Landmark is part of Scientology?!? DAMN! I knew they were a cult designed solely for separating a fool from his money, but I didn't think it was that bad...
Honestly, after working in Microsoft langauges and now working as a tester for.Net applications...take the Perl job. Less money now, but if you already like working with it then the switch to.Net will have serious affects on your mental health. Especially with.Net 2.0 and VS2005..Net 2.0 fixed a lot, but introduced some new bugs. VS2005 is just crap. The beta testers were begging MS not to release it. MS released it. They made everyone at my work upgrade to VS2005. The programmers are 1) confused as to why the hell they upgraded with no benefits analysis done (project manager is a moron), and 2) they are begging to go back because of all the bugs in VS2005. Random crashes, inexplainably long load times, rediculously long build times, and it's generally unusable.
Personally I got lucky to get a testing job with this place, because I do write code to help me with the testing. The reason I'm so lucky is that I got to choose Perl. It was kinda by accident really. But now that I've picked up Perl, that's what I'll be looking for. Yeah, it ain't perfect, but the main part is pretty danm stable and it's so nice to have access to the module code when there's a bug. I can debug a program I have the code for. I can still debug a program when I don't have the code, I just can't be as accurate ("problem is in this function at line 566", as opposed to "problem is on this screen when I do this.") Even better is that I can change a module to suit my needs and submit my changes for future versions. Can't do that with the.Net framework.
That's the tech side. Here's the business side. Working for a small company, even for less pay, is much better then working for a big company where you're just a faceless cog. I've worked both. The big companies are just as likely to just lay your ass off as a small company is to shut down and lay everyone off. Big companies are stable, as in they will be around for a long time. Not that *you* will be around for a long time. "Our profits are down this quarter. Who can we get rid of?" Small companies, unless they are very profittable, have a chance to just go out of business. You'll be in a much worse place then just being laid off, if the small company literally ran out of money and can't pay severence. But working in a small company is usually more flexible, and has more variety. Although I found while working for a big company...you can hide and literally not do any work for months before someone notices. IF someone notices I should say.
Anyways, that's my experience. Do what you like, the rest will follow. Do what you hate for lots of money, you'll just spend that money on therapy...
Never said I USED it, just said I checked it out and thought it was a cool idea. My machine regularly has different OSes installed on it...this was just one of many that I tried at the time. It was removed and replaced with Red Hat soon after checking it out seeing as they wanted me to *pay* for software. Come on now...pay money...for software...please...
I can finally see this being a good option for people I don't want to deal with helping them "fix" Windows. I knew this 5 years ago, I know this now.
The only reason I post this is in the hopes that the geek I met 5 years ago will read this and realise how much of a stuck-up geek he is. I was at the bus terminal waiting for my bus to go to work. I saw this guy holding a PDA, casually glanced at it, and he just got all excited that someone was checking it out because he had Linux on it and wanted to show it off. So on the bus ride he's prattling on about how great Linux is, how you can do everything in Linux that you can in Windows, how much better Linux is over Windows. So I ask him if he's checked out this new disto, seeing as I just found it and thought it was a cool idea. Nice, easy, user friendly, had this cool utility that downloaded and installed software for you in a single click. "It's called Lindows" I said. "Looks cool enough, and would be nice for the average person that doesn't want to rebuild their kernel." His face dropped...he looked so disgusted. It was like I just killed a puppy in front of him. He could barely even talk. He asked for my email address to "talk about Linux", but I never heard from him. Dumbass stuck-up geek...THIS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T GEEKS! It's so that these people bother other people to help them, or don't need help at all because the damn thing just works! It's to free up the geek's time! But he just couldn't see the potential...too disgusted that it was "like Windows"...
Yeah...the *concept* car uses 7000 laptop batteries and costs over $80K. Just imagine what it will be like when the electrical engineer that came up with the concept refines the design...
Ok, this might be a little colourful for an office, but the obvious solution to me was bigger balls...like this kids trackball: http://www.kid-computers.com/catalog/i_25442.shtml. Sure, it's technically meant for kids, but it's really meant for easier motion control for those that don't have those fine motor skills for one reason or another. RSI would fall under that. It doesn't need the fine motor skills that trackpads need to effectively use them with their small surface area. And it doesn't require expensive equipment like a touchscreen. I'd say this is probably the easiest solution out of anything...
Too late...they already make french fry vending machines. Can't remember the name of them, but back home in New Brunswick I use to go to a convenience store not far from school and buy a box of fries every day. Cost something like $2. On special days I'd get the fries and chicken nuggets. Probably wasn't the healthiest or greatest tasting things, but at 10 years old all you're thinking of is "OOOOH, fries for lunch!" Soon discovered the really good fries and gravy from the chip shop even closer to school though. Man I miss home...
Keep one thing in mind. You've gotta put time into building the scripts if you want good automation testing, whether you buy or build. I was going to spend as much time using a pre-packaged tool to write scripts as I've so far spent writing scripts while building the tool. Money-wise, you're looking at $100,050 thousand as opposed to $100,899 spent on regression testing at this point, relatively speaking. Plus the knowledge I've gained of Perl scripting can be transfered to other areas of the company (and my resume if the need arises). Can't really say that about some proprietary scripting language of some obscure profession-specific tool. And personally, I would rather know a language then a tool.
Although, if there was a good automation testing suite out there, I probably would have gotten it. I was new to the position when I was choosing the software, but I know that the tools I looked at and that the boss looked at just weren't up for the task. There was no way I was going to put the time into maintaining all those scripts, where if the tiniest thing on the form changes then it breaks the script. It would have been too much work for too little gain. And that's only one issue I had with the prepackaged stuff. The features I've been able to build, plus the general inside knowledge of automation scripting that I've gained, have made script creation and maintenance much easier. I've gotten it down to about a day for a basic form script with data. And the data takes the most time. With all known errors and extra data, that's about another day or 2 per form. Once I build the script builder and data builder utilities, that time will probably come down. I can't say for sure that would have happened the same way with a prepackaged tool, but I'm fairly certain things would be more difficult.
While I don't see myself as an "Artist" (not since my Subway Sandwich Artist days anyways), I do consider myself a professional that knows more about what I need then the average CxO or boss in general does. Which is why I'm glad I work for a company that gives me the freedom and benefit of giving me a task and then staying the fuck out of my hair. I know my job, I know what the boss wants, I know when the boss wants it, and as long as the boss don't screw me around then the boss will get what he wants.
Case in point. The job I currently have consists of general software testing, as well as creating an automation solution for regression testing. While I had no experience as a tester, I learn fast. And I know I'm a good developer. Since starting in October, I have created the beginnings of a customizable open-source automation utility using Perl. They wanted me to look at some proprietary solutions costing hundreds, a few were in the thousands. None gave me the flexibility I needed, most just consisted of creating scripts that blindly click the screen and continue running when errors popup (which is the exact functionality that Perl and Win32::GUITest, but Perl is free and GUITest gives you more functionality), few could even recognize the.Net objects that I need to test. Automation solution software costs: $0. Books and learning tools: $50 so far. Value created for the company: $lots. Still need to talk to the boss about releasing the software, since I haven't actually changed Perl or GUITest and therefore am not obligated to open-source what I created, but I would like to release it when it's closer to completion. I think it provides a much better solution then the proprietary packages, but since I'm the developer I'm biased. I'd like to see if it really can compete with the big boys. But none of this would have been possible if I worked for some short-sighted, bottom-line-seeing, make-changes-to-requirements-EVERY-FREAKING-DAY kind of boss. Thank you Rob...
Bank too much on the iPod? Hell, it's what's going to save the company. And not just from bankrupcy. Think of this...Average user: "I want to buy a new computer. I use email and web, a few office apps, and lots of Yahoo games. It must play Yahoo games. Oh, and it has to look pretty. And work with my iPod. I love my iPod. What kind of computer should I get?" What's your response, if this is your sister or someone else you know you're going to have to do free tech support for since they used "pretty" as a requirement? A1: "Sure, I can build you a PC and install everything and clean the damned thing of the spyware and viruses twice a month." A2: "Buy a Mac. I hear the blue ones are the fastest. Oh, the purple...they have the best graphics. Yeah, you'll like the purple ones. That's right, the Apple store is right downtown." The iPod is going to send more people to buy a Mac then probably in all of Apple's history. And with Boot Camp, giving people the ability of XP and OSX, will triple that amount. It might actually happen, as frightening as it is to say.
I believe that you are referring to Star Trek: Insurrection...
I'm going to geek-out here...
It was in the final episode of TNG, where the temporal anomaly was causing time to go crazy. People reported old scars suddenly disappearing, and a few other things I can't remember. But the main one was that Geordi's eyes regrew. He was able to see with real eyes, and the visor was unusable. It was one of the few episodes where he didn't have to wear the white contacts when he took off the visor on-screen. I think there was only one other early in the series where Q had given him real eyes for a short time.
And I now consider myself too much of a Star Trek geek for remembering all that. I gotta get out more...
What is the benefit of clamping a PC to your wrist...
Well, I'd assume that it's been made rugged enough to withstand most torture. But the biggest benefit...the medical field. Or any field that requires you to use both hands a lot. But especially the medical field if you could also cram some diagnostic equipment into the thing at the same time. Think about the glove device used in Earth2 that you waved over a body and got instant vitals, xray images, and whatever else a field medic would need. Ok, all that will take a while to cram in there, but imagine a nurse in a hospital being able to walk up to a patient's bed, having instant access to their medical information, be able to take their vitals without a whole slew of equipment to drag around, and still have both hands free at all times. That could be feasible now. Wearable computers are a geek's dream, but the practical applications are far more reaching then just out-geeking the guy in the next cube...
People...please, stop and review your history. Does no one remember Intel doing this exact thing just 5-6 years ago with the first PIII chips? Do you see any chips with serial numbers embedded in them like that today? No...because it was a colossal FAILURE! That's when Intel began to slide and AMD began to rise to power. Why? Because AMD saw a need, and that need was to NOT have this kind of tech. So many people, including myself, started switching to AMD chips. And Intel eventually yanked it because of the market share they were losing. They never really recovered after that, especially when AMD started beating them on processing power-per-watt. So please...just take a deep breath, calm down, and look to your nearest underdog to fill the need...
Besides, when the revolution comes, your computer will be the last thing on your mind...
It seems for the past 20 years everyone has been stuck on the size of CDs. Even with DVDs and now these HVDs, the physical size has stayed the same. I know...everyone is use to that size. But that's not what I've been promised in all the not-so-distant-future movies. Discs used in those movies, if they use discs at all instead of some SD stick looking thing, are the size of GameCube discs. THAT's what I'm waiting for. Small, easily carried, easily pocketed. Sony's MiniDiscs weren't a bad idea, but that flopped. So we're stuck with these huge discs. When is someone going to bring out small discs and then work on storage capacity from that point on?
Uh huh. And if you add more water vapour to the air through gloabl warming, that creates more rain as it tries to balance itself out. More rain, more storms. More storms, more chances for hurricanes, flooding, crazy weather in general, and now appearantly global warming. Does that make it more clear?
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Excuse me, but this Maritimer would take a delicious fried trout over salty salty cavier anyday.
Still want a T3 line though...
Thanks...this is the only reason I came into the thread...
Landmark is part of Scientology?!? DAMN! I knew they were a cult designed solely for separating a fool from his money, but I didn't think it was that bad...
What's going to kill him now?
Honestly, after working in Microsoft langauges and now working as a tester for .Net applications...take the Perl job. Less money now, but if you already like working with it then the switch to .Net will have serious affects on your mental health. Especially with .Net 2.0 and VS2005. .Net 2.0 fixed a lot, but introduced some new bugs. VS2005 is just crap. The beta testers were begging MS not to release it. MS released it. They made everyone at my work upgrade to VS2005. The programmers are 1) confused as to why the hell they upgraded with no benefits analysis done (project manager is a moron), and 2) they are begging to go back because of all the bugs in VS2005. Random crashes, inexplainably long load times, rediculously long build times, and it's generally unusable.
Personally I got lucky to get a testing job with this place, because I do write code to help me with the testing. The reason I'm so lucky is that I got to choose Perl. It was kinda by accident really. But now that I've picked up Perl, that's what I'll be looking for. Yeah, it ain't perfect, but the main part is pretty danm stable and it's so nice to have access to the module code when there's a bug. I can debug a program I have the code for. I can still debug a program when I don't have the code, I just can't be as accurate ("problem is in this function at line 566", as opposed to "problem is on this screen when I do this.") Even better is that I can change a module to suit my needs and submit my changes for future versions. Can't do that with the .Net framework.
That's the tech side. Here's the business side. Working for a small company, even for less pay, is much better then working for a big company where you're just a faceless cog. I've worked both. The big companies are just as likely to just lay your ass off as a small company is to shut down and lay everyone off. Big companies are stable, as in they will be around for a long time. Not that *you* will be around for a long time. "Our profits are down this quarter. Who can we get rid of?" Small companies, unless they are very profittable, have a chance to just go out of business. You'll be in a much worse place then just being laid off, if the small company literally ran out of money and can't pay severence. But working in a small company is usually more flexible, and has more variety. Although I found while working for a big company...you can hide and literally not do any work for months before someone notices. IF someone notices I should say.
Anyways, that's my experience. Do what you like, the rest will follow. Do what you hate for lots of money, you'll just spend that money on therapy...
No, but garbage bags can. Come on...this was solved years ago. What's the problem?
No...what would be funny is if it were just the bag...
Never said I USED it, just said I checked it out and thought it was a cool idea. My machine regularly has different OSes installed on it...this was just one of many that I tried at the time. It was removed and replaced with Red Hat soon after checking it out seeing as they wanted me to *pay* for software. Come on now...pay money...for software...please...
I can finally see this being a good option for people I don't want to deal with helping them "fix" Windows. I knew this 5 years ago, I know this now.
The only reason I post this is in the hopes that the geek I met 5 years ago will read this and realise how much of a stuck-up geek he is. I was at the bus terminal waiting for my bus to go to work. I saw this guy holding a PDA, casually glanced at it, and he just got all excited that someone was checking it out because he had Linux on it and wanted to show it off. So on the bus ride he's prattling on about how great Linux is, how you can do everything in Linux that you can in Windows, how much better Linux is over Windows. So I ask him if he's checked out this new disto, seeing as I just found it and thought it was a cool idea. Nice, easy, user friendly, had this cool utility that downloaded and installed software for you in a single click. "It's called Lindows" I said. "Looks cool enough, and would be nice for the average person that doesn't want to rebuild their kernel." His face dropped...he looked so disgusted. It was like I just killed a puppy in front of him. He could barely even talk. He asked for my email address to "talk about Linux", but I never heard from him. Dumbass stuck-up geek...THIS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T GEEKS! It's so that these people bother other people to help them, or don't need help at all because the damn thing just works! It's to free up the geek's time! But he just couldn't see the potential...too disgusted that it was "like Windows"...
Mel??? Is that you?
Yeah...the *concept* car uses 7000 laptop batteries and costs over $80K. Just imagine what it will be like when the electrical engineer that came up with the concept refines the design...
Ok, this might be a little colourful for an office, but the obvious solution to me was bigger balls...like this kids trackball: http://www.kid-computers.com/catalog/i_25442.shtml . Sure, it's technically meant for kids, but it's really meant for easier motion control for those that don't have those fine motor skills for one reason or another. RSI would fall under that. It doesn't need the fine motor skills that trackpads need to effectively use them with their small surface area. And it doesn't require expensive equipment like a touchscreen. I'd say this is probably the easiest solution out of anything...
Too late...they already make french fry vending machines. Can't remember the name of them, but back home in New Brunswick I use to go to a convenience store not far from school and buy a box of fries every day. Cost something like $2. On special days I'd get the fries and chicken nuggets. Probably wasn't the healthiest or greatest tasting things, but at 10 years old all you're thinking of is "OOOOH, fries for lunch!" Soon discovered the really good fries and gravy from the chip shop even closer to school though. Man I miss home...
Keep one thing in mind. You've gotta put time into building the scripts if you want good automation testing, whether you buy or build. I was going to spend as much time using a pre-packaged tool to write scripts as I've so far spent writing scripts while building the tool. Money-wise, you're looking at $100,050 thousand as opposed to $100,899 spent on regression testing at this point, relatively speaking. Plus the knowledge I've gained of Perl scripting can be transfered to other areas of the company (and my resume if the need arises). Can't really say that about some proprietary scripting language of some obscure profession-specific tool. And personally, I would rather know a language then a tool.
Although, if there was a good automation testing suite out there, I probably would have gotten it. I was new to the position when I was choosing the software, but I know that the tools I looked at and that the boss looked at just weren't up for the task. There was no way I was going to put the time into maintaining all those scripts, where if the tiniest thing on the form changes then it breaks the script. It would have been too much work for too little gain. And that's only one issue I had with the prepackaged stuff. The features I've been able to build, plus the general inside knowledge of automation scripting that I've gained, have made script creation and maintenance much easier. I've gotten it down to about a day for a basic form script with data. And the data takes the most time. With all known errors and extra data, that's about another day or 2 per form. Once I build the script builder and data builder utilities, that time will probably come down. I can't say for sure that would have happened the same way with a prepackaged tool, but I'm fairly certain things would be more difficult.
While I don't see myself as an "Artist" (not since my Subway Sandwich Artist days anyways), I do consider myself a professional that knows more about what I need then the average CxO or boss in general does. Which is why I'm glad I work for a company that gives me the freedom and benefit of giving me a task and then staying the fuck out of my hair. I know my job, I know what the boss wants, I know when the boss wants it, and as long as the boss don't screw me around then the boss will get what he wants.
.Net objects that I need to test. Automation solution software costs: $0. Books and learning tools: $50 so far. Value created for the company: $lots. Still need to talk to the boss about releasing the software, since I haven't actually changed Perl or GUITest and therefore am not obligated to open-source what I created, but I would like to release it when it's closer to completion. I think it provides a much better solution then the proprietary packages, but since I'm the developer I'm biased. I'd like to see if it really can compete with the big boys. But none of this would have been possible if I worked for some short-sighted, bottom-line-seeing, make-changes-to-requirements-EVERY-FREAKING-DAY kind of boss. Thank you Rob...
Case in point. The job I currently have consists of general software testing, as well as creating an automation solution for regression testing. While I had no experience as a tester, I learn fast. And I know I'm a good developer. Since starting in October, I have created the beginnings of a customizable open-source automation utility using Perl. They wanted me to look at some proprietary solutions costing hundreds, a few were in the thousands. None gave me the flexibility I needed, most just consisted of creating scripts that blindly click the screen and continue running when errors popup (which is the exact functionality that Perl and Win32::GUITest, but Perl is free and GUITest gives you more functionality), few could even recognize the
And yes, I do know I should change my nick...
Bank too much on the iPod? Hell, it's what's going to save the company. And not just from bankrupcy. Think of this...Average user: "I want to buy a new computer. I use email and web, a few office apps, and lots of Yahoo games. It must play Yahoo games. Oh, and it has to look pretty. And work with my iPod. I love my iPod. What kind of computer should I get?" What's your response, if this is your sister or someone else you know you're going to have to do free tech support for since they used "pretty" as a requirement? A1: "Sure, I can build you a PC and install everything and clean the damned thing of the spyware and viruses twice a month." A2: "Buy a Mac. I hear the blue ones are the fastest. Oh, the purple...they have the best graphics. Yeah, you'll like the purple ones. That's right, the Apple store is right downtown." The iPod is going to send more people to buy a Mac then probably in all of Apple's history. And with Boot Camp, giving people the ability of XP and OSX, will triple that amount. It might actually happen, as frightening as it is to say.
Apple is the next Microsoft...
I believe that you are referring to Star Trek: Insurrection... I'm going to geek-out here... It was in the final episode of TNG, where the temporal anomaly was causing time to go crazy. People reported old scars suddenly disappearing, and a few other things I can't remember. But the main one was that Geordi's eyes regrew. He was able to see with real eyes, and the visor was unusable. It was one of the few episodes where he didn't have to wear the white contacts when he took off the visor on-screen. I think there was only one other early in the series where Q had given him real eyes for a short time. And I now consider myself too much of a Star Trek geek for remembering all that. I gotta get out more...
What is the benefit of clamping a PC to your wrist...
Well, I'd assume that it's been made rugged enough to withstand most torture. But the biggest benefit...the medical field. Or any field that requires you to use both hands a lot. But especially the medical field if you could also cram some diagnostic equipment into the thing at the same time. Think about the glove device used in Earth2 that you waved over a body and got instant vitals, xray images, and whatever else a field medic would need. Ok, all that will take a while to cram in there, but imagine a nurse in a hospital being able to walk up to a patient's bed, having instant access to their medical information, be able to take their vitals without a whole slew of equipment to drag around, and still have both hands free at all times. That could be feasible now. Wearable computers are a geek's dream, but the practical applications are far more reaching then just out-geeking the guy in the next cube...
Man cannot fly!
Certainly man can fly. One only has to throw themselves at the ground and miss...
Hey...I'll take making commercials interactive to intice me to watch them, then making laws that force me to watch them.
People...please, stop and review your history. Does no one remember Intel doing this exact thing just 5-6 years ago with the first PIII chips? Do you see any chips with serial numbers embedded in them like that today? No...because it was a colossal FAILURE! That's when Intel began to slide and AMD began to rise to power. Why? Because AMD saw a need, and that need was to NOT have this kind of tech. So many people, including myself, started switching to AMD chips. And Intel eventually yanked it because of the market share they were losing. They never really recovered after that, especially when AMD started beating them on processing power-per-watt. So please...just take a deep breath, calm down, and look to your nearest underdog to fill the need...
Besides, when the revolution comes, your computer will be the last thing on your mind...
It seems for the past 20 years everyone has been stuck on the size of CDs. Even with DVDs and now these HVDs, the physical size has stayed the same. I know...everyone is use to that size. But that's not what I've been promised in all the not-so-distant-future movies. Discs used in those movies, if they use discs at all instead of some SD stick looking thing, are the size of GameCube discs. THAT's what I'm waiting for. Small, easily carried, easily pocketed. Sony's MiniDiscs weren't a bad idea, but that flopped. So we're stuck with these huge discs. When is someone going to bring out small discs and then work on storage capacity from that point on?
Oh hell, just outlaw sound cards. If you can't hear songs on your computer there's no point in ripping CDs then, is there?
Actually...I thought they were called Mega-Blocs.
Uh huh. And if you add more water vapour to the air through gloabl warming, that creates more rain as it tries to balance itself out. More rain, more storms. More storms, more chances for hurricanes, flooding, crazy weather in general, and now appearantly global warming. Does that make it more clear?
Yes...a fuel cell is harmless compared to a V8.