Correction "Yes indeed, the turn out rate for US Elections is pretty low, which makes most of you very bad citizens." which makes most of you very bad citizens according to your logic.... sorry it is early.
So you openly profess to being an "economic citizen", no?
So you openly profess to being too lazy to "go all the way" with the naturalization process, no?
Actual US citizens do the following:
You make an ASSumption and are to cowardly to reply with an actual account. No, I said I have not gotten around to naturalizing, it has nothing to do with laziness, it has got to do with not reserving money to pay for it (it is expensive), instead I direct that money towards paying down debt. Since my permanent residence card is up for renewal again in 2022, I will naturalize about 18 months before hand, which is actually the point where all my debt is virtually gone.
- vote in elections and other public matters (well, we should vote...) - hold political office and other positions that require "citizenship" as a prerequisite - serve jury duty (we generally hate it but we do it rather than go to jail for not doing it)
To your point "well you should vote". Yes indeed, the turn out rate for US Elections is pretty low, which makes most of you very bad citizens. I would vote if I were naturalized, but apparently most Americans do not hold that right important to them. I would gladly serve on a jury, I consider it a social responsibility.
- fight for this country as part of the military (if we don't defend it we lose it)
So I think you are here because it is "useful to you"... but by your own statements you are not useful to the USA other than being a tax revenue source.
magic word: optimism
Your ignorance is showing; I had to sign up for Selective Service upon applying for permanent residence (which was a 2 year process to get interviewed). I would fight for this country if the need arises and many permanent residents have served in the US Military still do while not citizens. I am also highly qualified in the STEM field, which makes me educationally and productively useful too.
The only thing I cannot do is vote, hold a public office, serve on a jury or hold certain jobs. Seems to me that the majority of Americans fail to vote, try to get out of jury duty every chance they get, do not hold public office or work for the government, so by your logic you imply they are only economically useful or useful as cannon fodder (fight for our country).
How do permanent residents not have a buy in? We are not H1B's. I pay the same taxes as you, I pay in to SSI, I contribute to all local, state and federal taxes. I own a house here with my wife (who was born in the USA) and child. I own two cars. I hunt. I support local wildlife habitats. I am paying in to a 401K and IRA in addition to personal investments. I pay for goods and services here. I plan to retire here, I have just not gotten around to naturalizing. How is that not buying in?
Citizenship is not some automagical status that makes you a productive member of society; it yields you some additional advantages that permanent residents do not get (yet we pay for it too:)) Being a citizen does not imply you can never take your crap and go elsewhere, US citizens do it all the time, they live aboard, they give up their citizenship and just like citizens if I decide to move back to my country of birth I still have to file US income tax statements even if I have not earned in the fiscal year inside US borders of protectorates, the only way around that is renouncing my permanent residence just like a citizen would have to.
Welcome to the wonderful world of arbitrary designations:)
I am a green card holder and have been living here for almost 17 years, I pay same taxes as you, I pay in to SSI and I contribute a hell of a lot of money to the economy. I should just suck it up and naturalize, it is not like I cannot keep my current citizenship in addition to obtaining US. The difference between citizenship and permanent residence is that you have taxation with representation, I however do not, but it is within my power to resolve that.
Seriously though, what a lack of common sense. "Honey, I am going to airport with my cellphone case that looks like a gun... i'll be back in 5 - 10 years..."
I have always found the American acceptance of entrapment to be perplexing.
We have very specifically crafted rules around what makes up entrapment, and what makes a sting. The FBI is very careful to follow these rules, because they don't want all of their hard work to get thrown up. Plus, I suspect, that they would rather be spending their effort on someone wanting to commit the crimes, not someone who isn't.
One area of entrapment probably was met: This terrorist POS had limited ability to construct, plan and carry out such attack. One could argue that the FBI agents were able to provide the support (albeit in a very limited sting operation sort of way, i.e. the POS taking the lead) to push him along to carry out his plans.
1) The idea for the crime must have originated from the government agents and not from the accused person. 2) Government agents persuaded the person into committing the crime, as opposed to just giving him or her the opportunity to do so. 3) The person was not ready or willing to commit the crime before speaking to the government agents.
Three could apply here and while you think we have "We have very specifically crafted rules around what makes up entrapment" looking at legal precedence/case law in the USA those rules seem to be more blurred than clear. In the case of this POS, they technically had him on a number of charges that would have given him a life sentence before they got to the fake bomb stage, hell even before the test run, we have put people in Gitmo for way less...
That's based on the fact that he willingly went along with the first guys to offer support.
It's not entrapment. It's a sting. There are very important differences, and you'll find the situation to be much less perplexing once you understand those differences.
I understand the difference; they already had him on numerous charges without playing the entire episode out to the point of placing a fake bomb. Yes sure, they offered multiple alternatives, prayer, made him aware there will be children and women present, no one is saying this terrorist aint a stinking pile of shit, but the FBI had him when they did the "practice run".
While technically waiting to make the arrest with the fake car bomb is not exactly entrapment, the sting operation could have concluded with the detonation or even construction of the "test" bomb. Actually, it probably could have concluded long before that with a conviction. Yes, I understand getting prosecution is harder than it sounds, but they have ample evidence prior to the fake bomb run, shit prior to the test run of his intention and activities. Also, what went wrong in this young mans head to push him this direction? Could have the perceived assistance of these agents, who to this idiot were willing accomplices (knowledgeable ones) that apparently supported his position?
So these agents, paid with my tax dollars, recruited, trained, encouraged, and entrapped a teenager in a make believe crime when he would have otherwise been studying for his midterms.
I doubt he would have been studying for his midterms. He would have just looked for another source of a way to attach infidels.
Based on what evidence you assert that assumption? This could have potentially been your standard angry young person that had trained professionals manipulating him and pushing him. I have always found the American acceptance of entrapment to be perplexing.
After this mess came to light the State department started going around to all the other agencies (NSA, CIA, etc...) to try and get them to declassifying their material to make Hillary's case look better but most, if not all, refused to play ball so yes, this was a case of her downloading and mishandling other peoples classified material.
And what protections did the "other people" take to protect their classified information? It sounds like the other departments were less than thorough with handing off of sensitive material. Just because you know person "a" has security clearance does not mean the responsibility for safely handing over information falls only on person "a", in fact it also falls upon yourself too.
This is a systematic failure of the system from every branch; those that were sending her emails clearly had not considered how those emails were being sent to Hillary or where they were being stored. If they had been, then they should have halted delivery of those emails and reported them as a violation. If they did and those violations were ignored, then the systematic failure becomes criminal negligence (intentional).
My opinion is the FBI investigation while publicly was focused on Hillary, behind the scenes I am willing to bet that a broader scope of failure was identified. The slap on Hillary's hands were intended to divert attention away from a failure by multiple agencies to protect hand off of classified information while giving Hillary an out with out this turning in to a broader more mass public PR issue.
Since Snowden also refuses to return to the USA, Trial in absentia potentially does apply; his 5th, 6th and 14th amendment's rights could be considered waived by his refusal to return and face his accusers.
I actually like PowerShell; it has improved over the years and being able to use.NET namespaces inside your shell script is useful. Right tool, for the right job after all.
Not 100% true; I've worked at several firms where we were converting our old COBOL systems in to a.NET/Windows platform, we were in earshot. Good thing is, most of those COBOL developers were either at retirement age or close to with a good incentive to hang around and help us.NET guys understand the legacy systems. Most of it was business/tech merged knowledge, obviously the architecture is different.
Microsoft is hoping to bridge the gap between platforms; at the end of the day, if you have a cross-platform language like.NET Core available and it is a) well supported, b) has a good community around it, c) is easy to develop in, why would you not use it?
To put another-way: Microsoft is wanting.NET Core to be what Java is except with their framework/languages. So...
Exactly! I left a job where that happen. (Names replaced to protect the guilty):
Boss: Fred, our search engines are showing high CPU load. Can you look?
Fred: I am at the park with my kid at the moment.
Boss: Can you head home?
Fred: Is Pete available (Pete golden boy).
Boss: Pete is grilling with his kids.
Fred: But Pete is home?
Boss: Pete is busy.
Fred: I am 20 minutes away from nearest computer to remote in with and if Pete is home...
Boss: Pete has family from out of town, you are just at the park...
Fred: sigh.
Boss (calls): So what did you find?
Fred: CPU pressure resolved by itself.
Boss: Can you review the logs?
Fred: Logs are copying to analysis box, it is going to take several hours, since they have not been rolled in a while.
Boss: Okay, call me when you have them reviewed.
Fred: Uhhh, that'll be tomorrow morning when I am in the office.
Boss: I expect your report first thing.
Fred:.... f you.
Yes, that happened. I got a lecture the next morning that I did not have the analysis done.
I left a year later; after being called while out camping... no issued work laptop, I had my personal with me, no real data reception. They expected me to drive 5 hours to get back to the office. I ended up putting my work contacts on auto-block when out with the family. I encouraged a support rotation, where people would be scheduled once every six weeks to be on support, but nope, they did not want to do that.
I found out after I left they did not want to do a support rotation, because Pete three months of the year had every weekend commitments away from home... yet, me wanting to head out camping with my family was to much. Yes, the commitments Pete had with religious in nature... mine was just you know, raising my family.
Also I never did finish my degree;) 15 years in to the field I am finally going back to complete my bachelors not because I am at a dead end in my career, but because it is an incomplete personal goal that is bugging me personally and not professionally:)
That's pretty reassuring, thankyou. I've worked in the same job since I left Uni, and any time I've looked at job listings each job seems to require experience in some random framework that I'm not likely to use at my current job, and it feels like working with it at home won't really "count" on a resume. Especially when they often want years of experience with said framework..
I've always refused to use MS languages/.NET , but I guess it is the easiest route to getting a job.. it just would make me feel so dirty..
Let me clarify my statement: It depends on what they are asking for; if you are applying for a Sr.NET Developer position and you have zero experience, then yes they will most likely not get the job. But if you are applying for a position that requires JQuery experience and you only have used MS AJAX toolkit but can demonstrate an understanding of JavaScript you have a shot.
The current job I just accepted a few weeks ago they were hoping I had MVC experience, but alas my previous gigs were all ASP.NET Webform, WinForm and Web Service development. But I was able to turn up to the interview, tell them I had no experience about MVC but discuss some of the aspects of the design approach and ask them some pointed questions about it. That peaked their interest, along with being able to answer the gambit of other technical questions they had correctly and they shrugged, “You’re a pretty decent.NET developer and SQL developer from looking at your resume, the code samples we asked you to write and questions you answered learning MVC while will take some time we know you are capable of it.”
And that is exactly it – it is not about impressing them with bullshit answers and responses, it is about demonstrating that you have technical skills, you have the ability to learn quickly and that you very least are familiar with a major design pattern out there. The fact of the matter is, in our field we will learn so many new technologies, frameworks etc throughout our career and we have to be willing to do so. That to me is the key, I have interviewed candidates that basically are: “I have always done it this way” attitude. Guess what? I have never offered them the job.
Do not feel dirty about doing.NET/MS SQL Server development; we were all young an idealistic and while you can still build a decent career without using the Microsoft stack why limit your options? In the end to me programming is programming, if I like what I am be tasked to do I don’t care what platform it is under and ultimately I am looking to pay the bills:)
* Started to play w/ Solaris on a sparc station at uni while learning C programming which got me interested in *nix. * Installed Slackware Linux at home and really liked what I saw during my uni days. * Spent time modifying hardcode on MU** servers and doing basic administration. * Started working at another college where a bunch of us decided that Redhat Linux was the choice for some services we wanted to host. * Started supporting a Linux based installation that acted as the firewall for the college I worked at. * Started setting up Apache web servers and SMB shares for a few local companies. * Did some side programming projects that involved dealing with some real time application needs under Linux.
While I was never a dedicated Linux admin or coder I keep those skills in my skillset arsenal. That is how I got in to Linux and I run a couple Gentoo boxes at home to support some of the stuff I am doing. I found during the Sysadmin part of my career keeping multi-OS skillsets honed was useful and during the programming part of my career (current part of my career) I spend most of my development in the.NET/MSSQL environment (it pays the bills really well) with the odd side project in Linux here and there.
So it all comes down to what you want to do when you grow-up; I scope my career based on what interests me - I have gone in to job interviews lacking a skillset they were wanting but ended up getting the job because I told them how I would learn it and I also gave an eager competent professional impression that I treat my job seriously and will learn whatever needs learned. I would conclude that while an impressive resume is always nice, the short comings can be made up by the soft skills.
That is what I am wondering. Gartner is paid for by their sponsers, yes the large software companies. Look at the changes in their top quadrant enterprise ETL packages over the last year or so. I have personal experience with a top right hand quadrant package they recommended end up now being dropped off a leader ETL solution. Any one that had done anything with the solution for day would have scoffed and demanded their money back.
I always continue walking out of a store when some one asks "Can I see your receipt please?" I say, "Nope. This is now my property so hands off." and continue on my way. I had one dude at a well known chain of stores try to step in front of me, heh - I picked up the bags walked around him and I bowed my head and said, "Thank you sir, for returning my cart." quite loudly and left.
Honestly? The first time I did this I was shitting myself - I wanted to play by the rules and not get in trouble or cause trouble. The issue? That is WHAT they are programming us to do - follow the rules, look at your shoes and never look at 'authority' in the eye or question anything they do. If you accept this verbatim with out question then you just agreed to no longer live in a free country. Imagine myself as a strong male being worried about doing this to a freaking store clerk, how do people who are less physically able and emotionally as me able to do this when confronted by actual 'authority' figures? The answer is they cannot!
Hey, I am one of those fuckwits! Okay was, I just put my notice in. Yeah I often worked long hours, honing my skillset and well the rest of my team disappeared. Now I am doing the job of three people, I am leaving for a straight 40 hour a week developer job where OT is paid at time and a half (and the people I have talked to at the new job said 40 hours is the norm with sometimes maybe needing to work 41 - 42 hours a week but that is seldom). Guess what? The two others on my team are not up to snuff and I had been telling them for a year now we went from 5 developers down to 4 then all of the sudden I was solo then we hired 2 more ppl who were not at intermediate level let alone Senior like me due to the 'cost' of local talent and we need to get more people!
Now? They have three consultants coming in to back fill my position (next week is my last week) - at what cost? More than they fucking are paying me and I told my director, dude you know why I am leaving? To get my fucking life back! I have a wife and a child who I do not get to see as much as I want. See you put all your eggs in one basket even though I was telling you we needed more people and now guess what? You're paying extra for consultants!
I am one of these dudes that just has to get the job done and guess what? I was at burn out level, I took 2 weeks earlier this year and came back relaxed which lasted a day at most before insta-stress back. Sometimes we get hung up on getting the job done and do not realize we're getting fucked until we get to the point of snapping.The issue is, we are told to work hard as children - work hard and the rewards will come to you. Uhhuh, not anymore! Not even certain it ever was - but it is an easy thing to get hung in, especially if you like what you are doing and it is very easy for companies to manipulate you in to doing it through minor rewards etc.
See I am in somewhat of a disagreement with that statement.
Professionalism is not just about your clothing; here is a tip: professionalism is about doing your job well, giving it everything you have and fitting in to your environment. If your environment dictates jeans, t-shirt then so be it! Your boss will decide what is appropriate for your environment or your HR department.
You may not realize this, but over-dressing for a job and overshadowing your boss and co-workers in a relaxed environment actually is not professional, as it can be condescending and hostile to your peers and superiors.
Slashdot Mirror
Correction "Yes indeed, the turn out rate for US Elections is pretty low, which makes most of you very bad citizens." which makes most of you very bad citizens according to your logic.... sorry it is early.
So you openly profess to being an "economic citizen", no?
So you openly profess to being too lazy to "go all the way" with the naturalization process, no?
Actual US citizens do the following:
You make an ASSumption and are to cowardly to reply with an actual account. No, I said I have not gotten around to naturalizing, it has nothing to do with laziness, it has got to do with not reserving money to pay for it (it is expensive), instead I direct that money towards paying down debt. Since my permanent residence card is up for renewal again in 2022, I will naturalize about 18 months before hand, which is actually the point where all my debt is virtually gone.
- vote in elections and other public matters (well, we should vote...)
- hold political office and other positions that require "citizenship" as a prerequisite
- serve jury duty (we generally hate it but we do it rather than go to jail for not doing it)
To your point "well you should vote". Yes indeed, the turn out rate for US Elections is pretty low, which makes most of you very bad citizens. I would vote if I were naturalized, but apparently most Americans do not hold that right important to them. I would gladly serve on a jury, I consider it a social responsibility.
- fight for this country as part of the military (if we don't defend it we lose it)
So I think you are here because it is "useful to you" ... but by your own statements you are not useful to the USA other than being a tax revenue source.
magic word: optimism
Your ignorance is showing; I had to sign up for Selective Service upon applying for permanent residence (which was a 2 year process to get interviewed). I would fight for this country if the need arises and many permanent residents have served in the US Military still do while not citizens. I am also highly qualified in the STEM field, which makes me educationally and productively useful too.
The only thing I cannot do is vote, hold a public office, serve on a jury or hold certain jobs. Seems to me that the majority of Americans fail to vote, try to get out of jury duty every chance they get, do not hold public office or work for the government, so by your logic you imply they are only economically useful or useful as cannon fodder (fight for our country).
Magic word: Idiocy.
Tes
How do permanent residents not have a buy in? We are not H1B's. I pay the same taxes as you, I pay in to SSI, I contribute to all local, state and federal taxes. I own a house here with my wife (who was born in the USA) and child. I own two cars. I hunt. I support local wildlife habitats. I am paying in to a 401K and IRA in addition to personal investments. I pay for goods and services here. I plan to retire here, I have just not gotten around to naturalizing. How is that not buying in?
Citizenship is not some automagical status that makes you a productive member of society; it yields you some additional advantages that permanent residents do not get (yet we pay for it too :)) Being a citizen does not imply you can never take your crap and go elsewhere, US citizens do it all the time, they live aboard, they give up their citizenship and just like citizens if I decide to move back to my country of birth I still have to file US income tax statements even if I have not earned in the fiscal year inside US borders of protectorates, the only way around that is renouncing my permanent residence just like a citizen would have to.
Welcome to the wonderful world of arbitrary designations :)
I am a green card holder and have been living here for almost 17 years, I pay same taxes as you, I pay in to SSI and I contribute a hell of a lot of money to the economy. I should just suck it up and naturalize, it is not like I cannot keep my current citizenship in addition to obtaining US. The difference between citizenship and permanent residence is that you have taxation with representation, I however do not, but it is within my power to resolve that.
Tes
I saw Ashley Madison should borrow the code base from Microsoft Tay, except teach it to be sexist against men...
... and, "You can't say bomb at the airport."
"Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb,... BOMB!"
Seriously though, what a lack of common sense. "Honey, I am going to airport with my cellphone case that looks like a gun... i'll be back in 5 - 10 years..."
I have always found the American acceptance of entrapment to be perplexing.
We have very specifically crafted rules around what makes up entrapment, and what makes a sting. The FBI is very careful to follow these rules, because they don't want all of their hard work to get thrown up. Plus, I suspect, that they would rather be spending their effort on someone wanting to commit the crimes, not someone who isn't.
One area of entrapment probably was met: This terrorist POS had limited ability to construct, plan and carry out such attack. One could argue that the FBI agents were able to provide the support (albeit in a very limited sting operation sort of way, i.e. the POS taking the lead) to push him along to carry out his plans.
1) The idea for the crime must have originated from the government agents and not from the accused person.
2) Government agents persuaded the person into committing the crime, as opposed to just giving him or her the opportunity to do so.
3) The person was not ready or willing to commit the crime before speaking to the government agents.
Three could apply here and while you think we have "We have very specifically crafted rules around what makes up entrapment" looking at legal precedence/case law in the USA those rules seem to be more blurred than clear. In the case of this POS, they technically had him on a number of charges that would have given him a life sentence before they got to the fake bomb stage, hell even before the test run, we have put people in Gitmo for way less...
That's based on the fact that he willingly went along with the first guys to offer support.
It's not entrapment. It's a sting. There are very important differences, and you'll find the situation to be much less perplexing once you understand those differences.
I understand the difference; they already had him on numerous charges without playing the entire episode out to the point of placing a fake bomb. Yes sure, they offered multiple alternatives, prayer, made him aware there will be children and women present, no one is saying this terrorist aint a stinking pile of shit, but the FBI had him when they did the "practice run".
While technically waiting to make the arrest with the fake car bomb is not exactly entrapment, the sting operation could have concluded with the detonation or even construction of the "test" bomb. Actually, it probably could have concluded long before that with a conviction. Yes, I understand getting prosecution is harder than it sounds, but they have ample evidence prior to the fake bomb run, shit prior to the test run of his intention and activities. Also, what went wrong in this young mans head to push him this direction? Could have the perceived assistance of these agents, who to this idiot were willing accomplices (knowledgeable ones) that apparently supported his position?
It all depends; did you accidentally spill the beans to anyone, in particular law enforcement? ;-)
So these agents, paid with my tax dollars, recruited, trained, encouraged, and entrapped a teenager in a make believe crime when he would have otherwise been studying for his midterms.
I doubt he would have been studying for his midterms. He would have just looked for another source of a way to attach infidels.
Based on what evidence you assert that assumption? This could have potentially been your standard angry young person that had trained professionals manipulating him and pushing him. I have always found the American acceptance of entrapment to be perplexing.
Military personnel have their own Chain of Command and defined rules about conduct.
After this mess came to light the State department started going around to all the other agencies (NSA, CIA, etc...) to try and get them to declassifying their material to make Hillary's case look better but most, if not all, refused to play ball so yes, this was a case of her downloading and mishandling other peoples classified material.
And what protections did the "other people" take to protect their classified information? It sounds like the other departments were less than thorough with handing off of sensitive material. Just because you know person "a" has security clearance does not mean the responsibility for safely handing over information falls only on person "a", in fact it also falls upon yourself too.
This is a systematic failure of the system from every branch; those that were sending her emails clearly had not considered how those emails were being sent to Hillary or where they were being stored. If they had been, then they should have halted delivery of those emails and reported them as a violation. If they did and those violations were ignored, then the systematic failure becomes criminal negligence (intentional).
My opinion is the FBI investigation while publicly was focused on Hillary, behind the scenes I am willing to bet that a broader scope of failure was identified. The slap on Hillary's hands were intended to divert attention away from a failure by multiple agencies to protect hand off of classified information while giving Hillary an out with out this turning in to a broader more mass public PR issue.
Since Snowden also refuses to return to the USA, Trial in absentia potentially does apply; his 5th, 6th and 14th amendment's rights could be considered waived by his refusal to return and face his accusers.
I actually like PowerShell; it has improved over the years and being able to use .NET namespaces inside your shell script is useful. Right tool, for the right job after all.
Not 100% true; I've worked at several firms where we were converting our old COBOL systems in to a .NET/Windows platform, we were in earshot. Good thing is, most of those COBOL developers were either at retirement age or close to with a good incentive to hang around and help us .NET guys understand the legacy systems. Most of it was business/tech merged knowledge, obviously the architecture is different.
Microsoft is hoping to bridge the gap between platforms; at the end of the day, if you have a cross-platform language like .NET Core available and it is a) well supported, b) has a good community around it, c) is easy to develop in, why would you not use it?
To put another-way: Microsoft is wanting .NET Core to be what Java is except with their framework/languages. So...
Exactly! I left a job where that happen. (Names replaced to protect the guilty):
Boss: Fred, our search engines are showing high CPU load. Can you look?
Fred: I am at the park with my kid at the moment.
Boss: Can you head home?
Fred: Is Pete available (Pete golden boy).
Boss: Pete is grilling with his kids.
Fred: But Pete is home?
Boss: Pete is busy.
Fred: I am 20 minutes away from nearest computer to remote in with and if Pete is home...
Boss: Pete has family from out of town, you are just at the park...
Fred: sigh.
Boss (calls): So what did you find?
Fred: CPU pressure resolved by itself.
Boss: Can you review the logs?
Fred: Logs are copying to analysis box, it is going to take several hours, since they have not been rolled in a while.
Boss: Okay, call me when you have them reviewed.
Fred: Uhhh, that'll be tomorrow morning when I am in the office.
Boss: I expect your report first thing.
Fred: .... f you.
Yes, that happened. I got a lecture the next morning that I did not have the analysis done.
I left a year later; after being called while out camping... no issued work laptop, I had my personal with me, no real data reception. They expected me to drive 5 hours to get back to the office. I ended up putting my work contacts on auto-block when out with the family. I encouraged a support rotation, where people would be scheduled once every six weeks to be on support, but nope, they did not want to do that.
I found out after I left they did not want to do a support rotation, because Pete three months of the year had every weekend commitments away from home... yet, me wanting to head out camping with my family was to much. Yes, the commitments Pete had with religious in nature... mine was just you know, raising my family.
You are right - I knew it to when I submitted my reply. Gosh I am lazy today :)
Also I never did finish my degree ;) 15 years in to the field I am finally going back to complete my bachelors not because I am at a dead end in my career, but because it is an incomplete personal goal that is bugging me personally and not professionally :)
Let's also state my bill rate is >40/hr...
Tes
That's pretty reassuring, thankyou. I've worked in the same job since I left Uni, and any time I've looked at job listings each job seems to require experience in some random framework that I'm not likely to use at my current job, and it feels like working with it at home won't really "count" on a resume. Especially when they often want years of experience with said framework..
I've always refused to use MS languages/.NET , but I guess it is the easiest route to getting a job.. it just would make me feel so dirty..
Let me clarify my statement: It depends on what they are asking for; if you are applying for a Sr .NET Developer position and you have zero experience, then yes they will most likely not get the job. But if you are applying for a position that requires JQuery experience and you only have used MS AJAX toolkit but can demonstrate an understanding of JavaScript you have a shot.
The current job I just accepted a few weeks ago they were hoping I had MVC experience, but alas my previous gigs were all ASP.NET Webform, WinForm and Web Service development. But I was able to turn up to the interview, tell them I had no experience about MVC but discuss some of the aspects of the design approach and ask them some pointed questions about it. That peaked their interest, along with being able to answer the gambit of other technical questions they had correctly and they shrugged, “You’re a pretty decent .NET developer and SQL developer from looking at your resume, the code samples we asked you to write and questions you answered learning MVC while will take some time we know you are capable of it.”
And that is exactly it – it is not about impressing them with bullshit answers and responses, it is about demonstrating that you have technical skills, you have the ability to learn quickly and that you very least are familiar with a major design pattern out there. The fact of the matter is, in our field we will learn so many new technologies, frameworks etc throughout our career and we have to be willing to do so. That to me is the key, I have interviewed candidates that basically are: “I have always done it this way” attitude. Guess what? I have never offered them the job.
Do not feel dirty about doing .NET/MS SQL Server development; we were all young an idealistic and while you can still build a decent career without using the Microsoft stack why limit your options? In the end to me programming is programming, if I like what I am be tasked to do I don’t care what platform it is under and ultimately I am looking to pay the bills :)
Tes
Okay seriously:
* Started to play w/ Solaris on a sparc station at uni while learning C programming which got me interested in *nix.
* Installed Slackware Linux at home and really liked what I saw during my uni days.
* Spent time modifying hardcode on MU** servers and doing basic administration.
* Started working at another college where a bunch of us decided that Redhat Linux was the choice for some services we wanted to host.
* Started supporting a Linux based installation that acted as the firewall for the college I worked at.
* Started setting up Apache web servers and SMB shares for a few local companies.
* Did some side programming projects that involved dealing with some real time application needs under Linux.
While I was never a dedicated Linux admin or coder I keep those skills in my skillset arsenal. That is how I got in to Linux and I run a couple Gentoo boxes at home to support some of the stuff I am doing. I found during the Sysadmin part of my career keeping multi-OS skillsets honed was useful and during the programming part of my career (current part of my career) I spend most of my development in the .NET/MSSQL environment (it pays the bills really well) with the odd side project in Linux here and there.
So it all comes down to what you want to do when you grow-up; I scope my career based on what interests me - I have gone in to job interviews lacking a skillset they were wanting but ended up getting the job because I told them how I would learn it and I also gave an eager competent professional impression that I treat my job seriously and will learn whatever needs learned. I would conclude that while an impressive resume is always nice, the short comings can be made up by the soft skills.
I know not the exact answer you wanted...
Tes
I ate a penguin!
That is what I am wondering. Gartner is paid for by their sponsers, yes the large software companies. Look at the changes in their top quadrant enterprise ETL packages over the last year or so. I have personal experience with a top right hand quadrant package they recommended end up now being dropped off a leader ETL solution. Any one that had done anything with the solution for day would have scoffed and demanded their money back.
I always continue walking out of a store when some one asks "Can I see your receipt please?" I say, "Nope. This is now my property so hands off." and continue on my way. I had one dude at a well known chain of stores try to step in front of me, heh - I picked up the bags walked around him and I bowed my head and said, "Thank you sir, for returning my cart." quite loudly and left.
Honestly? The first time I did this I was shitting myself - I wanted to play by the rules and not get in trouble or cause trouble. The issue? That is WHAT they are programming us to do - follow the rules, look at your shoes and never look at 'authority' in the eye or question anything they do. If you accept this verbatim with out question then you just agreed to no longer live in a free country. Imagine myself as a strong male being worried about doing this to a freaking store clerk, how do people who are less physically able and emotionally as me able to do this when confronted by actual 'authority' figures? The answer is they cannot!
As Maria Mitchell once said: Question everything!
Tesen
Hey, I am one of those fuckwits! Okay was, I just put my notice in. Yeah I often worked long hours, honing my skillset and well the rest of my team disappeared. Now I am doing the job of three people, I am leaving for a straight 40 hour a week developer job where OT is paid at time and a half (and the people I have talked to at the new job said 40 hours is the norm with sometimes maybe needing to work 41 - 42 hours a week but that is seldom). Guess what? The two others on my team are not up to snuff and I had been telling them for a year now we went from 5 developers down to 4 then all of the sudden I was solo then we hired 2 more ppl who were not at intermediate level let alone Senior like me due to the 'cost' of local talent and we need to get more people!
Now? They have three consultants coming in to back fill my position (next week is my last week) - at what cost? More than they fucking are paying me and I told my director, dude you know why I am leaving? To get my fucking life back! I have a wife and a child who I do not get to see as much as I want. See you put all your eggs in one basket even though I was telling you we needed more people and now guess what? You're paying extra for consultants!
I am one of these dudes that just has to get the job done and guess what? I was at burn out level, I took 2 weeks earlier this year and came back relaxed which lasted a day at most before insta-stress back. Sometimes we get hung up on getting the job done and do not realize we're getting fucked until we get to the point of snapping.The issue is, we are told to work hard as children - work hard and the rewards will come to you. Uhhuh, not anymore! Not even certain it ever was - but it is an easy thing to get hung in, especially if you like what you are doing and it is very easy for companies to manipulate you in to doing it through minor rewards etc.
Tes
See I am in somewhat of a disagreement with that statement.
Professionalism is not just about your clothing; here is a tip: professionalism is about doing your job well, giving it everything you have and fitting in to your environment. If your environment dictates jeans, t-shirt then so be it! Your boss will decide what is appropriate for your environment or your HR department.
You may not realize this, but over-dressing for a job and overshadowing your boss and co-workers in a relaxed environment actually is not professional, as it can be condescending and hostile to your peers and superiors.