Right. What of us who program in several languages very often? Your idea would make it very hard to write different languages and would work as a road block in learning a new language. So it's not a perfect plan, unless you really think that the corporations are right when they force people to use languages that are ill suited for a given programming purpose. So, no thanks.

Why not just go home or take care of your own business after solving the client's issue in 10 minutes? Don't take the billable hour too seriously.

Drugs are just for the high. There's nothing wrong w/that, but it's just that, nothing more. And whenever you get high, you'll have a hangover later on. That's just how our brains work. Children aren't just for kicks or amusement. They're more like a calling. That's why it's more fulfilling to have children than to get high: calling >>> kicks.

Also, you love your children so much. It's probably the greatest emotional high there is.

Here are the red pictures

Thanks.

It very hard not to be part of the problem. I struggle with this myself. It might be better to work for a co-operative or a non-profit, but they are often low-pay. If that's not an option, perhaps you can start a company or a co-operative yourself. Not wanting to go there, it's probably better to work for a small company than a large one, because the larger they get the more corrupt and less innovative they often are.

How about medical devices? Things that help and monitor old people and of that kind? Or some inventions to help traffic flows or some other kind of streamlining that actually make things better? You could also consider competing with existing companies that are taking a cut from something and just making it better and taking a smaller cut. That would leave more money for the consumers or governments or whoever is paying for the cut.

Small companies and startups often work on new innovative things and not all of their inventions are evil. They are often better working places in other ways as well. However, it's almost impossible to find a company that can only do good things. The economy is interconnected and there is almost no way of escaping the things that many do and it's quite likely that your company needs to work w/companies that aren't as high-minded as you might be.

There are many variables to this thing and nothing is perfect. When considering the environmental impact, human/labour/animal rights and not ripping off your customers and actually creating something of social value it gets so complicated that you cannot expect to find anything that would be completely satisfactory. Try to look for a lesser evil, a local maximum, if you will and then work to try to make it just a bit better.

And finally, it would actually help if you moved into a country that spends its taxes to build a better society rather than its military. Get a job in Scandinavia, for example. Just doing that would address many of things mentioned above, because we actually have useful laws up here, a working democracy where environmental issues are addressed and labour rights are honoured.

People should vote w/their feet and this doesn't only go for companies, it goes for countries, as well. I dunno if you have a family, but we actually have free schools and universities up here as well as free health care and so forth, but naturally you have to pay taxes to pay for them. However, your overall quality of life is much better this way and the societies are much better because of lower income disparity. How does a 37.5 hour work week sound to you like and actually getting paid for overtime? How about a 5 week vacation? The list goes on and on. I doubt making a few dollars more actually makes the equation more profitable, overall.

If you further consider that I belong to a union and I'm a member of a red/green left alliance party and this makes me no less valued at my workplace you should come to see how different things can be. It is normal to belong to a labour union up here.

"Studies on the Dunning–Kruger effect tend to focus on American test subjects. Similar studies on European subjects show marked muting of the effect;[citation needed] studies on some East Asian subjects suggest that something like the opposite of the Dunning–Kruger effect operates on self-assessment and motivation to improve: Regardless of how pervasive the phenomenon is, it is clear from Dunning's and others' work that many Americans, at least sometimes and under some conditions, have a tendency to inflate their worth. It is interesting, therefore, to see the phenomenon's mirror opposite in another culture. In research comparing North American and East Asian self-assessments, Heine of the University of British Columbia finds that East Asians tend to underestimate their abilities, with an aim toward improving the self and getting along with others.[10]" => http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect#Cross-cultural_variation

We seem to agree on multiple issues here. :-) Yes, us Finns really see the US of A as a sad, sad place. USA is beginning to look so much like Russia and China that it isn't even funny anymore. Just downright mournful. The things you guys are doing to your education system will ensure your eventual downfall.

Finn here, agreed. Sorry about double post, didn't notice I wasn't logged in.

According to Miriam Elder, the Moscow correspondent for The Guardian it seems that United Russia may get less than 50% of the votes, but this might not mean that they get less than 50% of seats in the parliament because of the 7% threshold for the smaller parties.

Not saying this applies to your specific case, but the more specific the skill-set you are looking for the more likely it is that it won't be available. So you might have to do as you did and buy it from somewhere or you have to train your own. As a side-note, a very specific skill-set can be a liability for an employee. If your exotic skills suddenly are obsoleted, you may be in trouble.

Maybe you guys should read these two:

http://k.web.umkc.edu/keltons/Papers/501/functional%20finance.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_finance#History_of_use

The businesses complain, because they want cheap labour. Therefore they will complain until there is an excess of people for a given field and they lower salaries, etc. So listening to their complaints is questionable.

I don't know about other countries, but in Finland all teachers graduate from university. In addition, there are comparatively very few immigrants in Finnish schools, so it is a lot easier to teach and to learn than in many other countries. Both children and teachers have like 10 weeks of summer vacation and a couple of weeks off during the school season.

If you work hard, it's actually probably best to give your brain a break during your free time, especially in regards to actual programming. I think it could be okay to try out some new things and read about new techniques and what not, but I don't think I'd be on fire at work if I spent my free time programming even more. I sometimes write proof-of-concept programs at home when I really feel like it, but rarely anything more. If I have to program at home it means that I sit too much in meetings at work and my need to express myself through code is unfulfilled. That, then, means that it's time for a new job where I get to actually write programs.