Once devs see a way to monetize their efforts they will adopt the platform. Heck, Apple created an army of Objective C developers once the appstore took off.

...and I make loads of money with it because it all works. You should focus your interview questions on the company's design and quality culture. I do appreciate clean, elegant, standards conforming codebases, but that's all academic exercise for the programmer. Users could care less as long as their software works the way the need/expect it to. Maintainability is important, but not as important as user experience. If the software does what users need it to do it will require *less* maintenance. Also, forget newer technologies because that just isn't important at all. Good projects use the *right* tool for the job despite current trends. Yeah, the stuff we have now is boatloads better than last decade's stuff, but you can still create useful software in FORTRAN or C. I stopped caring about code style when Sun first opened sourced Java. That codebase was barely readable but millions of people were happily using it. The fact is sausage tastes great, but the consumer *never* needs or wants to know how it's made. Ok, one step further here and some advice from a 25 year software trenches veteran: learn to appreciate and admire bad code. Learn to view it as a challenge presented to you so you have something to do to earn a living. Adversity is the avenue to opportunity.

...they dominate U.S. politics!

I wear a different outfit everyday and I still don't think about it.

Wrong. The space shuttle had a horrific safety record. 2 accidents costing human life in 135 flight cycles is much worse than any production airplane used for air transport. Actually, by an exponential margin. Nobody would get on a 747 if 2 out of 135 or even 2 out of 135,000 flights resulted in a fatality.

...who realizes that flying a modified 747 in landing configuration carrying a 75 ton payload on its back with wheels up at low altitudes over populated areas is extremely dangerous, totally irresponsible, and completely illegal if anyone other than NASA did it? Thanks for risking hundreds of lives to show off Mr. Biden. Your incompetence is only outweighed by your arrogance. BTW, I love the space program, and I want people to learn about its history, but this really was a questionable stunt that has me worried about the complacency of our leadership.

The only "logical thinking skill" required to be a programmer is being able to ask the question "what happens next?"

Also know Unix.

Sounds like you want a job where you get to do more meaningful work than what you do now. You don't need an advanced degree to do that. Just figure out how to make a significant contribution to humanity and then go do it. Working as a researcher at Google or Microsoft would be cool, granted, but you can also get there by being super innovative and sharing your output with the world. Academia has its place, and I'm 100% for continuing education throughout life, but it also has a way of teaching you more about what you can't do than what you can do. If you choose to get a PhD, don't be one of those "Doctors" who becomes so smart that they can point out 100 different reasons why something won't work. Be one that can think of 100 reasons why it can work.

As a software engineer I use math all the time, but maybe not the way we think of traditionally using math academically with chalkboards full of scribbled formulas and equations. Numerical analysis, discrete math, cryptography, linear algebra, statistics are all post-calculus subjects that are fundamental in software engineering. Having a solid education in these subjects will allow you to be a *better* software engineer and problem solver. At the code level it's mostly operator precedence and other trivial math fundamentals, but at the algorithmic analysis level understanding advanced math concepts certainly helps and is even necessary in many circumstances.

Privacy, much like security, are largely illusions we use to fool ourselves into thinking nobody will learn our secrets or cause us harm. I'd gladly give up privacy because I already assume I have no true privacy. Add financial/social incentives and the deal just gets sweeter. The only people who need privacy are people who have things to hide or are embarrassed about who they are and what they do.

Been a Software Engineer for over 20 years and I couldn't agree more. I can't complain about the money or general lifestyle other than the stress of dealing with people who know very little about software development somehow always being in control. Then the stress doubles when they sell expectations that are unrealistic and expect us to work miracles. Then when we work the miracle and ship, they make a zillion dollars and outsource maintenance and enhancements leaving us broke, beat, and just a little jaded towards the next "employer". I am happy to have broken this cycle and now work in a very solid situation, but I feel for the cubical dwellers who have to play that tired old game.

In my 20+ year career as a software engineer I made the most money writing Visual Basic code. Of course it was more professionally rewarding to do C, C++, ObjC, Java, etc... But, I definately got paid the most for VB applications in the financial sector. Funny, because I probably spent a lot more time mastering the other languages and their development tools than I did learning BASIC and VB.

Great post. It is a complex issue, but I think what I was trying to express in my original post is that the law does prohibit the copying of protected material, and I think that linking, uploading, etc., is a form of redistribution. I have no problem with people being able to produce something and then sell it without being forced to give it away for free by the proliferation of services, like YouTube, that make billions of dollars off of other's work without renumeration. On the flip side, they provide an outlet for people who'd never get their content published everywhere else. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.