I have to second that sentiment. After getting RIF'ed from my MIS job about five years ago, I went to work for a while with my uncle as an electrician's helper/apprentice, as well as doing a great deal of general construction/remodeling... just for some pocket money. I learned a lot that would come in handy for home repairs, but more to the point, the job satisfaction was incredible. We went to work at 7AM, took a half hour lunch, Miller time was 3:30PM... and at the end of the day, there was a tangible end result of the day's labor. Something to look at and be proud of... a job well done.
Now I'm back in IT, and to be honest I often pine for the days of being covered in sawdust and sweat, tired from non-stop manual labor, and feeling like more of a man at the end of the day for having BUILT something REAL and SOLID that would likely be standing for the next 30+ years.
If I could have afforded to live on the poor pay (for a while, until I started moving up the ranks), I think I would have stayed there... but, alas, with a wife, kids, and mortgage to think about, I was already in too deep and had to find better-paying work in computers.
But, you know the end of Office Space, when Peter is working with Lawrence (the neighbor, that's his name right?)... and Peter is just totally refreshed in his new career in the trade? Yeah, it really did feel like that.
Spoken like somebody who hasn't seen the movie.
He's "the man" because he speaks Russian (his mother was Russian), he's a pilot, and he was the exact same size as the Russian pilot who was to test fly the plane. That last point was important because of the specially-fitted flightsuit.
Damn, that was a good movie. Methinks I'll watch it tonight.
Developers now have many, many more tools and libraries at their disposal, as well as operating systems that are, ostensibly, easier to write software for.
How many developers today really *know* Assembly?
Here's an example... nearly ten years ago, I worked for a pretty large company (actually, a smaller, but very innovative company that was swallowed up, raped, and scuttled by the larger company)... this one office was shared by two developers. They were supposedly top-notch coders, but had very little idea how PCs worked. This baffled me... these guys WROTE SOFTWARE that made computers DO STUFF! So how was it possible that a fresh-out-of-college helpdesk kid constantly needed to fix relatively Computing 101 problems for them?
I never did learn the answer to that question.
By comparison, I believe (perhaps incorrectly), that the coders of bygone era were required to have a more intimate knowledge of the hardware they were working their magic on, for lack of the higher-level interpreters and coding environments available today. That's NOT to say, however, that learning to use the myraid tools available today is any less daunting a challenge.
It would be more fair to say because _you think_ they both taste awful.
I happen to enjoy both. I don't necessarily drink alcohol to get drunk (anymore... days of my youth, etc.) On a hot day, a nice cold Sam Adams Summer Ale tastes like a little bottle of Heaven. I don't necessarily drink coffee for a "boost"... sometimes I just feel like a cup or two.
You may like all sorts of tofu and vegan fare (not saying you do, just hypothetical) that I think tastes like garbage. Who am I to look down on you for liking it?
Slashdot Mirror
I have to second that sentiment. After getting RIF'ed from my MIS job about five years ago, I went to work for a while with my uncle as an electrician's helper/apprentice, as well as doing a great deal of general construction/remodeling... just for some pocket money. I learned a lot that would come in handy for home repairs, but more to the point, the job satisfaction was incredible. We went to work at 7AM, took a half hour lunch, Miller time was 3:30PM... and at the end of the day, there was a tangible end result of the day's labor. Something to look at and be proud of... a job well done.
Now I'm back in IT, and to be honest I often pine for the days of being covered in sawdust and sweat, tired from non-stop manual labor, and feeling like more of a man at the end of the day for having BUILT something REAL and SOLID that would likely be standing for the next 30+ years.
If I could have afforded to live on the poor pay (for a while, until I started moving up the ranks), I think I would have stayed there... but, alas, with a wife, kids, and mortgage to think about, I was already in too deep and had to find better-paying work in computers.
But, you know the end of Office Space, when Peter is working with Lawrence (the neighbor, that's his name right?)... and Peter is just totally refreshed in his new career in the trade? Yeah, it really did feel like that.
Stupid bills.
I have no mod points, so I'll show my support for the previous post here.
Spoken like somebody who hasn't seen the movie. He's "the man" because he speaks Russian (his mother was Russian), he's a pilot, and he was the exact same size as the Russian pilot who was to test fly the plane. That last point was important because of the specially-fitted flightsuit. Damn, that was a good movie. Methinks I'll watch it tonight.
Simpler or just different?
Developers now have many, many more tools and libraries at their disposal, as well as operating systems that are, ostensibly, easier to write software for.
How many developers today really *know* Assembly?
Here's an example... nearly ten years ago, I worked for a pretty large company (actually, a smaller, but very innovative company that was swallowed up, raped, and scuttled by the larger company)... this one office was shared by two developers. They were supposedly top-notch coders, but had very little idea how PCs worked. This baffled me... these guys WROTE SOFTWARE that made computers DO STUFF! So how was it possible that a fresh-out-of-college helpdesk kid constantly needed to fix relatively Computing 101 problems for them?
I never did learn the answer to that question.
By comparison, I believe (perhaps incorrectly), that the coders of bygone era were required to have a more intimate knowledge of the hardware they were working their magic on, for lack of the higher-level interpreters and coding environments available today. That's NOT to say, however, that learning to use the myraid tools available today is any less daunting a challenge.
Different? Yes. Simpler? I wouldn't be so sure.
Just my 2, I could be wrong.
Bob
It would be more fair to say because _you think_ they both taste awful.
I happen to enjoy both. I don't necessarily drink alcohol to get drunk (anymore... days of my youth, etc.) On a hot day, a nice cold Sam Adams Summer Ale tastes like a little bottle of Heaven. I don't necessarily drink coffee for a "boost"... sometimes I just feel like a cup or two.
You may like all sorts of tofu and vegan fare (not saying you do, just hypothetical) that I think tastes like garbage. Who am I to look down on you for liking it?