Yep, I couldn't agree more (by the way, the SWEBOK has a good summary of the different areas of Software Quality Management). Developers usually do understand this, but often it needs to be more clearly communicated to decision makers higher up.
What? The actual article does say.NET, right? Specifically, it says ".NET (dot net) developers". That said, I don't know what they mean by "...Microsoft's software programming language.NET", I never really thought of.NET itself as a programming language. I suppose they need a bit more help proofreading...
If anything is misleading its the title of this slashdot article. When I first read it, I thought it meant the demand for.NET developers was "falling", i.e., declining, when the article is actually making a positive statement about the demand for.NET developers.
Software quality management is maturing into a discipline unto itself, and becoming much broader than testing. Manual testing is being replaced by automated tools.
Up here in Canada, I have seen an increase in the number of.NET positions too, although I don't think it is any stronger than the increase in Java positions. The demand for software developers has really picked up, and, just informally from the ones I have talked to, most head hunters are reporting being overloaded with opportunities to place people, as much as a 250% increase in demand for people over a few months ago.
In that case we agree even more than I thought. I find it quite disturbing when small, innovative companies pioneer something new, while large companies sit back and watch. Then, once it looks like success is assured, they sweep in and either buy the little one or, much worse, if the little one does not have adequate protection (or simply fewer or less-skilled lawyers), the larger company will simply copy what they are doing and squash it.
and free music will hopefully become viable as the cost of production falls closer and closer to hobbyist levels. That being said, there is a fundamental truth to Gates' words: successful pioneers deserve to be paid.
I do think more than just pioneers need to be paid. Anyone who produces anything of value and wishes to sell it at a price deserves to be paid. Ultimately people need to pay other people and thus deserve to be paid for the value they themselves are adding to the world, especially if other people want their stuff. Just because "the cost of production falls closer and closer to hobbyist levels" does not mean the results of production should be freely available. After all, supposedly the artists' time is worth something too. If not, all we will be left with are the products of hobbyists (which, I will admit, is often quite good!).
Do you think workers who are not pioneers deserve to be paid? Unless someone willingly volunteers to work for free (like we are for the moment), they deserve to be paid for their work. If people don't want to buy, they don't have to buy (especially stuff like music). I can see people deserve some things for free, like health and basic education, but I think entertainment is pushing it. Perhaps the government should provide a basic stipend to all artists and then simply support them through the tax system?
I think we mostly agree, I just think it needs to be broader than "pioneers".
My first laptop (a packard-bell with win 3.1) lasted about 4 years. I remember spending something like $800 bucks on that one for a 8MB memory upgrade, aarrrggh.
My second one (compaq) is now about 2 years old, and recently started to make a weird ticking noise which stops once it has been running for awhile.
...maybe someone important went short on google instead of long!:)
some companies burst, but internet alive, growing
on
The New Boom
·
· Score: 1
Contrary to the remaining few who say it hasn't, the Internet has had a major impact on the lives of many if not most people, changing how they communicate (email), how they shop (amazon and eBay), and changing where they go for information (Google and wikipedia). Some people did lose alot of money when stocks tanked and businesses collapsed, but the "Internet Revolution", in terms of real people using the Internet in their daily lives, merely hiccupped and kept on going.
It is great to see companies growing again, along with a much greater demand for IT staff. As the article hints to, the next steps will be at least partially fuelled by cheap bandwidth and mobile devices. In the early days of the Internet, growth was fuelled by recreational activities and recreational browsing, but eventually maturing into a truly useful tool for conducting business and for training and education. Now we are going to see the same thing happen with what I will call the iPod economy. So far it has been mostly used for music and entertainment, the next wave of growth will bring business and educational content and applications.
In terms of Google, I really don't see their traditional searching/AdSense business remaining the juggernaut it is for too long. The analogy is not exact, but if we think of the telephone, how successful are the "yellow pages" companies or how much of a business is providing directory assistance (or yellow page listings) for the major telephone companies, even before the internet came along? People just want to find information and will go wherever then can get it the easiest. Search technology is still in its infancy, although it may be google who can make it happen, the required revolutionary changes will more likely come from some small organization.
I agree on the chemistry/physics basis for the understanding of the processes of life, but I think the origin of life, more specifically, the origin of life ON EARTH, is a distinct matter.
If I can make a rough analogy, but hopefully not too rough, think about the history of people in North America. Knowing the mechanics of how people walk or how sailboats sail is quite different than knowing the history of when/how people from Asia walked across land bridges, and, then later on, Eurpeans sailed over.
There are many competing processes which could have "started" life on earth, and I don't even see any particular reason why they need to be mutually exclusive. For example, perhaps life started in parallel out of the "primordial soup" of organic compounds in the atmosphere, and also deep in the trenches with the H2S consuming bacteria, while at the same time getting some help from the odd comet.
The article keeps refering to a survey on the "origin and development of life". They need to separate out "origin" and "development" - they do not likely have the same explanation.
In terms of origin, they should ask specific questions. For example:
1. The origin of life is:
a.)Life started here on Earth;
b.)Life was brought to the planet Earth by a comet;
c.)God created life on Earth.
At least then it would be specific what people are agreeing to.
This is excellent news for the public at large. Even though this is a private university, there is still a lot of public money which gets funnelled into it (think of all the research funding, and more), so its nice they are giving something back.
That said, I don't think the optimum content is to simply record a lecture. The audio medium is quite different than a lecture hall, and thus the content really needs to be tailored to the medium in order for it to be effective. The same goes for most technical content. You can't just read a book into a microphone and expect your readers to understand what you are saying. You really need to start from scratch with the audio medium in mind. Also, I am really tired of all the umhhhs and ahhhs on most podcasts, and really look forward to the day of professional quality audio content (like the stuff we are working on!).
One way to maximize your ROI for training is to make sure you get the most out of the time you put into it.
Blatant Advertising:
We are currently working on publishing audiobooks for software developers, which I believe is one of the most efficient forms of learning.
It is difficult to cover technical content in an audio format. I love books and for software developers screen shots and code samples are important. That said, in my experience as a professional developer, I have found it extremely important just to have an awareness of what is out there and a basic conceptual understanding of what it is, the advantages and disadvantages, and when to apply it (this is really what is covered on the J2EE Patterns audiobook). If you know this, then at least you know what to look for and the deeper details, code samples and diagrams required for further consideration or implementation can be found on the Internet or in a book.
Also, many people find listening to audiobooks a great way to help them remember details, which is where a product like our Java Syntax audiobook fits in.
I do not have any grand illusions of our product replacing books (my background is technical, not in marketing!). But, our products are a great complement to what is currently available. One of our listeners found that he picked up valuable knowledge by listening to our modules while out for his daily run. There is no other product which would allow him to do this.
The responsibility for training is shared between you and your employer. Most companies will cover the expenses.
Blatant Advertisement Below:
One of the things we are working on is developing a series of audiobooks for software developers. Although we do not have any MCSA/MCSE titles yet, I think there are a few other companies that do. Check on google.
We noticed often you could tell when a person had a major life altering event, say getting married or having children, just by looking at what technology they were the most familiar with. If someone is keen on RUP, but knows nothing about Agile methods, you could be pretty sure their children were about 10 years old. Of course, this isn't the case for everyone, but lack of time is THE major impediment for ongoing professional development. Often companies will refund training expenses, but less often they will give you enough time off to do the professional development. So even if expenses are paid, how does one, especially with a family like us, find the time?
In response to this conundrum, we are looking at methods which reduce the amount of time necessary for professional development. So far, the most promising method is audiotraining, i.e., audiobooks, since they allow for the possibility of multitasking. There are obvious disadvantages, especially lack of diagrams or detailed code samples, but an audiobook which is listened to is infinitely more effective than a book which sits unopened due to lack of time.
When I first read the article, my first response to a tool meant to improve user experience, from Microsoft, is that they should change the acronym from WPF to WTF, since, as a user, that is what always goes through my head when Word or IE crash.
But, with further reading, I actually think Microsoft may find success here. With Visual Studio they have a good track record and may succeed again.
There are many examples of using statistics and artificial intelligence in finance (go google), including some applications to predict stock prices. Even a decade ago, books like "Neural Networks in Finance and Investing" and "Artificial Intelligence in the Capital Markets" were already published, along with hordes of books on statistics in finance (think about what Quants do).
Of course, I don't think we can yet predict stock prices with the same 81% accuracy as in this article. And, if anyone could, they would be wise to keep it to themselves.
I suppose now you will get bombarded with stories to the contrary...so let me be the first.
One of the cats we have now is the most social I have ever seen. When at home he will actually follow me around from room to room and curl up by my feet while I'm on the computer. He does not just do this for the first few minutes each day, but does it consistently all morning and afternoon. He is the first cat I have seen with such a strong desire to be social with people. He also listens to very rudimentary commands, but, other than the occasional meow, has not yet started talking back.
Thanks for your replies. Here's another link, same description as the above article, but instead of 99.8% air it states 99.8% empty space - I interpreted the "air" too literally (of course, most of an atom is empty space but anyway).
The spacecraft flew with a 14-inch-wide collector that resembled a tennis racket and was filled with aerogel, a silicon material composed of 99.8 percent air.
As I recall, space is a pretty good vacuum. Why doesn't the air get sucked out of the gel, especially if the gel is exposed to the vacuum of space and even more so if it is periodically being hit by particles?
Ok, maybe there wouldn't be one big "whooosh", but seven years is a long exposure.
We have decided to make our first one free, at least for the time being. You are right - that will give people a much better chance to see what its like, and we will gather more feedback.
I am curious how this would compare to the costs incurred due to defects in software. Back in 2002, NIST reported "Software bugs, or errors, are so prevalent and so detrimental that they cost the U.S. economy an estimated $59.5 billion annually":
Great job Nathan! You are bang on with your suggestion about buying straight from the artist, or at least with as little as possible between the customer and the artist, and I sincerely hope you are successful with what you are trying to accomplish.
The audio industry as a whole has exploded, everything from iPods to audiobooks, like the ones for software developers which we are working on http://www.developeradvantage.com/
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, I couldn't agree more (by the way, the SWEBOK has a good summary of the different areas of Software Quality Management). Developers usually do understand this, but often it needs to be more clearly communicated to decision makers higher up.
What? The actual article does say .NET, right? Specifically, it says ".NET (dot net) developers". That said, I don't know what they mean by "...Microsoft's software programming language .NET", I never really thought of .NET itself as a programming language. I suppose they need a bit more help proofreading...
.NET developers was "falling", i.e., declining, when the article is actually making a positive statement about the demand for .NET developers.
If anything is misleading its the title of this slashdot article. When I first read it, I thought it meant the demand for
Interesting, this past week there was another article about the potential for elimination of QA staff due to agile programming techniques:
a d_id=38785
.NET positions too, although I don't think it is any stronger than the increase in Java positions. The demand for software developers has really picked up, and, just informally from the ones I have talked to, most head hunters are reporting being overloaded with opportunities to place people, as much as a 250% increase in demand for people over a few months ago.
http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thre
Software quality management is maturing into a discipline unto itself, and becoming much broader than testing. Manual testing is being replaced by automated tools.
Up here in Canada, I have seen an increase in the number of
In that case we agree even more than I thought. I find it quite disturbing when small, innovative companies pioneer something new, while large companies sit back and watch. Then, once it looks like success is assured, they sweep in and either buy the little one or, much worse, if the little one does not have adequate protection (or simply fewer or less-skilled lawyers), the larger company will simply copy what they are doing and squash it.
and free music will hopefully become viable as the cost of production falls closer and closer to hobbyist levels. That being said, there is a fundamental truth to Gates' words: successful pioneers deserve to be paid.
I do think more than just pioneers need to be paid. Anyone who produces anything of value and wishes to sell it at a price deserves to be paid. Ultimately people need to pay other people and thus deserve to be paid for the value they themselves are adding to the world, especially if other people want their stuff. Just because "the cost of production falls closer and closer to hobbyist levels" does not mean the results of production should be freely available. After all, supposedly the artists' time is worth something too. If not, all we will be left with are the products of hobbyists (which, I will admit, is often quite good!).
Do you think workers who are not pioneers deserve to be paid? Unless someone willingly volunteers to work for free (like we are for the moment), they deserve to be paid for their work. If people don't want to buy, they don't have to buy (especially stuff like music). I can see people deserve some things for free, like health and basic education, but I think entertainment is pushing it. Perhaps the government should provide a basic stipend to all artists and then simply support them through the tax system?
I think we mostly agree, I just think it needs to be broader than "pioneers".
My first laptop (a packard-bell with win 3.1) lasted about 4 years. I remember spending something like $800 bucks on that one for a 8MB memory upgrade, aarrrggh. My second one (compaq) is now about 2 years old, and recently started to make a weird ticking noise which stops once it has been running for awhile.
.... "Chuck Norris Roundhouse kick frees submarine from Giant Octopus."
(not sure who is usually responsible for the Chuck Norris jokes, but I didn't see one yet so I had to step up and add it!).
...maybe someone important went short on google instead of long! :)
Contrary to the remaining few who say it hasn't, the Internet has had a major impact on the lives of many if not most people, changing how they communicate (email), how they shop (amazon and eBay), and changing where they go for information (Google and wikipedia). Some people did lose alot of money when stocks tanked and businesses collapsed, but the "Internet Revolution", in terms of real people using the Internet in their daily lives, merely hiccupped and kept on going.
It is great to see companies growing again, along with a much greater demand for IT staff. As the article hints to, the next steps will be at least partially fuelled by cheap bandwidth and mobile devices. In the early days of the Internet, growth was fuelled by recreational activities and recreational browsing, but eventually maturing into a truly useful tool for conducting business and for training and education. Now we are going to see the same thing happen with what I will call the iPod economy. So far it has been mostly used for music and entertainment, the next wave of growth will bring business and educational content and applications.
In terms of Google, I really don't see their traditional searching/AdSense business remaining the juggernaut it is for too long. The analogy is not exact, but if we think of the telephone, how successful are the "yellow pages" companies or how much of a business is providing directory assistance (or yellow page listings) for the major telephone companies, even before the internet came along? People just want to find information and will go wherever then can get it the easiest. Search technology is still in its infancy, although it may be google who can make it happen, the required revolutionary changes will more likely come from some small organization.
I agree on the chemistry/physics basis for the understanding of the processes of life, but I think the origin of life, more specifically, the origin of life ON EARTH, is a distinct matter.
If I can make a rough analogy, but hopefully not too rough, think about the history of people in North America. Knowing the mechanics of how people walk or how sailboats sail is quite different than knowing the history of when/how people from Asia walked across land bridges, and, then later on, Eurpeans sailed over.
There are many competing processes which could have "started" life on earth, and I don't even see any particular reason why they need to be mutually exclusive. For example, perhaps life started in parallel out of the "primordial soup" of organic compounds in the atmosphere, and also deep in the trenches with the H2S consuming bacteria, while at the same time getting some help from the odd comet.
For a number of other alternatives, take a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life
The article keeps refering to a survey on the "origin and development of life". They need to separate out "origin" and "development" - they do not likely have the same explanation.
In terms of origin, they should ask specific questions. For example:
1. The origin of life is:
a.)Life started here on Earth;
b.)Life was brought to the planet Earth by a comet;
c.)God created life on Earth.
At least then it would be specific what people are agreeing to.
This is excellent news for the public at large. Even though this is a private university, there is still a lot of public money which gets funnelled into it (think of all the research funding, and more), so its nice they are giving something back.
That said, I don't think the optimum content is to simply record a lecture. The audio medium is quite different than a lecture hall, and thus the content really needs to be tailored to the medium in order for it to be effective. The same goes for most technical content. You can't just read a book into a microphone and expect your readers to understand what you are saying. You really need to start from scratch with the audio medium in mind. Also, I am really tired of all the umhhhs and ahhhs on most podcasts, and really look forward to the day of professional quality audio content (like the stuff we are working on!).
One way to maximize your ROI for training is to make sure you get the most out of the time you put into it.
Blatant Advertising:
We are currently working on publishing audiobooks for software developers, which I believe is one of the most efficient forms of learning.
It is difficult to cover technical content in an audio format. I love books and for software developers screen shots and code samples are important. That said, in my experience as a professional developer, I have found it extremely important just to have an awareness of what is out there and a basic conceptual understanding of what it is, the advantages and disadvantages, and when to apply it (this is really what is covered on the J2EE Patterns audiobook). If you know this, then at least you know what to look for and the deeper details, code samples and diagrams required for further consideration or implementation can be found on the Internet or in a book.
Also, many people find listening to audiobooks a great way to help them remember details, which is where a product like our Java Syntax audiobook fits in.
I do not have any grand illusions of our product replacing books (my background is technical, not in marketing!). But, our products are a great complement to what is currently available. One of our listeners found that he picked up valuable knowledge by listening to our modules while out for his daily run. There is no other product which would allow him to do this.
The responsibility for training is shared between you and your employer. Most companies will cover the expenses.
Blatant Advertisement Below:
One of the things we are working on is developing a series of audiobooks for software developers. Although we do not have any MCSA/MCSE titles yet, I think there are a few other companies that do. Check on google.
We noticed often you could tell when a person had a major life altering event, say getting married or having children, just by looking at what technology they were the most familiar with. If someone is keen on RUP, but knows nothing about Agile methods, you could be pretty sure their children were about 10 years old. Of course, this isn't the case for everyone, but lack of time is THE major impediment for ongoing professional development. Often companies will refund training expenses, but less often they will give you enough time off to do the professional development. So even if expenses are paid, how does one, especially with a family like us, find the time?
In response to this conundrum, we are looking at methods which reduce the amount of time necessary for professional development. So far, the most promising method is audiotraining, i.e., audiobooks, since they allow for the possibility of multitasking. There are obvious disadvantages, especially lack of diagrams or detailed code samples, but an audiobook which is listened to is infinitely more effective than a book which sits unopened due to lack of time.
...is create good IDEs.
When I first read the article, my first response to a tool meant to improve user experience, from Microsoft, is that they should change the acronym from WPF to WTF, since, as a user, that is what always goes through my head when Word or IE crash.
But, with further reading, I actually think Microsoft may find success here. With Visual Studio they have a good track record and may succeed again.
I thought this was how to measure which director could stack the audience with the most friends! :)
There are many examples of using statistics and artificial intelligence in finance (go google), including some applications to predict stock prices. Even a decade ago, books like "Neural Networks in Finance and Investing" and "Artificial Intelligence in the Capital Markets" were already published, along with hordes of books on statistics in finance (think about what Quants do).
Of course, I don't think we can yet predict stock prices with the same 81% accuracy as in this article. And, if anyone could, they would be wise to keep it to themselves.
I wouldn't say the problem is solved, but it is getting better.
I suppose now you will get bombarded with stories to the contrary...so let me be the first.
One of the cats we have now is the most social I have ever seen. When at home he will actually follow me around from room to room and curl up by my feet while I'm on the computer. He does not just do this for the first few minutes each day, but does it consistently all morning and afternoon. He is the first cat I have seen with such a strong desire to be social with people. He also listens to very rudimentary commands, but, other than the occasional meow, has not yet started talking back.
Thanks for your replies. Here's another link, same description as the above article, but instead of 99.8% air it states 99.8% empty space - I interpreted the "air" too literally (of course, most of an atom is empty space but anyway).
r aft/aerogel-index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/spacec
Awhile back I worked with a researcher who was looking at something similar - Metallic Foams. Cool stuff.
The spacecraft flew with a 14-inch-wide collector that resembled a tennis racket and was filled with aerogel, a silicon material composed of 99.8 percent air.
As I recall, space is a pretty good vacuum. Why doesn't the air get sucked out of the gel, especially if the gel is exposed to the vacuum of space and even more so if it is periodically being hit by particles?
Ok, maybe there wouldn't be one big "whooosh", but seven years is a long exposure.
Any ideas?
We have decided to make our first one free, at least for the time being. You are right - that will give people a much better chance to see what its like, and we will gather more feedback.
I am curious how this would compare to the costs incurred due to defects in software. Back in 2002, NIST reported "Software bugs, or errors, are so prevalent and so detrimental that they cost the U.S. economy an estimated $59.5 billion annually":
0 .htm
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/n02-1
Has anyone seen an update to this report?
With limited resources, organizations need to choose between fixing security problems or fixing others types of defects in their software.
Great job Nathan! You are bang on with your suggestion about buying straight from the artist, or at least with as little as possible between the customer and the artist, and I sincerely hope you are successful with what you are trying to accomplish.
The audio industry as a whole has exploded, everything from iPods to audiobooks, like the ones for software developers which we are working on http://www.developeradvantage.com/