...for all the fame and notoriety that comes with it. Maybe if I develop a killer new algorithm, everyone in the world is gonna be talking about ME!
I'll be on the cover of "The Inquirer" with my hand on J-Lo's ass, getting into a stretch limo, while wiping the excess blow from my upper lip.
Yep, that's what software development means to me. Paparazzi, supermodels, and illicit substances!
This just in: In a move similar to Microsoft's licensing of "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones, Nintendo has optioned KISS' "Lick it Up" to promote their new product.
In a related story, KISS spokesman and resident carny barker Gene Simmons has been tapped as the principal play-tester for the device.
One was at a small videogaming company. They brought me in as a "hired gun" because the publisher had sunk millions into this game, and the developer had nothing to show for it.
So I managed to get them to the state of having a playable demo of the game in only six months. At about that time, however, one of the more "shifty" employees hacked into the financial records of the company to check people's salaries. Well, of course, being a "hired-gun", I was making at least twice or three times as much as anybody there. And of course, this scumbag proceeded to announce my salary to anybody who would listen.
Now, the other employees didn't really begrudge MY salary because they could see visible evidence that I was worth the dough. However, it only served to underscore how little THEY were being paid, so they threatened to mutiny if they didn't see a little more equity.
Can you smell what's coming? Management's BRILLIANT decision was to attempt to cut MY pay. I said no. They countered with, "This is the way it has to be." I said, "I'm outta here."
Luckily, I had a consulting gig that I WAS going to turn down, until this turn of events. However, management at the game company then tried to offer me a 25K BUMP if I would come back and save them. Well, by that time, I knew that they weren't trustworthy, and wouldn't live up to their side of things in the long run, so I said, "No way."
My other sour taste was when, as the 3D engine guy for a games company, the publisher was purchased by another company, and the new owner decided to do a financial audit of all of the current projects. And, of course, my salary was a severe sticking point with the new publisher. They didn't seem to understand the importance of the 3D engine guy, so they INSISTED that the developer lay me off, or there would be no more funding. This was despite protests from the game company that employed me.
For some reason, a lot of management seems to think that engineers are interchangeable cogs, and this was no exception. It didn't matter that I had developed the ENTIRE DAMN ENGINE, as well as the associated artist tools. Heck, I think that by the time they laid me off, the game company's management had half convinced themselves that they COULD finish the game with the remaining engineer, despite the fact that he'd never done a 3D engine before.
So after I was laid off, development of the game slowly ground to a halt.
The moral to all of this is that if management insists on nickle-and-diming when it comes to experienced engineers, this behavior will INEVITABLY bite them in the ass.
"The Truth Machine" by James Halperin is a fascinating parable detailing how someone who is accidentally exposed to outside code is forced to commit crimes in order to hide it.
In other words, don't do it! It could bite you in the ass later.
here's mine
"A system for organic intake of oxygenated gas, processesing, and expulsion of carbon dioxide using the regulated expansion and contraction of internal, flexible chambered compartments."
pay up, suckers!
I completely agree with the opinion that a person should go for the doctorate because they WANT to, not for any supposed future monetary gain.
Maybe I'm atypical, but I have NO degree, yet I've been making a six-figure income in the software development arena for nearly a decade now, with no signs of a ceiling to my earnings.
My career continues to be in pure engineering, so I get the benefits of an executive salary without the soul-numbing move to management that seems to be inevitable for so many.
Bear in mind that I'm only in my mid-30s, and have NOT been working as a consultant, but as a full-time salaried employee, with all of the stability and benefits that are implied. I have worked a minimum of three years at every company (with the exception of a summer job doing graphics tools in '84), so I must not COMPLETELY suck at my job.
BTW, folks, for those of you who haven't worked in the field yet, there's this strange magical process that happens naturally over time. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called "experience". This magical process has allowed me to develop a deep understanding of software development processes. What a concept! Using this "experience" thing, I have even managed to develop patented software technologies for major technology corporations.
There was only ONE company in my entire history of interviews that cared about my lack of degree. In fact they were quite offended by my asking salary, despite my supporting prior salary history. The main interviewer took great pains to tell me about all of the PhD's on-staff that were working for half of my asking price. It didn't matter, though, because by that point, I could tell that I had NO interest in working with a group of PhD snobs, no matter WHAT the salary.
As an addendum, and before the flames start, I will say that I have had the pleasure of working with many talented and courteous PhD's, so don't take my experience with one company as a general slam against those with doctorates.
... despite the fact that my youth was pure f***ing midwestern hell. I want everything EXACTLY the way it is.
I'm livin' the life in Cali, and those jerks in Iowa KNOW IT! Whenever I go back to visit my Dad, the same people who made my life in high school a living hell spend all of their time sucking up to the visiting "rock star".
In short, if my youth hadn't sucked so much, my adult life would never have been so satisfying.
I've been doing this since '84, and my career is stronger and more lucrative than ever. I've managed to dodge the "moved to management" bullet, yet now make more money than many V.P.s and C.E.O.s...
The problem is that those entering college are encouraged to study engineering and computer science, yet because of this, there is now a flood of so-called engineers entering the workplace. The majority of these are "academic" engineers, with no real-world experience, and who don't have a real love of the craft. They're just looking for the big paycheck.
I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but unless you have a passion for this, look at it as a creative endeavor, and would program computers with or without a paycheck, you're simply not going survive for long against those of us who DO have these traits.
In the past, I was tech-director for a big company, assigned to a videogame being developed at an external dev. house. There were eight programmers, maybe one or two of them worth a damn, but the others, including THEIR internal tech lead, continuously f-ed the project.
When I was brought in to the project, I evaluated the developer, and my conclusion was either a) cancel the project, b) change developers, or c) bring it "in-house" for me to finish.
Well, the mother company voted for d) do nothing, except assign me to supervise the impending train wreck.
A year and several million later, the mother company finally saw the light and yanked the project, to be finished in-house.
Guess who finished (read: re-wrote) the game code, and suffered great agony from the spaghetti mess induced by over a year of the random neuron firings of idiots?
The moral of the story is: make the hard decisions NOW. If your so-called programmers currenly have no code, no amount of cajoling (or beer) will make them produce code later. Programmers program. Slackers slack.
One of the most visually interesting manuals that I've seen is NaN's "Blender 1.5" (or the later 1.8) manual. Maybe it's the Euro-rave sensibility of the creators, but I truly enjoyed reading this manual, and I have a copy of it sitting on my coffee table for others to peruse.
It was actually worth the price, just for the layout and visuals alone, even if I had never intended to use Blender at all.
is impossible to predict because we don't use the same "random numbers" as the "universal computer" when doing OUR "approximation of an approximation".;)
If the universe is a giant computer, why waste computing power on the un-observed? If I were optimizing the "master program", i'd use an LOD algorithm to approximate to the level needed for the observer(s).
For example, Newtonian physics is perfectly acceptable for macro level observations, and only those observers (physicists) who are researching sub-atomic particles need to be "shown" the low-level quantum phenomena in question. Otherwise, even complex phenomena such as DNA replication, sub-atomic particle interactions, etc., can be approximations.
For most of the observable universe, it's the macro-level result of any of these interactions that is meaningful to the masses.
The "Universal Computer" could be less powerful than we think. "What is the Matrix?", indeed.
Actually, there is a rudimentary python script available for Blender that exports.RIB files that are then renderable by BMRT (Blue Moon Rendering Tools), a RenderMan compliant ray-tracing renderer.
I'm getting really tired of these pathetic plastic-skinned, deformed CG skanks popping up in the news every few months, just because some Japanese digital Svengali decides to pimp his latest Phong-shaded stroke material out to the Tokyo couterparts of Lara Croft fanboys.
When someone can fool me into believing that one of these CG "pop-stars" is a real person in both stills AND video, I'll start paying attention. Until then, go back to the lab, boys. You still have a long way to go.
Some advice to these wanna-be digital pimps: Do yourselves a favor and take a page from the modellers and animators of "Dr. Sid" from Final Fantasy. There were moments where this character actually crossed over. Brilliant.
...for the hobbyist. Use a windoze98 or better PC with a 650 MHZ PIII, a GForce3 accelerator, a HammerHead dual-stick controller, MSVisual C++, and DX8.
This is roughly the setup that most developers were prototyping on before the dev-kits were widely available.
Slashdot Mirror
exactly what you think it means. I guess it was interstellar "fajitas night" or something.
The musical number in Jabba's palace was when the Fonz started revving his engine.
It's not a memory leak. It's an object life-span issue.
nuff said.
Inquiring minds want to know.
...for all the fame and notoriety that comes with it. Maybe if I develop a killer new algorithm, everyone in the world is gonna be talking about ME!
I'll be on the cover of "The Inquirer" with my hand on J-Lo's ass, getting into a stretch limo, while wiping the excess blow from my upper lip.
Yep, that's what software development means to me. Paparazzi, supermodels, and illicit substances!
This just in: In a move similar to Microsoft's licensing of "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones, Nintendo has optioned KISS' "Lick it Up" to promote their new product.
In a related story, KISS spokesman and resident carny barker Gene Simmons has been tapped as the principal play-tester for the device.
One was at a small videogaming company. They brought me in as a "hired gun" because the publisher had sunk millions into this game, and the developer had nothing to show for it.
So I managed to get them to the state of having a playable demo of the game in only six months. At about that time, however, one of the more "shifty" employees hacked into the financial records of the company to check people's salaries. Well, of course, being a "hired-gun", I was making at least twice or three times as much as anybody there. And of course, this scumbag proceeded to announce my salary to anybody who would listen.
Now, the other employees didn't really begrudge MY salary because they could see visible evidence that I was worth the dough. However, it only served to underscore how little THEY were being paid, so they threatened to mutiny if they didn't see a little more equity.
Can you smell what's coming? Management's BRILLIANT decision was to attempt to cut MY pay. I said no. They countered with, "This is the way it has to be." I said, "I'm outta here."
Luckily, I had a consulting gig that I WAS going to turn down, until this turn of events. However, management at the game company then tried to offer me a 25K BUMP if I would come back and save them. Well, by that time, I knew that they weren't trustworthy, and wouldn't live up to their side of things in the long run, so I said, "No way."
My other sour taste was when, as the 3D engine guy for a games company, the publisher was purchased by another company, and the new owner decided to do a financial audit of all of the current projects. And, of course, my salary was a severe sticking point with the new publisher. They didn't seem to understand the importance of the 3D engine guy, so they INSISTED that the developer lay me off, or there would be no more funding. This was despite protests from the game company that employed me.
For some reason, a lot of management seems to think that engineers are interchangeable cogs, and this was no exception. It didn't matter that I had developed the ENTIRE DAMN ENGINE, as well as the associated artist tools. Heck, I think that by the time they laid me off, the game company's management had half convinced themselves that they COULD finish the game with the remaining engineer, despite the fact that he'd never done a 3D engine before.
So after I was laid off, development of the game slowly ground to a halt. The moral to all of this is that if management insists on nickle-and-diming when it comes to experienced engineers, this behavior will INEVITABLY bite them in the ass.
"The Truth Machine" by James Halperin is a fascinating parable detailing how someone who is accidentally exposed to outside code is forced to commit crimes in order to hide it.
In other words, don't do it! It could bite you in the ass later.
here's mine "A system for organic intake of oxygenated gas, processesing, and expulsion of carbon dioxide using the regulated expansion and contraction of internal, flexible chambered compartments." pay up, suckers!
I completely agree with the opinion that a person should go for the doctorate because they WANT to, not for any supposed future monetary gain.
Maybe I'm atypical, but I have NO degree, yet I've been making a six-figure income in the software development arena for nearly a decade now, with no signs of a ceiling to my earnings.
My career continues to be in pure engineering, so I get the benefits of an executive salary without the soul-numbing move to management that seems to be inevitable for so many.
Bear in mind that I'm only in my mid-30s, and have NOT been working as a consultant, but as a full-time salaried employee, with all of the stability and benefits that are implied. I have worked a minimum of three years at every company (with the exception of a summer job doing graphics tools in '84), so I must not COMPLETELY suck at my job.
BTW, folks, for those of you who haven't worked in the field yet, there's this strange magical process that happens naturally over time. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called "experience". This magical process has allowed me to develop a deep understanding of software development processes. What a concept! Using this "experience" thing, I have even managed to develop patented software technologies for major technology corporations.
There was only ONE company in my entire history of interviews that cared about my lack of degree. In fact they were quite offended by my asking salary, despite my supporting prior salary history. The main interviewer took great pains to tell me about all of the PhD's on-staff that were working for half of my asking price. It didn't matter, though, because by that point, I could tell that I had NO interest in working with a group of PhD snobs, no matter WHAT the salary.
As an addendum, and before the flames start, I will say that I have had the pleasure of working with many talented and courteous PhD's, so don't take my experience with one company as a general slam against those with doctorates.
... despite the fact that my youth was pure f***ing midwestern hell. I want everything EXACTLY the way it is. I'm livin' the life in Cali, and those jerks in Iowa KNOW IT! Whenever I go back to visit my Dad, the same people who made my life in high school a living hell spend all of their time sucking up to the visiting "rock star". In short, if my youth hadn't sucked so much, my adult life would never have been so satisfying.
I've been doing this since '84, and my career is stronger and more lucrative than ever. I've managed to dodge the "moved to management" bullet, yet now make more money than many V.P.s and C.E.O.s ...
The problem is that those entering college are encouraged to study engineering and computer science, yet because of this, there is now a flood of so-called engineers entering the workplace. The majority of these are "academic" engineers, with no real-world experience, and who don't have a real love of the craft. They're just looking for the big paycheck.
I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but unless you have a passion for this, look at it as a creative endeavor, and would program computers with or without a paycheck, you're simply not going survive for long against those of us who DO have these traits.
In the past, I was tech-director for a big company, assigned to a videogame being developed at an external dev. house. There were eight programmers, maybe one or two of them worth a damn, but the others, including THEIR internal tech lead, continuously f-ed the project.
When I was brought in to the project, I evaluated the developer, and my conclusion was either a) cancel the project, b) change developers, or c) bring it "in-house" for me to finish.
Well, the mother company voted for d) do nothing, except assign me to supervise the impending train wreck.
A year and several million later, the mother company finally saw the light and yanked the project, to be finished in-house.
Guess who finished (read: re-wrote) the game code, and suffered great agony from the spaghetti mess induced by over a year of the random neuron firings of idiots?
The moral of the story is: make the hard decisions NOW. If your so-called programmers currenly have no code, no amount of cajoling (or beer) will make them produce code later. Programmers program. Slackers slack.
One of the most visually interesting manuals that I've seen is NaN's "Blender 1.5" (or the later 1.8) manual. Maybe it's the Euro-rave sensibility of the creators, but I truly enjoyed reading this manual, and I have a copy of it sitting on my coffee table for others to peruse. It was actually worth the price, just for the layout and visuals alone, even if I had never intended to use Blender at all.
is impossible to predict because we don't use the same "random numbers" as the "universal computer" when doing OUR "approximation of an approximation". ;)
... can, of course, be approximated using macro-level formulae. A faster orbit decay is a macro level manifestation of quantum phenomena.
If the universe is a giant computer, why waste computing power on the un-observed? If I were optimizing the "master program", i'd use an LOD algorithm to approximate to the level needed for the observer(s).
For example, Newtonian physics is perfectly acceptable for macro level observations, and only those observers (physicists) who are researching sub-atomic particles need to be "shown" the low-level quantum phenomena in question. Otherwise, even complex phenomena such as DNA replication, sub-atomic particle interactions, etc., can be approximations.
For most of the observable universe, it's the macro-level result of any of these interactions that is meaningful to the masses.
The "Universal Computer" could be less powerful than we think. "What is the Matrix?", indeed.
Actually, there is a rudimentary python script available for Blender that exports .RIB files that are then renderable by BMRT (Blue Moon Rendering Tools), a RenderMan compliant ray-tracing renderer.
I'm getting really tired of these pathetic plastic-skinned, deformed CG skanks popping up in the news every few months, just because some Japanese digital Svengali decides to pimp his latest Phong-shaded stroke material out to the Tokyo couterparts of Lara Croft fanboys.
When someone can fool me into believing that one of these CG "pop-stars" is a real person in both stills AND video, I'll start paying attention. Until then, go back to the lab, boys. You still have a long way to go.
Some advice to these wanna-be digital pimps: Do yourselves a favor and take a page from the modellers and animators of "Dr. Sid" from Final Fantasy. There were moments where this character actually crossed over. Brilliant.
...for the hobbyist. Use a windoze98 or better PC with a 650 MHZ PIII, a GForce3 accelerator, a HammerHead dual-stick controller, MSVisual C++, and DX8. This is roughly the setup that most developers were prototyping on before the dev-kits were widely available.