From a monster job posting for web application developers:
Do you thrive in an agile environment that recognizes the reality that practicality and client satisfation almost always trumps theory and best practices?
- Is OK with the fact that mistakes will be made and that every experience is an opportunity to get better
Hilarious. Basically these guys have no requirements and are totally winging it. Let’s call it agile and pretend that we have some control over the situation.
Goldman, MS, others apply to repay TARP-sources
U.S. banks are scrambling to repay TARP money as soon as possible, in an effort to signal their strength to the market and to avoid the tighter regulation that comes with government funds, particularly limitations on compensation.
Google Outage Lesson: Don’t Get Stuck in a Cloud
Yep. Can’t wait to load my corporation’s vital applications to the cloud.
I wonder what the SLAs will read like. I also wonder what Reuven Cohen will say about this. I am sure he’ll have a good spin on it - use Enomaly, not Google?
Company Caught in Texas Data Center Raid Loses Suit Against FBI
I am little behind so I am not sure if this has cropped up in the cloud blogs. Cynic that I am I’d say that they are probably trying to hush this one up.
Basically it boils down to the the FBI being able to raid a server farm and cart away all the equipment. IMO this has serious implications for any cloud peddlers and their prospective clients. Amazon provides services to someone who suddenly becomes a person of interest and they get raided? If I were a cloud provider I would make sure to have an offshore presence just in case.
While doing Quicken this morning I decided to check out what’s new in the current version. To my surprise there is no 2009 or 2010 (yep a bit early, but like car models, you never know) versions. The current version is Quicken Mac 2007. Same version I have had since late 2006.
Since I have gotten used to my version of Quicken this is not a big deal except what happens when they sunset the quote downloads support? What about fixes? Although by this time you’d figure the software is solid.
Oh well. In any case not important right now to investigate this further.
(Of course when going back to close the page I noticed the “For the newest Quicken for Mac offering, visit Quicken Financial Life for Mac.” blurb. Oh well still, the ETA is 2009 which means several years without any upgrades despite the constant bitching that the Mac version is not up to par with the Windows version in terms of functionality.)
Or languages that look like fun, but where are the jobs?
So many languages, so little time. Haskell, Scheme, Erlang, Curl … The list goes on.
I briefly looked at Erlang and see plenty of promise in the server side world. Java is just too bloated and even though concurrent applications are doable, I think that a language built with concurrency in mind will give a better programming paradigm specially in the world of multi-core multi-processor machines.
Looking at the “Hello World” Curl example blows my mind.
But what about the runtimes? This is key specially for languages meant for client side programming. The Java and Flash/Flex RTEs are ubiquitous.
They look like fun to learn and use but I just can’t find any job in Dice requiring these languages. I only got one hit for Haskell, Scheme, and Erlang but only as a nice to have cause it gives us an idea of your personality/interest.
Once I am settled in a new gig I think I want to look into both Erlang (again) and Curl - I already checked and there is a Mac RTE and Eclipse plug-ins!
I just changed my LinkedIn professional “headline” from Programmer/Analyst to Software Engineer.
Even though the definition of the word Engineer is appropriate:
Noun: a person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or public works.
Verb: design and build (a machine or structure).
I fought doing this because I feel that usage of the term Engineer in IT has tarnished the meaning of the word. I always associated with the word a certain level of formal training, skill, and professionalism. But after many years working with self proclaimed Software Engineers who are nothing more than hacks I just did not want to be grouped with them.
However, the reality is that Programmer/Analyst has become an outdated term and when looking for a gig it helps to describe yourself as a Software Engineer or maybe even Architect.
Since my previous hosting company - Yahoo - was stuck with Wordpress 2.0.2 and I was unhappy with their technical support and pricing structure, I made the switch to Lunar Pages and WordPress 2.7.
However, since WordPress 2.0.2 does not have an export functionality I pretty much lost my previous posts. I did save my postings to my computer but it will be some time before I get around to recreating them. Alas, comments are gone for good.
This is just turning surreal …
IBM to laid-off: Want a job in India?
Only “satisfactory performers” who are “willing to work on local terms and conditions” should pursue the jobs, the document says. IBM would not immediately confirm if it means that the workers would be paid local wages and would be subject to local labor laws.
I don’t think that we have to wait for confirmation from IBM to know what the answer is. Hmmm. I wonder what the quota is in India for foreign guest workers? Will the term “Hamburger Eating Wage Pirate” catch on?