Iftheshoefits

6 ms·

1.
by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
That's an incredibly privileged point of view. It is not frequently the case that students with the apitutude for college have the support they need from family and relevant experts at school to engage in the kind of thoughtful deliber
2.
by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
No, you can't pick it up "very, very quickly." That is a dismissive and indirect way to assert that engineering is somehow easier or requires less intellectual rigor than "higher" disciplines like CS or math.
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
The first sentence in the article encapsulates one of the biggest problems in this industry. It may apply to very specific roles within certain companies, or to specific subdisciplines, but in general the statement is little more than an un
4.
by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
One thing I learned in the briefings I saw after getting my clearance was that the single biggest motivator for betrayal was a thrill-seeking narcissistic personality, followed closely by political agendas. Financial (including bribery&#x2F
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
You haven't established the link between wealth and an understanding of productivity so much as asserted that wealth is a proxy for knowledge/intelligence.
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
That's true, and it is a case that seems to be unique to the software field as far as engineering is concerned. I'm also unaware of any other engineering profession in which such shallow education and experience would be consider
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
One plausible reason: the story is a "slow burn" story that hasn't had time to gain traction. Mainstream news acts more like an aggregator of information that percolates out of various niche segments' echo chambers: give
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
There is not one single other engineering profession I'm aware of that thinks a "portfolio" consisting of past employment is insufficient, or that has academic trivia questions figure as largely in their interview process. To
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
"Self made" defies precise definition. If you start with $999,999 and earn $1 by your own efforts, a strictly precise definition for "self made" would imply you were a "self made" millionaire. However it would
10.
by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
Bill Gates is not a self-made millionaire, if that phrase is to have any meaning.
11.
by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
"a) most engineers suck at programming." I find that to be not true. Most engineers suck at regurgitating the correct textbook CS algorithm or data structure from memory, but they are very good at engineering, which is what the ov
12.
by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
This is a great comment. The category error you've identified is manifest in more than the comment you're replying to as well: it's at the heart of one of the biggest problems with software interviews in a certain sector of t
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by Iftheshoefits 11y ago
Software workers are already treated as commodities, so even if one were to accept that last statement as fact it wouldn't actually have much relevance. Being a commodity worker with higher minimum compensation and even marginally bett
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
I'm a US citizen by birth. I just happen to have traveled and lived abroad for a time, and I find the labor laws especially, but the social welfare laws in general in the US to be rather backward and uncivilized: barbaric is a word I c
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
There are a lot of women who would prefer to breastfeed but can't for a variety of physiological reasons, so this market would at least have the potential to exist even if America's maternity leave laws weren't barbaric.
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
It is cheating. The rules are quite clear, and these groups break those rules in a way that gives them an immediate and direct advantage over students who don't break the rules. The rules themselves may be subject to debate, but that t
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Actually, it probably can't, at least in most of the cases where it would matter. The President can get the ball rolling in some of those cases, but in others there may actually be an act of Congress required, or other bureaucratic hoo
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Yes to the first, no to the second (I would almost certainly not qualify for the ones you listed--not for lack of talent, as I forgot more math by the time I took my PhD qualifying exams than most CS graduates ever learn, but for other reas
19.
by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
If it's an exaggeration then this industry's labor pool is in even worse shape than I suspected. To put this in context: I'd consider myself average, maybe slightly above in some contexts, below in (many more) others, and my
20.
by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
"Asshole" isn't the right word, assuming you mean they are working overtime regularly without pay. I'd probably use other words like "gullible" and "useful idiot[1]." And, yes, I would put them in the
21.
by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
See, the trouble is there are people in this industry who would work at this place, and that contributes to lower wages and poorer working conditions. Sure, I won't work there but the fact that others will has an impact on me at least
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Seems to me they're about equal in merit. Also, in case your comment was directed at me, I didn't impugn anybody's integrity.
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Perhaps you'd understand if people discounted your comment slightly because of your apparent close relationship with YC, then? They have the best interests of founders in mind only insofar as their pocketbooks and reputation benefit fr
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
If they're working alone or with somebody who shares their passion, sure. What about the, oh, 90% of the rest of the time?
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Sure, sometimes it is, undeniably. But given how immature in general this industry is--and that means both in terms of the span of its existence and in terms of the age of practitioners--it sure is suspicious how often X-that-has-been-aroun
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Think of it in terms of a typical 13 year old boy acting out, e.g. by climbing real high in a tree or doing tricks on his bike, to impress friends/girls. That's all this shit is, except it is targeted to a slightly different audie
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Reviews that all mention the same book, or even have little or no content, and have the same rating are suspicious and easily detectable by a trivial scan and compare against existing reviews. A harder problem is when the bogus review conte
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
I think in our industry it is a combination of the two. Our colleagues are quite happy to take pats on the back and ego stroking in lieu of compensation.
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
Thanks for illustrating my point.
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by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
That's part of it, sure. The other part of it in America is the successful suppression of any sort of labor movement and the success of efforts by the very rich to drive a wedge between the merely affluent and the middle and lower clas

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