I pointed out that North Dakota was in the boom cycle. What would happen when it goes bust?

Then you move back to Silicon Valley. (Or wherever the local conditions are brightest for your particular field.)

I work for a company that makes apps for small community banks. We have about 300 apps in the Google Play store and another 450 in the Apple store (our iPad version is technically a separate app.) So it's not quite a 1-1 from app to company.

I've never threatened to quit somewhere and then stayed. For that matter, I've only ever left one job willingly (the place I was at before this current one). All the other job changes have been due to layoffs or the company going under. So the graph of my salary over time is very "stair-step" in appearance. Periods of relative flatness for 2-3 years followed by sudden jumps.

Interestingly, my current employer is the first one I've ever had that gave me significant raises. Everywhere else I've worked I got cost-of-living-increase at most, and sometimes not even that. So, essentially, the only time I got a raise is when I switched jobs. With the current employer, though, I've gotten raises in the 6-9% range for the past two years. I guess they didn't get the memo. That, or they realize their work environment is frustrating enough that they have to overpay people to keep them from leaving.

Generally the recruiter doesn't get paid if the candidate doesn't last at least 6 months. If they foist someone absolutely terrible on you and that person is released within 6 months the recruiter loses his payday. That said, after the 6 month period they could care less if you leave.

Our experience has been hit-or-miss with new grads. Of course, with an absurdly low sample-size, so not really something one can draw general conclusions from. Three have more-or-less worked out. Decent junior-level devs. Two were absolutely terrible. Of course, my employer has such a terrible interview process that we end up hiring people who probably wouldn't be hired elsewhere. I think the trick with new grads is to just be extra-picky.

Err, "quit my current gig" not "quick".

I usually take my current salary and ask for $5-10k more. If another employer is arguing I should quick my current gig then they should be willing to present a better value proposition. If they're not going to pay me more then they need to convince me that their job is "better" in some other way than what I'm doing now. Of course, I always claim I'm super-happy where I am (even if I'm not), so generally their value proposition is going to involve more compensation.

As a sanity check you can go to salary.com and plug in your degree, years experience, job description (in as much detail as possible; they usually have different "grades" of each one, e.g. "Software Engineer I", "Software Engineer II", etc.), and geographic area. It then spits out 25th, 50th and 75th percentile values.

Lots of businesses are relocating to Texas due to low taxes. Texas has relatively high rates of blacks and Hispanics. Also relatively high crime. Especially in the urban areas where these businesses are relocating. So your logic fails. "Security" is not a major expense. State taxes and cost of labor are.

Also- Atlanta is "blacker" than Detroit and has markedly lower crime.

Sure, I've got some free time. I'll do your googling for you. U-3 unemployment down 1.2% from 7.0% in Nov-2013 to Nov-2014. Should reach pre-recession levels by end of year 2015, if not earlier. Two successive quarters (Q2 and Q3 2014) of high GDP growth (4.6% and 5.0% annualized). Stock market still doing well, though I question how long that can last given its overvalued relative to GDP. U.S. Consumer Confidence index for Dec-2014 is at an eight-year high. Oil prices are low and project to stay that way throughout 2015 (good for the overall economy, but bad for U.S. energy producers). Core inflation under 2%. Weekly unemployment claims (4 week moving average) down around 300k, matching pre-recession lows.

Can't say I didn't do my part. I looked over the Box Office top 100 for 2014 and I saw 23 of them in the theater. Number is partly inflated by my having to take my kids to lots of kids films.

1. Jews aren't monolithic. Some Jews want open borders. Some Jews don't. Some non-Jews want open borders.

2. Jews live in the countries where (some of them) are pushing for open borders. If open borders turns a country into a third-world hell hole, why would a Jew want to turn his own country of residence into a third-world hell hole? It's not in his own self-interest.

3. Singapore: diverse, not a hell-hole. Ditto Canada.

Legally citizenship still has meaning, but his point is that the reality outside the legal realm has changed. I'll grant that. Instead, I'd point to "language and culture", part of which probably includes religion (or lack thereof). I was born in and grew up in the U.S. If I emigrated to India, renounced my U.S. citizenship and became a citizen of that country, then lived the rest of my life there I would probably remain "culturally American" for the rest of my days. Note: this doesn't mean I can't appreciate other cultures. Far from it. Just that it's very hard to internalize a foreign culture to the extent that it entire displaces what was there before.

To maximize employability you'd want a degree from a reputable 4-year brick-and-mortar university. On the other hand that's probably also the most costly and time-consuming option. Some ideas in no particular order:

1. Go back to the university where you earned your English degree. It hasn't been that long since you graduated, so you may be able to apply your existing credits to a C.S. or Math degree. That might allow you to get the second degree in as little as two years instead of four. If there are any required classes for the 2nd degree that can be taken elsewhere (e.g. a junior college) and transferred in then doing so can lower your total cost.

2. Go through one of those "Code Academy" places. This still costs money but takes way less time. It also offers less in terms of employability, but it's better than nothing.

3. Teach yourself some of the basics of C.S. Data structures, algorithmic complexity, discrete math, etc. Possibly through some online courses. Then self-teach yourself Objective-C+iOS or Java+Android and create some sort of app. Put it in the store. Interview for junior level app developer positions. If you have an app in the store and can talk intelligently about how it's designed (and why you chose to design it in that particular way instead of various other alternatives) then many employers will overlook your lack of formal C.S. education. Even if your first software dev. job is shitty, the point is to get your foot in the door. Once you have a dev. job on your resume it becomes that much easier to get other (better) dev jobs, because employers will no longer see you as someone with no experience in the field.

4. If you can stomach it, the military actually isn't a bad deal. Last I checked they were offering an abbreviated 2-year full-time commitment (with a longer period of national guard duty). At the end you get a sort of "half" version of the G.I. bill. More importantly (at least, it would be if you were younger), being honorably discharged from the service severs the link between you and your parents when it comes to applying for financial aid. Their income and savings is no longer taken into account when calculating your "need".

Malware implies malicious intent. This patch is just unintentionally buggy. Not the same thing.