Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Another diploma mill with a marketing team (Score 1) 85

I have applied to plenty of Wall Street jobs. Yes, what college you went to comes up, and even gets used as a filter at some places. It can get you in the door for the interview but reputation is not going to get you to the executive suite.

Elites are elite for a reason, they give you the knowledge, tools and connections to be successful.

Comment Re:Another diploma mill with a marketing team (Score 1) 85

You are the one that need to retake logic 101.

My assertion is the at elite colleges are elite because they produce more successful graduates. If that assertion is false, then elite colleges have nothing to do with the success their graduates and other non-elite colleges would produce equally as successful graduates. We reject the negative assertion is false.

Comment Re:Another diploma mill with a marketing team (Score 1) 85

The "real" difference between elite colleges and other ones is that elite colleges produce graduates who succeed in the real world. How many Harvard graduates head Fortune 500 companies? How many graduates from ITT do? How many graduates go on to get PhDs or MDs? How many win Nobel prizes?

The reputation of the college you went to doesn't get you on board of directors. It doesn't get you the job of President of a prestigious universities. It doesn't command million dollar salaries on Wall Street. Those have to be earned, and graduates from elite colleges do in higher numbers than non-elite colleges.

That my friend is how you get to be an elite college.

Comment Re:Realistic (Score 1) 374

This is where you are wrong. They do get to buy cheap power from those solar installations during the day and sell for more.

Let me give you an example of how this works.

Solar guy (for one month): Uses 1000Kwh - produces 500Kwh = net 500Kwh @ $.10/Kwh

Big utility - buys wholesale power at $.15/Kwh during the day when the sun is shining and everyone is using AC but during the night the price drops to $.05/Kwh.

So during the day Big Utility is "buying" power from the solar guy for $.10/Kwh and selling it for $.15/Kwh. So who is the real winner is this scenerio?

Comment We need agents (Score 2) 145

Why do actors have them, why do athletes have them, why do writers have literary agents. I have been saying this for years. Since the last dot com boom, actually, when tech talent was just as scarce. Why not tech talent, too, I make way more than average actor, athlete, and writer.

There are three reasons I can think of, right off the top of my head to have an agent.

1. Screen all the recruiter calls.
Everyday I get calls from at least 10 recruiters. Most are offering positions and salaries that I would not consider and they would know this if they read my resume instead of just doing a keyword search. Yes, I am talking to you, Mr recruiter, that wants to offer me a web development position in San Francisco for 3 months at $40/hr and no expenses paid. Try hiring someone local. No they done want your crappy position either.

2. Be on the constant lookout for my perfect job.
Hey I am working full time so I don't have a lot of time to devote to finding my perfect job.

3. Negotiate a better salary.
Now I have gotten pretty good at this over the years but it would be nice to have the latest industry figures when we did enter that phase.

I will get off my soapbox now.

Comment Engineering is way undervalued (Score 3, Insightful) 323

Engineering knowledge and skill is way undervalued in the current development climate. It is more about get it done fast, get it out the door. Don't make the code pretty, don't make it reusable, fix it later attitude. Patch it up, put a bandaid on it and move on to the next fire.

The only place I have seen where engineering skills are valued is where lives are at stake (nuclear reactor code, Space Shuttle) or enterprise software that has to be up 24/7 or the business fails.

Welcome to the real world.

Comment Re:As long as you are personally there, sure.... (Score 1) 283

Right, they have zero chance of actually enforcing their property rights if someone violates them until they get back to or attempt to get back to Earth.

The FAA could deny you any landing rights on Earth though and arrest you if you violate that order. So unless you plan on living the rest of your life on the moon that would force you might want to comply.

Corporations are in the habit of wanting to make money, and if the FAA denies them cargo landing rights and seizes the cargo upon landing, corporations will have to follow the regulations too. Also, any terrestrial based corporation can be sued and hefty fined imposed by the FAA for such violations. No corporation would be willing to take the risk.

So who are your going to sell your minings to, the Martians.

Comment Great programmers are made not born (Score 4, Insightful) 214

To be a great programmer (or even just a good one), you need to never stop learning. Always be learning something. Many times in my life I have learned something on my own, only to be able to apply is a totally different situation later in life.

Great programmer are insanely curious. They want to know the how things work, why one solution is better than another, always improving. That is the key, always be improving your craft, and your knowledge.

Slashdot Top Deals

Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your shoes. -- Mickey Mouse

Working...