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The Almighty Buck

Smart Money Picks 10 Rising Careers 307

Posted by Hemos from the what-to-do dept.
jonathanjo writes "Smart Money announces the ten hot jobs they see rising in the next decade. Among them, many familiar to slashdotters (wireless engineer) and several of those are of dubious ethical value (data miner, IP lawyer). "Forensic Accountant" even made accounting sound cool! But why oh why did I give up on being an Adventure Travel Guide to be a web designer? D'ohh!"
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Smart Money Picks 10 Rising Careers

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  • "Dubious Ethical Value" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CommunistTroll ( 544327 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:49PM (#3554918) Homepage
    IP Lawyer...

    Sheesh, enough with the lawyer bashing already.

    Lawyers are just people like the rest of us with a job to do - sometimes their clients are wrong, sometimes right.

    Next time you're up against the RIAA in court, I'd like to see you decline a lawyer on the grounds that the job is of "dubious ethical value".

    I know it's oh so trendy to constantly attack the legal profession, but really. Grow up.

    • Re:"Dubious Ethical Value" (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Xerithane ( 13482 ) <xerithane AT nerdfarm DOT org> on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:55PM (#3554953) Homepage Journal
      Same thing with data mining. Data mining does not always have to do with someone finding your data. Writing data mining software is a lot of fun, at least from my experience and my opinion. Granted, I've only done it with DNA sequences and server farm metrics. But it really is fun to see what type of equations you can come up with to calculate various metrics.

      I know it's oh so trendy to constantly attack the legal profession, but really. Grow up.
      Do you remember where you are at? This is slashdot.
      • A couple points.

        1) The vast majority of IP attorneys do NOT get involved in litigation. They advise their clients/employers on the patentability of their r & d efforts, try to get them useful (valid and enforceable) patents on their inventions, and help guide their r & d in lucrative directions.

        2) Most of these IP attorneys are just as frustrated and disgusted with the problems with the USPTO. If the PTO is going to grant idiotic patents, and our clients want them, many of us either won't or can't refuse out of principle. I can and do, but I'm also pretty damn poor for an IP attorney. On the other hand, I sleep very well at night.
        • Yes, and thanks for bringing those points up. The few IP attorneys I know are actually very cool, hard working and ethically sound people. IP litigation is bullshit, but I forget what those guys are called, iirc, they have some special name for the attorneys who represent clients in IP related lawsuits, don't they?

          I knew a patent attorney a while back, and he was probably one of the biggest critics of the USPTO. After talking with him for 30 minutes, I would trust me running the USPTO just off of his critiques and ideas for improvement... too bad he works for a DNA sequencing company :)
      • Same thing with data mining. Data mining does not always have to do with someone finding your data.

        Exactly. I don't think the editor knows what a data miner is - probably imagines it to be the digital equivalent of paparazzi sifting through a celebrity's trash, or a sleazy private detective spying on cheating spouses or something.

        Data mining is about finding patterns in vast quantities of data, looking for trends, extrapolating to support decisions. It's what data warehouses and OLAP tools are built for. Doing data mining means abstract thinking in n-dimensional cubes, graduate statistics, plus hardcore familiarity with the SQL parser of your chosen database, plus enough business savvy to not just fit curves but understand what the implications are. Data mining will always be a hot job, because it makes a big difference to corporate/governmental strategy, and very few people have the broad and deep skills to do it well.
    • IP Lawyer...
      Sheesh, enough with the lawyer bashing already.

      What? He's dead already? Okey dokie... *Puts down sledge*

      (Sorry - that one was just hanging there. I had to. ;^])

      Lawyers are just people like the rest of us with a job to do - sometimes their clients are wrong, sometimes right.

      I'm sensitive to a lawyers plight - at times they have to defend the undefensable, and do a good job of it. That being said, I'd rather they try to get the minimum penalty for thier clients when they know they're guilty, rather than allow criminal behaviour to go un-punished. Justice and all that.

      Next time you're up against the RIAA in court, I'd like to see you decline a lawyer on the grounds that the job is of "dubious ethical value".

      As long as my attourney is in it to prove my point, not just take my money, he's not of "dubious ethical value" at all. That goes for the one on the other side of the argument. Anyone who believes in thier cause and is willing to argue with reason it's merits, is not of questionalble character. The ones that just prolong trials in order to get thier new yacht are.

      I know it's oh so trendy to constantly attack the legal profession, but really. Grow up.

      When I see that the legal profession is only interested in justice, and not money and power, I'll put down the sledge, mmmmkay?

      Soko

  • They forgot... (Score:3, Funny)

    by blowhole ( 155935 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:49PM (#3554920)
    Judging from the Flash advert on the page, CHIROPRACTOR might be a promising career! Ouch!
  • When you eschew a profession because you don't like what is going on in that part of the industry, you throw away a chance to make a difference from within.

    You aren't going to change things sitting on your ass posting on /. or sending a few pennies to the EFF. If you really want to make a difference, study the law, pass the bar, put yourself in the position to affect change.
    • Exactly. Much of my decision to go to law school (I'm starting next year) was based on what I learned here on Slashdot about the infringement on our rights by the wealthy and powerful. And I picked my school because it runs The Berkman Center [harvard.edu], which is partially responsible for both creative commons [creativecommons.org] and chilling effects [chillingeffects.org]. I'll be able to start working on what I care about as soon as September rolls around. Few other professions afford you that opportunity.

  • My advice. (Score:3, Informative)

    by NoMoreNicksLeft ( 516230 ) <{ten.tsacmoc} {ta} {relyo.nhoj}> on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:51PM (#3554933) Journal
    Don't go anywhere near the "top 10". 5 million high school and college guidance counselors will be herding the sheep into those fields in a few months. You could be a savant in one of those fields, and it won't make a damn bit of difference if the resume is lost in the flood.

  • IP Lawyer is bound to rise to the top... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by edrugtrader ( 442064 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:52PM (#3554936) Homepage
    our IP Lawyer's (2) account for 20% of my company's yearly revenue.

  • Politician (Score:4, Funny)

    by Faré ( 6486 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:52PM (#3554940) Homepage
    Have a hot career! Be a politician! You can be in control of 60% of your country's gross income. You only have to be without scruple, a liar, or better, a man incapable of forming an opinion (thus you can't lie about it). You'll have to be a whore to public popularity - no demagogy is too small. You'll have to stand by the corporate interests of the political class: promote legislation as the magical solution to any and every problem in society. You'll have to be discreet about the way you privatize the money you extort from tax-payers.

    Politician - here's the career of the past, present and future!

  • Don't Pick a Career Because It's "Hot" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pnatural ( 59329 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:55PM (#3554956)
    If you're going to work for the Man for 30+ years, you'd be better off finding out what you really love to do, and work towards being the best that you can be at that. Anything else says you're just in it for the money. That's certainly not a crime, but it will probably show in your work when compared to someone who really does love what they do.

    Just my US $0.02.

    • Re:Don't Pick a Career Because It's "Hot" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by datastew ( 529152 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:04PM (#3555010)

      My sentiments exactly. To succeed in a competitive job market, you need the extra edge that comes from having true passion for what you do.

      Back when I was in high school, the "hot jobs" of the next ten years always included "systems analyst." Being the contrarian that I am, I predicted a glut of "systems analysts" and tried my hand at Mechanical Engineering. Only after "surviving" as a Mechanical Engineer for four years in college and three years working did I finally admit that I was hard-wired to be a systems analyst.

      The moral: find what you love to do and ignore the Hot Careers lists.

      • To succeed in a competitive job market, you need the extra edge that comes from having true passion for what you do.

        Yep. Smart. Able. Ambitious. First ones to disagree with office politics and the first to be fired.

        Jobs are not a market. It is a popularity contest. Only those who agree stay employed.

        find what you love to do and ignore the Hot Careers lists.

        Then, start your own company to do it.

    • Amen!

      Just remember that you'll be spending at least 1/3 of your hours for those next 30+ years plugging away at work. If you pick something based on it's *supposed* high demand, that's fine, but don't expect to enjoy going to work. You might wind up becoming another whiner who is always bitching about their job.

      Another thing to keep in mind is that these predictions are made by quite fallible human beings. They're akin to the sub-.200 hitters of the technology forecasting crowd.

      Go with your passion, and your life will be a lot richer and more fulfilling. I'm sure such a sentiment isn't cynical enough for many people out there, but in my experience, it's true.

    • I'm curious to know how career predictions from 1992 held up. 1982? 1972?
    • Get an engineering degree, this will allow you to enter nearly any field. if yoy want to continue in the tech field get your ms/phd in engineering, but if you want to make more money and can read and write well or are interested in managing people, get your law degree or mba.

      Very few engineers enter these areas, and you can make aton of money. Your engineering degree shows that you can think rationally and logically, skills which apply to other areas than design.

      Most engineers aren't engineers their whole lives, at some point they move on to management, as your knowledge isn't as up to date (unless you keep it up to date via classes degrees etc). Getting an advanced degree in something else just opens more doors.
    • If you're going to work for the Man for 30+ years, you'd be better off finding out what you really love to do, and work towards being the best that you can be at that. Anything else says you're just in it for the money. Thatï½s certainly not a crime, but it will probably show in your work when compared to someone who really does love what they do.

      Heh - I've done that - twice. Both times the career I loved went nowhere because the $$$ dried up, and I had to start over. Now I'm pushing 40, and have almost nothing saved for retirement (I retire about when SS dries up - thanks Mom and Dad!), and none of my previous employers had anything like pension plans, etc.

      If you're under 30, go for the $$$, and BANK IT.
      Putting away $100 a week will take care of you 25 years down the line. Having a job you like is great, but not at the cost of everything else in your life.

      If you're over 30 - DEFINITELY go for the $$$ because chances are, it won't be there in 5-10 years.

      If you REALLY LOVE YOUR JOB, don't let them know - they'll just pay you less because they know you'll be reluctant to walk from it. Do a kick-ass job, but never let them forget that you expect to be compensated for that work, and compensated well.

      (Yeah, I know this sounds pessimistic. It is. When >1/3 of your well-educated, highly-talented and experienced friends are out of work for months on end, there's something wrong.)

  • My pick would be (Score:4, Funny)

    by tcd004 ( 134130 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @06:59PM (#3554985) Homepage
    My pick would have to be inmate. [lostbrain.com]

    tcd004

  • Forensic Accountant (Score:3, Funny)

    by ImaLamer ( 260199 ) <john.lamar@NospaM.gmail.com> on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:02PM (#3554999) Homepage Journal
    Is this the guys who show up to the Enron crime scene.

    Next week on CSI:Accountantcy the team will look at A.Anderson and then the Bush budget
  • I seem to remember reading a Scientic America article a while back (I'd link but the charge for old article IIRC) about fuel cells and the problems with mass producing them.

    They work great and all for the space station and other speciality circumstances but they rely on a platinum core and therefore are quite expensive. Moreover, they had some statistics regardding how there simply wasn't enough platinum in the world (since it is so rare) for even the small amount needed for fuel cells if they were to go in every car.

    I remember reading too that it was quite unlikely that any other element possessed similiar enough properties to build a fuel cell with too.

    So I think it is a tad premature to say Fuel-Cell Engineering is going to be the next "hot job."
    • If you truly read "Scientific American"->you'd have read the article in the May 2002 issue in the "Innovations" section about a company called "Millenium Cell". They've come up with a clever fuel cell system utilizing Borax which reacts with a catalyst to produce the hydrogen needed. This combo makes it much safer to fuel up your vehicle or whatever else you're powering.
      • If you truly read "Scientific American"->you'd have read the article in the May 2002 issue in the "Innovations" section about a company called "Millenium Cell".

        You know, I got Scientific American for a few years but cancelled it about a year ago. I know the whole Scientific America vs. Scientic American gets people all antsy but to be honest, I never cared enough ;-)
  • why oh why did I give up on being an Adventure Travel Guide to be a web designer?

    Because you had no native talent for actual programming?

    [dodging thrown objects]

    Eh, what do I know. I got an English degree.

    --saint
    • I got an English degree.

      Shouldn't that be, "I gots an English degree"?
      • Shouldn't that be, "I gots an English degree"?

        No, "gots" would be a dangling funkulator in that sentence. For that context, it would be "I done gots me an English degree."

        Note the encasement of the "gots" by your standard funk brackets.

        [/sarcasm]

        --saint

  • Enjoyment and skills=$$ (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BerserkDog ( 514729 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:22PM (#3555103) Homepage
    It seems to me, that if you truly enjoy what you do and are ,indeed, proficient in your field->you're already on the right path. I'm a case-in-point to that very statement. I didn't even graduate H.S.(Overexaggerrated rebelliousness)-But, because I enjoy what I do, and am damn good at it, I bring in more than most college grads. The "Hot Job" is what you make it.

  • Pharmacist (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ajakk ( 29927 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:24PM (#3555115) Homepage
    The one job that they didn't mention, which is EXTREMELY hot right now, is pharmacy. The booming number of elderly and the decreasing number of pharmacists has made the field extremely hot. I have even heard advertisements on the radio for pharmacists to switch to a different drug store. New pharmacists make can make aroun 90K a year.

    • you hit the nail on the head dude. The longs drugs/payless's around here start pharmacists at 80/yr.

  • Hehe (Score:2, Funny)

    by jaavaaguru ( 261551 )
    I see the theme to the next ten Budweiser commercials here ;-)

    This song is dedicated to you, Mr Intellectual-Property Attorney

  • Top 10 Hot Professions, 1450 edition (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anne_Nonymous ( 313852 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:29PM (#3555142) Homepage Journal
    10. Cooper
    9. Farrier
    8. Wheelwright
    7. Barman
    6. Alchemist
    5. Miliner
    4. Shipwright
    3. Apothecary
    2. Bootmaker
    1. Web designer
    • 10. Cerebroinformatician
      9. Wormhole Engineer
      8. Forensic Data Analyst
      7. Emotion Pathologist
      6. Asteroid Miner
      5. Remote-care Nurse
      4. A.I. Programmer Programmer
      3. Virtual Tour Guide
      2. Fusion Engineer
      1. Sensory Experience Rights Attourney

      Well, that didn't come out nearly as interesting as I hoped. Still it'd be a shame not to post it now.

    • Re:Top 10 Hot Professions, 1450 edition (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      or possibly
      1. fighter
      2. wizard
      3. cleric
      4. thief
      5. ranger
      6. paladin
      7. druid
      8. illusionist
      9. barbarian
  • Bioinformatics sounds hot and it's certainly getting the hell hyped out of it at the moment, but from first hand experience, it can get pretty frustrating at times. What they don't mention in any of the glowing reports on the industry is the frequent brain explosions than can be caused by putting biologists and computer scientists in the same room for prolonged periods of time. Maybe it's just where I work and everyone's an asshole (or I'm an asshole), but trying to get the researchers and the computer guys to agree on anything is a fucking nightmare.

    I guess this is the same in any branch of IT (instead of biologists and programmers each trying to clobber each other into submission, it's your banker or manufacturing customer)...and I guess I'm especially sensitive to it at the moment. Oh well...something for newbies into the field to think about.

  • Hot jobs not necessarily a good idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sivar ( 316343 ) <charlesnburns[@]gmail...com> on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:36PM (#3555172)
    Any one of these markets could collapse at any time and many look like those who hold the jobs command such high salaries becasue they are fairly obscure.
    Make a note of what happened to those who started their CS education when programming was the "hot job" in '98 and '99.

    Soesn't seem quite so hot?
  • What do they do, count body parts? *ewww*
  • SOME THINGS never change: death, taxes, Cowboy Neal's hairline. But one that certainly does: the cold profession of the moment. Here are the top ten jobs you definitely don't want tomorrow:
    • ______ at a Promising Dot Com
    • Web ______
    • Venture Capitalist
    • Energy Trader
    • Artificial Intelligence Botany
    • Elvis Impersonator
    • ______ at Napster
    • ______ at Rambus
    • ______ at Be
    • Slashdot Troll

  • top 10 things that didn't make the list (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cheeze ( 12756 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @07:45PM (#3555208) Homepage
    10. Paper shredder
    9. presidential intern
    8. respiratory infection nurse
    7. experimental microbiologist
    6. teacher (never makes any list, except for lowest paid/hardest working)
    5. suicide bomber
    4. Real World participant
    3. political leader
    2. President of Accounting
    and the number 1 thing that didn't make the list...

    1. bank manager for offshore accounts (not FDIC insurred)

  • don't count on hot jobs (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bm_luethke ( 253362 ) <luethkeb@@@comcast...net> on Monday May 20, 2002 @08:08PM (#3555295)
    Hot jobs tend to be only hot in the short term. It's like deciding, right now, what clothes you are going to wear the rest of your life based on what is currently hot. Look at the web deseigners that only learned web deseign. They had a good run but unless they picked up more mainstream computing skills along the way they are probably looking for a job. Now they are lokking at someone in thier late twnties/ early thirties with a skill that has a glut of qualified individuals - all because it was the "hot job" of the moment. Now take a database person. It's not a hot job and probably never will be a hot job (i'm not talking data mining but deseigning/implementing/maintaining SQL databases). On the other hand demand is pretty high and will continue to be pretty high.

    It is important to remember when making these lists they look at NOW, not the long term viability of the job.

  • Hot Jobs? (Score:2, Funny)

    by The_dev0 ( 520916 )
    Any old job really, just tack EXTREME on the front of it...

    • just tack EXTREME on the front of it...
      • EXTREME Wall-propping
      • EXTREME Burger-flipping
      • EXTREME Jizz-mopping
      Wow, you're right. I bet even Randall would go for the last one.

  • Self-Employed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by The Cat ( 19816 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @08:24PM (#3555366)
    Well, someone has to provide jobs, and business certainly doesn't appear up to the task.

    Shoddy products, poor customer service, wasted budgets, inept management, constant layoffs. Eventually former employees will get fed up (and they probably already are) and start their own companies.

    A Renaissance of Entrepreneurship is precisely what the economy needs. Not more cubicles.

  • Bioinformatics (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lictor ( 535015 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @08:24PM (#3555367)
    Things I was unaware of until the article's author enlightened me:

    - Bioinformatics == Computational Pharmacokinetics

    - Designing sophisticated algorithms requires only "familiarity with computer technologies" (I suppose being a professional astronomer requires only "familiarity with telescope technologies" too)

    - Bioinformaticians need graduate training in a biological science. This one scared the heck outta me... I *thought* I was a bioinformatician, but my graduate training is in computer science. Come to think of it... the great majority of 'bioinformaticians' I've met at conferences were CS grads. I must have been tricked into attending those fake bioinformatics conferences...

    - Journalists don't need to bother researching or providing pesky 'facts' in their articles anymore. Its OK to just make stuff up... right off the top of your head.

    • Things I was unaware of until the article's author enlightened me:

      - Bioinformatics == Computational Pharmacokinetics

      That annoyed me too. On the other hand, everyone seems to have a different opinion as to what the main problems in bioinformatics are. According to the O'Reilly books, bioinformatics is just writing Perl scripts to parse BLAST output...

      Come to think of it... the great majority of 'bioinformaticians' I've met at conferences were CS grads. I must have been tricked into attending those fake bioinformatics conferences...

      Well, I did a postdoc in a CS department (my doctorate was in microbiology), and there do seem to be a number of bioinformatics conferences that seem a little *too* much CS and not enough biology -- RECOMB is the classic example -- hardly ever is a practical problem discussed -- simply proving that some simplified bioinformatics problem is NP-hard doesn't cut it as bioinformatics IMHO.

      But at the more useful bioinformatics conferences like ISMB and PSB you'll find a good mix of people approaching bioinformatics from both directions. And sometimes it is hard to tell who is who -- most people would imagine that Hidden Markov Model guru Sean Eddy [wustl.edu] is a computer scientist, but his background is actually in experimental genetics.
      • I heartily agree on all points. I didn't mean to imply that bioinformatics is/should be dominated by computer science... merely that a deeper knowledge of algorithms and the theory of computation is as essential as deep biological knowledge of the problem at hand.

        It has been my personal experience that my best work is almost always a result of a colloboration between biologists/biochemists and mathematicians/computer scientists. Thats what attracted me to the field in the first place... the opportunity for interdisciplinary research.

        As for the HMM's... no mathematician would admit to being a Markov Model guru. Far too much voodoo (by which I mean complexity, of course). ;)
  • "You have to build in a personality, responses and realistic behavior for any characters you encounter," she says.
    That's funny. Why do you have to build a personality into something that's fake when so many real people I know don't have one anyway.
    Salaries start at $50,000 and climb to $70,000 to $80,000 after a few years.
    Now tell me, is that estimate real, or artificial?
    You'll need a four-year degree in either computer science with an A.I. specialty ...
    Oh yes, not to mention a LISSSSSSSSSSSTHP.
  • Let's see, I'm a software contractor now so I could switch that over to AI programming, but I also ride my bike to work through rush hour traffic in Boston every morning, so could I be an Adventure Travel Guide too?
  • Well, except for the rare athletic, daring, and adventurous ChemE (all three of them ;), maybe being an Adventure Guide is out...

    But ChemEs can do the rest!

    Seriously, graduating with a ChemE degree, I can pick from four of the 'hot' jobs listed:

    IP Lawyer, Bioinformatician, Fuel Cells, or Data Mining.

    Really, data mining & bioinformatics are basically the same. Bioinformatics assumes you have a working knowledge of biology & biochemistry and can apply it to computer programming. But, it is much easier to learn biology than it is to learn data mining. But, without a very good mathematical background (Partial Diff Eqs, etc), you can kiss being an exceptional data miner out the window.

    People underestimate the utility of mathematics. :(

    Salis

  • Meaningless Titles (Score:5, Funny)

    by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @09:52PM (#3555757) Homepage

    I really hate the over-inflated titles that computer mechanics keep giving themselves. I'm sick of seeing business cards for Software Engineers and Network Architects.

    So what's next? Computer Surgeon? Information Astronaut? Why not go the whole nine yards and call yourself a Software Deity or Network Visionary?

    I want to see some realism in titles. The person paid to maintain legacy COBOL should be called a Code Janitor. The person who designs networks should be called a Network Foreman. And anybody who writes code should be called a Software Author.

    But please, enough with the self-aggrandizing titles.

    • Re:Meaningless Titles (Score:4, Funny)

      by Kintanon ( 65528 ) on Monday May 20, 2002 @10:54PM (#3556013) Homepage Journal
      Hmmm... So I should get rid of my 'Network God' business cards? Man! And I really liked the seraphim and trumpets I got with them...

      Kintanon
    • I want to be a Corporate Visionary Strategist, so I can prove my mom wrong -- you can get paid for daydreaming all day.
    • The finest titles I saw on business cards in the past couple of years:

      Chief Entrepreneur
      Code Jockey (this guy was a grade-A twat)
      Architect (he just dropped the 'software' from it, coole enough guy, but so far up his own arse he could fart dandruff off his shoulder)
      The Man (this guy was boss of a smaller software start up. Didn't want to be MD, Boss, whatever - so 'the man' - again, cool enough but beleived the hype)

      But yep - couldn't agree more - sensible titles all round please - why not just all be called 'coder'?
  • Prostitute? I would think that job would be on the RISE all the time...

  • How can anyone accuratly predict what the top 10 jobs will be in this decade. Does anyone have a list of so-called hot jobs from 1992? I doubt they mentioned anything dealing with e-commerce.
  • IP lawyer! Give me a break! Last time I checked software companies made money by SELLING software. IP laws are the only things that protect intangibles like software and allow companies to actually realize a return on their investment.

    Uninformed people complain about software patents because they are "bad." No one ever quantifies "bad" or defines "bad." They simply label patents as "bad." What these people reason from is the flawed premise that because something is easy to copy (i.e. - I can write code to do that) that it is unworthy of protection. They could not be further from the truth.

    Without IP laws there will be no innovation. History discloses thousands of inventions that are easy to copy. It is precisely because someone CAN copy an invention, getting the benefits without the development costs incurred by the original inventor that the patent and other IP laws exist.

    Flame away ... I'm expecting a karma hit. But I'll keep writing those software patents and suing the theives (yes -- THEIVES) who infringe them anyway.

    • Flame away ... I'm expecting a karma hit. But I'll keep writing those software patents and suing the theives (yes -- THEIVES) who infringe them anyway.

      No! Not 'THEIVES' you imbecile, Thieves! And the lack of IP laws didn't stop Leonardo De'Vinci from inventing a whole SHITLOAD of stuff, nor did it stop anyone before him. If you do something first and you do it best, you'll make money off of it, regardless of whether someone else copies it later. So quit bitching.

      Kintanon

    • All we ever hear about are obviously bogus software patents--ones that ignoring the "software" issue, are just new patents on old ideas. Do you have some examples of good software patents, describing a new, non-obvious software invention? Either ones you've worked on or just others you've run across...

      --
      Benjamin Coates
  • When I was a lad, I was quite good at catching lizards and spiders and creepy crawly things. Fifteen years after I decide on a career in IT, I tune into Animal Planet and they've got several folks on there who make a living catching the biggest damn lizards you've ever seen, along with all sorts of other creepy crawly things. If ONLY someone had TOLD me!
  • Christ. Both my parents are Speech Pathologists, andd have been for the last 30 years. Where was the HOT JOBS List 20 years ago? Then I could have gotten to ride to school in a Porsche instead of a rusty Ford truck.

    Everyone can take the hot jobs and shove them up their ass.

    If you want some real jobs with growth potential for the future, here's a real list.

    1.Terrorist
    2.Undertaker
    3.Disney Congresswhore
    4.Presidential Oil Rig Tech
    5.Media Manipulator
    6.Political Aide Professional Killer
    7.Infomercial Producer
    8.College Athlete
    9.Fuck You
    10.Hot Jobs List Maker

    Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

    Mod it up your ass, I'm pegged at 50.

  • Everyone - quick!! (Score:2, Informative)

    by Mr. Foogle ( 253554 )
    Everybody, quick, stampede off to school and learn the skills you'll need to succeed at any of these jobs. You DON'T need to have passion for what you do - the money will be soooo good.

    See, CNE, MCSE, the crop of lawyers that graduated in the 90s etc. etc.

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Over the shoulder supervision is more a need of the manager than the programming task.

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