I have ran into similar problems in the past. I hit the ceiling of the "technical" promotion track, stayed there for a few years and finally hit the max salary band. If I wanted another promotion/pay increase I would have been forced into a project management track. I finally chose the option that wasn't being offered - I gave my two weeks notice and left for a new employer.
Communicate with your employer - tell them where your interests are. Talk to your boss, dept director, HR to see if there are any options to shift the promotion into a technical position. At the same time, if you are committed to keeping a tech job, keep your options open by seriously looking for new job opportunities. If you find that you are out of options with your employer, its probably time to move on.
I worked the first three days (nights? what do you call 8pm to 8am shifts?) of GenCon as a judge for Magic: The Gathering. The only new CCG that caught my interest was Eve; I picked up a small pile of cards but haven't had a chance to play yet. Thanks for the link to the rulebook, I've been looking for it.
The most over-hyped CCG seemed to be Spoils; from the glimpse I caught it looked like a M:TG paraody along the lines of Havoc: The Bothering but with more play depth and a "stupid humor" theme. Bleh.
MyXAML is an impressive XAML parser; there are already simple examples out there of MyXAML compiled and running under Mono.
It is dual licensed as GPL/Commercial. The source code is downloadable and free to use and distribute as long as the application linking it is GPL (it can also be freely used if not distributed).
I've recently completed a moderate custom software project for a fully loaded Sager NP4780. I really didn't think they would go for it but I had to ask. All-in-all a $3000+ package.
I've also bartered for a number of developer software packages. I try to barter for something that will help me complete the project at hand. You're more likely to get what you ask for if you can spin it as a benifit to the project in addition to compensation.
My employer has an unhealthy love of spreadsheets, so much that they have become a required part of our business and technical documentation for software desgin and development.
Need to lay out a dynamic webpage? You need to fill out an XSL Matrix (aka. spreadsheet)! Negotiating an interface with an external system? Fill out an interface specification (aka. spreadsheet)! Need an issue tracking log? Spreadsheet! I could go on... This is information obsfucation at its best.
Are we alone or is anyone else suffering the abuses of software design by spreadsheet?
Your using BPL? And your connection is slow? No problem! You just have a dirty connection. Simply unplug your modem from the wall socket, take a screwdriver, paperclip or other narrow metal object and jiggle it around in the socket. Your problem will clear up in no time!
No offense intended to you specifically; I was aiming that bit of off-target humor towards the average/. reader.
You have no idea about what kind of ego I have because you don't know me or what kind of programmer I am.
Yep, thats why I have to rely on your previous slashdot posts and your website http://www.fimble.com/ to make an educated guess. You seem a decent enough fellow:)
Seriously, I have a difficult time working with the in-house contacts for the "offshore group" at my company because they are not assertive, are hard to understand (accent), and have a shaky grasp of well-spoken english (like the majority of slashdot posters:)
From my point of view, the problem is not with their experience, skills, capabilities, etc. Unashamedly, some of the ones I work with are much more diciplined than I am. The most frustrating problem is the time and difficulty that must be invested to effectively communicate with them. It takes easily more than twice the amount of time to completly impart an idea to most of these foriegn workers.
Personally, I would like to believe that with a little nudging (and without lawyers), I can resolve the things.
Don't be naive. If you are serious, you should establish a relationship with a lawyer immediately, then discuss your "little nudging" with him/her.
I applaud your desire to resolve this out of court, but you need to establish a strong trail of documentation of your discovery and attempts to resolve the problem without resorting to legal action. A lawyer is the person who should keep that trail for you.
Watching Firefly felt like reading one of those old pick-your-path books (turn to page 25 if you want to go here, page 43 to do that... etc.), except that someone else was turning the pages and picking the route. On average it was slow and lackluster; there was nothing new or intriging that made me want to actually set aside an hour to watch.
The plots were hair-thin re-hashes stolen from old westens; the characters are flat stereotypes (hero, doctor, preacher, prostitute, thief, etc...) splashed with a few worn cliches, and the interaction between them was predictable and bland.
I want sci-fi that gets me guessing about character motives and goals, and a plot that is not afraid to twist through more than a few knots or spread across a number of episodes.
Firefly didn't do anything for me except to make me cringe and change the channel.
And so you want to put up all 50% of divorce problems to sexual issues? Granted, a big sample will fall under that, but take a look at the research behind those numbers before throwing them around.
I wouldn't be surprised that *if* homosexual marrige becomes legal, that number would go up fast.
Thank you, someone else out there understands my flavor of sarcasm. I kind of expected this kind of response anyway, but what the heck. I have karma to burn.
Even though I was being sarcastic, I still think firefly was a bad show.
Bzzt. You are using statements out of context to push your opinion. Hopefully is is only out of ignorance.
The key is "long-term monogamy". The very large majority of homosexuals (and a significant chunk of homosexuals) aren't long-term monogamous. Monogamous mean "single sexual partner during a period of time", not "single spouse".
If you cheat on your partner, engage in partner swapping, or move on to a new partner every few years, you are not monogamous by any definition (except maybe a liberal one).
NTFS has a feature known as multiple data streams, that causes serious headaches when backing up to a non-NTFS filesystem.
The stream name identifies a new data attribute for a file, and a handle can be opened to each data stream. Each data stream has separate opportunistic locks, file locks, and sizes, but common permissions.
When you copy an NTFS file to a non-NTFS volume, data streams and other attributes are lost.
An example of an alternate stream:
somefile.txt:streamdata
A library of files might exist where the files are defined as alternate streams, as in the following example:
You can create and experiment with data streams at the command prompt with commands such as:
Create a file named tempfile.txt and store the word "text" in a data stream named "stream"
echo text>tempfile.txt:stream write out the normal contents of tempfile.txt
more<tempfile.txt write out the data stream of tempfile.txt
more<program:source_file
Don't doubt it. This kind of crap is still out there today.
I was adding a new module to an ASP shopping cart a few years back and found it was calculating the grand total to display on the confirmation page. Instead of recalculating the value when submitting the credit card, they passed the value from the confirmation page via a hidden input field directly to the CC processor.
The company was grateful enough when I pointed out the problem I had fixed that they gave me a $200 gift certificate.
It seems like that's the only problem-solving ability of quantum computers that is ever mentioned.
For a computer to be useful, a human has to understand the problem and create instructions so the computer can solve it.
Since security is being exhorted so heavily in the media, and the fact that the purpose of encryption is easy to grasp for the general public, it seems to be the favorite drum to beat when it comes to technology enhancements. The minute someone figures out a quantum application that can be applied to entertainment, the media will have another favorite arbitrary yardstick to describe the uses of the technology to the masses in a manner they can conceptualize.
I would safely wager the majority of problems a quantum computer would be needed to solve in a reasonable amount of time likely have not been concieved or are not yet understood.
So unless AI evolves to the point where it can exceed the human brain, humanity itself remains the constant limitation.
Personally, I think digital broadcast TV could be a Bad Thing if it ever reaches the point where it pushes analog broadcasting into the trashcan of history.
When a digital signal is disrupted, the affected segment of the broadcast is toast... no video or audio. Consumer-grade equipment can not pull a usable signal from the garbage.
An analog broadcast on the other hand, can take quite a bit of interference and still provide a reasonable (you can understand it) video and/or audio signal.
I prefer a durable system to one that is more advanced but fails completely when it runs into a bit of interference.
Then again, I am probably not the person to listen to regarding home entertainment. I only have a b/w tv that can run off of a car battery... when I want to watch color cable/dvd/etc. I have a nice PC/meida setup that is up to the task. If I want to see a movie on a screen larger than 19", I go to a theater.
Why waste money on home electronics when I can spend it on computer equipment that provides the same functionality?:)
Slashdot Mirror
Snap Circuit Kits make good introductions to electronics. Think circuitry LEGOs.
http://www.elenco.com/snapcircuits.html
I have ran into similar problems in the past. I hit the ceiling of the "technical" promotion track, stayed there for a few years and finally hit the max salary band. If I wanted another promotion/pay increase I would have been forced into a project management track. I finally chose the option that wasn't being offered - I gave my two weeks notice and left for a new employer.
Communicate with your employer - tell them where your interests are. Talk to your boss, dept director, HR to see if there are any options to shift the promotion into a technical position. At the same time, if you are committed to keeping a tech job, keep your options open by seriously looking for new job opportunities. If you find that you are out of options with your employer, its probably time to move on.
I worked the first three days (nights? what do you call 8pm to 8am shifts?) of GenCon as a judge for Magic: The Gathering. The only new CCG that caught my interest was Eve; I picked up a small pile of cards but haven't had a chance to play yet. Thanks for the link to the rulebook, I've been looking for it. The most over-hyped CCG seemed to be Spoils; from the glimpse I caught it looked like a M:TG paraody along the lines of Havoc: The Bothering but with more play depth and a "stupid humor" theme. Bleh.
MyXAML is an impressive XAML parser; there are already simple examples out there of MyXAML compiled and running under Mono.
It is dual licensed as GPL/Commercial. The source code is downloadable and free to use and distribute as long as the application linking it is GPL (it can also be freely used if not distributed).
I've recently completed a moderate custom software project for a fully loaded Sager NP4780. I really didn't think they would go for it but I had to ask. All-in-all a $3000+ package.
I've also bartered for a number of developer software packages. I try to barter for something that will help me complete the project at hand. You're more likely to get what you ask for if you can spin it as a benifit to the project in addition to compensation.
Sorry, couldn't resist this one :)
You call it bragging rights. I call it an outward sign of materialistic stupidity.
My employer has an unhealthy love of spreadsheets, so much that they have become a required part of our business and technical documentation for software desgin and development.
Need to lay out a dynamic webpage? You need to fill out an XSL Matrix (aka. spreadsheet)! Negotiating an interface with an external system? Fill out an interface specification (aka. spreadsheet)! Need an issue tracking log? Spreadsheet! I could go on... This is information obsfucation at its best.
Are we alone or is anyone else suffering the abuses of software design by spreadsheet?
Your using BPL? And your connection is slow? No problem! You just have a dirty connection. Simply unplug your modem from the wall socket, take a screwdriver, paperclip or other narrow metal object and jiggle it around in the socket. Your problem will clear up in no time!
Yep, thats why I have to rely on your previous slashdot posts and your website http://www.fimble.com/ to make an educated guess. You seem a decent enough fellow
Seriously, I have a difficult time working with the in-house contacts for the "offshore group" at my company because they are not assertive, are hard to understand (accent), and have a shaky grasp of well-spoken english (like the majority of slashdot posters
From my point of view, the problem is not with their experience, skills, capabilities, etc. Unashamedly, some of the ones I work with are much more diciplined than I am. The most frustrating problem is the time and difficulty that must be invested to effectively communicate with them. It takes easily more than twice the amount of time to completly impart an idea to most of these foriegn workers.
Sorry for the duplicate links :)
I wouldn't waste a CPU cycle on this contest.
Bruce Schneier nailed the truth about cracking contests in a December 1998 article in his crypto-gram newsletter, "The Fallacy of Cracking Contests".
Here is another article he published in November 1999, "Elliptic Curve Public-Key Cryptography".
Interesting reading.
Don't be naive. If you are serious, you should establish a relationship with a lawyer immediately, then discuss your "little nudging" with him/her.
I applaud your desire to resolve this out of court, but you need to establish a strong trail of documentation of your discovery and attempts to resolve the problem without resorting to legal action. A lawyer is the person who should keep that trail for you.
Watching Firefly felt like reading one of those old pick-your-path books (turn to page 25 if you want to go here, page 43 to do that... etc.), except that someone else was turning the pages and picking the route. On average it was slow and lackluster; there was nothing new or intriging that made me want to actually set aside an hour to watch.
The plots were hair-thin re-hashes stolen from old westens; the characters are flat stereotypes (hero, doctor, preacher, prostitute, thief, etc...) splashed with a few worn cliches, and the interaction between them was predictable and bland.
I want sci-fi that gets me guessing about character motives and goals, and a plot that is not afraid to twist through more than a few knots or spread across a number of episodes.
Firefly didn't do anything for me except to make me cringe and change the channel.
And so you want to put up all 50% of divorce problems to sexual issues? Granted, a big sample will fall under that, but take a look at the research behind those numbers before throwing them around.
I wouldn't be surprised that *if* homosexual marrige becomes legal, that number would go up fast.
The very large majority of homosexuals (and a significant chunk of homosexuals) aren't long-term monogamous.
I meant to say:
The very large majority of homosexuals (and a significant chunk of heterosexuals too) aren't long-term monogamous.
Serves me right for not proof-reading.
Thank you, someone else out there understands my flavor of sarcasm. I kind of expected this kind of response anyway, but what the heck. I have karma to burn.
Even though I was being sarcastic, I still think firefly was a bad show.
It was ill-fated for a good reason. It sucked. There, I just saved about 80% of you from having to post to this article.
Bzzt. You are using statements out of context to push your opinion. Hopefully is is only out of ignorance.
The key is "long-term monogamy". The very large majority of homosexuals (and a significant chunk of homosexuals) aren't long-term monogamous. Monogamous mean "single sexual partner during a period of time", not "single spouse".
If you cheat on your partner, engage in partner swapping, or move on to a new partner every few years, you are not monogamous by any definition (except maybe a liberal one).
I would love to see "!Windows"
NTFS has a feature known as multiple data streams, that causes serious headaches when backing up to a non-NTFS filesystem.
The stream name identifies a new data attribute for a file, and a handle can be opened to each data stream. Each data stream has separate opportunistic locks, file locks, and sizes, but common permissions.
When you copy an NTFS file to a non-NTFS volume, data streams and other attributes are lost.
An example of an alternate stream:
somefile.txt:streamdata
A library of files might exist where the files are defined as alternate streams, as in the following example:
library.txt:file1
library.txt:file2
library.txt:file3
You can create and experiment with data streams at the command prompt with commands such as:
Create a file named tempfile.txt and store the word "text" in a data stream named "stream"
echo text>tempfile.txt:stream
write out the normal contents of tempfile.txt
more<tempfile.txt
write out the data stream of tempfile.txt
more<program:source_file
Don't doubt it. This kind of crap is still out there today.
I was adding a new module to an ASP shopping cart a few years back and found it was calculating the grand total to display on the confirmation page. Instead of recalculating the value when submitting the credit card, they passed the value from the confirmation page via a hidden input field directly to the CC processor.
The company was grateful enough when I pointed out the problem I had fixed that they gave me a $200 gift certificate.
For a computer to be useful, a human has to understand the problem and create instructions so the computer can solve it.
Since security is being exhorted so heavily in the media, and the fact that the purpose of encryption is easy to grasp for the general public, it seems to be the favorite drum to beat when it comes to technology enhancements. The minute someone figures out a quantum application that can be applied to entertainment, the media will have another favorite arbitrary yardstick to describe the uses of the technology to the masses in a manner they can conceptualize.
I would safely wager the majority of problems a quantum computer would be needed to solve in a reasonable amount of time likely have not been concieved or are not yet understood.
So unless AI evolves to the point where it can exceed the human brain, humanity itself remains the constant limitation.
Personally, I think digital broadcast TV could be a Bad Thing if it ever reaches the point where it pushes analog broadcasting into the trashcan of history.
:)
When a digital signal is disrupted, the affected segment of the broadcast is toast... no video or audio. Consumer-grade equipment can not pull a usable signal from the garbage.
An analog broadcast on the other hand, can take quite a bit of interference and still provide a reasonable (you can understand it) video and/or audio signal.
I prefer a durable system to one that is more advanced but fails completely when it runs into a bit of interference.
Then again, I am probably not the person to listen to regarding home entertainment. I only have a b/w tv that can run off of a car battery... when I want to watch color cable/dvd/etc. I have a nice PC/meida setup that is up to the task. If I want to see a movie on a screen larger than 19", I go to a theater.
Why waste money on home electronics when I can spend it on computer equipment that provides the same functionality?