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Comment That's a big drop. Is the app-dev gold rush over? (Score 1) 161

It is possible that app development is slowing down. The gold rush is over. Objective-C has dropped 8.6% and Swift climbs a meagre 0.5%. Additionally there is a resurgence of hybrid app development solutions like Xamarin (which uses C#) and PhoneGap/Ionic (javascript). These two factors combined account for some of the 8% overall drop.

Overall though, I have never trusted the Tiobe index. Perl is still in the top 10? Ok. No. On any measure. Compared to the clear activity of Python vs Perl (10x) on Stackoverflow, it is very clearly wrong. As a former Perl/CPAN contributor it is sad to browse CPAN. It is akin to walking through the once mighty mines of moria. Astonishingly detailed and yet for the most part abandoned.

Comment Re:HOW DARE YOU! (Score 1) 161

I have a principle I try to live by:

"Write the good stuff, Tell the bad stuff"

If you know the receiving party will not like what you're going to write then it is your responsibility to talk to them face to face about it.

My company instituted this policy and it significantly reduced "at home work stress" from angry work emails during personal time.

I also use the trick of writing out that crappy email and just not pressing send. Mostly because it helps me clarify my thoughts before I discuss with them my concerns.

Comment Everybody saw them coming (Score 1) 244

Everybody watched Apple crash into the music and then phone market. It was obvious which markets they would enter next. And so the incumbents responded, "oh crap they're coming". Comcast and other players started playing rough with the content licensing and building out their own DVR's and OnDemand services quickly. The TV makers started building smart TV's. And while this mess is horribly fragmented, it leaves little room for Apple to clean up and "innovate". Mostly because, Apple doesn't own the content and they can't pull the same trick they played on AT&T. Like others, I despise Comcast and Smart TV's, but I don't see it changing for a long time. I'd much rather use a TiVo, the user interface is superior, but the content options are restricted and old school. Please Apple, just do it.

Comment Lobbying or not, the STEM shortage is real (Score 1) 165

I'm pretty tired of the /. naysayers claiming that the STEM shortage is a fictional conspiracy fabricated by the tech giants. I agree that lobbying in the US is exhausting. I'm personally a big fan of removing lobbying from Congress. But you also have to acknowledge that not all issues being lobbied are necessarily "evil" or "wrong". So with that disclaimer out of the way:

Hiring software engineers in the US, UK and Australia (3 countries I have worked) is very very difficult. And retaining skilled engineers is even harder. Engineers have one of the highest voluntary turnover rate of any profession because the opportunities elsewhere are immense.

And before I hear you claim that it is because companies just aren't paying enough, lets consider this: STEM jobs account for 7 out of 10 jobs of the highest paying jobs in the country according to this survey on glassdoor: http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/.... The other three are lawyer, finance manager, and tax manager.

Comment This is a good thing! (Score 1) 356

Google have been advocating for Responsive Design for over 3 years now. Most responsive design sites don't need to be a cut down crappy version like old m.sites used to be.

Give me a nicely formatted full-content Responsive Design version of a site any day over a full desktop experience.

There are lots of studies that show that a fast full-featured mobile site decreases bounce rates sharply and increases page views by 2x.

Ultimately Google will score sites based on whether the user bounces back and it is well known that a slow desktop site on mobile will cause a user to bounce.

So they're updating the scoring algorithm accordingly.

Claims that Google are doing it for advertising or other reasons are unfounded. I have been around a lot of Googlers and almost always, especially the search team, are ruthlessly focussed on what is the right the thing to do for the user.

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