That's a sad tale and I feel for you. I can see why you'd want a change but I'm not sure about the physics degree. All the people I know who have Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Electronics degrees are working in IT now! We have a guy in our department who has a Doctorate in Chemistry! He couldn't get work and took up Unix administration.
If there's something you are already good at and still like doing it I'd stick it out. The only problem is getting that recognised. From what you said in the other post about the kind of work you do it's obvious you know what you are doing (not enough people understand the importance of security IMHO) and that's the hard part done! Plenty of people are great at selling themselves and 'networking' but haven't got the goods.
I don't work in the creative industry so I don't really know what it's like or how to get on but somebody might give you the right advice... I once tried to make it as a photographer so I've got an idea of how tough it might be but I never had the drive or the balls to go for it properly so I can't say.
It took me 6 years after graduating before I got a decent job in IT last year. But that's mainly because I didn't have an IT related degree or any useful skills. I started with data entry and worked my way up from there. I had to teach myself Unix and Oracle in my spare time and that's what got me a job in Storage for a large bank.
Don't give up on a career in Web Development if you want one. Just stay clear of big companies if you don't like the whole HR coven of witches scene. You may well have thought about this but what about doing something for a company or individual for free in your spare time? It might lead somewhere unexpected.
Not only that, but each new drive has been bigger than all the previous ones put together! Same thing is happening to me. 40MB, 500MB, 2GB, 4GB, 30GB. I'm not certain this trend will continue.
My Mum hasn't been able to crash OS X in the 8 months she's had a Mac. A few apps have hung and had to be force quit and IE has just quit a few times but nothing has brought the whole OS down. And I've seen her crash a pocket calculator...
Presumably they mean the UI of Picard's Enterprise. Kirk's crew seemed to be able to accomplish their tasks with approx 6 toggle switches (unlit), 4 push buttons (lit or unlit) and a couple of flashing lights each. Either that's a very powerful context sensitive UI that's had a lot of work put in to it and which requires a lot of skill to learn how to use or.... they were actually doing chuff all. The exception is Spock's scope type thing. Lot's of swirly patterns that tell him all sorts of things. Only seems to have one knob though. I can't help making observations like these when watching the original series and they almost stop be enjoying it. I also start imagining trying to live my life with this kind of UI and break out in a cold sweat.
Ok, so it's not about major league computation like SETI@home but about a time wasting bit of computation to make it expensive in some way to send a message. But what about email from PDAs (and to a lesser extent laptops) where computation = power = less battery and is therefore a bummer? What about from email capable mobile phones? What about when we have email capable digital watches with tiny batteries and really little processors? I think Uncle Bill is displaying his normal foresight, ie. about 2 years and no major advance in technology or paradigm shift.
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Ok, so it's not about major league computation like SETI@home but about a time wasting bit of computation to make it expensive in some way to send a message. But what about email from PDAs (and to a lesser extent laptops) where computation = power = less battery and is therefore a bummer? What about from email capable mobile phones? What about when we have email capable digital watches with tiny batteries and really little processors? I think Uncle Bill is displaying his normal foresight, ie. about 2 years and no major advance in technology or paradigm shift.
I think Tom Baker would be excellent. He was one of the Doctor Whos and narrated 'Little Britain' (sketch comedy show made last year in Britain (oddly enough). His voice is quite deep and gravely but with lots of range when he uses it and it is totally English. It's a very nice voice to listen to explaining things.
I'm sure there is more to 'Safety' than just not getting hacked. This seems a bit simplistic. Also, where are the results for Solaris, AIX, Tru-64 etc? In fact any of the commercial UNIXes? This isn't just simplistic; there's an entire quarter or so of server systems missing from the data. Well done to BSD, if this data is worth anything, but in my opinion it's just about worthless. And that's from a BSD user...
true about the water. The solar energy is just there anyway though so that's ok. The carbon dioxide used won't be missed, there's loads of it. The extra oxygen might be nice.
True, but there are always some people who do. They are the people really need it or who are dedicated fans of the company or technology. My point is that unless you fall into one or more of those categories you might prefer to wait until the next revision because you will be getting a better product that will hold its value better.
Ok, so the first version of modern computers won't be totally bad but the 2nd version will be much better than just the increase is speed or memory or other part of the spec. The manufacturing will have settled down a bit and it could be nothing more than things feeling a bit better fitted and well finished. Or it could be like the rev c TiBooks. They have a higher res monitor, faster memory and gigbit ethernet apart from the improvement in CPU speed and HD size you'd expect from something introduced a year later. OK, so if you'd needed one when they were first introduced you'd get the first version but if you could afford to hold off for a while you might want to. You'll get the added benefits to use for yourself and on the resale price when you sell it. This is why I said 'purchase' rather than just 'computer'. So long as something worthwhile hasn't been taken out by the time a line is discontinued the last version of a model is generally more desirable. Check out the prices of 'Graphite', 'Quicksilver' and 'Mirror Door' Powermac G4s.
'Never buy the first version of anything' - even if it is $200 less than list price, has been well looked after, comes with an extra 512Mb and used to be part of a supercomputer. Rev2 or 3 is always a better purchase.
Makes him primo material for a knighthood. These things are given out to 'the great and the good' not necessarily the same as good people who have done things that are great for people.
Buy Windows XP?! Sir, this time you go too far! Seriously though, is it really possible to buy Windows XP? I thought you just happened to get it when you buy a new computer, deliberately hose it for a laugh before formatting and installing *nix of choice and 'acquire it from the internet' if you ever want a laugh in the future.
It's the lens. The optics in a high street digital camera are generally terrible. A simple test of how good a lens is is to look at how big it is! Seriously. The bigger and more impressive looking the lens is the better it is likely to be. (I am a photographer.) Get your 1Mega pixel camera, rip off the lens and replace it with a really good standard lens from a Mamiya or Hassleblad medium format camera and you might get somewhere. except that a medium format lens focuses the light on to a much larger area of the film plane than the lens on a digital does and at a further distance away from the rear element. So a standard lens would give you an _extreme_ telephoto. Except, that (as it says in the article) a quality CCD has much larger pixels so the CCD in your cheap 1MP camera would be much less light sensitive. In other words, good luck but it's not worth bothering.
Agreed. They are starting to 'Think Different' and seriously look at what people want to do with their computer rather than just 'we'd better put some software on it so it can be used for something'.
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Outside Context Problem anyone?
That's a sad tale and I feel for you. I can see why you'd want a change but I'm not sure about the physics degree. All the people I know who have Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Electronics degrees are working in IT now! We have a guy in our department who has a Doctorate in Chemistry! He couldn't get work and took up Unix administration.
If there's something you are already good at and still like doing it I'd stick it out. The only problem is getting that recognised. From what you said in the other post about the kind of work you do it's obvious you know what you are doing (not enough people understand the importance of security IMHO) and that's the hard part done! Plenty of people are great at selling themselves and 'networking' but haven't got the goods.
I don't work in the creative industry so I don't really know what it's like or how to get on but somebody might give you the right advice... I once tried to make it as a photographer so I've got an idea of how tough it might be but I never had the drive or the balls to go for it properly so I can't say.
It took me 6 years after graduating before I got a decent job in IT last year. But that's mainly because I didn't have an IT related degree or any useful skills. I started with data entry and worked my way up from there. I had to teach myself Unix and Oracle in my spare time and that's what got me a job in Storage for a large bank.
Don't give up on a career in Web Development if you want one. Just stay clear of big companies if you don't like the whole HR coven of witches scene. You may well have thought about this but what about doing something for a company or individual for free in your spare time? It might lead somewhere unexpected.
Anyway, good luck with it!
Spock said, "It's life Jim, but not as we know it". Dr. McCoy said, "It's worse than that, he's dead Jim".
There's no ' in Doh.
Woman walks into a bar. The Barman says, "What can I get you?" The woman replies, "I'd like a double entendre please." So the barman gave her one.
Not only that, but each new drive has been bigger than all the previous ones put together! Same thing is happening to me. 40MB, 500MB, 2GB, 4GB, 30GB. I'm not certain this trend will continue.
My Mum hasn't been able to crash OS X in the 8 months she's had a Mac. A few apps have hung and had to be force quit and IE has just quit a few times but nothing has brought the whole OS down. And I've seen her crash a pocket calculator...
Presumably they mean the UI of Picard's Enterprise. Kirk's crew seemed to be able to accomplish their tasks with approx 6 toggle switches (unlit), 4 push buttons (lit or unlit) and a couple of flashing lights each. Either that's a very powerful context sensitive UI that's had a lot of work put in to it and which requires a lot of skill to learn how to use or.... they were actually doing chuff all. The exception is Spock's scope type thing. Lot's of swirly patterns that tell him all sorts of things. Only seems to have one knob though. I can't help making observations like these when watching the original series and they almost stop be enjoying it. I also start imagining trying to live my life with this kind of UI and break out in a cold sweat.
Minus the crock. And he can't even use it without the craptivation code...
Ok, so it's not about major league computation like SETI@home but about a time wasting bit of computation to make it expensive in some way to send a message. But what about email from PDAs (and to a lesser extent laptops) where computation = power = less battery and is therefore a bummer? What about from email capable mobile phones? What about when we have email capable digital watches with tiny batteries and really little processors? I think Uncle Bill is displaying his normal foresight, ie. about 2 years and no major advance in technology or paradigm shift.
Ok, so it's not about major league computation like SETI@home but about a time wasting bit of computation to make it expensive in some way to send a message. But what about email from PDAs (and to a lesser extent laptops) where computation = power = less battery and is therefore a bummer? What about from email capable mobile phones? What about when we have email capable digital watches with tiny batteries and really little processors? I think Uncle Bill is displaying his normal foresight, ie. about 2 years and no major advance in technology or paradigm shift.
I think Tom Baker would be excellent. He was one of the Doctor Whos and narrated 'Little Britain' (sketch comedy show made last year in Britain (oddly enough). His voice is quite deep and gravely but with lots of range when he uses it and it is totally English. It's a very nice voice to listen to explaining things.
It should be 'great grandparent' rather than 'grand-grandparent'.
I'm sure there is more to 'Safety' than just not getting hacked. This seems a bit simplistic. Also, where are the results for Solaris, AIX, Tru-64 etc? In fact any of the commercial UNIXes? This isn't just simplistic; there's an entire quarter or so of server systems missing from the data. Well done to BSD, if this data is worth anything, but in my opinion it's just about worthless. And that's from a BSD user...
true about the water. The solar energy is just there anyway though so that's ok. The carbon dioxide used won't be missed, there's loads of it. The extra oxygen might be nice.
True, but there are always some people who do. They are the people really need it or who are dedicated fans of the company or technology. My point is that unless you fall into one or more of those categories you might prefer to wait until the next revision because you will be getting a better product that will hold its value better.
Ok, so the first version of modern computers won't be totally bad but the 2nd version will be much better than just the increase is speed or memory or other part of the spec. The manufacturing will have settled down a bit and it could be nothing more than things feeling a bit better fitted and well finished. Or it could be like the rev c TiBooks. They have a higher res monitor, faster memory and gigbit ethernet apart from the improvement in CPU speed and HD size you'd expect from something introduced a year later. OK, so if you'd needed one when they were first introduced you'd get the first version but if you could afford to hold off for a while you might want to. You'll get the added benefits to use for yourself and on the resale price when you sell it. This is why I said 'purchase' rather than just 'computer'. So long as something worthwhile hasn't been taken out by the time a line is discontinued the last version of a model is generally more desirable. Check out the prices of 'Graphite', 'Quicksilver' and 'Mirror Door' Powermac G4s.
'Never buy the first version of anything' - even if it is $200 less than list price, has been well looked after, comes with an extra 512Mb and used to be part of a supercomputer. Rev2 or 3 is always a better purchase.
I have. Many times. When she's out "shopping". :)
Makes him primo material for a knighthood. These things are given out to 'the great and the good' not necessarily the same as good people who have done things that are great for people.
Nuts to the white mice. Pigs...In....Spaaaaaace!
Buy Windows XP?! Sir, this time you go too far! Seriously though, is it really possible to buy Windows XP? I thought you just happened to get it when you buy a new computer, deliberately hose it for a laugh before formatting and installing *nix of choice and 'acquire it from the internet' if you ever want a laugh in the future.
It's the lens. The optics in a high street digital camera are generally terrible. A simple test of how good a lens is is to look at how big it is! Seriously. The bigger and more impressive looking the lens is the better it is likely to be. (I am a photographer.) Get your 1Mega pixel camera, rip off the lens and replace it with a really good standard lens from a Mamiya or Hassleblad medium format camera and you might get somewhere. except that a medium format lens focuses the light on to a much larger area of the film plane than the lens on a digital does and at a further distance away from the rear element. So a standard lens would give you an _extreme_ telephoto. Except, that (as it says in the article) a quality CCD has much larger pixels so the CCD in your cheap 1MP camera would be much less light sensitive. In other words, good luck but it's not worth bothering.
Agreed. They are starting to 'Think Different' and seriously look at what people want to do with their computer rather than just 'we'd better put some software on it so it can be used for something'.
Yes, I can.