Yes. https://www.techradar.com/news...

There's some horrible posts in this thread to a fairly good question. How do you make that break into industry, and what might you want to do there?
My background: nearly 20 years in IT, started whilst at University doing helpdesk work, moved into industry. Been 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line support. Have delivered global projects for variety of companies both as employee and contractor.
I currently work Microsoft UK as a senior Technical Account Manager within Microsoft Premier.
First off, working in IT does NOT require ability to code. I know it's against hivemind groupthink here, but it doesn't. Sure, if you want to be a developer you'll need it but if you're an architect, working in support, working in implementing projects, it's not necessary.
Look at what you're strong at. You're good with people, explaining technical concepts to them, listening to their requirements and probably quite good at interpreting those conversations into relevant IT concepts. Think about something like an IT business analyst, or someone who implements solutions - e.g. turning on O365 for a customer isn't trivial, and needs careful management for successful deployment. You might find a support job is a good entrance to industry but you would be having to learn your chops from 2nd line upwards. Thinking at more of a business relationship management/IT business analyst etc might be helpful if you've not considered it before.
Anyway, if you'd like some honest advice, feel free to PM me and I'll see what I can do. I'll probably go back to lurking now as I expect the trolls will be along again shortly...

Jees, does no one READ anymore? This is why I gave up on Slashdot. Nokia alleged to say no backdoors in their hardware, someone claims data being sent to MSFT from handsets regardless. No shit,Sherlock. In the absence of any details, let alone evidence or proof, this looks bloody spurious to me. I would expect the MS services on the phone to talk to Redmond exactly as they tell you they will when you agree to it for basic services e.g. location services. The article itself is classic FUD with zero content. Read it again. And don't post AC.

It's mandatory to have a Microsoft account with Windows Phone, much like it's mandatory to have a Gmail account for Android and an Apple ID for iOS. You don't have to use the services though, and WP8 is pretty good at explicitly telling you what data it would like and giving you the option of opting out.

Because it happens all the time - people like to read sensationalist news, people like to be outraged and site owners love page clicks. Go and read TFA. There is zero content in it. It's not even a theory, it's a vague bit of sensationalism and until it's backed up with data it should be treated as such.

Full disclosure: I do work for MS, but miles and miles away from any of this kind of thing so I don't have any insight other than Occam's Razor. When you read TFA, there isn't any data in there. It doesn't actually SAY anything.

This looks like a mountain being made out of a molehill. From TFA: "Lumia phones do not ensure the user’s privacy – at least no better than the phones of other big manufacturers"
When you use a WP8 device, you are signed in using a Microsoft Account. Features like SMS backup, location services such as "Find My Phone" etc need to send data back to MS in order to work. In fact when you first sign into a phone this is made explicitly clear, as it is during the install of any apps on the phone that require, say, location based services. So whilst the implication of this article appears to be that there's something shady and underhand going on, until someone shows me a wireshark trace that shows it, I'm calling BS.

Usenet is nice. I can recomment comp.misc, a nice, active group with some activity there :-) (For Slashdot and Soylentnews I'm actually only guessing. An nmap probe reveals an F5 load balancer for slashdot and a probably a Linux-Box for soylentnews.org.) BTW: I hope slashdot will keep it's classic forum software, would like to remain a regular here :-)

Dead all day, it seems... Slashdotted again?

Thanks for info! Lets see... I'm curious as well, but will probably stick around here as well. If they reach functional parity with their new software before making it default, I won't see a reason to abandon ship.

I can sign up for wiki and phpbb account, but don't see any slashdot-like account which could be used, nor do I find an appropriate link in the wiki. Can you give a link, please?

Suit yourself :-) I spend 40h a week on my job, and if someone proposes a job doubling my salary, I will take that offer. But while I'm in this office, my performance depends heavily on feeling comfortable in my current environment. If you find all the time you need to master new subjects in your spare time, good for you. My spare time is mainly for my family, and I'm very happy I find enough challenges in my job so I don't need extensive hobbies for that.

For motivation while working on one position, this may be true, but salary and bonus are a high motivation to switch to another employer altogether.