your forearms hurt.
Now for the fun part, summer vacation. If you like me found that experience only slightly less satisfying than sex - keep in mind I've been married for twenty-five years - you are ready for the next step. From scratch create a Asp.NET / C# n-tier E-Commerce web site that includes all the bells and whistles including plug-ins from USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex and any other you would like.
Now for the part that will guarantee you a job after graduation, Pro Bono. There is someone that you or your parents know that are cheaper than my father (don't get me started, he would buy two-ply toilet paper and take the time to separate it into different rolls) and offer to build them an E-Commerce web site for free.
If you nail the site, you will suddenly be getting calls from a lot of people wanting you for side jobs. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to charge $15.00 / hour and remember to get letters of reference.
Hopefully by then end of the summer you have friends and family calling you left and right. But remember that you need to follow this simple rule:
Code, Code, Code, Code
Read, Read, Read, Read
Slashdot, Slashdot, Slashdot
On a final serious note. Don't dispair is you decide that we are all out of our freaking minds and this programming thing is like bamboo shoots up your fingernails. You have to be a special kind of (I still can't think of a word after thirty years) to be a programming guru of any technology.
I wish you the best and recommend that any slashdotter, anonymous coward or otherwise, forward this email to every school age person that they know.
I'm going to go and give my wife a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the mouth and get back to programming.
Unfortunately the market does expect more experience than any college graduate can get in four years. I started programming at fourteen as a freshman in HS and at 45 can honestly say I have thirty years of coding experience. I also jumped in on the beta of the up and coming MS .Net technology circa 2000 so actually have ten years experience with .Net.
I can only speak to programming but we should be exposing kids in middle school to all of the different languages and let them go to town if it is something that they like. Summer interning in High School would probably lead to a direct hire on graduation and they can get their degree on the company's dime. At the very least they will be three or four years ahead of any other graduate when they are out looking for work.
On a final note I can say definitely that no cares about a college degree if you have the required experience.
Belichick is drueling over this. If the NFL goes with I-Pads I'm sure the Patriots will win the next five Super Bowls and be undefeated each season.
"Where are we supposed to go?", "The further South the better, Mexico or parts of Florida that aren't flooded."
Dr Hall in "The Day After Tomorrow"
Go North Central Florida.
I agree completely but I'm an enterprise .Net developer whose clients refuse to use anything other than Microsoft or Oracle databases. Unfortunately Oracle doesn't currently offer a virtual installation.
.Net products I decided to take the plunge and focus on MS .Net developing exclusively and it's worked out pretty well.
When Microsoft came out with the first
I tested Rackspace cloud services for a client that has seasonal swings in site hits but could not recommend it because MS SQL Server was not available on the virtual servers. I even pestered my brother-in-law at MS.
They now have MS SQL Server available on a per vserver basis.
I'm definitely looking at them again because you can programmatically create and destroy new server instances and you only pay for the time they exist.
Everything is grayscale at night.
The reality is that long before climate change destroys what we know as the modern world, it will crash and burn because of policies unrelated to climate. The United States throws out more food each day then can feed the entire world. The amount of garbage we produce is so great that it has already created thousands of square miles of floating debris in the world's oceans. If you take the top five most famous proponents of Climate Change, their combined daily carbon footprint exceeds literally thousands, tens of thousands, or more likely millions of third world families.
Nothing will ever change unless there is money to be made. Al Gore is a millionaire because he has heavily invested in industries that would benefit by the theories on Carbon Dioxide as a pollutant. Personally I’m comfortable in saying that this world is screwed either economically or politically long before the oceans rise at all.
It reminds me of a comment that Charles Manson made to Geraldo Rivera when he was asked about being crazy. He said, "I was crazy when it meant something." Hypocrisy has become so common that it doesn't mean anything anymore.
If you had no electricity for a week, how screwed would you be? Just saying.
You do realize that Anonymous Cowards are actually worse than Ghosts.
Big Smirk. I consider my brother who warned them and showed up to be pretty close. Like I said to Shadow, I'm not saying anything about god or religion but rather that anyone who thinks he knows everything is an idiot.
Your right about the gas illustration, it was to obvious. But if you teach your children that there is nothing to fear if conventional wisdom is that there is nothing to fear, there screwed.
Spaz. That is true. However if he flew to Africa and spent a week drinking goats blood and chanting with witch doctors it would probably not be so good.
My brother was a missionary in Sierra Leone. Like I said Shadow, "This has nothing to do with religion." But you are welcome to call my brother delusional. In forty-five years my arrogance has been tempered by dozens of personal experiences I cannot explain.
One of the things I find most amusing is how people who arrogantly deny that there are things that they don't understand are usually the most surprised when they experience them.
You are quite right, I was intentionally vague. This is definitely not the forum for presenting personal experiences that defy rational explanation but provide clarity without question. My intial reaction was to give him a sure thing method but was smart enough to edit my post.