Wow, this is just a complete rush to defend Apple at the drop of hat.
This just in......Steve Jobs ran someone over in his car. Slashdotters are rushing to the podium to explain how the victim had it coming. "What was he doing walking around anyway?" "He should have known that Steve Jobs was trying to run him down and should have gotten out of the way." "We can not demonize Jobs, because the incident is taken out of context. How many other people were run over that day? Is being run over that bad, anyway?" "I wish Jobs would run me over."
Oh, by the way. Apple has made a killing off of portraying themselves as the "enlightened" choice for computing. Part of the "revolution" man. "We should just all live in harmony and free our minds." I guess that means we should abuse foriegn workers. I wonder what Jon Lennon would think?
I agree. I am a manager and just recently searched for an employee that we just hired. What I found was quite disturbing. The employee in sexually suggestive poses, and entries about a night out on the town along with blatant postings about going after other people's jobs. (Talk about a hostile work environment.) I haven't seen anything devestating yet. However, if I had seen the page before hand, I probably would not have hired this person.
I want an employee who is going to use proper judgement. It is not a good decision to post stuff like that under your real name, with pictures. If you can't understand why that isn't a good idea, then you may not understand why it is not a good idea to come to work drunk, or why it is not a good idea to have sex in the bathroom with a coworker.
That is the relevance that your personal life will have on your work. If you have poor judgement in your personal life, you are more likely to have poor judgement in your professional life. Even lawyers and doctors are subject to the same standard. A doctor who gets arrested for drunk driving is usually suspended if not fired. Same rule applies to everyone, so there isn't any elitism.
In other news, Steve's mom could be watching TV right now. Proof? Well we all know Steve's mom likes TV and I heard she isn't working today, so she has nothing to do. Her car has a flat tire, so she is stuck at home. She doesn't like computers, so she probably won't be online. Therefore she has to be watching TV.
(Wow, speculation is fun and easy. A lot more so than actually going out and getting facts. You can make up a story and be done for the day by 10am.)
Has the survey been credible in the past?
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Apache down, IIS up
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· Score: 2, Interesting
The parent seems to discredit the survey by saying "It is fun to play with statistics." Obviously trying to cast doubt on the numbers by saying that they can be moved around to suite ones needs.
However, since this survey is done monthly, the question is has it been credible in the past? Is the survey only being called in to question over it's validity now, because it reports on good news for Microsoft? Are we really so eager to turn on anything that provides positive news of any kind for Microsoft?
Okay, I will admit that this Didio person is obviously a corporate shill with an agenda. And I will go on the record as a Linux fan, infact I am running Ubuntu right this moment.
However, I do take some exceptions to Linux. I understand that slashdot is a haven for Linux and Mac users, but Linux can not ultimately flourish in a free market. I agree with that. Money is a fuel that companies use to power their company. Money comes in, which allows you to hire better employees, who put out a better product, which in turn creates more revenue, which is then used to purchase even better employees, who then turn out an even better product, etc. That is just simply how it works, and you can't change that.
Linux replaces money with "community" and the oppurtunity to learn. It's a grand idea, if not more than a little hippie-ish. I am pleasantly suprised with the latest distro of Ubuntu, but I can't help but wonder how much better it would be if people were actually getting paid to do nothing but work on Linux. Linux is a great learning tool for people to dive right in and to expand their programming knowledge. OSS allows any would be programmer to learn more about OS, applications, networking, drivers, etc.. Linux is an awesome learning tool, and I can tell that people are getting much better at it. Linux will always be around, but it lacks the proper "feul" to really elevate it to something greater.
As a manager, Ihad to make a decison about Windows vs. Linux. We chose to go with Linux because we found some college students who were familiar with it, for cheap. And Linux is renowned for its uptime and interoperability with other applications. However, you have to weigh "uptime" versus the lack of Linux skills in the general population. Could I easily find myself in a position where there is only one Linux Admin in the area who wants 3x as much as an MCSE? Of course I can. On the oppossite end, I run over at least 3 MCSE's every morning who would work for peanuts. You can't just look at uptime. You have to look at the cost of that uptime. If you are spending 3x as much to keep your Linux box up, then that isn't a smart business decision. Remember, business isn't about technology, it is about money. Having an admin who is sitting around waiting for someone to respond to a message board, so that we can get our server back up is ridiulous. And yet, it has happend to us several times since going with Linux. In contrast, some other servers that are still running Windows Server, haven't had a problem in over a year.
You should have asked to speak to the manager and explain to them that the person they have working for them knows less than you do. Even if you don't get the open position, I would suggest they consider you for his position since you are clearly the better candidate.
Depends on where you plan on starting out. Yes, going straight into a programming position, even with a degree is very difficult without a lot of knowledge. If you want to get into IT, I would suggest you get at least an associates degree in something like programming or networking. It gives you some knowledge to not be completely lost.
Next, look for small companies, and take entry level desk support jobs if you have to. Small companies are great learning experiences as they usually allow one person to do a variety of jobs. Pretty soon you will have the skills to jump to a larger company for more pay and continue to grow.
Make sure that you specilize in an are of IT. Something that no one will tell you is that you have to pick one specific area and master it like the back of your hand. Trying to be a "programmer" won't get you anywhere, because you can't learn everything about every language. However, if you specialize in just "C++/Java programming", you will find plenty of jobs because your experience will beat all others. The successful candidate is the one who specializes in the job being interviewed for.
I was wondering what the big deal with the 7 layers were. Never once have I seen a technician solve a networking problem by knowing what the 7 layers are and what they do. Not once. And I know I have never set to myself "If I can only remember what the transport layer does, I can solve this problem."
Experience is something any one can get. Just wait ten years, and voila, you have 10 years experience. A degree though is something that not everyone can obtain.
Experience can be good, but doesn't necessarily mean you know anything. I could spend 10 years at a company doing basic cisco routing. Doesn't make me a cisco expert, even with 10 years of experience. (Of course, the assumption is that you would learn something in that ten years, but that would be a very big assumption.)
Degrees mean that in 10 years, this employee will have 10 extra years of experience AND a degree.
It's like introducing nursing skills into every major just so every student will know how to care for an injured person. Or introducing law into every major just so everyone person can be familiar with the law. (Any job you will ever have has the potential for breaking the law. So why not?)
The problem is that if you included in every major, all the topics that a person might need in their life, a typical degree would take 10 years and the student would only have a vague familiarity with every subject.
It's called specialization. Sure, knowing the law would help me, but we have lawyers for that. Knowing medicine would be useful, but we have doctors for that. Why is technology any different from any of those? I can make an argument that a person is more likely to use knowledge of auto mechanics more often than computer knowledge. Why aren't we teaching that instead? Oh that is right, computers are so easy any idiot can use. Cars are complicated and best left to the professionals.
Couldn't agree with you more. Any person who abandons something they worked long and hard for, because of a few problems, doesn't make a good prospect for an employee. Every job is going to have its "heartbreak" moments. My wife is a nurse. She deals with life and death everyday. If she ever quit because someone passed away, I would be very dissappointed in her.
I am all for having principles, but you don't get paid for your principles. You want to be unemployed and on high moral ground? Go ahead. You will find it very lonely up there.
Well, with the military you had no choice. I think the issue here is what do you do when you don't have to do anything. No one forces you to go to college. Employers read that as "he loves what he does and won't flake out on us when we give him yet another midnight deadline."
No offense, because I have respect for the military. It just doesn't show the employer that you are self-disciplined as oppossed to the military where you have discipline thrust upon. (Some of my friends are former military. Once out, the went back to exhibiting no self-control. So the military doesn't always instill in a person a sense of self discipline)
Now getting up and going to work shows discipline, but no more so than any other job applicant.
My direct supervisor has an MBA. Prides himself on having worked on tech projects at other companies. He never misses a moment in a tech discussion to drop some completely out of place buzz word that he heard somewhere. MBA's are great for watching the money and increasing profits, usually through cutting salaries, firing people, and cutting back on the utlity bill.
For any substantial productive work that actually produces a product that you can put your hands on, they are generally useless. MBA's don't produce the widget or design the widget or even know anything about the widget. They just determine that the widget can be made cheaper in India and call it a day.
Management doesn't see programming as a skill that gets better over time. Programming to most companies is just memorization. Programmers memorize the certain phrases that they need to load a file or access a database for instance. Then everytime you need it, you just type it out exactly as you have it memorized. Programming is nothing more than putting the correct phrases in the right order. No different from typing.
Like it or not, but to most companies, programming is not a skill. If the company needs a java based ordering system, you just pull out the java based ordering system step-by-step guide and type it out; according to management. Trust me, I have been there on both sides of the equation.
I recently read an article about the latestt numbers coming out of the whole outsourcing process.
Problem is that after you take into account all the supporting factors and not just employee salaries, it is costing roughly the same to outsource as it is to host the jobs in the US.
So not only does a company get a lot of bad publicity, they don't really save any subtantial amount of money.
My belief is that this was a factor in Apple's decision. Either they plan on housing the jobs in the US for roughly the same price, or they are looking for a country where the savings would be greater. Outsourcing seems to be a fad that is falling off in popularity.
I agree with the overall sentiment that we need to just enjoy the games and quit with all the nitpicking. If we concentrate on the stories, and characters we will be better off. However, film buffs routinely argue over the physical characteristics of move making and viewing movies. Even literature fans will argue what type of paper makes the best book.
Plunk a film buff in front a 13" color television with a VHS movie and you will get a diatribe on how great widescreen is as well as how great DVD is when compared to VHS. Every art form will have it's "purists." I don't see video gaming as any different. Gamers argue over which system is better just like film buffs argue over which type of camera is the best.
It's just that gamers are usually more internet friendly and thus they seem to be everywhere on the internet. However, if you search hard enough, you will find that every art form has it's debates raging across the internet.
How does a company increas profit? Not through cutting edge products that the public eats up. Not through going on an agressive selling campaign. No, the way to increase profits is just to get rid of all those pesky employees who eat up your money with their stupid salaries and their sissy healthcare coverage.
In fact, lets just outsource everything to a country where they force people to work 20 hour days for $10 a month. Profits will go up, executives will all get pay raises, then jump ship with their golden parachutes right before the first batch of crappy overseas products hit the market and ruin the company. Billiant!!!
I agree with your assestment that it is good for investors. We all love to get deals on stock. However, it is never a "positive" for the company to go after it's very own customers.
Be a happy-go-lucky type of company. Don't start blackmailing your own customers. It will just create a downward death spiral.
I tend to question your immediate distrust of VB. Sure, I have heard all the opinions on how VB is crap from several sources. However, their criticisms are usually very specific and to be honest, quite nitpicky.
I have VB.net experience. It is a good language for quick and easy programs, for a small company. Don't set out to convince your boss it is no good, unless you have a valid reason.
That being said, if for whatever reason you still don't want to use VB, you will need to come up with good "business" reasons. Telling your boss something along the lines of "it does not right adjust the data variable in arrays, which can lead to inverse tachyon pulses in the flux capacitor" is just going to get you know where. You have have to come up with the type of reason that one user suggested when they mentioned that VB isn't cross platform. Or that it is EOL. Even thoughs are quite flaky if the boss has no intentions of upgrading the computers any time soon and doesn't really care about the 10% of the population who use something other than Windows.
He is a business man. As long as it works and "looks right" he isn't going to care diddly-squat about changing the language.
My advice, is to just ask if he is dead set on going with VB. If he says yes, leave it alone. If he says, "Why, you want to do it in something else?" then I would give him your opinion. However, right now it just sounds like you want to change something that already works for no apparent reason. (I assuming that the owner just wants the code updated and maybe some features included. Otherwise, the program itself fine.)
What you need to do first is realize that all languages are pretty much the same. There are basic concepts that all modern languages will share. It doesn't really matter what language you pick, although I recommend C++ just because it is more "hands on" than other languages. Java and Visual Basic feel too "light."
Once you have picked the language here are the concepts you need to learn in order:
1) Basic input and output 2) Variables 3) Pointers - I chose to put it here because it isn't really that hard a concept and it goes very well with Variables. However, in most books you will see it listed later in the chapters, as an advanced topic. 3) If/Then statements, and Switch/Case 4) Loops - There are all several kinds of loops. 5) File access - this is opening and closing an external file for reading and writing. 6) Arrays - Some would probably argue that you need to know this before file access, as you will most likely be reading the content of that file into an array. I chose to put it here because you can learn file access without an Array. It is more important to learn how to open, close, read and write a file and to realize that you can do multiple things with that data, instead of being locked into reading it into an array. 7) Functions 8) Classes
Once you have learned all 8 of those, you are well on your way. You can pick up most other languages and be able to get a handle on them pretty quickly, because you now understand the techniques. Take extra time on classes. I found it the hardest one to learn. The concept isn't bad, but the various steps you have to take to write your own class can take a while to get down pat. Also, start experimenting.
From there I recommend two other concepts:
1) Database connections - This is how you open a database table from within your application and read and write to it. This is very handy knowledge as almost every program in the business world is going to read/write from a table.
2) GUI - anyone can make a calculator like program in a console window, using text. What people are looking for is someone who can give them a nice GUI with buttons to click on and maybe some nice animations.
It doesn't matter which order you learn the last two. Last piece of advice is terminology. I run into people all the time who use method and functions interchangebly. Furthermore, they swear their usage is the only correct one. It is easy to become confused when one book calls it this and another book calls it that. Just learn the concept and you will always be able to figure it out, regardless of what someone calls it. A few pointed questions and you will realize that your supervisor just described a function, even though he calls it a method. Or the new boss keeps calling it a header file when he meant a definition file.
I have to disagree with your notion that by asking where to begin, that the poster lacks a natural curiosity about IT.
In fact to me, it shows exemplary curiosity. If they didn't ask then I would say it isn't for them, because they obviously don't care enough to even ask and instead they just wind up reading random textboxs never really grasping the fundamentals. People learn by asking.
Especially considering that the IT landscape is many times wider than it was 20 years ago when the industry was just getting on it's feet, I can see how daunting it is to jump in. Should I learn this first then that, or that then this? You dn't jump to Calculus III if you haven't taken I and II. It is hard for newcomers to know what is begginer material and what is advanced material. Thankfully I have a school that guides my studies. They make sure that I don't jump into data structures before I have taken a few math and programming courese. Not all people have the sort of guidance.
I encourage everyone to get into IT if that is what they want to do. Things such as you are too old, not smart enough, not curious enough, not rich enough to afford training materials, etc. are all just excuses.
From your question, I take it that you want to specialize in programming rather than networking or any other areas of IT. (IT is such a generic term that literally encompasses hundreds of actually professions.)
As a student programmer, I can say that what you want to learn are concepts. Every language shares some basic characteristics with all other languages. Loops, output, input, classes, etc. Once you learn the concepts, you can pick up most languages very quickly.
Don't get locked into learning a language or two. I often laugh at jobs where they want a specific set of programming knowledge. To me it is like asking for someone who can use Outlook Express, when what you really want is someone who is familiar with email. Sure I know Outlook, but I can guarantee you that I can learn any email client an employer will use. Simpley because there are certain email concepts that are common to all clients. Stating that you know C++ will get you characterized as just a C++ programming. You want to be known as an overall programmer.
So where do you learn the concepts? There are many beginner books at the local book store or on Amazon. I went to school to learn, and it works for me, but I probably haven't learned anything that I couldn't have learned from a book on my own. I just wasn't a structured individual who had the self discipline to learn on my own. I needed a school environment to get me started. If you chose to go to school to learn, don't worry about the source. As long as the school is regionally accreditated, you are getting a respectable eduction.
But as with any education, don't think a degree alone will be your meal ticket. Schools are great for getting you started and giving you the leg up. You will continue to learn new languages and techniques long after you have a degree. It is by your over all knoweldge that you will judged. Likewise, if you chose some technical school with a less than stellar reputation, don't worry. Again, your knowledge is all that will matter.
I would avoid doing any work for outside parties, at first. Your reputation is the strongest thing you will have going for you. If you try to jump into commercial work too soon, you will get a bad reputation because you don't know enough. So even if you learn more in the future, you will still have the stigma of the person who didn't know how to access the SQL server from C++. Wait until you feel like you have studied enough. I personally measure my progress against other students who have done commercial work, to determine at what point a company might find me valuable.
Learn graphical programming as soon as possible. The basics of every language doesn't include GUI work. Sure you will learn to make text programs, but no one will be impressed with that. After you have a good grasp of classes, I would specifically seek out books and material on graphical programming. Graphics aren't just for games. You need a GUI for any program you make, in order to be taken seriously. Basic programming itself doesn't include anything more than text based processes.
Lastly, just have fun with it. If you love programming and learn fun things, you will keep going.
He has been around a while. He has a lot of power, and if you get in his way, he will screw you over.
The point here is that in life, you will always have to take crap from someone. You can't go through life constantly "raging against a moral injustice." Even if we were somehow able to wipe "the system" from the face of the earth, we would only live in paradise for all of two seconds. Until some guy finds a way to control his buddy, and thus a new "the man" would be born.
Sounds to me like this the kind of kid who mouthed off at school, and they threatened to suspend him so he decided to take his speech off campus. The school sees it as a threat to their stability, as one complaining kid can cause a disruption in the education of others. He is purposely challenging the school, as an adolescent who taunts you just out of reach. This kid wants to spend his time in school, not learning, but being some sort of crusader for free speech. Believe it or not, no one is going to learn under a system where every child gets to express themselves. That is what art class is for. When it comes to other classes, you sit there and listen. You can't accomplish anything if people are bucking the system. Express yourself in an orderly fashion, not a disruptive fashion.
This kid needs to build some character and learn when to just keep your mouth shut. Speak up if someone's life is in real danger, but just because you don't like meat for instance, is no reason to cause a riot on sloppy joe day.
Myself, I was a crusader in my younger years. Spent more time fighting the system than anyone. Guess what? No one cares if you somehow win a moral victory over some small school in some small town in some small county out in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't change the world. All his classmates will go on to be doctors,lawyers or/. posters, because they were more interested in learning than in fighting. He will probably wind up a washed-up 30 year old who thought he was going to change the world, but finds himself changing sheets at the local Holiday Inn or worse yet, a lawyer.
Everyone has to take crap from time to time. Imagine what the world would be like if we all fought against any "injustice" we perceived.
....caused Sony to add something else to the controller. Tilt control was the obvious solution. Sony didn't want to send out a bland controller that.
Most people will ignore the feature, and in won't make a bit of difference in the console wars. But they certainly weren't going to relase just a plain controller. They just needed a gimmick so that the controller wouldn't be a soft point in side to side comparisons.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, this is just a complete rush to defend Apple at the drop of hat.
This just in......Steve Jobs ran someone over in his car. Slashdotters are rushing to the podium to explain how the victim had it coming. "What was he doing walking around anyway?" "He should have known that Steve Jobs was trying to run him down and should have gotten out of the way." "We can not demonize Jobs, because the incident is taken out of context. How many other people were run over that day? Is being run over that bad, anyway?" "I wish Jobs would run me over."
Oh, by the way. Apple has made a killing off of portraying themselves as the "enlightened" choice for computing. Part of the "revolution" man. "We should just all live in harmony and free our minds." I guess that means we should abuse foriegn workers. I wonder what Jon Lennon would think?
I agree. I am a manager and just recently searched for an employee that we just hired. What I found was quite disturbing. The employee in sexually suggestive poses, and entries about a night out on the town along with blatant postings about going after other people's jobs. (Talk about a hostile work environment.) I haven't seen anything devestating yet. However, if I had seen the page before hand, I probably would not have hired this person.
I want an employee who is going to use proper judgement. It is not a good decision to post stuff like that under your real name, with pictures. If you can't understand why that isn't a good idea, then you may not understand why it is not a good idea to come to work drunk, or why it is not a good idea to have sex in the bathroom with a coworker.
That is the relevance that your personal life will have on your work. If you have poor judgement in your personal life, you are more likely to have poor judgement in your professional life. Even lawyers and doctors are subject to the same standard. A doctor who gets arrested for drunk driving is usually suspended if not fired. Same rule applies to everyone, so there isn't any elitism.
In other news, Steve's mom could be watching TV right now. Proof? Well we all know Steve's mom likes TV and I heard she isn't working today, so she has nothing to do. Her car has a flat tire, so she is stuck at home. She doesn't like computers, so she probably won't be online. Therefore she has to be watching TV.
(Wow, speculation is fun and easy. A lot more so than actually going out and getting facts. You can make up a story and be done for the day by 10am.)
The parent seems to discredit the survey by saying "It is fun to play with statistics." Obviously trying to cast doubt on the numbers by saying that they can be moved around to suite ones needs.
However, since this survey is done monthly, the question is has it been credible in the past? Is the survey only being called in to question over it's validity now, because it reports on good news for Microsoft? Are we really so eager to turn on anything that provides positive news of any kind for Microsoft?
Okay, I will admit that this Didio person is obviously a corporate shill with an agenda. And I will go on the record as a Linux fan, infact I am running Ubuntu right this moment.
However, I do take some exceptions to Linux. I understand that slashdot is a haven for Linux and Mac users, but Linux can not ultimately flourish in a free market. I agree with that. Money is a fuel that companies use to power their company. Money comes in, which allows you to hire better employees, who put out a better product, which in turn creates more revenue, which is then used to purchase even better employees, who then turn out an even better product, etc. That is just simply how it works, and you can't change that.
Linux replaces money with "community" and the oppurtunity to learn. It's a grand idea, if not more than a little hippie-ish. I am pleasantly suprised with the latest distro of Ubuntu, but I can't help but wonder how much better it would be if people were actually getting paid to do nothing but work on Linux. Linux is a great learning tool for people to dive right in and to expand their programming knowledge. OSS allows any would be programmer to learn more about OS, applications, networking, drivers, etc.. Linux is an awesome learning tool, and I can tell that people are getting much better at it. Linux will always be around, but it lacks the proper "feul" to really elevate it to something greater.
As a manager, Ihad to make a decison about Windows vs. Linux. We chose to go with Linux because we found some college students who were familiar with it, for cheap. And Linux is renowned for its uptime and interoperability with other applications. However, you have to weigh "uptime" versus the lack of Linux skills in the general population. Could I easily find myself in a position where there is only one Linux Admin in the area who wants 3x as much as an MCSE? Of course I can. On the oppossite end, I run over at least 3 MCSE's every morning who would work for peanuts. You can't just look at uptime. You have to look at the cost of that uptime. If you are spending 3x as much to keep your Linux box up, then that isn't a smart business decision. Remember, business isn't about technology, it is about money. Having an admin who is sitting around waiting for someone to respond to a message board, so that we can get our server back up is ridiulous. And yet, it has happend to us several times since going with Linux. In contrast, some other servers that are still running Windows Server, haven't had a problem in over a year.
You should have asked to speak to the manager and explain to them that the person they have working for them knows less than you do. Even if you don't get the open position, I would suggest they consider you for his position since you are clearly the better candidate.
Depends on where you plan on starting out. Yes, going straight into a programming position, even with a degree is very difficult without a lot of knowledge. If you want to get into IT, I would suggest you get at least an associates degree in something like programming or networking. It gives you some knowledge to not be completely lost.
Next, look for small companies, and take entry level desk support jobs if you have to. Small companies are great learning experiences as they usually allow one person to do a variety of jobs. Pretty soon you will have the skills to jump to a larger company for more pay and continue to grow.
Make sure that you specilize in an are of IT. Something that no one will tell you is that you have to pick one specific area and master it like the back of your hand. Trying to be a "programmer" won't get you anywhere, because you can't learn everything about every language. However, if you specialize in just "C++/Java programming", you will find plenty of jobs because your experience will beat all others. The successful candidate is the one who specializes in the job being interviewed for.
I was wondering what the big deal with the 7 layers were. Never once have I seen a technician solve a networking problem by knowing what the 7 layers are and what they do. Not once. And I know I have never set to myself "If I can only remember what the transport layer does, I can solve this problem."
Experience is something any one can get. Just wait ten years, and voila, you have 10 years experience. A degree though is something that not everyone can obtain.
Experience can be good, but doesn't necessarily mean you know anything. I could spend 10 years at a company doing basic cisco routing. Doesn't make me a cisco expert, even with 10 years of experience. (Of course, the assumption is that you would learn something in that ten years, but that would be a very big assumption.)
Degrees mean that in 10 years, this employee will have 10 extra years of experience AND a degree.
It's like introducing nursing skills into every major just so every student will know how to care for an injured person. Or introducing law into every major just so everyone person can be familiar with the law. (Any job you will ever have has the potential for breaking the law. So why not?)
The problem is that if you included in every major, all the topics that a person might need in their life, a typical degree would take 10 years and the student would only have a vague familiarity with every subject.
It's called specialization. Sure, knowing the law would help me, but we have lawyers for that. Knowing medicine would be useful, but we have doctors for that. Why is technology any different from any of those? I can make an argument that a person is more likely to use knowledge of auto mechanics more often than computer knowledge. Why aren't we teaching that instead? Oh that is right, computers are so easy any idiot can use. Cars are complicated and best left to the professionals.
Couldn't agree with you more. Any person who abandons something they worked long and hard for, because of a few problems, doesn't make a good prospect for an employee. Every job is going to have its "heartbreak" moments. My wife is a nurse. She deals with life and death everyday. If she ever quit because someone passed away, I would be very dissappointed in her.
I am all for having principles, but you don't get paid for your principles. You want to be unemployed and on high moral ground? Go ahead. You will find it very lonely up there.
Well, with the military you had no choice. I think the issue here is what do you do when you don't have to do anything. No one forces you to go to college. Employers read that as "he loves what he does and won't flake out on us when we give him yet another midnight deadline."
No offense, because I have respect for the military. It just doesn't show the employer that you are self-disciplined as oppossed to the military where you have discipline thrust upon. (Some of my friends are former military. Once out, the went back to exhibiting no self-control. So the military doesn't always instill in a person a sense of self discipline)
Now getting up and going to work shows discipline, but no more so than any other job applicant.
My direct supervisor has an MBA. Prides himself on having worked on tech projects at other companies. He never misses a moment in a tech discussion to drop some completely out of place buzz word that he heard somewhere. MBA's are great for watching the money and increasing profits, usually through cutting salaries, firing people, and cutting back on the utlity bill.
For any substantial productive work that actually produces a product that you can put your hands on, they are generally useless. MBA's don't produce the widget or design the widget or even know anything about the widget. They just determine that the widget can be made cheaper in India and call it a day.
Management doesn't see programming as a skill that gets better over time. Programming to most companies is just memorization. Programmers memorize the certain phrases that they need to load a file or access a database for instance. Then everytime you need it, you just type it out exactly as you have it memorized. Programming is nothing more than putting the correct phrases in the right order. No different from typing.
Like it or not, but to most companies, programming is not a skill. If the company needs a java based ordering system, you just pull out the java based ordering system step-by-step guide and type it out; according to management. Trust me, I have been there on both sides of the equation.
I recently read an article about the latestt numbers coming out of the whole outsourcing process.
Problem is that after you take into account all the supporting factors and not just employee salaries, it is costing roughly the same to outsource as it is to host the jobs in the US.
So not only does a company get a lot of bad publicity, they don't really save any subtantial amount of money.
My belief is that this was a factor in Apple's decision. Either they plan on housing the jobs in the US for roughly the same price, or they are looking for a country where the savings would be greater. Outsourcing seems to be a fad that is falling off in popularity.
I agree with the overall sentiment that we need to just enjoy the games and quit with all the nitpicking. If we concentrate on the stories, and characters we will be better off. However, film buffs routinely argue over the physical characteristics of move making and viewing movies. Even literature fans will argue what type of paper makes the best book.
Plunk a film buff in front a 13" color television with a VHS movie and you will get a diatribe on how great widescreen is as well as how great DVD is when compared to VHS. Every art form will have it's "purists." I don't see video gaming as any different. Gamers argue over which system is better just like film buffs argue over which type of camera is the best.
It's just that gamers are usually more internet friendly and thus they seem to be everywhere on the internet. However, if you search hard enough, you will find that every art form has it's debates raging across the internet.
How does a company increas profit? Not through cutting edge products that the public eats up. Not through going on an agressive selling campaign. No, the way to increase profits is just to get rid of all those pesky employees who eat up your money with their stupid salaries and their sissy healthcare coverage.
In fact, lets just outsource everything to a country where they force people to work 20 hour days for $10 a month. Profits will go up, executives will all get pay raises, then jump ship with their golden parachutes right before the first batch of crappy overseas products hit the market and ruin the company. Billiant!!!
I was thinking the same thing. Less than 10 people? Does this person have a concept "amounts?"
That to me is a small to medium project, which VB is great for.
I agree with your assestment that it is good for investors. We all love to get deals on stock. However, it is never a "positive" for the company to go after it's very own customers.
Be a happy-go-lucky type of company. Don't start blackmailing your own customers. It will just create a downward death spiral.
I tend to question your immediate distrust of VB. Sure, I have heard all the opinions on how VB is crap from several sources. However, their criticisms are usually very specific and to be honest, quite nitpicky.
I have VB.net experience. It is a good language for quick and easy programs, for a small company. Don't set out to convince your boss it is no good, unless you have a valid reason.
That being said, if for whatever reason you still don't want to use VB, you will need to come up with good "business" reasons. Telling your boss something along the lines of "it does not right adjust the data variable in arrays, which can lead to inverse tachyon pulses in the flux capacitor" is just going to get you know where. You have have to come up with the type of reason that one user suggested when they mentioned that VB isn't cross platform. Or that it is EOL. Even thoughs are quite flaky if the boss has no intentions of upgrading the computers any time soon and doesn't really care about the 10% of the population who use something other than Windows.
He is a business man. As long as it works and "looks right" he isn't going to care diddly-squat about changing the language.
My advice, is to just ask if he is dead set on going with VB. If he says yes, leave it alone. If he says, "Why, you want to do it in something else?" then I would give him your opinion. However, right now it just sounds like you want to change something that already works for no apparent reason. (I assuming that the owner just wants the code updated and maybe some features included. Otherwise, the program itself fine.)
What you need to do first is realize that all languages are pretty much the same. There are basic concepts that all modern languages will share. It doesn't really matter what language you pick, although I recommend C++ just because it is more "hands on" than other languages. Java and Visual Basic feel too "light."
Once you have picked the language here are the concepts you need to learn in order:
1) Basic input and output
2) Variables
3) Pointers - I chose to put it here because it isn't really that hard a concept and it goes very well with Variables. However, in most books you will see it listed later in the chapters, as an advanced topic.
3) If/Then statements, and Switch/Case
4) Loops - There are all several kinds of loops.
5) File access - this is opening and closing an external file for reading and writing.
6) Arrays - Some would probably argue that you need to know this before file access, as you will most likely be reading the content of that file into an array. I chose to put it here because you can learn file access without an Array. It is more important to learn how to open, close, read and write a file and to realize that you can do multiple things with that data, instead of being locked into reading it into an array.
7) Functions
8) Classes
Once you have learned all 8 of those, you are well on your way. You can pick up most other languages and be able to get a handle on them pretty quickly, because you now understand the techniques. Take extra time on classes. I found it the hardest one to learn. The concept isn't bad, but the various steps you have to take to write your own class can take a while to get down pat. Also, start experimenting.
From there I recommend two other concepts:
1) Database connections - This is how you open a database table from within your application and read and write to it. This is very handy knowledge as almost every program in the business world is going to read/write from a table.
2) GUI - anyone can make a calculator like program in a console window, using text. What people are looking for is someone who can give them a nice GUI with buttons to click on and maybe some nice animations.
It doesn't matter which order you learn the last two. Last piece of advice is terminology. I run into people all the time who use method and functions interchangebly. Furthermore, they swear their usage is the only correct one. It is easy to become confused when one book calls it this and another book calls it that. Just learn the concept and you will always be able to figure it out, regardless of what someone calls it. A few pointed questions and you will realize that your supervisor just described a function, even though he calls it a method. Or the new boss keeps calling it a header file when he meant a definition file.
I have to disagree with your notion that by asking where to begin, that the poster lacks a natural curiosity about IT.
In fact to me, it shows exemplary curiosity. If they didn't ask then I would say it isn't for them, because they obviously don't care enough to even ask and instead they just wind up reading random textboxs never really grasping the fundamentals. People learn by asking.
Especially considering that the IT landscape is many times wider than it was 20 years ago when the industry was just getting on it's feet, I can see how daunting it is to jump in. Should I learn this first then that, or that then this? You dn't jump to Calculus III if you haven't taken I and II. It is hard for newcomers to know what is begginer material and what is advanced material. Thankfully I have a school that guides my studies. They make sure that I don't jump into data structures before I have taken a few math and programming courese. Not all people have the sort of guidance.
I encourage everyone to get into IT if that is what they want to do. Things such as you are too old, not smart enough, not curious enough, not rich enough to afford training materials, etc. are all just excuses.
From your question, I take it that you want to specialize in programming rather than networking or any other areas of IT. (IT is such a generic term that literally encompasses hundreds of actually professions.)
As a student programmer, I can say that what you want to learn are concepts. Every language shares some basic characteristics with all other languages. Loops, output, input, classes, etc. Once you learn the concepts, you can pick up most languages very quickly.
Don't get locked into learning a language or two. I often laugh at jobs where they want a specific set of programming knowledge. To me it is like asking for someone who can use Outlook Express, when what you really want is someone who is familiar with email. Sure I know Outlook, but I can guarantee you that I can learn any email client an employer will use. Simpley because there are certain email concepts that are common to all clients. Stating that you know C++ will get you characterized as just a C++ programming. You want to be known as an overall programmer.
So where do you learn the concepts? There are many beginner books at the local book store or on Amazon. I went to school to learn, and it works for me, but I probably haven't learned anything that I couldn't have learned from a book on my own. I just wasn't a structured individual who had the self discipline to learn on my own. I needed a school environment to get me started. If you chose to go to school to learn, don't worry about the source. As long as the school is regionally accreditated, you are getting a respectable eduction.
But as with any education, don't think a degree alone will be your meal ticket. Schools are great for getting you started and giving you the leg up. You will continue to learn new languages and techniques long after you have a degree. It is by your over all knoweldge that you will judged. Likewise, if you chose some technical school with a less than stellar reputation, don't worry. Again, your knowledge is all that will matter.
I would avoid doing any work for outside parties, at first. Your reputation is the strongest thing you will have going for you. If you try to jump into commercial work too soon, you will get a bad reputation because you don't know enough. So even if you learn more in the future, you will still have the stigma of the person who didn't know how to access the SQL server from C++. Wait until you feel like you have studied enough. I personally measure my progress against other students who have done commercial work, to determine at what point a company might find me valuable.
Learn graphical programming as soon as possible. The basics of every language doesn't include GUI work. Sure you will learn to make text programs, but no one will be impressed with that. After you have a good grasp of classes, I would specifically seek out books and material on graphical programming. Graphics aren't just for games. You need a GUI for any program you make, in order to be taken seriously. Basic programming itself doesn't include anything more than text based processes.
Lastly, just have fun with it. If you love programming and learn fun things, you will keep going.
He has been around a while. He has a lot of power, and if you get in his way, he will screw you over.
/. posters, because they were more interested in learning than in fighting. He will probably wind up a washed-up 30 year old who thought he was going to change the world, but finds himself changing sheets at the local Holiday Inn or worse yet, a lawyer.
The point here is that in life, you will always have to take crap from someone. You can't go through life constantly "raging against a moral injustice." Even if we were somehow able to wipe "the system" from the face of the earth, we would only live in paradise for all of two seconds. Until some guy finds a way to control his buddy, and thus a new "the man" would be born.
Sounds to me like this the kind of kid who mouthed off at school, and they threatened to suspend him so he decided to take his speech off campus. The school sees it as a threat to their stability, as one complaining kid can cause a disruption in the education of others. He is purposely challenging the school, as an adolescent who taunts you just out of reach. This kid wants to spend his time in school, not learning, but being some sort of crusader for free speech. Believe it or not, no one is going to learn under a system where every child gets to express themselves. That is what art class is for. When it comes to other classes, you sit there and listen. You can't accomplish anything if people are bucking the system. Express yourself in an orderly fashion, not a disruptive fashion.
This kid needs to build some character and learn when to just keep your mouth shut. Speak up if someone's life is in real danger, but just because you don't like meat for instance, is no reason to cause a riot on sloppy joe day.
Myself, I was a crusader in my younger years. Spent more time fighting the system than anyone. Guess what? No one cares if you somehow win a moral victory over some small school in some small town in some small county out in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't change the world. All his classmates will go on to be doctors,lawyers or
Everyone has to take crap from time to time. Imagine what the world would be like if we all fought against any "injustice" we perceived.
....caused Sony to add something else to the controller. Tilt control was the obvious solution. Sony didn't want to send out a bland controller that.
Most people will ignore the feature, and in won't make a bit of difference in the console wars. But they certainly weren't going to relase just a plain controller. They just needed a gimmick so that the controller wouldn't be a soft point in side to side comparisons.