Who the hell works 9-5 anymore?

I was under the impression that the statement had to be on the front page of the web site? I don't even see a link to it on their UK home page.

Sounds like it should be in Cards Against Humanity.

I majored in political science/english and it helped nothing. Since graduating I've worked as a newspaper reporter and editor, the deputy finance director on a statewide campaign, in retail, and at my current position. My degree was fun but basically useless. As for your degree, it's really about where you see yourself ten years after graduating. CS degrees are NOT programming degrees - working with computers takes a lot of independent motivation and interest in where the field is going. What are you wanting to do? As a note, hardware is something I follow pretty closely when I have the time. I can write scripts for GIS programs to automate processes, but have no idea how instagram works or what a tumblr is. The things I do for fun (and work) HEAVILY influence what I know about any given thing (which is what sucks about being mostly self-taught).

My mom worked for DEC (Digital? anyone?) when I was growing up and I was lucky enough to have a computer in the house throughout my childhood (and one that I was allowed to use/take apart/put back together). I've never taken an engineering class, BASIC is the only programming language I learned in school, and I don't "know" any languages, really - just enough to find what I need and implement it. Most of the work I do is dirty and effective.

As for sexism and bias at my job, the people I work with are nice folks and it's clear that they like me and want me to do well, but it's the South. All the stereotypes are pretty much spot on. There are things that are "Expected" - looking nice, smiling and answering the phone, ma'am and sir and not talking to people like they're stupid (when they are. who can't install Avast!?) And I'm a damn yankee, feminist (by the standards here anyway), intelligent woman, kinda goofy, etc etc, which makes it feel that much more like I need to be "a certain way" to "fit in" in the workplace. But it is what it is.

Sorry for the rambling, I'm piecing this together while trying to finish a project/handle our office (busy today) but the point is, my life has been all over the place and I'm lucky to be employed (I live in a small town where women my age are waitresses, restaurant managers, stay-at-home-moms and secretaries unless they have degrees that are, you know, useful) and doing something that involves things I enjoy, even if it means feeling like I'm expected to do magic every day because no one but me knows how to do what needs to be done.

Four years ago I was in college and renting a place with a friend. Today, I'm employed and have my own place. I have less time for the things I loved back then, and I'm not sure that if I still did them, I would still love them. I'm not sure if I'm better off. I'm different, but probably not better.

Most filing systems are pretty cut and dry so that even non-technical people can find what they're looking for.

Most filing in my area is done by the high school student children of employees so that they can earn some extra money.

Nobody touches my personal files, because I have to know where my stuff is. The only things that could be mis-filed are things that are most likely to be someone's working files. By the time our stuff gets ready to file, it's very clear (usually marked on the label) where the files go. So yeah, it kind of is for "the little people" though I don't mind doing it. Working in a small business means if it needs to get done, you do it.

My line? Cleaning up after other employees. Unless it has something to do with their computers (sigh) I am nobody's mommy.

Interesting conversation. To answer your question, I work in CAD and GIS, and though I lack formal training in both, I am the only person in my company that can do the project I'm working on right now (they could hire someone for about half-again what they're paying me or have someone formally trained to do it in about three months). I'm technically the most junior office personnel at the small company where I work (5 people including me in this office, 2 of whom work in the field) so I understand - someone's got to answer the phone, run to pick up/drop off plans and supplies, and order computer hardware (ok, I really like that part...) and my time is billed for a lot less than everyone else's. It's just that I know that if they had hired a man to do the exact same job I'm doing, it's unlikely he'd be answering the phone - he might be running errands, but phone-answering is something "a woman should do."

I also make the coffee.

I'm a woman working in the tech field and I'm glad to be paid what I am (due to where I live, my qualifications, age, and the industry that I am working in). What I find strange is that I know that if they'd hired a man to do what I am doing, he wouldn't be expected to also answer the phone/greet clients when they come in, and he'd probably be paid more than I am. I'm not complaining, necessarily, and living in the South means that sexism is something that people "just do." I think it's quite clear to my employer that I'd be more productive if I could focus on the tech aspects of my job and forgo the phone-answering, I'd be much more productive, but we - oops, there's the phone.

Ok, so, I studied PSC and worked for a statewide campaign here in the USA last year. That said, there is very, very specific databasing/tracking software used by the political parties (We used NGP-VAN) to do this exact thing. We used data from previous Dem campaigns (this was a gubernatorial race; we got the AG, a couple lists from previous governors, and some lists from unsuccessful previous campaigns for various state and local positions) as well as data we collected from cold-calling and anything we found on the internet. Early in the campaign, my role was to track down contact information for our database, as well as any relevant info on where people worked and what their strong political leanings were (Southern Dems are much different from Northern ones). It's easy, especially when it's for calling for contributions.

There are only about 4M people in my state, so there are more competitive mayoral races in large cities. However, when you're dealing with 10M+ people, you have to rely on outsourced data. I get junk email from a bunch of social action campaigns because of petitions I've signed. I emailed all my state reps over a couple issues. So they know who I am. They also know who you are if you have been politically active online at all.

This is not an inherently bad thing. Expecting privacy on the internet, expecting your actions not to have unforeseen consequences, is the mark of a person who doesn't understand how the world, and the web, and people in general, work. Just for funsies, go request a dump of your Facebook ad topic data.

Cows eat grass huh? You realize that corn is of the genus Zea which makes it... a type.. of grass.

I've bought multiple copies of my favorite books (Fight Club and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter come to mind, though some of my Kerouac disappeared once and I lose Neuromancer regularly too) because I lend the best ones out and they never come back. It's funny how the ones I DO reread are the ones that get permanently borrowed.

This is where I QQ right?

The banner says "News for Nerds" ... which is what I want.

What do you want?

Right? When I'm not busy posting on /. or using gchat, I can't get any work done due to the people wandering through my office area! I could make six times the posts here if people would just bugger off!

People dog-ear my books, I straighten it regardless of whether they're using it as a bookmark. That's just... inexcusable.

Your example of "Biased" journalism is not, in fact, biased. It's just a headline. Headlines are sensationalistic sometimes, and that CAN be "bad" journalism, but does not necessarily mean that is it. Let me make this a little clearer for you.

Objective journalism does not mean apolitical or non-incendiary journalism. It is an article including statements of pure, verifiable facts from both sides of an argument and accurate quotes. Plenty of news stories are based on what people say, whether the story is supportive of the person's views, or exposing that someone is a liar using provable material or reliable sources.

Biased, bad journalism, uses misleading headlines, quotes taken out of context, and only the facts which support a specific viewpoint to support a case. For example, calling someone a "murderer" who has not been convicted of a crime. In addition to being wrong (innocent until proven guilty) a publication that does so exposes themselves to a potential libel lawsuit. Covering only events of a certain religious or political party when other equivalent events are available for coverage is biased journalism. If I were to say, "In comparison to Reddit, Slashdot is the greatest news source ever" and you were to publish only "Slashdot is the greatest news source ever" that is bad journalism; it seems trivial here, but it's a HUGE deal when covering things like government issues, budgets, and local/national health issues. Bad journalism has the potential to cause riots, outbreaks of illnesses, and to sway the governance of nations. Good journalism, too, can cause - or prevent - these things, but does so in a responsible way.