My CS degree is pretty much the hardest, most useless work 'job-wise' that I ever did.
In 1995, before I got out, it was the middle of the dot com boom and new grads were earning 60k their in first year out.
The crash came just as I graduated (the hail storm came and the grapes were defenseless, etc, etc) then the outsourcing began and so on. (weep, moan, blubber, etc.)
Now it's worse than ever (see whining above); If I can, I'm going to retool to be a physics teacher in an underprivileged school for the next three years.
You're young and smart. Things will get better. You'll probably do fine.
Maybe if more time and energy was spent on teaching rather than safety, our public education system wouldn't be in quite the shithole it's in right now.
I believe that a school system that has children bound to a straight-backed chair 8 hrs/day is fundamentally a breeding ground for frustration and bad energy.
What's more, an elementary school system that has children for 8 years, has a primary job of teaching children to get along with each other and be kind. If it can't do that then what good is the other junk they teach. There should also be an opportunity in those 8 years to find the sick kids like Cho and help them. If not for the sake of kindness than for sheer safety.
The blame's on him but the damage is to everybody else.
Everybody knew this guy had a problem and there are lots of people similar to him everywhere. Probably at least one in every high school. It seems like society needs to find a way to help them without removing a persons right to be different; It's a problem.
10 pages...probably more like 50 to 100 pages.
I submitted a patent that I wrote up myself and in order to do it I read several in the same group. Most that I read were undoubtedly written by patent attorneys and they are the vaguest most obfuscated gibberish you've ever seen, designed to tie competitors up in court for years. (You can read 1000s of patents on the USPTO website)
I think the process is all about getting a refusal (or rubber stamp approval) from the confused and overworked examiner, and then the attorney gets the patent approved on appeal along with a fat salary for himself.
When I retrofitted my 1940s era home, I installed dimmers on every lightswitch.
The dimmers provide a slower surge of current when a bulb is initially turned on and bulbs are only used at the brightness level required for a particular job. I don't know if that makes their lifespan comparable to compact flourescent but they last a lot longer.
I also purchase bulbs with filaments rated for 130v. They are inexpensive by the case and last longer.
That's like comparing a fairly well-trained, slightly yappy, sheep-herding dog to a sociopathic rotweiler.
The sheep dog (vbscript) is useful in its environment. The rotweiler (vb.net) makes you feel invincible until it turns on you.
I came from a tech school where cooperation was the accepted norm and went to a university. On my second day in a CS class, I was discussing my answer to a really stimulating homework question with the guy in the chair next to mine when the prof walked up to my chair, interrupted me to say that I was cheating and then walked away saying, "I'm sure you'll never do it again."
At my university, the line was very thin..sometimes I didn't even know if I should show my class notes to others.
I think I actually learned a lot more in the open environment of the tech school.
IMNHO, playing the online games is a waste of time (unless you do it professionally) so one starts out cheating oneself of the time expended. The whole idea that there's anything there worth morally defending against a 'cheater' is therefore inane.
The best that could happen would be if everybody got disgusted, quit the game and went for a walk in the woods.
These Trekademics* (that's right, a new word and you heard it first from ol' Xylene); Why don't they get seriously intellectual and write about The Matrix? If one can dig a PhD from Trek, surly there's a Nobel in The Matrix somewhere...
*I'm heading right over to the Wikipedia to define this!!
...all I can say is that if you're a nerd (techie) and you cannot make yourself indispensible to your employer, then they have the upper hand and look out!
I had a very amusing contractual experience in which my employer's project was floundering and he could no longer afford to pay me. I had mercy on him but indicated that he would have to make me a partner and pay me in stock (probably worthless but a gesture at any rate) in order for me to continue with the programming.
So I received a contract to become a partner; it specified my stock (x number of 'founder's shares' whatever that might be) and went on to attempt to lock my services in for a number of years at a really low wage and further appended an NDA that would pretty much keep me from working on anything else for 2 years.
I had a really good time talking with the company lawyer, who considered herself very slick and never imagined I would either read or understand this fine print. I can remember telling her that discussing my wages with a company that couldn't pay anything at all was moot. I'm sure our conversation was the first time she was ever at a loss for words. It made me wish I'd gone into law instead of CS (and that's not the last time for that thought).
That's right...I'll steal some music; the health care industry, the Fed Gov, big oil and all the rest will steal *me* blind...
It's just my lame way of fighting back!
Anyway, the Music Industry (oxymoron) is the Death of Art. The future of music and writing publication is MySpace and YouTube not the boardroom at Disney or the RIAA
Power to the People!!
(psychedelic, flower power, hippie, peace love, rock and roll...)
Let the market and the laws of supply and demand take care of this:
If Comcast gets greedy and their service suffers, some other provider will pop up to take advantage of the gap. It's called capitalism.
The fed is delighted to play this up as another of the red herring items that take people's minds off the really controversial issues; the war, energy, global warming, etc. It's easy to do because, for most, the Internet is a black box about which they know very little.
...saying that one should 'learn' C++...or C...or Java...or whatever, is still a matter of degree. What level of expertise are we talking here? Idiomatic C++ or PERL is a big undertaking whereas going for casual familiatrity is maybe not so bad. And without knowing what one job is going to tackle, who's to say which study would be useful in the measure of time spent vs actual gain?
I'd say to maybe pick an arena first before choosing the tools: desktop environment, system apps or web environment?
At least then, you know which bag of tricks is likely to be most applicable.
The PTO also specifies that a patent may be issued
1)if the solution is obvious but satisfies a long-felt but unmet need
2)if the invention is highly commercially sucessful.
Slashdot Mirror
My CS degree is pretty much the hardest, most useless work 'job-wise' that I ever did.
In 1995, before I got out, it was the middle of the dot com boom and new grads were earning 60k their in first year out.
The crash came just as I graduated (the hail storm came and the grapes were defenseless, etc, etc) then the outsourcing began and so on. (weep, moan, blubber, etc.)
Now it's worse than ever (see whining above); If I can, I'm going to retool to be a physics teacher in an underprivileged school for the next three years.
You're young and smart. Things will get better. You'll probably do fine.
Good Luck,
Uncle Xylene
Hell...Piss on 'em!
Sorry but M$ just got a patent on the screwdriver as well...
If you've never read his short story book "Tales From the White Hart" it's a gas. His works will live on. Classics.
This might be slightly tangent but I found really funny as I am a big H.P. Lovecraft fan: http://tinyurl.com/52fy
Tangentially, I found the SQL for Dummies book to be one of the best. I did have to rip the cover off so I could hide it among my nerdier tomes.
If the Big Bang happened once, shouldn't it be a repeatable occurrence in the limitless void of space?
Maybe...but possibly not in our currently observable space. Perhaps other multiverses like ours are being continually created.
Maybe if more time and energy was spent on teaching rather than safety, our public education system wouldn't be in quite the shithole it's in right now.
I believe that a school system that has children bound to a straight-backed chair 8 hrs/day is fundamentally a breeding ground for frustration and bad energy.
What's more, an elementary school system that has children for 8 years, has a primary job of teaching children to get along with each other and be kind. If it can't do that then what good is the other junk they teach. There should also be an opportunity in those 8 years to find the sick kids like Cho and help them. If not for the sake of kindness than for sheer safety.
The blame lies squarely on his own shoulders.
The blame's on him but the damage is to everybody else.
Everybody knew this guy had a problem and there are lots of people similar to him everywhere. Probably at least one in every high school. It seems like society needs to find a way to help them without removing a persons right to be different; It's a problem.
10 pages...probably more like 50 to 100 pages. I submitted a patent that I wrote up myself and in order to do it I read several in the same group. Most that I read were undoubtedly written by patent attorneys and they are the vaguest most obfuscated gibberish you've ever seen, designed to tie competitors up in court for years. (You can read 1000s of patents on the USPTO website) I think the process is all about getting a refusal (or rubber stamp approval) from the confused and overworked examiner, and then the attorney gets the patent approved on appeal along with a fat salary for himself.
When I retrofitted my 1940s era home, I installed dimmers on every lightswitch.
The dimmers provide a slower surge of current when a bulb is initially turned on and bulbs are only used at the brightness level required for a particular job.
I don't know if that makes their lifespan comparable to compact flourescent but they last a lot longer.
I also purchase bulbs with filaments rated for 130v. They are inexpensive by the case and last longer.
see the scifi movie the 13th floor.
large enough for a single hide to cover a full-sized couch
...not hide. hyde
It's like comparing VBScript to VB.Net.
That's like comparing a fairly well-trained, slightly yappy, sheep-herding dog to a sociopathic rotweiler.
The sheep dog (vbscript) is useful in its environment. The rotweiler (vb.net) makes you feel invincible until it turns on you.
I came from a tech school where cooperation was the accepted norm and went to a university.
On my second day in a CS class, I was discussing my answer to a really stimulating homework question with the guy in the chair next to mine when the prof walked up to my chair, interrupted me to say that I was cheating and then walked away saying, "I'm sure you'll never do it again."
At my university, the line was very thin..sometimes I didn't even know if I should show my class notes to others.
I think I actually learned a lot more in the open environment of the tech school.
IMNHO, playing the online games is a waste of time (unless you do it professionally) so one starts out cheating oneself of the time expended. The whole idea that there's anything there worth morally defending against a 'cheater' is therefore inane.
The best that could happen would be if everybody got disgusted, quit the game and went for a walk in the woods.
Respecfully submitted by
KillJoy
The key is W's words after 9/11:
"Don't forget to shop."
Terrorism makes people stay home and quit shopping. That means no tax $$.
Domestic violence and kiddie porn don't stop tax revenue.
Hey...stop that.
Star Trek is good science!...and Creationism too!
I had to go look it up...now I want to cry.
These Trekademics* (that's right, a new word and you heard it first from ol' Xylene); Why don't they get seriously intellectual and write about The Matrix?
If one can dig a PhD from Trek, surly there's a Nobel in The Matrix somewhere...
*I'm heading right over to the Wikipedia to define this!!
...all I can say is that if you're a nerd (techie) and you cannot make yourself indispensible to your employer, then they have the upper hand and look out!
I had a very amusing contractual experience in which my employer's project was floundering and he could no longer afford to pay me. I had mercy on him but indicated that he would have to make me a partner and pay me in stock (probably worthless but a gesture at any rate) in order for me to continue with the programming.
So I received a contract to become a partner; it specified my stock (x number of 'founder's shares' whatever that might be) and went on to attempt to lock my services in for a number of years at a really low wage and further appended an NDA that would pretty much keep me from working on anything else for 2 years.
I had a really good time talking with the company lawyer, who considered herself very slick and never imagined I would either read or understand this fine print. I can remember telling her that discussing my wages with a company that couldn't pay anything at all was moot. I'm sure our conversation was the first time she was ever at a loss for words. It made me wish I'd gone into law instead of CS (and that's not the last time for that thought).
That's right...I'll steal some music; the health care industry, the Fed Gov, big oil and all the rest will steal *me* blind...
It's just my lame way of fighting back!
Anyway, the Music Industry (oxymoron) is the Death of Art. The future of music and writing publication is MySpace and YouTube not the boardroom at Disney or the RIAA
Power to the People!!
(psychedelic, flower power, hippie, peace love, rock and roll...)
Let the market and the laws of supply and demand take care of this:
If Comcast gets greedy and their service suffers, some other provider will pop up to take advantage of the gap. It's called capitalism.
The fed is delighted to play this up as another of the red herring items that take people's minds off the really controversial issues; the war, energy, global warming, etc. It's easy to do because, for most, the Internet is a black box about which they know very little.
...saying that one should 'learn' C++...or C...or Java...or whatever, is still a matter of degree. What level of expertise are we talking here? Idiomatic C++ or PERL is a big undertaking whereas going for casual familiatrity is maybe not so bad. And without knowing what one job is going to tackle, who's to say which study would be useful in the measure of time spent vs actual gain? I'd say to maybe pick an arena first before choosing the tools: desktop environment, system apps or web environment? At least then, you know which bag of tricks is likely to be most applicable.
The PTO also specifies that a patent may be issued
1)if the solution is obvious but satisfies a long-felt but unmet need
2)if the invention is highly commercially sucessful.
Think Obvious but overlooked.