On one interview, a manager actually told me that I wasn't fit for the job because I was too innovative. They were looking for people to do more of the same, even if they had a lot of room for improvement, they didn't want it.
The problem is a misunderstanding in the objectives of education.
While people usually (and wishfully) think of "education" in the Trivium-like meaning (also sometimes called Medieval Education, if one is unabashed by the now-negative "Medieval" adjective) instead of what governments want, which is "national, compulsory general-knowledge education" (sometimes also called Prussian education system).
As is usual, both education systems have their advantages, but emphasis in the former is dwindling. Myself I believe that we should focus on the former but pass a little in the latter to let students have contact with all types of knowledge and then choose what (and how many) they like most.
As a teacher I had said once: "If a student is good at something and bad at something else, should we focus on what he's good at to reach maximum potential or should we focus on getting better where he's deficient, so he'll have a broader set of skills?"
While I agree that there is a minimum workable level to learning to deal with both sides, I believe your position is a little biased by the fact you are not in the extreme.
Extreme introverts are in a big disadvantage in the days of "social everything". This is caused by a change in the values of our society which now believes that interacting with others is more useful than actually doing work. Now, as it has always been, far-spectrum introverts (nerds) are discriminated against by the extroverts. However, extroverts pretty much own the world right now because of cumulative effects due to teachers and employers liking extroverts more. This "likeness" is only natural, due to usually greater empathy and "communication skills".
One key point which is usually overlooked is the origin of the value change. As I see it, it is actually beneficial to employers to keep people with good relationships at hand. However, the extreme increase in importance seems to be the increase in the need to circunvent bureaucracies, which only a corrupt system benefits from
I once delivered the "group" report with only my name on it, since I did all the work. I actually warned the other guy in the group that I'd do this if he didn't help, and he said "go forward and do it".
In the end both me and the other guy were sent to the dean's office and we both got a sermon on how we were behaving like kids (this was in college). The grade was the same for both anyway.
Lesson learned: the world actually works like this. Only a few in a group (or a company) do the actual work and the others just share the glory (and some keep the whole glory to themselves).
Yes, this is a revolution. When everybody has RAM that keeps content when powered off, this will revolutionize computer forensics and malware information gathering.
What he's proposing is simply to ignore the rule No 1 of network security: never trust anyone, specially you users.
This reminds me of a place I worked where one of the computers kept getting infected with a virus, even when their files were on regularly scanned network storage. After some time I found out that everytime I cleared the virus (which could not be repaired by my AV, so I had to delete the file) someone that used that computer restored the infected file from a floppy disk, which they never bothered to scan!
Well, then maybe one should just study project management and soft skills. So in a few years, all we'll have will be some soft managers, thinking they know something about computer science.
I think there's more trouble facing the early adopters. For example, even the hardware isn't all that good to start with. The "modern replacement" of SheevaPlug (mentioned in "hardware is being taken care of") isn't all that good. In fact, this new version, the GuruPlug, suffers greatly of an lack of thermal design. This causes the plug to overheat and start rebooting, until the embedded power supply fails (also because of heat dissipation problems). As a result, to use one of those, the user must also mod the hardware, which creates all sorts of trouble. The manufacturer doesn't even care about it, and keep selling it for those naive enough (like me) to think that the manufacturer should take care of those problems before even starting to sell a product.
I looked at its specs. No way I'd buy that. With 10KS/s you can't even decode audio! The simplest audio files usually are 44kHz. It may be better to build one's own scope with an Arduino (which will get you more geek points), or buy a DSO Nano (with 1Msps 12Bits, and 8 times the sample storage). Minimum Voltage Range Accuracy of 37.5 mV also won't get you very far, specially if you try simple amplifier stuff (which very often can vary only a few millivolts or even only microvolts).
I agree that the Rigol DS1052E is pretty fine for most uses, specially if you have to ask such a question. I have one and it has done everything I needed so far. Even my college use scopes worse than those. If you need a logic analyzer to deal with digital stuff (I think you might, since you're compsci-oriented instead of a proper electronics engineer), you might take a look at the Open Logic Sniffer. It's even open-source, so you can hack it too. The only reason I think you might look for another one is if you deal with RF or something like that.
The more you argue your case the worse your chance to -really- win the argument, convince the other side. More often they will admit defeat to get you off their neck and keep believing their falsehood even stronger.
I use plain osCommerce. Has good features to track what needs buying in an inventory. Also, it's good, though not necessary, to reference which drawer gets what. If not using drawer references, just keeping stuff categorized on the drawers works too. As noted by other commenters, the problem is keeping it up-to-date. Don't even bother tracking resistor/capacitor usage. Just buy a lot of them to have stock... you'll notice when one of them runs too low. The best reason to keep such inventory is for those parts that are not that common, which you may have few but want to keep control.
Slashdot Mirror
On one interview, a manager actually told me that I wasn't fit for the job because I was too innovative. They were looking for people to do more of the same, even if they had a lot of room for improvement, they didn't want it.
The problem is a misunderstanding in the objectives of education.
While people usually (and wishfully) think of "education" in the Trivium-like meaning (also sometimes called Medieval Education, if one is unabashed by the now-negative "Medieval" adjective) instead of what governments want, which is "national, compulsory general-knowledge education" (sometimes also called Prussian education system).
As is usual, both education systems have their advantages, but emphasis in the former is dwindling. Myself I believe that we should focus on the former but pass a little in the latter to let students have contact with all types of knowledge and then choose what (and how many) they like most.
As a teacher I had said once: "If a student is good at something and bad at something else, should we focus on what he's good at to reach maximum potential or should we focus on getting better where he's deficient, so he'll have a broader set of skills?"
While I agree that there is a minimum workable level to learning to deal with both sides, I believe your position is a little biased by the fact you are not in the extreme.
Extreme introverts are in a big disadvantage in the days of "social everything". This is caused by a change in the values of our society which now believes that interacting with others is more useful than actually doing work. Now, as it has always been, far-spectrum introverts (nerds) are discriminated against by the extroverts. However, extroverts pretty much own the world right now because of cumulative effects due to teachers and employers liking extroverts more. This "likeness" is only natural, due to usually greater empathy and "communication skills".
One key point which is usually overlooked is the origin of the value change. As I see it, it is actually beneficial to employers to keep people with good relationships at hand. However, the extreme increase in importance seems to be the increase in the need to circunvent bureaucracies, which only a corrupt system benefits from
I once delivered the "group" report with only my name on it, since I did all the work. I actually warned the other guy in the group that I'd do this if he didn't help, and he said "go forward and do it".
In the end both me and the other guy were sent to the dean's office and we both got a sermon on how we were behaving like kids (this was in college). The grade was the same for both anyway.
Lesson learned: the world actually works like this. Only a few in a group (or a company) do the actual work and the others just share the glory (and some keep the whole glory to themselves).
Interacting with most sane adults is generally the best practice
Good luck finding those!
There's no such thing as "Common sense". It's just a myth to oppress those with different opinions.
And if you actually depend on people's common sense for things to work, you're doing it wrong./p.
Yes, this is a revolution. When everybody has RAM that keeps content when powered off, this will revolutionize computer forensics and malware information gathering.
Agreed.
What he's proposing is simply to ignore the rule No 1 of network security: never trust anyone, specially you users.
This reminds me of a place I worked where one of the computers kept getting infected with a virus, even when their files were on regularly scanned network storage. After some time I found out that everytime I cleared the virus (which could not be repaired by my AV, so I had to delete the file) someone that used that computer restored the infected file from a floppy disk, which they never bothered to scan!
Outgunned and out-idioted?
I'm not so sure about that. MELPe is what I hear about the most at 600bps rates, specially since it's already used by military communications gear.
Well, then maybe one should just study project management and soft skills. So in a few years, all we'll have will be some soft managers, thinking they know something about computer science.
I'm still waiting a response for my request of one of those "free fixes".
I think there's more trouble facing the early adopters. For example, even the hardware isn't all that good to start with. The "modern replacement" of SheevaPlug (mentioned in "hardware is being taken care of") isn't all that good. In fact, this new version, the GuruPlug, suffers greatly of an lack of thermal design. This causes the plug to overheat and start rebooting, until the embedded power supply fails (also because of heat dissipation problems). As a result, to use one of those, the user must also mod the hardware, which creates all sorts of trouble. The manufacturer doesn't even care about it, and keep selling it for those naive enough (like me) to think that the manufacturer should take care of those problems before even starting to sell a product.
I store them in first posts.
Seems to me like FUD, probably from some corp trying to justify the abolition of net neutrality
and one can easily overcome is: MULTIPLAYER!
I looked at its specs. No way I'd buy that. With 10KS/s you can't even decode audio! The simplest audio files usually are 44kHz. It may be better to build one's own scope with an Arduino (which will get you more geek points), or buy a DSO Nano (with 1Msps 12Bits, and 8 times the sample storage). Minimum Voltage Range Accuracy of 37.5 mV also won't get you very far, specially if you try simple amplifier stuff (which very often can vary only a few millivolts or even only microvolts).
I agree that the Rigol DS1052E is pretty fine for most uses, specially if you have to ask such a question. I have one and it has done everything I needed so far. Even my college use scopes worse than those. If you need a logic analyzer to deal with digital stuff (I think you might, since you're compsci-oriented instead of a proper electronics engineer), you might take a look at the Open Logic Sniffer. It's even open-source, so you can hack it too. The only reason I think you might look for another one is if you deal with RF or something like that.
It was literally the blue screen of death
if you said what hobby and index is that. Doing so would surely catch more interest from the Slashdot crowd.
The more you argue your case the worse your chance to -really- win the argument, convince the other side. More often they will admit defeat to get you off their neck and keep believing their falsehood even stronger.
Sounds to me like religion.
That doesn't really explain why Ghana has so far won no World Cups.
I use plain osCommerce. Has good features to track what needs buying in an inventory. Also, it's good, though not necessary, to reference which drawer gets what. If not using drawer references, just keeping stuff categorized on the drawers works too. As noted by other commenters, the problem is keeping it up-to-date. Don't even bother tracking resistor/capacitor usage. Just buy a lot of them to have stock... you'll notice when one of them runs too low. The best reason to keep such inventory is for those parts that are not that common, which you may have few but want to keep control.
Looks like another case of edu-vaporware. Now it's eDukeNukem time!
The name of the technology should be blueray of death.