Comment Re:*First post.. (Score 1) 590
Actually, tmmagee talked about lesson plans devised while not employed as a teacher. That is about as much "on your own time" as it gets.
Comment Re:proofreading for the college graduate? (Score 1) 836
Is learning another language really so hard for you? With a good background in CS, it shouldn't take you more than a week to be able to start producing code in a new language. If you can't keep up with the arrival of new tools, you probably missed something while you were in school.
The skills you claim are valuable would not help you here; the skills you claim are useless are practically required.
Comment Re:*First post.. (Score 1) 590
GP's point is that introducing more PhD holders into the system will only benefit the schools that need it least.
Comment Re:Algorithms (Score 1) 836
Good programmers should be able to pass a competency test for any employer. If they pass that test, they should be able to seek the job, degree or not.
The process HR has in place (including checking the applicant's education) saves a lot of time (and thus money) in exchange for a relatively small hit to accuracy.
Comment Didn't they teach you about safe sex? (Score 1) 641
... finger; lyx; latex; mount; fsck; more...
Comment Much as they might try... (Score 1) 1345
Those who can't do, can't teach.
Submission + - Concealing documents and patents waives rights? (eweek.com)
gimme00 writes: "If concealing documents and patents makes Qualcomm waive rights — how does this play into companies trying to pull the indemnity trick against linux or other companies and technologies? The following article triggers this type of question. Court Says . Slashdotters dound off..."
Submission + - How do we teach users about filesystem locations?
thc69 writes: The most common education problem I find in users is that they don't know where their files are. They don't understand the file system. They save a file and then wonder how to find it. If I ask them where a file is, they either say "It's in Word" or "I don't know."
"Introduction To Computers" courses apparently don't teach the concept, because users who aced such courses still have no clue. Even people who know lots of advanced stuff sometimes don't understand that their files are in a folder on their C: drive or whatever — I have a friend who knows SQL, C++, and Linux, but doesn't know the locations of her files.
Could it be a gender thing? It seems that the people who I've observed having this problem are all female. I remember reading about studies that show men and women navigate roads very differently; perhaps file system navigation is incompatible with the intuitive navigation method that women use?
It's a very important concept. Once you understand how files and folders (which I still like to call "directories", but I digress) work, everything on the computer becomes much easier. You become less dependent on your applications to keep track of everything for you. Backing up and restoring files becomes much easier.
How can I teach people this concept in a way that will stick? It's so intuitive to me that I don't know how to make it into lessons, it's just second-nature.
"Introduction To Computers" courses apparently don't teach the concept, because users who aced such courses still have no clue. Even people who know lots of advanced stuff sometimes don't understand that their files are in a folder on their C: drive or whatever — I have a friend who knows SQL, C++, and Linux, but doesn't know the locations of her files.
Could it be a gender thing? It seems that the people who I've observed having this problem are all female. I remember reading about studies that show men and women navigate roads very differently; perhaps file system navigation is incompatible with the intuitive navigation method that women use?
It's a very important concept. Once you understand how files and folders (which I still like to call "directories", but I digress) work, everything on the computer becomes much easier. You become less dependent on your applications to keep track of everything for you. Backing up and restoring files becomes much easier.
How can I teach people this concept in a way that will stick? It's so intuitive to me that I don't know how to make it into lessons, it's just second-nature.
Submission + - Are contracts valid if ... 1
MarkWatson writes: "I am frequently asked to sign 2 copies of a consulting contract and send them to the other party. More often than you would think, the other party files away both copies, sends me an email saying everything is OK, but never signs and returns a copy to me.
My policy is to bring this to their attention, and if a signed copy is not forthcoming, complain.
One customer has never returned a contract, but have been promptly paying me for 6 months. In another case, a property management agent in another state never bothered to sign and return a copy of another contract with me, but proceeds as if we are under contract.
Are contracts legal if one party does not sign and return a copy to the other party?"
My policy is to bring this to their attention, and if a signed copy is not forthcoming, complain.
One customer has never returned a contract, but have been promptly paying me for 6 months. In another case, a property management agent in another state never bothered to sign and return a copy of another contract with me, but proceeds as if we are under contract.
Are contracts legal if one party does not sign and return a copy to the other party?"
Submission + - what can you do with a cool antenna to make money? 1
cryptozoologist writes: A friend of mine just purchased an old firehouse that has an 80 ft (24 m) mast and a 20 ft (6 m) antenna. the details on the antenna are not known but it was used by the fire and rescue folks there. My friend has been advised to tear it down, but before that happens i want to ask the slashdot community, what can be done with an antenna like this to make some money, or is just plain cool? it is not in a very densely populated area so a wifi hotspot is not gonna get many users. Thanks in advance for your ideas!
Submission + - 25 Complaints For Sprint
An anonymous reader writes: Last week, we read about Sprint's new policy to cancel accounts of burdensome customers; about 25 CS calls a month is the threshold. With the iPhone out, I couldn't wish for a better opportunity to weasel out of my early termination fee! I'd like to challenge like-minded Sprint-ing Slashdotters to join in, but we need the community's help: we need to put together a list of 25 or more unique complaints to throw at customer service. Any ideas?
Submission + - Getting involved with writing open source licenses
bulio writes: I'm planning on studying civil law, and would like to gain some experience in the field by helping to write and revise licenses such as the GNU Free Documentation License, and licenses such as Creative Commons (and its derivatives). My question is, how does one help to revise and improve licenses like these? Is there a mailing list or IRC channel that I could visit? On another note, how would one go about writing his own documentation license?
Submission + - Are IT deadlines too strict? (karastathis.org)
wikinerd writes: "Reading the latest issue of Information Age, a publication of the ACS (Australian Computer Society), an organisation with which I am associated, I became concerned by an article about ethics in ICT. Citing a recent ACS-funded online survey among public and private sector ICT professionals, with over 40% of them being aware of ACS Code of Ethics, the authors show that the leading cause of concern about ICT ethics among respondends is compromising quality to meet deadlines (54.9%), while the second (49.7%) is about unprofessional behaviour. Concerns over deadlines also appear as the 7th and 8th cause of worry among ICT pros: 29.9% say consider compromising user requirements to meet deadlines an ethical issue facing ICT, and 29.6% say the same about compromising functionality to meet deadlines.
What are your own personal observations regarding deadlines of IT and software projects and their correlation with the quality of the delivered projects? Have unrealistic deadline demands from PHBs forced you or your team to deliver something below your own quality standards? If you work solo, have you tried to explain to pushy clients that quality is not subject to cutbacks, especially in critical systems? Would you ever accept to deliver a system knowing that it is highly likely to fail in operation? How many do the right thing, ie attempting to discuss and explain the issue to the client and if unsuccessful turn down a contract before committing to a client asking you to underdeliver in your chosen profession?"
What are your own personal observations regarding deadlines of IT and software projects and their correlation with the quality of the delivered projects? Have unrealistic deadline demands from PHBs forced you or your team to deliver something below your own quality standards? If you work solo, have you tried to explain to pushy clients that quality is not subject to cutbacks, especially in critical systems? Would you ever accept to deliver a system knowing that it is highly likely to fail in operation? How many do the right thing, ie attempting to discuss and explain the issue to the client and if unsuccessful turn down a contract before committing to a client asking you to underdeliver in your chosen profession?"
Submission + - Invasive popups, what can we do?
phyrebyrd writes: "Everyone knows those annoying popups that seem to get through the popup blockers... One that seems prolific are those for NetFlix... But what can we do to seriously hurt this advertising model so that it's not so attractive to use? Is there a way we can automate spoofed 'clicks' so that this racks up the bill for the invasive advertiser? Can this be done 'legally'? After all, they're going against our own wishes and forcing ads upon us with the intent of circumventing our own blockers, couldn't we fight back and hurt them where it counts? Does such a technology already exist to combat these things and hit them where it really hurts instead of just blocking the ads? I feel like these advertisers have absolutely no regard for how they get their 'messages' across, so why can't we use the same tactics to get OUR message across? Why should we have to tolerate such practices?"
Submission + - Hacktivism Questions for Presidential Candidates 1
DevanJedi writes: "I am putting together a questionnaire of issues important to the geek hacktivists for each of the candidates for next years US Presidential Election. Most of the web sites of these candidates do not come close to addressing the issues that are important to us today and will affect society in general tomorrow. Issues of privacy, copyright and fair use, net neutrality, the DMCA, the PATRIOT act will obviously come up, but what are the questions that you would want to put to the people who may have the power to change the rules of the digital game?"
