Yes, but by running a Google search on, say, awk, you run a substantial risk of inadvertently launching an ICBM and initiating a global thermonuclear war.
Of the flurry of paperwork that companies throw at employees these days, the noncompete agreement is the most Kafkaesque. How, indeed, are you supposed to work elsewhere if you leave your employer for whatever reason?
I don't begrudge companies making employees sign non-disclosure agreements. Even the noxious email policies they're coming up with these days (where they more or less reserve the right to dismiss you for using naughty words in an email message if they feel like it) are nothing compared to the noncompete agreements. The noncompete agreements are the only ones that deny you the ability to make a living after leaving the company.
My policy: never sign 'em. I actually did lose a job once for not signing one -- even though I had been performing fine, my "promotion" from non-probational status was contingent upon signing the noncompete. Once the probationary period was over, so was my job. Other subsequent employers have somehow let me not sign their absurd noncompetes, perhaps because I didn't go trumpeting to the whole world not to sign them.
I think that the Blue Book (O'Reilly's Unix sysadmin book) is pretty good, but it's getting pretty outdated, considering it's got a lot of OS-specific info. The Drill Book, though, is the BEST general Unix reference I've used. (I don't have the Red/Purple Book yet, but I've ordered it.) The Drill Book's coverage of shell programming is better than I've seen anywhere else. And, generally speaking, it's got so many of the answers that used to have to be answered by seasoned, full-fledged Unix gurus.
Yoink. No kidding. On the non-crap side, I do think that EMI was the Beatles' original label, before they started their own Apple Records (now defunct).
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Yes, but by running a Google search on, say, awk, you run a substantial risk of inadvertently launching an ICBM and initiating a global thermonuclear war.
Mmmmm, butter.
Of the flurry of paperwork that companies throw at employees these days, the noncompete agreement is the most Kafkaesque. How, indeed, are you supposed to work elsewhere if you leave your employer for whatever reason?
I don't begrudge companies making employees sign non-disclosure agreements. Even the noxious email policies they're coming up with these days (where they more or less reserve the right to dismiss you for using naughty words in an email message if they feel like it) are nothing compared to the noncompete agreements. The noncompete agreements are the only ones that deny you the ability to make a living after leaving the company.
My policy: never sign 'em. I actually did lose a job once for not signing one -- even though I had been performing fine, my "promotion" from non-probational status was contingent upon signing the noncompete. Once the probationary period was over, so was my job. Other subsequent employers have somehow let me not sign their absurd noncompetes, perhaps because I didn't go trumpeting to the whole world not to sign them.
I think that the Blue Book (O'Reilly's Unix sysadmin book) is pretty good, but it's getting pretty outdated, considering it's got a lot of OS-specific info. The Drill Book, though, is the BEST general Unix reference I've used. (I don't have the Red/Purple Book yet, but I've ordered it.) The Drill Book's coverage of shell programming is better than I've seen anywhere else. And, generally speaking, it's got so many of the answers that used to have to be answered by seasoned, full-fledged Unix gurus.
"Open Source - the criminals [sic] friend"?? Ridiculous!!! Incidentally, Eric Raymond is far from Communist; he's a pro-gun libertarian.
Yoink. No kidding. On the non-crap side, I do think that EMI was the Beatles' original label, before they started their own Apple Records (now defunct).