I sympathize with your situation, but asking for credit would not make you look good and would probably antagonize your supervisor. Instead, put your accomplishments on your resume. If you want to, build a personal website and post your resume there. Meanwhile, continue doing your job as well as you can. Eventually, you'll get more recognition, hopefully in the form of money as well as name recognition. Keep in mind that real recognition won't come from working for someone else.
After the first 10 questions, my IQ was 20 points lower than my score from other IQ tests. A half hour later I answered another 10 questions, and my IQ dropped by 10 points.
Yes, find hobbies. In my case my non-IT-related hobbies rekindled my interest in IT because I could use my IT skills to contribute to the hobbyist community.
Not always. I went to a tech school, and while some of the other girls were in high demand, I was definitely not. I'd classify myself as better-looking than the "ugliest mutt" and in pretty good physical shape (at least aesthetically, if not athletically). I had maybe one or two half-hearted suitors in four years.
I have to agree with the above post. I, too, graduated from a top science and engineering school. I pulled many an all-nighter working on a problem set for a science class that would be the equivalent of an upper-division course at some other university but was part of the core requirements here. The result was burnout and frustration with CS and all the other sciences as well.
At the end of it all, my degree has helped me get job interviews, but it certainly doesn't guarantee an offer. I've received cold calls from recruiters who saw the name of my university. Ironically, I've chosen a job at my alma mater for the advantages of a campus environment without the problem sets or the stress of a corporate job. Now I have the time and energy to take advantage of campus activities, usually run by graduate students or people from off-campus.
As for the original question, a liberal arts school would offer a more balanced curriculum and lifestyle. If you ever decide that you don't want to major in CS, you would have options beyond only science, math, and engineering. You would also meet a larger variety of people than the stressed-out and often socially awkward geeks who populate a tech school. However, some people who are very sure about their interests in math, science, or engineering thrive in the rigorous tech school environment.
It isn't that surprising, really. His predecessor might have been really lazy or indifferent to tech stuff, just like I am. Since I don't like working on computers outside of work, other than for surfing the net or accomplishing unrelated tasks, I'm missing a lot of knowledge that comes with hands-on experience and passion for the field. I'm also really lazy and don't get things done. I only chose computer science because everything else that's realistic seemed just as or even more boring. As a result, a geeky 11-year-old could probably do a better job than me at my job.
Your college career center can help you find an internship or a summer job. There might be openings for student coders on campus, depending on what kind of college you attend. All my internships and summer jobs were found through my college's career center. Even if you don't find anything, work on personal programming projects to develop your skills and build your resume.
It depends on the user. Many end users are clueless. They'll just mess up their computers until they come begging for help. However, some users may need additional software other than the standard in order to do their jobs. In that case, it might be advisable to grant them management privileges on their PCs if they are a knowledgeable power user.
The place where I work is mixed. I have two workstations. I control what software I install on my Windows box. Since I'm a sysadmin myself (just not in the larger IT group), I could probably handle the Linux box myself if allowed, but most of the time it would just be too much trouble.
I graduated with a degree in engineering (specialty was CS). I do not, and never have, loved engineering or math. I consider myself a whiner. I'm lazy and prefer not to do work. However, I got my degree from a prestigious university and do CS for a living. Why would someone who does not love engineering stick with it? Well, sometimes engineering is the highest-paying option in which one realistically has the potential to succeed, and success can bring significant rewards.
Many of the big-name universities like Caltech and MIT offer hefty financial aid packages. I recommend that you apply and see what you get.
Keep in mind that schools like MIT and Caltech aren't for everyone, even if you are accepted and get enough financial aid to afford it. I graduated from Caltech, but I did not enjoy my time as a student. It was too much work, and I'm not as passionate about math and science as most other techers. After the struggle to keep up and get good grades, I think I would have retained more if I had gone to an easier school. However, I do have an impressive Caltech diploma that makes it easier for me to get in the door when applying for jobs.
They depend too much on their parents' money If my parents' money is available and they let me use it, I will. Money is money.
they have no job loyalty A company hires its employees to maximize its profits. An employee's goal is to maximize his/her own profits. Of course there's no loyalty because it's all about maximizing profit on both ends. However, if the company treats its employees less like resources and more people, then the employee might develop some good will for the company and show more loyalty, ultimately benefiting the company.
show remarkable acumen for demanding more than they're worth Again, it's all about maximizing your own profit. If you can get more than you're worth, then take it. In my case, I tend not to make demands or negotiate for more money, so I settle for less.
When I have downtime, I usually surf the Internet. I mostly browse Reddit and Digg, and sometimes Slashdot. I also hit up regular news sites, like CNN or BBC, and blogs. Ironically, I often read self-improvement blogs about how to be more productive. Sometimes I always squeeze in a bit of time to work on a website that I maintain for a club. After work I probably wouldn't have the motivation to work on the website.
Much of the downtime I have isn't really downtime. I could spend the time working on ongoing projects (most of which don't have a strict deadline), writing documentation, improving the way things work, thinking of improvements, reading a work-related manual that I should read, or developing my skills, but I'm lazy. If I actually worked efficiently and polished off the projects I have on my plate, I would probably go with little downtime for a while but eventually still end up with a some free time.
When I goof off, I remind myself that if I lost my job, I might find the motivation and time to start on the money-making online ventures that I recently planned. I also remind myself that I have enough savings to last me a year or two at my current lifestyle. My savings would last me longer if I moved into a cheaper place and cut out unnecessary expenses and if I paid more attention to investing. I also wouldn't mind going back to living off my parents.
I think it was the game my dad wrote for me on a Tandy. Later, I typed game programs from a manual into an old Sharp pocket computer that was already way out of date at the time. I also played Gorilla and Nibbles on MS-DOS. My first commercial game was Wing Commander. Strangely, I didn't play PacMan or other classic arcade games until the 90s.
I'm proud of some of the code that I've written because it's modular and reusable, does something cool, or successfully implements a cool idea that I came up with. But sometimes I'm proud when I manage to write anything that doesn't crash immediately.
At my work I mostly code alone, and there aren't any organization-wide best practices policies. Since it's a research institution, satisfying all the customers 100% isn't that vital to the bottom line.
Why would it occur to any couple to combine their email addresses? Your email address is yours, and you can open a new account any time you feel like it. Since I can easily spend hours on a computer at a time, it wouldn't even occur to me to share a computer with whomever I marry.
NO DEVELOPERS ALLOWED ON PRODUCTION SERVERS. THIS IS A TERMINATION OFFENSE (WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE). Where I work, some of the production servers are also the development servers, just with two instances of the app running. No money for separate servers, unfortunately.
The OS class I took at my university (top two science/engineering institution, top 15 in computer science) involved lots of kernel hacking. The lectures taught the usual theory, but almost all the homework assignments involved hacking the kernel. Unfortunately, I didn't do well in it or get much out of it because at the time I had poor C skills and very little experience with Linux.
It might be required for a financial company to screen their employees, and it is understandable, considering the nature of the job. Nevertheless, there's no guarantee that dishonest employees got caught for their previous crimes, or that honest employees won't one day decide to commit crimes and hide their fingerprints.
I don't think seeing a mental health professional is all that socially stigmatizing, since it's no secret that celebrities, athletes, and overworked CEOs do it. For me, personally, both mental and dental checkups would be equally stigmatizing because of my parents' negative attitude toward both. As a result, I can't smile without showing off my obviously extremely crowded teeth.
I all in favor of cyborg enhancements as long as they increase individual freedom -- for example, increasing strength, flexibility, coordination, speed, stamina, eyesight, dexterity, intelligence, memory -- but not "enhancements" to personality. Sure, one can argue that enhanced humans should all have personalities that make them efficient and happy contributors to society, but society's only purpose is to ensure survival and comfort. If we manage to build robots do all the work in society, humans won't need to contribute and should have the freedom and leisure to be they want to be.
You're right. I want the freedom to live like a trust fund baby. My parents are well-off enough, but not quite enough for a trust fund. I'm still mad at them for wanting me to be a hard-working, normal person. In school I worked hard enough to get excellent grades, and going on to be like everyone else seemed perfectly fine, even though I didn't really understand why they did the things they did. As I get older and more often encounter older people, I still don't understand them. I can understand wanting money, but not people's willingness to be content or proud working for it, or their desire to produce children to go through the same crap, whether the children want to or not.
I would also hate to work with or employ me. I would want to employ someone who works hard, follows orders, and enthusiastically dedicates much of their creativity and at least the required time to the company. In other words, I would hire the kind of person I don't want to be.
Slashdot Mirror
I sympathize with your situation, but asking for credit would not make you look good and would probably antagonize your supervisor. Instead, put your accomplishments on your resume. If you want to, build a personal website and post your resume there. Meanwhile, continue doing your job as well as you can. Eventually, you'll get more recognition, hopefully in the form of money as well as name recognition. Keep in mind that real recognition won't come from working for someone else.
After the first 10 questions, my IQ was 20 points lower than my score from other IQ tests. A half hour later I answered another 10 questions, and my IQ dropped by 10 points.
Yes, find hobbies. In my case my non-IT-related hobbies rekindled my interest in IT because I could use my IT skills to contribute to the hobbyist community.
I wish everyone would read this. Then no one will have kids.
Not always. I went to a tech school, and while some of the other girls were in high demand, I was definitely not. I'd classify myself as better-looking than the "ugliest mutt" and in pretty good physical shape (at least aesthetically, if not athletically). I had maybe one or two half-hearted suitors in four years.
I have to agree with the above post. I, too, graduated from a top science and engineering school. I pulled many an all-nighter working on a problem set for a science class that would be the equivalent of an upper-division course at some other university but was part of the core requirements here. The result was burnout and frustration with CS and all the other sciences as well.
At the end of it all, my degree has helped me get job interviews, but it certainly doesn't guarantee an offer. I've received cold calls from recruiters who saw the name of my university. Ironically, I've chosen a job at my alma mater for the advantages of a campus environment without the problem sets or the stress of a corporate job. Now I have the time and energy to take advantage of campus activities, usually run by graduate students or people from off-campus.
As for the original question, a liberal arts school would offer a more balanced curriculum and lifestyle. If you ever decide that you don't want to major in CS, you would have options beyond only science, math, and engineering. You would also meet a larger variety of people than the stressed-out and often socially awkward geeks who populate a tech school. However, some people who are very sure about their interests in math, science, or engineering thrive in the rigorous tech school environment.
That's not true. At Caltech, where I graduated from a couple of years ago, showing up sober doesn't guarantee anything close to an A in most classes.
It isn't that surprising, really. His predecessor might have been really lazy or indifferent to tech stuff, just like I am. Since I don't like working on computers outside of work, other than for surfing the net or accomplishing unrelated tasks, I'm missing a lot of knowledge that comes with hands-on experience and passion for the field. I'm also really lazy and don't get things done. I only chose computer science because everything else that's realistic seemed just as or even more boring. As a result, a geeky 11-year-old could probably do a better job than me at my job.
Your college career center can help you find an internship or a summer job. There might be openings for student coders on campus, depending on what kind of college you attend. All my internships and summer jobs were found through my college's career center. Even if you don't find anything, work on personal programming projects to develop your skills and build your resume.
It depends on the user. Many end users are clueless. They'll just mess up their computers until they come begging for help. However, some users may need additional software other than the standard in order to do their jobs. In that case, it might be advisable to grant them management privileges on their PCs if they are a knowledgeable power user.
The place where I work is mixed. I have two workstations. I control what software I install on my Windows box. Since I'm a sysadmin myself (just not in the larger IT group), I could probably handle the Linux box myself if allowed, but most of the time it would just be too much trouble.
I graduated with a degree in engineering (specialty was CS). I do not, and never have, loved engineering or math. I consider myself a whiner. I'm lazy and prefer not to do work. However, I got my degree from a prestigious university and do CS for a living. Why would someone who does not love engineering stick with it? Well, sometimes engineering is the highest-paying option in which one realistically has the potential to succeed, and success can bring significant rewards.
Many of the big-name universities like Caltech and MIT offer hefty financial aid packages. I recommend that you apply and see what you get.
Keep in mind that schools like MIT and Caltech aren't for everyone, even if you are accepted and get enough financial aid to afford it. I graduated from Caltech, but I did not enjoy my time as a student. It was too much work, and I'm not as passionate about math and science as most other techers. After the struggle to keep up and get good grades, I think I would have retained more if I had gone to an easier school. However, I do have an impressive Caltech diploma that makes it easier for me to get in the door when applying for jobs.
When I have downtime, I usually surf the Internet. I mostly browse Reddit and Digg, and sometimes Slashdot. I also hit up regular news sites, like CNN or BBC, and blogs. Ironically, I often read self-improvement blogs about how to be more productive. Sometimes I always squeeze in a bit of time to work on a website that I maintain for a club. After work I probably wouldn't have the motivation to work on the website.
Much of the downtime I have isn't really downtime. I could spend the time working on ongoing projects (most of which don't have a strict deadline), writing documentation, improving the way things work, thinking of improvements, reading a work-related manual that I should read, or developing my skills, but I'm lazy. If I actually worked efficiently and polished off the projects I have on my plate, I would probably go with little downtime for a while but eventually still end up with a some free time.
When I goof off, I remind myself that if I lost my job, I might find the motivation and time to start on the money-making online ventures that I recently planned. I also remind myself that I have enough savings to last me a year or two at my current lifestyle. My savings would last me longer if I moved into a cheaper place and cut out unnecessary expenses and if I paid more attention to investing. I also wouldn't mind going back to living off my parents.
I think it was the game my dad wrote for me on a Tandy. Later, I typed game programs from a manual into an old Sharp pocket computer that was already way out of date at the time. I also played Gorilla and Nibbles on MS-DOS. My first commercial game was Wing Commander. Strangely, I didn't play PacMan or other classic arcade games until the 90s.
I'm proud of some of the code that I've written because it's modular and reusable, does something cool, or successfully implements a cool idea that I came up with. But sometimes I'm proud when I manage to write anything that doesn't crash immediately. At my work I mostly code alone, and there aren't any organization-wide best practices policies. Since it's a research institution, satisfying all the customers 100% isn't that vital to the bottom line.
Yesterday I roasted a turkey breast, basted with an orange juice, honey, and apricot preserve glaze, and it was tasty!
Why would it occur to any couple to combine their email addresses? Your email address is yours, and you can open a new account any time you feel like it. Since I can easily spend hours on a computer at a time, it wouldn't even occur to me to share a computer with whomever I marry.
The OS class I took at my university (top two science/engineering institution, top 15 in computer science) involved lots of kernel hacking. The lectures taught the usual theory, but almost all the homework assignments involved hacking the kernel. Unfortunately, I didn't do well in it or get much out of it because at the time I had poor C skills and very little experience with Linux.
It might be required for a financial company to screen their employees, and it is understandable, considering the nature of the job. Nevertheless, there's no guarantee that dishonest employees got caught for their previous crimes, or that honest employees won't one day decide to commit crimes and hide their fingerprints.
I don't think seeing a mental health professional is all that socially stigmatizing, since it's no secret that celebrities, athletes, and overworked CEOs do it. For me, personally, both mental and dental checkups would be equally stigmatizing because of my parents' negative attitude toward both. As a result, I can't smile without showing off my obviously extremely crowded teeth.
I all in favor of cyborg enhancements as long as they increase individual freedom -- for example, increasing strength, flexibility, coordination, speed, stamina, eyesight, dexterity, intelligence, memory -- but not "enhancements" to personality. Sure, one can argue that enhanced humans should all have personalities that make them efficient and happy contributors to society, but society's only purpose is to ensure survival and comfort. If we manage to build robots do all the work in society, humans won't need to contribute and should have the freedom and leisure to be they want to be.
You're right. I want the freedom to live like a trust fund baby. My parents are well-off enough, but not quite enough for a trust fund. I'm still mad at them for wanting me to be a hard-working, normal person. In school I worked hard enough to get excellent grades, and going on to be like everyone else seemed perfectly fine, even though I didn't really understand why they did the things they did. As I get older and more often encounter older people, I still don't understand them. I can understand wanting money, but not people's willingness to be content or proud working for it, or their desire to produce children to go through the same crap, whether the children want to or not.
I would also hate to work with or employ me. I would want to employ someone who works hard, follows orders, and enthusiastically dedicates much of their creativity and at least the required time to the company. In other words, I would hire the kind of person I don't want to be.