Comment Too busy to be first post (Score 1) 173
Really boss, I'm just becoming more productive fer ya.
I switched careers from air-fright driver/dispatcher to C++ programmer in my late 30's, on the strength of a two-semester community college certificate program that I never even finished. The key for me was enthusiasm. I had done some futzing around programming at home, and if you haven't been (or whatever equivalent aspect of IT you are interested in - make the appropriate substitution from here on), then you are barking up the wrong tree. One thing that will help you in early attempts at getting a job is expressing that you not only want the job, but you want to be doing programming. If you really want to do programming, then you already are. If you are a good enough actor to fake the enthusiasm, go to Hollywood, you don't need to waste your time as a code monkey.
My first job was an internship, for $8.00/hr while I drove a cab at night. It wasn't even a programming job, it was a data entry job. The data entry system sucked donkey balls, so I rewrote it to be fast enough to make up the lost time and still finish the project ahead of schedule. That looks good on the resume. If that's the kind of thing you can see yourself doing just because it is fun, or because you see crap and know you can do better, you will probably do well.
My current job I got partly on the strength of a recommendation from one of the young hotshots already working there. He had gone to the same community college at the same time as I did, and noticed me helping out others in the lab, and told the boss about it after my interview. Enthusiasm again.
So the first criteria is that you really want to do programming. If you don't, your age won't matter. If you do, your age won't matter... much. You'll have some explaining to do as to why you are starting so late if this is your "life's calling", but experience, skill, and enthusiasm will overcome those doubts.
This isn't a business for young hotshots and cowboy coders anymore, its all business, and there is big money on the line. Companies want people who will produce, and not just produce "beautiful" code, but code that will sell. At our age, we have one advantage over them young whippersnappers: we have experience at providing business value to those we work for. We have experience at gaining and using experience. What we lack in drama, we might just make up for it in consistency and reliability.
But don't expect it to be easy. The first few years will suck. The pay and the hours and the working conditions will suck. And unless you've already written some kind of take-the-world-by-storm software product in your spare time, your code will suck. You're starting from scratch no better, and no worse, than a kid fresh out of college, and your position at the bottom of every totem pole will be just like it is for those 20 year olds that don't have a mortgage and car payments and kids to feed.
Keep at it and use the experience you already have and the experience you'll gain every day. If this is what you really want to do, the thrill of learning and mastering a new skill will carry you through it. You'll have to prove yourself just like anyone starting from scratch does, but don't try to do it by out hot-shotting those kids, prove yourself by being reliable and professional. It is harder to break into this kind of business at a more advanced age, but most of the difficulties come from you yourself (we have different expectations, flexibilities, stamina, and abilities at 40 than we do at 20), not from predjudice on the part of those you'll be working for.
how many of those items were NOT counterfeits, but merely real items that the trademark owner wants to illegitimately prevent from being legitimately resold?
Lots and lots. EBay, as they say, removes 100% of reported listings.
A hall of shame from someone who likes to countersue... or is it just sue.... or... take these companies to court, and win: http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/HallOfShame/HallOfShame.shtml
Personally, I find my left ring finger to be far more useful than my right ring finger in typing, despite being right-handed. Part of it has to do with...
All that, and because the right hand is usually busy with something else.
Hey, c'mon, I meant the mouse. Jeez, get your minds out of the gutter.
The first rule of darknet is: we don't talk about darknet.
Which is why invite-only P2P systems won't take off among the general public the way the original Napster, Kazaa, eMule, and The Pirate Bay have.
That's the whole point of "invite-only".
But maybe you know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who has the files you want?
But how would I find out whether or not this is the case? I don't even know anybody who uses the existing darknet software.
The first rule of darknet is: we don't talk about darknet.
At that point, the Internet was one typo away from disaster.
At that point, the internet as a whole remained largely unaffected for the majority of users. Few people appreciate how robust the Internet's trust-based critical infrastructure and its ability to dynamically reroute traffic through the remaining nodes even with the loss of a significant portion of the net really is -- this is just the latest example.
I wonder... in a few years, when someone asks you what happened to all the invasions of privacy you predicted Obama was going to commit, will you admit you were wrong? Or will you pretend you never wrote this?
I'm sure he'll admit he was wrong. Just ignore the badly concealed bruises on his face, the fact that his family and friends have no idea where he is since that night their door was kicked in, and the mild expression of mixed terror and resignation. It'll all be for the greater good... Or he just forgot to repay Guido when he had that gambling problem a few years back. Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to tell anybody about that.... my bad!
If you scroll toward the right (or east), you can see other grid patterns, although not as striking.
Those are the suburbs within the Greater Atlantis Metropolitan Area: East Atlantis, Canary Heights, Waterville, and Pacific Vista. If you look closely at the picture, I think I see some broken faux Spanish tile and and old Yard Sale sign thats probably weeks old by now so don't bother stopping. I bet the whole "city disappearing into the ocean and civilization being relegated to the dim mythology of ancient history" thing had something to do with sub-prime mortgages.
MS's yearly net profits exceed the entire gross revenues of either the recording or movie industries.
Aha! Proof that you damn kids with your pirating and your torrenting of bits and your, your, your... downloading... are costing them googles of money. Once Microsoft implements their perfect plan to keep you kids off the RIAA's lawn for good, their revenues will triple, or quadruple, or gazoople... or something.
Nothing would get the attention of the state of New York quite like every out-of-state online retailer refusing to sell to any NY resident or to ship items to a NY address.
*shrug*
I tested both illusions on the link provided in the summary and neither one had the effect on me that was claimed.
If at first you don't saccade...
Am I the only one who shuddered a bit when I read this and thought about how it would feel to have a small object glued to the eyeball?
Anybody who wore contact lenses back in the 80's knows just how it feels. Especially if you were lazy, in college, and/or drank alot...
Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with none.
