I got a pair of bifocals a couple of years ago. I got really tired of tilting my head back to look at my monitors. When working on my big monitors, I just wear an old pair of glasses that doesn't correct me as much as my current pair, and that seems to do the job. Next time around, I will get a pair in just the reading prescription that is just for computer work.

I finished my Ph.D as an experimental physicist 20 years ago, and got a post-doc. And I managed to get a job in IT after that. A few comments on your story: (1) Physics to network technology is not a natural jump. Your resume should be highlighting all the relevant experience you gathered while doing your PhD. I did a lot of heavy coding for data analysis, big data crunching, and unix system administration on cutting edge hardware. My other option besides the Sales Engineer job I ended up taking was translating particle transport code from Fortran to C++. When I was looking for a tech job, that was the experience I emphasized, not the actual physics part. (2) As others have mentioned, you need to be talking to small shops, you're more likely to talk directly to the hiring manager, rather than a HR person. (3) As many have already said, eat some humble pie. You very obviously didn't do your research before deciding to pursue a PhD in Physics. And you haven't been pursuing the obvious route of getting some network certifications. I mean, come on, what evidence are you providing potential employers that your networking knowledge is at all current, or even still exists? And yes, the Ph,D. hurts, the problem is that they think you will want to be paid commensurate with a Ph.D. with your full years of working experience, rather than paid as a network engineer with years of experience up to when you left the field. They are worried you will get bored, consider the work beneath you, and you will either leave or become a problem employee. (5) Take some contracting work. The bar is lower, because if you don't work out they can just end the contract. And that will pad out your resume with the relevant experience. The only time my Ph.D. was a liability was in getting my first job. You need to establish a job history post-Ph.D. that shows the sort of work you are willing to do for a reasonable amount of pay, for a reasonable length of time. I kept my first technology job for five years. Then, the Ph.D. was never again an issue, it was only an asset. You might need to do contract work for a year or two to establish a similar sort of track record.

Some of this is the effect of youth, as it is pretty common for an 18 yr old to think they already have all the answers, and their parents are stupid and don't understand the way things are now. But high tech nerds especially seem to hang on to this arrogance for a long time. Part of it is problematic socialization abilities. The standard borderline Asperger's that nerds are often so proud of. Part of it is that they only interact with non-techies in the context of their area of expertise, and so they tend not to see that other people are very good at other things, even if they aren't so good at computers. Even if you are great at everything you put your mind or your hand to, if you are arrogant, there is one thing you suck at, and that is dealing with people.

I'm over 50, and I started a new job in a new area of technology. If you have to ask if you are too old to retrain, that presents two possibilities to me 1) You've got serious self-esteem issues: get some counseling 2) You don't really like learning new things, in which case development is not really for you, and support really might be the right choice.

You're on the fence with a 10% raise. To me, that's not so much, so I'm thinking maybe you are ready to jump already. Ask yourself, how much of a pay increase would it take to get you off the fence? If your current job was closer to home, would that make a difference? Play around with the parameters in your head, determine what motivates you and what doesn't. Then when you know what's really important to you, get as much of that as you can out of whoever you decide you want to work for.

The only subjects you are guaranteed to use directly, that you learned in school, are the three Rs, reading, ritin', and 'rithmetic. Some subjects change your brain. Forced to do the abstract reasoning required to do higher math, your brain will change to accomodate. I made my kids study music for similar reasons. Some subjects are there to try to make a good citizen out of you, hence history, social studies, geography, government. Some subjects are there to enrich your life, and make you think about yourself, the world, and your place in it. To help to make you a moral person, not just an obedient person. If school were simply about preparing you for your future job, we should all be doing apprenticeships, instead of going to school. However miserably it might fail at that goal, school is supposed to foster thoughtful adults who are able to enjoy more than sex and professional wresting, who are good citizens, and moral people.

they might learn to think a bit more logically. And that would not be a bad thing.

1) There is "open mind" meaning "stick your finger in the wind". 2) There is "open mind" meaning "review all the available evidence, consult experts on all sides of a question, and come to a rational conclusion" 3) There is "keeping your promises". There has been plenty of evidence for (1) in US politics, very little evidence of (2), and (3) is what gets you reelected.

If you are coding for yourself, and you are productive and have fun using PHP, go for it, don't worry about what other people say about the language. If you are going to hand it off to someone else, later, you need to be cognizant of how hard it is to find coders for your language of choice. I personally like picking up new programming languages, they affect the way I approach any programming task. My usual thing is to write a web-app in the new language. That being said, if I just have to get something working, and working well, I will go with what I already know well, if I can, or with what the environment requires, if I don't have a choice. Where I work, the choice is Java or Java.

I have never had any such problem. For one thing, I'm never typing nearly as many numbers on the phone as I do on the computer and calculator number pads. For another, I'm usually dialing phone numbers with my thumb, and numbers on the computer, calculator, or adding machine with my fingers. And speaking Italian or Spanish also fail to destroy my memory for English.

He said it to you directly. He didn't post it on his blog.

What she says may or may not be true. However, if your lawyer, your doctor, your martial arts instructor posted crap like this, how long do you think they would stay in business? Kids attending a public school don't have the option of shopping around.

Nice for you. I guess you don't work in Silicon Valley or NYC.

At every technology company I'm aware of, 55 hour weeks are normal. Someone who works 40 hours isn't going anywhere professionally. Most techies I know are at or a little beyond the threshold for a schedule that causes burnout in the long run. So, rather than accuse your co-workers of being slackers, I will assume that what your boss is really asking after is an extra 10-15 hours per week per person. As weekly hours go up, so does likelihood of burnout, and time to burnout drops. Ask too much, and it is only a matter of time before everyone that stays becomes nasty, stupid, or both. That is leaving aside the idea of asking for more work without offering anything in return. A significant fraction of those who can find another job will, and he'll be left with the loyal, the lazy, and the ones that couldn't find anything better.

I was hoping to read some answer that answered my similar requirements. My requirements were for a searchable, portable mail message database. Ability to tag messages is also important. I had high hopes for Mozilla Raindrop, but my last experience with it didn't do anything for me. Here's what I am doing now: I have set up an IMAP server (imapd) on an Ubuntu server. Thunderbird is currently my primary email client. Thunderbird connects to all my various email accounts. When I am ready to archive an email, it gets copied to a folder on my imap server. The emails are tagged, and stored in folders by quarter to keep any particular file from getting to large. What I would like is the ability to store them in a searchable database with an open source implementation.