This is how it is at my work. As a developer working remotely, I depend completely on my internet connection. Earlier this summer, my internet connection was down for over an hour, and there was absolutely nothing I could do work-related during this time. It's sad, but true.
the laptop has helped her twelve-year-old son master critical professional skills like how to compile a PowerPoint presentation
The terms "critical professional skill" and "PowerPoint presentation" should never appear in the same sentence. PowerPoint presentations are one of the most overused and misused pieces of technology. At my current job, I have sat through 400+ slide PowerPoint presentations on more than one occasion.
What they should be teaching kids is how to quickly and effectively get their point across.
I agree - as much as I am for automation and letting software control much of my life, this is one area that we simply cannot accept such a large possibility of foul play. Hand-counting of ballots is still subject to fault and/or fraud, but not nearly as much as an electronic voting system.
As a side note, I voted in Anchorage yesterday, and at least in my district, we still use good 'ole paper ballots.
You're only half right about Alaska. While we have no state income tax, many cities do have a sales tax. One major exception is Anchorage, where I live (along with about half the state). Instead, we have some of the highest property taxes in the country. The cost of living in Anchorage is not much higher than the lower 48, but anywhere outside of Anchorage is typically 20-30% higher.
The salary for IT jobs is not that great either. My first job out of college I started out making $40k; I have friends in the lower 48 that started at almost twice that. Now, with about 3 years of experience under my belt, I'm up to $55k.
Living in Alaska definitely isn't cheap, but for most of us, it's about the quality of life. Alaska is like no other place I've ever been to, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I've also been very pleased with AVG. I started using it about 6 months ago. At the time, I was running Norton AntiVirus, and immeditaly AVG detected and removed a virus that Norton had not found. I immeditaly uninstalled Norton, and have been happily running AVG virus-free every since.
I'm curious if the internet access in either place today is strong enough to support that type of work.
I can't speak specifically for Bali or Brazil, but I just spent the holidays in Tahiti, and the Internet connection was horrendously slow there. I was having the same thoughts as you the first couple of days there, but the first time I tried to use the Internet burst that bubble.
When I resigned from my last job (as a programmer/analyst), I gave 2 weeks notice, and continued to do actual real work for them until the moment those 2 weeks were over. Maybe my old company is just an anomaly...
In the town I used to live in, a very similar thing was going on at the local Walmart. A few high schoolers that worked there would mark down high ticket items like DVD players, XBox, Gamecube, etc. They would then have their friends come in and purchase the marked down items, making sure that they were the ones at the checkout stand. Eventually they were caught of course. It turned out they had been running this scheme for several months, and had made off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.
If the studios can continue to produce one craptastic game-based movie after another, and we continue to pile into the theatres at $9 a pop to watch them, why should they stop making them (or at least put more effort into actually making them good)? They have no reason to.
I was at Cedar Point last summer and saw it do the same thing several times. I finally did make it on the ride, and it was quite a rush, but I will agree that the Millenium Force is the superior rollercoaster.
a "bad" program which does approximately the right thing to solve the problem is better than a beautiful program which does positively the wrong thing
I agree, but I believe that you are much more likely to get a program that "approximates" the right thing with someone who actually knows what they are doing (i.e. has a CS major/minor, or has at least taken a few classes past the beginner level).
This is a huge problem that I see happen all the time, at many different companies that I do contract work for.
Instead of paying someone who really does now how to program (which includes being able to create a well thought-out design and actually implement it), the managers think they can save a few bucks by having an engineer who "knows" how to program hack something out real quick. It may be a few months down the road before it is realized that the program is crap and has to be completely redone. Then the company has to pay big bucks for someone like me to come in and fix things - much more than it would have cost them to hire someone with a CS degree to write the program in the first place.
I have to go with the classic Leatherman. I have had mine since I was 10 years old, and it still works great. Other than getting the knife blade sharpened here and there, I have not had any problems with it in 13 years, and I have put it through considerable abuse.
I understand your desire to have a locking mechanism for the blade. That being the case, the Leatherman Wave would be a good fit. It's very similar to the classic Leatherman in terms of quality and function, and the blade lock is a nice touch.
I would agree that a bonsai tree is definitely the way to go, although I will admit that they can be a bit difficult to care for. I have two of them in my house, and everyone who comes over asks about them. If you put one in your cubicle, you will instantly transform into Mr. Popular.
Another thing to consider is that there are actually many types of bonsai trees, each with their own distinct style. Check out http://www.bonsaisite.com/ for lots of good info styles, growing and care of bonsai trees.
I agree. When I was on the hunt for a job, I did only basic record keeping of this sort. While you do need to keep track of these sorts of things, you have to remember that your primary focus is finding a job.
I don't agree that it's impossible to prepare for something like this, and hopefully most companies aren't quite as anal as what you are describing (though I'm sure that some are).
My company typically asks pretty broad technical questions during interviews. They try to cover general topics such as database design, OO design, and maybe a little bit that is language-specific, depending on the position.
Unless you are interviewing with a company like Google, I think they are just trying to make sure you didn't totally BS your resume.
I agree. While I do plan on going to see Episode III in the theatre, it will only be for the purpose of closure...and I definitely won't be waiting in line for 5 months...
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(3) This is pretty reasonable. My parents have had the same phone number for at least 20 years, and my aunt and uncle have had theirs for at least 30.
For CS students, the fundamentals of discrete math and set theory are probably some of the most important.
I agree. The single math class that I've gotten the most use out of post-college is discrete math. Abstract algebra has also been useful at times.
This is how it is at my work. As a developer working remotely, I depend completely on my internet connection. Earlier this summer, my internet connection was down for over an hour, and there was absolutely nothing I could do work-related during this time. It's sad, but true.
the laptop has helped her twelve-year-old son master critical professional skills like how to compile a PowerPoint presentation
The terms "critical professional skill" and "PowerPoint presentation" should never appear in the same sentence. PowerPoint presentations are one of the most overused and misused pieces of technology. At my current job, I have sat through 400+ slide PowerPoint presentations on more than one occasion.
What they should be teaching kids is how to quickly and effectively get their point across.
I agree - as much as I am for automation and letting software control much of my life, this is one area that we simply cannot accept such a large possibility of foul play. Hand-counting of ballots is still subject to fault and/or fraud, but not nearly as much as an electronic voting system.
As a side note, I voted in Anchorage yesterday, and at least in my district, we still use good 'ole paper ballots.
You're only half right about Alaska. While we have no state income tax, many cities do have a sales tax. One major exception is Anchorage, where I live (along with about half the state). Instead, we have some of the highest property taxes in the country. The cost of living in Anchorage is not much higher than the lower 48, but anywhere outside of Anchorage is typically 20-30% higher.
The salary for IT jobs is not that great either. My first job out of college I started out making $40k; I have friends in the lower 48 that started at almost twice that. Now, with about 3 years of experience under my belt, I'm up to $55k.
Living in Alaska definitely isn't cheap, but for most of us, it's about the quality of life. Alaska is like no other place I've ever been to, and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I've had my MacBook Pro since May, and it's got a whining problem. Nothing that turning up the volume in iTunes can't fix.
I've also been very pleased with AVG. I started using it about 6 months ago. At the time, I was running Norton AntiVirus, and immeditaly AVG detected and removed a virus that Norton had not found. I immeditaly uninstalled Norton, and have been happily running AVG virus-free every since.
I'm curious if the internet access in either place today is strong enough to support that type of work.
I can't speak specifically for Bali or Brazil, but I just spent the holidays in Tahiti, and the Internet connection was horrendously slow there. I was having the same thoughts as you the first couple of days there, but the first time I tried to use the Internet burst that bubble.
When I resigned from my last job (as a programmer/analyst), I gave 2 weeks notice, and continued to do actual real work for them until the moment those 2 weeks were over. Maybe my old company is just an anomaly...
In the town I used to live in, a very similar thing was going on at the local Walmart. A few high schoolers that worked there would mark down high ticket items like DVD players, XBox, Gamecube, etc. They would then have their friends come in and purchase the marked down items, making sure that they were the ones at the checkout stand. Eventually they were caught of course. It turned out they had been running this scheme for several months, and had made off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.
This has been on digg for almost an entire day already...
This is an example of capitalism at its finest.
If the studios can continue to produce one craptastic game-based movie after another, and we continue to pile into the theatres at $9 a pop to watch them, why should they stop making them (or at least put more effort into actually making them good)? They have no reason to.
$53K, 1 year out of college, and I average just under 40 hours per week.
I was at Cedar Point last summer and saw it do the same thing several times. I finally did make it on the ride, and it was quite a rush, but I will agree that the Millenium Force is the superior rollercoaster.
a "bad" program which does approximately the right thing to solve the problem is better than a beautiful program which does positively the wrong thing
I agree, but I believe that you are much more likely to get a program that "approximates" the right thing with someone who actually knows what they are doing (i.e. has a CS major/minor, or has at least taken a few classes past the beginner level).
This is a huge problem that I see happen all the time, at many different companies that I do contract work for.
Instead of paying someone who really does now how to program (which includes being able to create a well thought-out design and actually implement it), the managers think they can save a few bucks by having an engineer who "knows" how to program hack something out real quick. It may be a few months down the road before it is realized that the program is crap and has to be completely redone. Then the company has to pay big bucks for someone like me to come in and fix things - much more than it would have cost them to hire someone with a CS degree to write the program in the first place.
I have to go with the classic Leatherman. I have had mine since I was 10 years old, and it still works great. Other than getting the knife blade sharpened here and there, I have not had any problems with it in 13 years, and I have put it through considerable abuse.
I understand your desire to have a locking mechanism for the blade. That being the case, the Leatherman Wave would be a good fit. It's very similar to the classic Leatherman in terms of quality and function, and the blade lock is a nice touch.
I would agree that a bonsai tree is definitely the way to go, although I will admit that they can be a bit difficult to care for. I have two of them in my house, and everyone who comes over asks about them. If you put one in your cubicle, you will instantly transform into Mr. Popular.
Another thing to consider is that there are actually many types of bonsai trees, each with their own distinct style. Check out http://www.bonsaisite.com/ for lots of good info styles, growing and care of bonsai trees.
I agree. When I was on the hunt for a job, I did only basic record keeping of this sort. While you do need to keep track of these sorts of things, you have to remember that your primary focus is finding a job.
http://www.picasa.com/
I don't agree that it's impossible to prepare for something like this, and hopefully most companies aren't quite as anal as what you are describing (though I'm sure that some are).
My company typically asks pretty broad technical questions during interviews. They try to cover general topics such as database design, OO design, and maybe a little bit that is language-specific, depending on the position.
Unless you are interviewing with a company like Google, I think they are just trying to make sure you didn't totally BS your resume.
Most definitely - Episodes I and II have been pale in comparison to the originals (to put it mildly), and I'm sure Episode III will be no different.
The new films have been so far detached from the originals, it is difficult to even put them together in the same category.
I agree. While I do plan on going to see Episode III in the theatre, it will only be for the purpose of closure...and I definitely won't be waiting in line for 5 months...
- SCO will not find some way to screw this up for everyone
- Other companies will follow IBM's lead
Until we see how this all unravels, all I can say is way to go IBM!