I actually stacked books at BN and studied nights to learn the technical knowledge I have.
So, I know bad times. They come and go. The best thing to do is to figure out what people are willing to pay for. Swallowing a little pride is part of the game.
And, incidentally, when someone comes to you looking for a job in the future, you can remember what it was like to swallow that pride and treat them with respect and dignity.
I'm a developer in NYC, and it's been my impression that the three markets hardest hit are Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. All of these places have tech as one of pillars of the economy.
NYC, while it has been hit, hasn't been hit as hard as these areas. The diversified economy has enabled me to find a job with a imaging company which is going on a hiring spree finding cheap dot-com employees. They don't pay well, but they're getting high quality technical people who wouldn't have given them a second look five years ago.
I think this is a perfect example of why to steer clear of Venture Capitalists.
Granted, this would require most businesses to grow at less than "internet speed", but that may not be such a bad thing based on what we're seeing in the sector.
Philip, you're a hero for me for creating ArsDigita University. When things were going good, you wanted to share it. I admire it (and took some online courses at the U!) And of course, remember Pi Day.
As a lazy new yorker who spent some years in Seattle, I couldn't agree more.
I found that, for the most part, Seattle had a higher quality of techies than NYC.
As far as Israel is concerned, though, I couldn't *disagree* more.
am FURIOUS! I was lucky enough to have a Genetics Counselor who explicitly told me to pay for this test myself ($450 US), because not doing so could fuck up my entire life. My father has HD, so that's why I was tested (even though I don't have any symptoms (yet).
BTW, Gene positive means that at some point (which is highly speculative) you will develop HD. You my be 8 or 80. The insurance companies can't predict how old you will be when you get it, so why can they push your premiums up?
I have met others with HD who have been screwed, and I'm happy to say that Deborah Senn, the State Insurance Comissioner of Washington State has lobbied for our cause.
This shouldn't be allowed until we understand genetics far far better than we already do.
Yes, it's true. I worked at Microsoft for 2 years and left recently. And guess what? They don't put up with this Dilbertesque Crap. Why? Because the damn place was founded by a PROGRAMMER. I have met BillG and he convinced me that he is a programmer (please put your snickers aside. The MBAs who work at Microsoft work for a programmer, and everyone in my large group (500+ people) doesn't ever have to report to an MBA. Programmers rule the place. It's got it's downside too, but it is like paradise in many ways.
The only way you can advance at Microsoft (at least in my groups) is that if your team agrees you would be a good leader. Nepotism is shot down pretty fast.
So, look at www.microsoft.com/jobs. Go up for an interview. I've heard things are changing, and I left because of the current DOJ problems to go to a startup, but it does have a nonbullshit feel to the place. It values results and results only.
--BlueRain
....And I know him!
His name is Sheldon Hocheiser, and he's a graduate of Reed College (Portland, OR). (Which is how I know of him, me being a reedie too.)
So, Technical Historians do exist! I don't know about "computer historians" specifically, though.
There is a Microsoft Museum on MS' campus, though..
Good luck,
Blue
I agree. I hope the Honda folks (or any car folks) are reading today. I live in Manhattan too, and I'd love a gas/electric for jaunts out of the city. Didn't Swatch put out a small vehicle like this? --Cheers BlueRain
I couldn't agree more with Your idea of maturity, Robert. What would have I done differently? Probably not much. Heck, throughout my 20's, I was lucky if I could hold a job, much less make a personal fortune. Best of luck to marca, and I'm sure whatever he decides to do, it will be great. It may not be Netscape, but it will be valuable (as the contributions of the rest of the Slashdot community are.)
Slashdot Mirror
A good resource is:
Washtech (in Seattle): http://www.washtech.org/
Very Well Said, Igor.
I actually stacked books at BN and studied nights to learn the technical knowledge I have.
So, I know bad times. They come and go. The best thing to do is to figure out what people are willing to pay for. Swallowing a little pride is part of the game.
And, incidentally, when someone comes to you looking for a job in the future, you can remember what it was like to swallow that pride and treat them with respect and dignity.
I'm a developer in NYC, and it's been my impression that the three markets hardest hit are Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. All of these places have tech as one of pillars of the economy. NYC, while it has been hit, hasn't been hit as hard as these areas. The diversified economy has enabled me to find a job with a imaging company which is going on a hiring spree finding cheap dot-com employees. They don't pay well, but they're getting high quality technical people who wouldn't have given them a second look five years ago.
...the internet is a client-server environment. The only hope is that MS doesn't start giving away free servers like it did browsers....
I couldn't agree more.
I think this is a perfect example of why to steer clear of Venture Capitalists.
Granted, this would require most businesses to grow at less than "internet speed", but that may not be such a bad thing based on what we're seeing in the sector.
Philip, you're a hero for me for creating ArsDigita University. When things were going good, you wanted to share it. I admire it (and took some online courses at the U!) And of course, remember Pi Day.
I could not agree more with this....
As a lazy new yorker who spent some years in Seattle, I couldn't agree more. I found that, for the most part, Seattle had a higher quality of techies than NYC. As far as Israel is concerned, though, I couldn't *disagree* more.
am FURIOUS! I was lucky enough to have a Genetics Counselor who explicitly told me to pay for this test myself ($450 US), because not doing so could fuck up my entire life. My father has HD, so that's why I was tested (even though I don't have any symptoms (yet).
BTW, Gene positive means that at some point (which is highly speculative) you will develop HD. You my be 8 or 80. The insurance companies can't predict how old you will be when you get it, so why can they push your premiums up?
I have met others with HD who have been screwed, and I'm happy to say that Deborah Senn, the State Insurance Comissioner of Washington State has lobbied for our cause. This shouldn't be allowed until we understand genetics far far better than we already do.
Yes, it's true. I worked at Microsoft for 2 years and left recently. And guess what? They don't put up with this Dilbertesque Crap. Why? Because the damn place was founded by a PROGRAMMER. I have met BillG and he convinced me that he is a programmer (please put your snickers aside. The MBAs who work at Microsoft work for a programmer, and everyone in my large group (500+ people) doesn't ever have to report to an MBA. Programmers rule the place. It's got it's downside too, but it is like paradise in many ways.
The only way you can advance at Microsoft (at least in my groups) is that if your team agrees you would be a good leader. Nepotism is shot down pretty fast. So, look at www.microsoft.com/jobs. Go up for an interview. I've heard things are changing, and I left because of the current DOJ problems to go to a startup, but it does have a nonbullshit feel to the place. It values results and results only. --BlueRain
....And I know him! His name is Sheldon Hocheiser, and he's a graduate of Reed College (Portland, OR). (Which is how I know of him, me being a reedie too.) So, Technical Historians do exist! I don't know about "computer historians" specifically, though. There is a Microsoft Museum on MS' campus, though.. Good luck, Blue
I agree. I hope the Honda folks (or any car folks) are reading today. I live in Manhattan too, and I'd love a gas/electric for jaunts out of the city. Didn't Swatch put out a small vehicle like this? --Cheers BlueRain
I couldn't agree more with Your idea of maturity, Robert. What would have I done differently? Probably not much. Heck, throughout my 20's, I was lucky if I could hold a job, much less make a personal fortune. Best of luck to marca, and I'm sure whatever he decides to do, it will be great. It may not be Netscape, but it will be valuable (as the contributions of the rest of the Slashdot community are.)