I tried to buy DR-DOS for my PC back in the day. The clerk told me that the store only accepted credit cards. No cash. Don't remember if debit cards were around back then. If so, they didn't take those either. Hence, no sale.
I went to a community college and learned every flavor of Java because it didn't require an expensive site license. My current day-to-day language is Python. I occasionally dabble with compiling Python code to C code with Cython and some C programming. Back in the day, I did some 6502 assembly language on the Commodore 64.
My first exposure to programming was Big Trak, a tank-like toy that you could program to move around the room and perform various functions. A few years later, I would be introduced to Logo at school. I had no difficulty in picking up the language, as I've been using it indirectly for years.
I wanted to take Assembly Language when I went back to school to learn computer programming. I was the only student who showed up at the first class. Needless to say, the class was 20 students short of being funded by the state. So it got cancelled. Never got around to learning it on my own.
You can compile Python into C. I had a Python script to roll a pair of dice one million times that took 123 seconds. Compiled Python to C, it took four seconds.
I've heard stories of Silicon Valley engineers saving up their money, retiring to Mexico or Central America in their late 50's, building a mansion, and marrying a sweet little girl from the nearby village. The family consents to this because they will get the old man's money when he dies.
I make $25 per hour and pay $1,400 per month for a studio apartment in San Jose. I take an express bus to Palo Alto for $140 per month. My total commute time is 120 minutes per day (or less, depending on freeway traffic), where I read the Wall Street Journal in the morning and The New York Times in the afternoon.
Prior to the antitrust case filed by the Justice Department, Microsoft spent zero dollars on Washington lobbyist. Afterward, Microsoft spent $100M+ per year on Washington lobbyists. Some story with other Silicon Valley companies. You can't make billions of dollars without paying the piper in Washington.
paying artifically inflated wages when there are other people willing to do the job for significantly less money
The I.T. support jobs in Silicon Valley that paid $25 per hour last year are now paying $30+ per hour today. From what recruiters are telling me, it's difficult to lure young hipsters who want to work and live in San Francisco to work in Silicon Valley. Hence, the pay rate and related perks are going up.
I know that, you know that. But that was in 2009. In fact, I Googled it just to see how long ago it was. Hence, context was needed. Please note that my comment got modded up as funny while the OP comment wasn't modded at all. As they sale in real estate, "Context! Context! Context!"
I had a job interview with 3Dfx in 1997 for a QA position. The QA manager freaked me out with his tattoos and body piercings (he offered to show me the ones he had below his belt). The second interview was with his boss who was the head of marketing. If you read Dilbert extensively, any hardware company run by the marketing department was ultimately doom. I didn't take the job. No surprise that 3Dfx went out of business a few years later.
The low-end range for system admins starts at ~$90,000, according to several surveys I looked at. Until two months ago, I was a desktop tech. The new title was a bit of a stretch, so I wasn't realistically expecting a pay raise that doubled my income. This isn't the first time I got a fancy job title with increased responsibilities and no corresponding pay increase. This company did hire desktop techs when they should have hired and paid for security specialists.
I was hired as a desktop tech by the recruiter. When I showed up at work, they had me doing remote computer security for desktops. A year later I got a fancy new job title — senior system admin — based on what I'm currently doing and 18 years of I.T. support experience. When I pointed out that a senior system admin in Silicon Valley makes ~$40K more than what I'm currently getting paid, no one wants to comment on the discrepancy.
Copy and paste will carry you only so far. The trick is figure out someone else's code snippet and make it work in your own code. Unless you have a good understanding of programming, you will make spaghetti code instead.
Slashdot Mirror
Every job I had that had a Windows NT server used the word "hockey" as the admin password. Not sure if that was the default password or what.
I tried to buy DR-DOS for my PC back in the day. The clerk told me that the store only accepted credit cards. No cash. Don't remember if debit cards were around back then. If so, they didn't take those either. Hence, no sale.
You should educate yourself on the benefits of public transportation. An informed opinion is better than an ignorant opinion.
http://www.publictransportation.org/news/facts/Pages/default.aspx
I went to a community college and learned every flavor of Java because it didn't require an expensive site license. My current day-to-day language is Python. I occasionally dabble with compiling Python code to C code with Cython and some C programming. Back in the day, I did some 6502 assembly language on the Commodore 64.
Or we can stop farming in the desert and have plenty of water for people. Problem solved!
Hopefully, these hurricanes are heading to California. We need the water — and the shark fins for soup.
Mt. Everest does smell bad from all the hikers taking a dump off the trail and not picking up after themselves.
My first exposure to programming was Big Trak, a tank-like toy that you could program to move around the room and perform various functions. A few years later, I would be introduced to Logo at school. I had no difficulty in picking up the language, as I've been using it indirectly for years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak
I wanted to take Assembly Language when I went back to school to learn computer programming. I was the only student who showed up at the first class. Needless to say, the class was 20 students short of being funded by the state. So it got cancelled. Never got around to learning it on my own.
You can compile Python into C. I had a Python script to roll a pair of dice one million times that took 123 seconds. Compiled Python to C, it took four seconds.
http://cython.org/
I've heard stories of Silicon Valley engineers saving up their money, retiring to Mexico or Central America in their late 50's, building a mansion, and marrying a sweet little girl from the nearby village. The family consents to this because they will get the old man's money when he dies.
people being afraid to touch the code to avoid breaking a rare and poorly-tested code path
In short, no unit tests were ever written.
I make $25 per hour and pay $1,400 per month for a studio apartment in San Jose. I take an express bus to Palo Alto for $140 per month. My total commute time is 120 minutes per day (or less, depending on freeway traffic), where I read the Wall Street Journal in the morning and The New York Times in the afternoon.
Prior to the antitrust case filed by the Justice Department, Microsoft spent zero dollars on Washington lobbyist. Afterward, Microsoft spent $100M+ per year on Washington lobbyists. Some story with other Silicon Valley companies. You can't make billions of dollars without paying the piper in Washington.
paying artifically inflated wages when there are other people willing to do the job for significantly less money
The I.T. support jobs in Silicon Valley that paid $25 per hour last year are now paying $30+ per hour today. From what recruiters are telling me, it's difficult to lure young hipsters who want to work and live in San Francisco to work in Silicon Valley. Hence, the pay rate and related perks are going up.
If you have to ask, turn in your hacker creds and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. :)
If it had a neutral alignment, it would be edgier still.
I know that, you know that. But that was in 2009. In fact, I Googled it just to see how long ago it was. Hence, context was needed. Please note that my comment got modded up as funny while the OP comment wasn't modded at all. As they sale in real estate, "Context! Context! Context!"
That's Microsoft.
I had a job interview with 3Dfx in 1997 for a QA position. The QA manager freaked me out with his tattoos and body piercings (he offered to show me the ones he had below his belt). The second interview was with his boss who was the head of marketing. If you read Dilbert extensively, any hardware company run by the marketing department was ultimately doom. I didn't take the job. No surprise that 3Dfx went out of business a few years later.
The low-end range for system admins starts at ~$90,000, according to several surveys I looked at. Until two months ago, I was a desktop tech. The new title was a bit of a stretch, so I wasn't realistically expecting a pay raise that doubled my income. This isn't the first time I got a fancy job title with increased responsibilities and no corresponding pay increase. This company did hire desktop techs when they should have hired and paid for security specialists.
NCC-1701J - Alternative timeline in the 26th century, shown to Archer by a 29th century Federation temporal agent.
http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701-J)
It would be funny if your comment had some context.
I was hired as a desktop tech by the recruiter. When I showed up at work, they had me doing remote computer security for desktops. A year later I got a fancy new job title — senior system admin — based on what I'm currently doing and 18 years of I.T. support experience. When I pointed out that a senior system admin in Silicon Valley makes ~$40K more than what I'm currently getting paid, no one wants to comment on the discrepancy.
Copy and paste will carry you only so far. The trick is figure out someone else's code snippet and make it work in your own code. Unless you have a good understanding of programming, you will make spaghetti code instead.