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Submission + - What (not) to wear on an IT job interview: 6 real-life examples

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: For a lot of slashdot denizens, the fashion choice for a job interview is, "What's clean?"

But still: Some of us give more thought to it than that. We know that how we dress conveys something, even if it's "proof that I'm a techie who is above such things." And — among women more than men, I think — some of us care about that image. And want to look pretty. (I do.)

So, in this article, with the help of a few brave volunteers, we examine how that dress or suit really comes across to the people who might ask, "When can you start?" You see six real-world people in real-world outfits, and hear what our esteemed judges think is the best choice for that IT job interview. Plus, you can vote on the outfits you think are best for each individual, and compare your opinion to those of the fashionistas and hiring managers. It's IT meets career meets fashion police – practical and, I hope, also fun.

Comment Re:How Would the Author Know? (Score 1) 255

Um, no.

I have had lots of projects fail. Some were my fault. Some were management. Some were external. Plenty of reasons.

My point is that the existence of the team being ever-so-awesome does not necessarily have a correlation with its success. Just as actors can tell you about working on a movie with other actors where everyone felt creative and warm-and-fuzzy towards each other, and it has no influence on whether the movie is a commercial success.

Comment Re:How Would the Author Know? (Score 1) 255

Is that really what you thought this was about?

There's a big difference from someone being semi-competent or having a "dial-it-in" attitude and someone who's just not up to the rest of the people around him. With the former, team members resent the individual: "Why am I working so hard when you can't be bothered? I just have to pick up the slack" -- and that creates dissension and a management nightmare.

With Elliot (and the many team members I've known like him), it's obvious to everyone that he's doing the best he can; he's just dumb (relative to the others around him). He can be frustrating, but it's not because he has a bad attitude; quite to the contrary. HE WANTS TO HELP. In a healthy team, everybody does his best to find a way for him to do so.

Submission + - A Measure of Your Team's Health: How You Treat Your "Idiot" (intuit.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Every team has someone who at the bottom of its bell curve: an individual who has a hard time keeping up with other team members. How your team members treat that person is a significant indicator of your organization’s health.

That's especially true for open source projects, where you can't really reject someone's help. All you can do is encourage participation... including by the team "dummy."

Submission + - FCC.gov Won't Let You Submit Comments (fcc.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Are you trying to submit comments regarding the FCC's attempt to undo net neutrality? Good luck.

Presumably due to the massive outcry against their proposal, their website has stopped responding. Either that or my Comcast connection is mysteriously blocking the page...
Security

Heartbleed Bug Exploited Over Extensible Authentication Protocol 44

Posted by samzenpus from the protect-ya-neck dept.
wiredmikey (1824622) writes "While most organizations have patched the Heartbleed bug in their OpenSSL installations, a security expert has uncovered new vectors for exploiting the vulnerability, which can impact enterprise wireless networks, Android devices, and other connected devices. Dubbed 'Cupid,' the new attack method was recently presented by Portuguese security researcher Luis Grangeia, who debunked theories that Heartbleed could only be exploited over TCP connections, and after the TLS handshake. Unlike the initial Heartbleed attack, which took place on TLS connections over TCP, the Cupid attack happens on TLS connections over the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), an authentication framework typically used in wireless networks and peer-to-peer connections.

The researcher has confirmed that default installations of wpa_supplicant, hostapd, and freeradius (RADIUS server implementation) can be exploited on Ubuntu if a vulnerable version of OpenSSL is utilized. Mobile devices running Android 4.1.0 and 4.1.1 also use wpa_supplicant to connect to wireless networks, so they're also affected. Everything that uses OpenSSL for EAP TLS is susceptible to Cupid attacks. While he hasn't been able to confirm it, the expert believes iPhones, iPads, OS X, other RADIUS servers besides freeradius, VoIP phones, printers, and various commercial managed wireless solutions could be affected."

Submission + - Robotic Exoskeletons Could Help Nuclear Plant Workers (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: ActiveLink, which is 80% owned by Panasonic, is building heavy-duty strength-boosting suits that the company says can help workers shoulder the burden of heavy gear and protective clothing and could be useful at nuclear plants. 'Our powered suits could be used to assist and support remote-controlled robots in emergencies,' ActiveLink President Hiromichi Fujimoto said in an interview. 'Workers could wear the suits to carry PackBots to their deployment point and to work in low-radiation areas.'

Submission + - Life Skills: Get someone to help you when they've no reason to

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Imagine you’re on a deadline that’s important to you. The project might not qualify as “mission critical” to the rest of the organization, but it’s certainly essential for your own team. Now you run into a roadblock: a task wherein you need input from someone from another department, or where you need the other person to actively do something.

The process works fine when your contact in the other department is motivated to help you get the work done. But what happens when he isn’t? This happens entirely too often — particularly for developers and IT folks who need input or sign-off of some kind.

In a perfect world, you already built alliances (if not friendships) with people in other departments, so that your colleagues want to help you. But that isn't always the case. What can you do to get someone to help you with a project task even if it's a distraction from his own work? Here's several pragmatic suggestions, including a few that don't include "promise chocolate."

Submission + - Business bartering survival guide: Lessons from real life (itworld.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Trading your expertise for the skills of someone else is a great idea for cash-strapped businesses — which includes lots of techies, such as web developers and computer consultants. But bartering can go sour – and herein, Esther Schindler shares bartering tips she wishes she hadn’t learned the hard way.

For example:

The casual handshake nature of most barters opens up the chance of every project-gone-bad story occurring in your business, such as finger-pointing about product specs, timetables, etc. As with any contract, if you can point to the agreement (which can be as simple as "here's an email message to record what we agreed upon today; let me know if you see anything untoward"), both sides know what's expected.

Because... what if you're unhappy with the service? In a barter, what if you already consummated your part of the process (you did the tax return) but the other party was substandard (you hated the photographer's images). If you were paying cash, you'd withhold payment or otherwise ask for the other party to fix the problem. With a barter... it's sticky. It shouldn't be, but it is. Particularly when the nature of the delivery is "...when the customer is happy." (Imagine the storyline that begins, "Dammit those photos were just what he asked for!")

Oh, and plenty more.

Submission + - Record Number of Women in Software Development

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: The number of females in software development has increased by 87% since first being measured in 2001, according to Evans Data’s recently released Developer Marketing 2014 survey. In 2014, 19.3% of software developers are women, or approximately three and a half million female software developers worldwide. While today’s number is strong compared to 2001, it is even stronger compared to the years of 2003 to 2009 when the percent of female developers dipped into the single digit range. The survey of over 450 software developers, which is now in its fifteenth year, also shows that today’s female software developers tend to be younger than their male counterparts with just over 40% being under the age of thirty.

As one of those women-in-tech, I gotta say, Huzzah!

Submission + - Tech giants uniting to fund open-source projects

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: The OpenSSL Heartbleed security hole, arguably open-source's biggest security breach ever, made many major technology companies realize just how much they all depend on open source and that such vital projects as OpenSSL need adequate funding. Thus, writes Steven Vaughan-Nichols, the Linux Foundation brought together (take a deep breath, it's a long list) Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, RackSpace, and VMware to form a new project to fund and support critical elements of the global technology: The Core Infrastructure Initiative.

OpenSSL will be the first project under consideration. In 2013, OpenSSL, which was at the heart of Web security for millions of companies and organizations, got by on a mere $9,000. In past years, OpenSSL has received an average of $2,000 per year in donations.

The CCI funding will pay key developers to devote their efforts to OpenSSL. It will also provide other resources to assist the project in improving its security, enabling outside reviews, and improving responsiveness to patch requests.

Think it'll address some of the issues?

Submission + - Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer Characters are on Your Team?

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: Are you a Buffy, or more of a Xander? Rikki Endsley looks at seven Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters commonly seen on teams and the unique contributions each brings to projects. For instance:

Angel, the handsome and powerful vampire, is the team member who is either a huge asset or a giant liability, depending on his unpredictable mood. The “rock star” team member tends to get a lot of attention and often appears to be a team leader, but in reality he isn’t as productive, reliable, or valuable as his teammates.

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