If you describe yourself as a 'programmer', then your days are numbered.
To stay employed you have to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other 'programmers' standing in the unemployment line.
The way to do this is to become more than just a programmer. Become a computer scientist; become a system integrator, a tool developer, a software system engineer - anything but 'programmer'.
In today's world you need to not only know how to specify and implement software, you need to know how to build a database, you need to know how to integrate various systems together, you need to know all of the network protocols, you need to know posix compliant APIs, you need to know many different languages - from shell scripting to Perl and Python to Java and C++.
Furthermore, you need to have a deep understanding of the solution frameworks that are out there - so you can pick and choose the best one for the job at hand. You need to be able to prototype something at the drop of a hat - and have a toolbox of canned solutions that you know will work.
At the same token, you have to not only read as much as you can, you must also investigate and play with the various systems to see how they really work - so you can make the right decision to advocate or pan a particular solution set.
Get really good at this, and you will become indispensible (barring the total collapse of your corporation, of course). Indispensible people don't get 'downsized' - even if the department you are in is closed down, they will move you to another because they can not afford to move forward without your expertise.
p.s. While you are doing this - don't expect to get an exhorbitant salary. Just keep in mind all of the guys standing in that unemployment line - selling their furniture to make one more $1500 house payment.
If you must work for a company, at least stack the deck in your favor as much as possible through diligent enhancement of your craft.
Just another in a long list of reasons not to use proprietary operating systems.
The original posting does make a good point: why is it Okay for corporations (and the government for that matter) to hack the public's PCs, and not Okay for the general public?
Do as I say, not as I do is not acceptable - and elevates corporations to the position of a soverign government - which they emphatically are not!
90% of the world's problems can be traced back to men that think they are above the rule of law.
Hey Tv repair guy - why not extract the data files off of the drives, then wipe them, reload the OS, then reload the data? Data files normally don't contain viruses and aren't executable anyway, and most of the startup crap for the spyware is in the registry (which wiping will remove).
The only drawback is loading applications - but in most cases this can be accomplished easily on OEM boxes (the type of boxes most niave users buy) with a few CDs now-a-days...
I think you make a good point about the spyware driving people away from computer use; however, I would not characterize the spyware folks as 'techno-elite' by any stretch of the imagination.
As for being out of a job - I don't think we have much to worry about - the world has come to depend on computers, no matter how difficult some jerks make it for the rest of us to use and enjoy them.
Microsoft continues down the road of proprietary file formats - once again cutting out a broad swath of users for the further profit of M$ - with the added benefit of locking niave users into the windows OS in the bargain.
I think the key thing to observe here is the 76% profit margin on Office software - of a 9.2 billion dollar revenue stream, 7 billion dollars is profit. Can anyone say Microsoft Office software is 'way overpriced'?
Their business plan is evil on several levels. Shame on Microsoft for profiteering and removing the transparency of communications within public corporations - one more check and balance to corporate greed down the tubes.
This is funny - the people who will be doing the 'hacking' of the election system, are the same people who will run it and benefit from it - the companies, like Diebold, and the Parties, like the Republican.
Next time an election is thrown, it will be done so that no one sees it happening - and this technology allows that to happen.
Instead of investigation, law enforcement and special interests have turned to regulation at the expense of civil rights.
They are stepping way across that line between Federal and States rights, and those rights left up to the people to regulate.
If I want to make a copy of a TV show, and share it inside the walls of my house with my family across my private LAN, then that is my business, and no one elses.
The shotgun blast that is the progress of anti-piracy coalition and governmental control is taking out more innocent bystanders than anything else.
What good is broadband and an internet, if you can't use it to share information? That is the real crux of the matter.
Oh, I forgot, the established 'old school' businesses are changing the internet from a peer to peer medium to a broadcast only medium...how silly of me...obviously the congress and business interests know whats best for me, and my understanding is that its for my own good as I don't have the intelligence and wisdom to build client/server applications that don't hurt someone's bottom line!
~
Yes - we should make it easy for law enforcement to identify and track abusers by making every legitimate use against the law. Along that vein, we should also tattoo a bar code on everyone*'s neck [*except those who make over $1 million dollars a year, of course] to make it simpler for the justice department to track potential criminals. To take it a step further, why not force everyone* to provide DNA samples, so that we can identify the traits that lead to P2P usage, and sterilize those with the P2P genes? That would solve the whole problem...
~
I hope someone in power sees the obsurdity in all of this - and where these facist ideas are leading our country.
When networks are outlawed, only outlaws will have networks.
This treaty will not be effective within the borders of the Republic of Lodragan...I will continue to provide computer services to the people (my immediate family) within the 1/8th acres of this great (but very small) principality, using whatever algorithms I see fit regardless of the so-called 'IP' rights. The citizens of this republic will use P2P technology between each other with impunity.
Actually, its not really a 'souped up' web browser - its just a plain vanilla web browser. My shop is building applications that leverage existing web browser functionality via Java; additionally, Zope (python) is being used to move 90% of the processing to the server side - particularly for applications that are not cpu cycle intensive.
One methodology is good for when you expect many simultaneous users, the other is for when you expect a small subset of users at any given time - although it can scale as needed.
The age of enterprise wide C++ distributed applications is at an end - except in some small niches, like operating systems, associated tools, and performance driven applications - such as mathematical simulations and video games (simulations).
Most everything else is going 4GL in the form of Perl, Python, Java and other platform independent interpreted/bytecode compiled incarnations. I appreciate not having to load 300 user machines with the application, and troubleshoot why it won't work on 30 of them, and then come back weeks, months and years later to reload it because someone erased it accidentally, or had a hard drive crash, or upgraded to a new machine...thank you very much!
The writer of the article cited is a classic example of the Aristotlian prerogative to classify everyone and everything into neat little boxes. This is very shallow thinking, not worthy of a search for truth, that science expounds. People are all different from one to the next - classification into 'us' and 'them' is the first steps down the road of xenophobia - and shows an unhealthy heightened fear.
Furthermore, to ride that wave of fear, he compares linux zealots to 'terrorists', which seems to be the fashion these days - demonize someone you disagree with, then get them put on the Justice Department's watch list...
Whatever happened to freedom of expression in this frigging country? America is the cradle of liberty - and yet we are acting like Nazi Germany 1938...
Sometimes I get exasperated with my fellow Americans. However, I refuse to give up because that would be far worse than the pain of fighting the good fight. Unfortunately some people are impervious to reason, and will never learn.
I think it is irresponsible to bandy-about the term 'terrorist' in such a knee-jerk manner.
Terror is the key to terrorists - sowing terror (fear of death, dismemberment and the distruction of civilization - not to mention personal property); I don't see linux fanatics as invoking terror in anyone - particularly if you were to see any of us sitting at our workstations...
That being said, the media and our current government is doing a grand job of raising the levels of terror in American society, so using your logic, we should mark all the major television networks and the executive branch terrorist organizations. That is more acceptable than branding linux fans the same way.
While I disagree with the idea of gun control put forth in the movie 'Bowling for Columbine', it certainly raised a very good point about how fear and the continued fostering of fear in American is at the core of the level of violence in our society. The effects of this unrealistic focus on fear, at the exclusion of logic is more destructive than any linux zealots will ever be.
How many/.'ers, or anyone with a salary for that matter, ever flew on the concord?.....
Case closed.
While it was a nice technical achievement for its time, it really only catered to the rich and powerful - so I am not sad to see it go.
I spent the obligatory 9 hours in trans-atlantic flight like the rest of the unwashed masses, and am no worse for wear.
Re:Looking at his Speak Freely website...
on
Trusted Computing
·
· Score: 1
Actually, if you consider IPV6 - where the distribution of IP addresses is something on the order of thousands per square inch - then the NAT problem becomes a non sequitur.
Looking at his Speak Freely website...
on
Trusted Computing
·
· Score: 1
I took a gander at his Speak Freely website to check out the reason behind his dropping maintenance to Speak Freely.
It mostly revolves around his contention that NAT'd LANs block peer to peer traffic. However, while he does concede that you can do port mapping to overcome this issue, he doesn't give people credence to make it work.
I have to call bullshit on this one; all you need to do is set up your network with static IPs on all of your machines, and then set up your firewall to pass traffic to specific machines based on functionality.
If you really need connectivity for multiple machines on your network, why not go to a VOIP (H.323) solution? This way call routing can take place inside of your network regardless of NAT.
I think he is just using this as an excuse to give up, and while I have no right to say he can't give up, I certainly can say his excuse is very lame.
The cost is miniscule compared to my overall energy costs for the year.
As for wear and tear: I have CPUs that have been running more or less constantly since the 1980s that are still chugging away. I have never lost a CPU in 21 years of owning computers.
Freedom of religion - as long as it was a christian god-fearing religion!!?
Give me a fucking break.
There is no freedom of religion if we deny anyone, be they Paganists, Buddists, Hindus, or whatever other religion you can think of that is not monotheistic - including those who profess no religion, who are atheists.
If you will do a little research you will see that 'God' as we see in the pledge of allegiance and other aspects of the government are a fairly recent attribute - established within the last century. Religous zealotry has risen over the intervening hundred years as reason eats away at religous dogma.
What really sickens me is the same people who hold up God as the be-all-end-all, in the same breath use God (or the Devil) as an excuse for their own bad behavior. If you need a 'God' to make you do the right thing - then you are a pretty pitiful example of a human being. Take responsibility for yourself, rather than blaming everything outside of yourself; God, the Devil, the Muslims, the Government and I am not responsible for the stupid shit you do. (I am sure these are the same people who make statements like, "You hurt my feelings", and "If you don't stop talking, I am going to hit you"...bunch of babies who don't take ownership and selfcontrol of their feelings and actions)
Oh, and please learn about the religions you are going to disrespect before you open your mouth...of course, you don't want a real discourse - you just want the rest of us to buy your dogma. I have news for you - we won't.
Slashdot Mirror
If you describe yourself as a 'programmer', then your days are numbered.
To stay employed you have to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other 'programmers' standing in the unemployment line.
The way to do this is to become more than just a programmer. Become a computer scientist; become a system integrator, a tool developer, a software system engineer - anything but 'programmer'.
In today's world you need to not only know how to specify and implement software, you need to know how to build a database, you need to know how to integrate various systems together, you need to know all of the network protocols, you need to know posix compliant APIs, you need to know many different languages - from shell scripting to Perl and Python to Java and C++.
Furthermore, you need to have a deep understanding of the solution frameworks that are out there - so you can pick and choose the best one for the job at hand. You need to be able to prototype something at the drop of a hat - and have a toolbox of canned solutions that you know will work.
At the same token, you have to not only read as much as you can, you must also investigate and play with the various systems to see how they really work - so you can make the right decision to advocate or pan a particular solution set.
Get really good at this, and you will become indispensible (barring the total collapse of your corporation, of course). Indispensible people don't get 'downsized' - even if the department you are in is closed down, they will move you to another because they can not afford to move forward without your expertise.
p.s. While you are doing this - don't expect to get an exhorbitant salary. Just keep in mind all of the guys standing in that unemployment line - selling their furniture to make one more $1500 house payment.
If you must work for a company, at least stack the deck in your favor as much as possible through diligent enhancement of your craft.
Babblefish English Translation
Just another in a long list of reasons not to use proprietary operating systems.
The original posting does make a good point: why is it Okay for corporations (and the government for that matter) to hack the public's PCs, and not Okay for the general public?
Do as I say, not as I do is not acceptable - and elevates corporations to the position of a soverign government - which they emphatically are not!
90% of the world's problems can be traced back to men that think they are above the rule of law.
Hey Tv repair guy - why not extract the data files off of the drives, then wipe them, reload the OS, then reload the data? Data files normally don't contain viruses and aren't executable anyway, and most of the startup crap for the spyware is in the registry (which wiping will remove).
The only drawback is loading applications - but in most cases this can be accomplished easily on OEM boxes (the type of boxes most niave users buy) with a few CDs now-a-days...
I think you make a good point about the spyware driving people away from computer use; however, I would not characterize the spyware folks as 'techno-elite' by any stretch of the imagination.
As for being out of a job - I don't think we have much to worry about - the world has come to depend on computers, no matter how difficult some jerks make it for the rest of us to use and enjoy them.
Microsoft continues down the road of proprietary file formats - once again cutting out a broad swath of users for the further profit of M$ - with the added benefit of locking niave users into the windows OS in the bargain.
I think the key thing to observe here is the 76% profit margin on Office software - of a 9.2 billion dollar revenue stream, 7 billion dollars is profit. Can anyone say Microsoft Office software is 'way overpriced'?
Their business plan is evil on several levels. Shame on Microsoft for profiteering and removing the transparency of communications within public corporations - one more check and balance to corporate greed down the tubes.
This is funny - the people who will be doing the 'hacking' of the election system, are the same people who will run it and benefit from it - the companies, like Diebold, and the Parties, like the Republican.
Next time an election is thrown, it will be done so that no one sees it happening - and this technology allows that to happen.
Could I have frys with that?
If its not killing wildlife, destroying natural resources, or polluting the environment - I don't want it!
Pan the TZero - and pass the white Rhino ribs!
SCO is not targeting so-called 'consumers' because they would have a class action lawsuit on their hands so fast it would make their heads spin.
Instead of investigation, law enforcement and special interests have turned to regulation at the expense of civil rights.
They are stepping way across that line between Federal and States rights, and those rights left up to the people to regulate.
If I want to make a copy of a TV show, and share it inside the walls of my house with my family across my private LAN, then that is my business, and no one elses.
The shotgun blast that is the progress of anti-piracy coalition and governmental control is taking out more innocent bystanders than anything else.
What good is broadband and an internet, if you can't use it to share information? That is the real crux of the matter.
Oh, I forgot, the established 'old school' businesses are changing the internet from a peer to peer medium to a broadcast only medium...how silly of me...obviously the congress and business interests know whats best for me, and my understanding is that its for my own good as I don't have the intelligence and wisdom to build client/server applications that don't hurt someone's bottom line!
~
Yes - we should make it easy for law enforcement to identify and track abusers by making every legitimate use against the law. Along that vein, we should also tattoo a bar code on everyone*'s neck [*except those who make over $1 million dollars a year, of course] to make it simpler for the justice department to track potential criminals. To take it a step further, why not force everyone* to provide DNA samples, so that we can identify the traits that lead to P2P usage, and sterilize those with the P2P genes? That would solve the whole problem...
~
I hope someone in power sees the obsurdity in all of this - and where these facist ideas are leading our country.
When networks are outlawed, only outlaws will have networks.
This treaty will not be effective within the borders of the Republic of Lodragan...I will continue to provide computer services to the people (my immediate family) within the 1/8th acres of this great (but very small) principality, using whatever algorithms I see fit regardless of the so-called 'IP' rights. The citizens of this republic will use P2P technology between each other with impunity.
The GREAT OZ has SPOKEN!
Actually, its not really a 'souped up' web browser - its just a plain vanilla web browser. My shop is building applications that leverage existing web browser functionality via Java; additionally, Zope (python) is being used to move 90% of the processing to the server side - particularly for applications that are not cpu cycle intensive.
One methodology is good for when you expect many simultaneous users, the other is for when you expect a small subset of users at any given time - although it can scale as needed.
The age of enterprise wide C++ distributed applications is at an end - except in some small niches, like operating systems, associated tools, and performance driven applications - such as mathematical simulations and video games (simulations).
Most everything else is going 4GL in the form of Perl, Python, Java and other platform independent interpreted/bytecode compiled incarnations. I appreciate not having to load 300 user machines with the application, and troubleshoot why it won't work on 30 of them, and then come back weeks, months and years later to reload it because someone erased it accidentally, or had a hard drive crash, or upgraded to a new machine...thank you very much!
The writer of the article cited is a classic example of the Aristotlian prerogative to classify everyone and everything into neat little boxes. This is very shallow thinking, not worthy of a search for truth, that science expounds. People are all different from one to the next - classification into 'us' and 'them' is the first steps down the road of xenophobia - and shows an unhealthy heightened fear.
Furthermore, to ride that wave of fear, he compares linux zealots to 'terrorists', which seems to be the fashion these days - demonize someone you disagree with, then get them put on the Justice Department's watch list...
Whatever happened to freedom of expression in this frigging country? America is the cradle of liberty - and yet we are acting like Nazi Germany 1938...
Sometimes I get exasperated with my fellow Americans. However, I refuse to give up because that would be far worse than the pain of fighting the good fight. Unfortunately some people are impervious to reason, and will never learn.
The reason for the issue in LA is that the Federal Government is collecting a dossier on you for future reference...
I think it is irresponsible to bandy-about the term 'terrorist' in such a knee-jerk manner.
Terror is the key to terrorists - sowing terror (fear of death, dismemberment and the distruction of civilization - not to mention personal property); I don't see linux fanatics as invoking terror in anyone - particularly if you were to see any of us sitting at our workstations...
That being said, the media and our current government is doing a grand job of raising the levels of terror in American society, so using your logic, we should mark all the major television networks and the executive branch terrorist organizations. That is more acceptable than branding linux fans the same way.
While I disagree with the idea of gun control put forth in the movie 'Bowling for Columbine', it certainly raised a very good point about how fear and the continued fostering of fear in American is at the core of the level of violence in our society. The effects of this unrealistic focus on fear, at the exclusion of logic is more destructive than any linux zealots will ever be.
Oh, I have!
We are sophisticated enough not to need the brain washing - the problem is they give it to us anyway...*!
My grandmother is dead, you insensitive clod!
How many /.'ers, or anyone with a salary for that matter, ever flew on the concord? .....
Case closed.
While it was a nice technical achievement for its time, it really only catered to the rich and powerful - so I am not sad to see it go.
I spent the obligatory 9 hours in trans-atlantic flight like the rest of the unwashed masses, and am no worse for wear.
Actually, if you consider IPV6 - where the distribution of IP addresses is something on the order of thousands per square inch - then the NAT problem becomes a non sequitur.
I took a gander at his Speak Freely website to check out the reason behind his dropping maintenance to Speak Freely.
It mostly revolves around his contention that NAT'd LANs block peer to peer traffic. However, while he does concede that you can do port mapping to overcome this issue, he doesn't give people credence to make it work.
I have to call bullshit on this one; all you need to do is set up your network with static IPs on all of your machines, and then set up your firewall to pass traffic to specific machines based on functionality.
If you really need connectivity for multiple machines on your network, why not go to a VOIP (H.323) solution? This way call routing can take place inside of your network regardless of NAT.
I think he is just using this as an excuse to give up, and while I have no right to say he can't give up, I certainly can say his excuse is very lame.
The cost is miniscule compared to my overall energy costs for the year.
As for wear and tear: I have CPUs that have been running more or less constantly since the 1980s that are still chugging away. I have never lost a CPU in 21 years of owning computers.
I don't think its a big deal.
I think this is a case of dinosaurs mating. When you go to the netscape.com link, an AOL add pops up in a seperate window.
Looks to me like Netscape and AOL are in bed together on this for brand recognition and revenue purposes...
It seems that it might be a good thing to give schoolchildren a few moments to think about potentially more important things for a few moments a day
I think that this is called 'propaganda'. Aren't we sophisticated enough not to need this kind of brain washing any more?
Freedom of religion - as long as it was a christian god-fearing religion!!?
Give me a fucking break.
There is no freedom of religion if we deny anyone, be they Paganists, Buddists, Hindus, or whatever other religion you can think of that is not monotheistic - including those who profess no religion, who are atheists.
If you will do a little research you will see that 'God' as we see in the pledge of allegiance and other aspects of the government are a fairly recent attribute - established within the last century. Religous zealotry has risen over the intervening hundred years as reason eats away at religous dogma.
What really sickens me is the same people who hold up God as the be-all-end-all, in the same breath use God (or the Devil) as an excuse for their own bad behavior. If you need a 'God' to make you do the right thing - then you are a pretty pitiful example of a human being. Take responsibility for yourself, rather than blaming everything outside of yourself; God, the Devil, the Muslims, the Government and I am not responsible for the stupid shit you do. (I am sure these are the same people who make statements like, "You hurt my feelings", and "If you don't stop talking, I am going to hit you"...bunch of babies who don't take ownership and selfcontrol of their feelings and actions)
Oh, and please learn about the religions you are going to disrespect before you open your mouth...of course, you don't want a real discourse - you just want the rest of us to buy your dogma. I have news for you - we won't.