Of course, in reality, most people aren't exactly these two extremes, great implementer and great innovator. Everyone has both traits in different amounts, and if you have a functioning team, they can be split up…
Twilight, because it's god-awful. Oh, you meant _programming_ books. Never mind!
Also, keep in mind that you have to get _very_ big before this becomes an issue. If you're at Yahoo, Google, MSN - yes, language issues can become a performance design consideration. If you're at merely a big site, like…
I kind of am, but I think in reality perl and python appeal to a different enough mindset, and solve similar enough problems, that there's almost no real competition between them. Most people will instantly like one and…
For a different definition of worst: I started a job recently at an ecommerce company. There was a long-standing bug with the cart display in the upper right of the page always saying that the cart was empty. People…
Perhaps, but the perception of learning HTML being a barrier to entry was much smaller back then. People were excited to be part of something new, and didn't really balk at having to learn something. Totally different…
The typical view of a business type by a software engineer is not pretty. It gets pretty close to, we do all the work, they do little but interfere with us, and then they take all the money. So it's an uphill battle to…
I, for one, get higher quality work done when I'm allowed to take breaks. This shop might be heaven for workaholics, but there's a lot of really excellent folks who just wouldn't enjoy their jobs if there was someone in…
I think this nails it. If you're part of a conscious diet and watching calories, diet soda can be a good choice, because you're _explicitly_ controlling for the effect the study is about - the false sweet causing…
I've gone through periods of life where this was true. There were reasons - truly bad boss, problems in my personal life, etc - but eventually I realized that slacking off had started to become the primary cause of my…
This person is not, and has never been, a software developer. I take issue with: "Such issues have been largely overlooked in the Amazon.com discussion, which takes for granted that "glitches" are inevitable and…
Paul Graham can be hit or miss, IMO, but this one is a direct hit. I don't mind meetings per se - in a good company, they have merit - but their effect on the work day can be disastrous. If you don't work somewhere that…
People like to claim that TV is only full of crap. This is grade A, Microsoft-FUD-level, Bullshit. Like anything, sure, most of it is crap. Just like if you went to a bookstore and picked up 10 random fantasy novels.…
IMDb is, well, a worldwide collaboration, but if pressed I'd say the driving force was primarily British. (With help from America, Italy, Australia, Germany, and a few other geeks of the day.) I suppose obsessive data…
Terrible advice! Also, if your side-job is at _all_ related to your main job, be very careful, and lean towards quitting sooner rather than later. Talk to a lawyer to make sure you'll actually own your side-work and get…
I also used to work at Amazon, and this is all true. Personally, I like having an ergonomically reasonable desk, and don't miss my door desk at all. The downside of frugal is, employees don't feel treated as well.…
I fundamentally agree with the author, even though I'd frame it differently. I vastly prefer living as a Software Engineer than my days studying Computer Science, because it's not all sterile, formal, and rigorous, but…
Yeah, no kidding. I think the only funny April Fools tech joke was the original announcement of Parrot. Which is even funnier since Parrot 1.0 was just actually released. :)
Because I'm not a sales or marketing person. :)
On the plus side, smoking is good for creating a social interaction situation - smokers meet each other and chat. And it creates some semi-forced breaks in the day, which is good. On the down side, there are health…
True. In this case, they were not major changes, the guy just wasn't doing anything. It can be useful to drive home what you already know, but not really to discover information. At a functional software house, it's…
You're doing nobody any favors by being passive-aggressive. The employee needs to know, management needs to know. Talk to his manager behind closed doors. Be reasonable. Provide data. Metrics can be misleading, but if…
Of course, in reality, most people aren't exactly these two extremes, great implementer and great innovator. Everyone has both traits in different amounts, and if you have a functioning team, they can be split up…
Twilight, because it's god-awful. Oh, you meant _programming_ books. Never mind!
Also, keep in mind that you have to get _very_ big before this becomes an issue. If you're at Yahoo, Google, MSN - yes, language issues can become a performance design consideration. If you're at merely a big site, like…
I kind of am, but I think in reality perl and python appeal to a different enough mindset, and solve similar enough problems, that there's almost no real competition between them. Most people will instantly like one and…
For a different definition of worst: I started a job recently at an ecommerce company. There was a long-standing bug with the cart display in the upper right of the page always saying that the cart was empty. People…
Perhaps, but the perception of learning HTML being a barrier to entry was much smaller back then. People were excited to be part of something new, and didn't really balk at having to learn something. Totally different…
The typical view of a business type by a software engineer is not pretty. It gets pretty close to, we do all the work, they do little but interfere with us, and then they take all the money. So it's an uphill battle to…
I, for one, get higher quality work done when I'm allowed to take breaks. This shop might be heaven for workaholics, but there's a lot of really excellent folks who just wouldn't enjoy their jobs if there was someone in…
I think this nails it. If you're part of a conscious diet and watching calories, diet soda can be a good choice, because you're _explicitly_ controlling for the effect the study is about - the false sweet causing…
I've gone through periods of life where this was true. There were reasons - truly bad boss, problems in my personal life, etc - but eventually I realized that slacking off had started to become the primary cause of my…
This person is not, and has never been, a software developer. I take issue with: "Such issues have been largely overlooked in the Amazon.com discussion, which takes for granted that "glitches" are inevitable and…
Paul Graham can be hit or miss, IMO, but this one is a direct hit. I don't mind meetings per se - in a good company, they have merit - but their effect on the work day can be disastrous. If you don't work somewhere that…
People like to claim that TV is only full of crap. This is grade A, Microsoft-FUD-level, Bullshit. Like anything, sure, most of it is crap. Just like if you went to a bookstore and picked up 10 random fantasy novels.…
IMDb is, well, a worldwide collaboration, but if pressed I'd say the driving force was primarily British. (With help from America, Italy, Australia, Germany, and a few other geeks of the day.) I suppose obsessive data…
Terrible advice! Also, if your side-job is at _all_ related to your main job, be very careful, and lean towards quitting sooner rather than later. Talk to a lawyer to make sure you'll actually own your side-work and get…
I also used to work at Amazon, and this is all true. Personally, I like having an ergonomically reasonable desk, and don't miss my door desk at all. The downside of frugal is, employees don't feel treated as well.…
I fundamentally agree with the author, even though I'd frame it differently. I vastly prefer living as a Software Engineer than my days studying Computer Science, because it's not all sterile, formal, and rigorous, but…
Yeah, no kidding. I think the only funny April Fools tech joke was the original announcement of Parrot. Which is even funnier since Parrot 1.0 was just actually released. :)
Because I'm not a sales or marketing person. :)
On the plus side, smoking is good for creating a social interaction situation - smokers meet each other and chat. And it creates some semi-forced breaks in the day, which is good. On the down side, there are health…
True. In this case, they were not major changes, the guy just wasn't doing anything. It can be useful to drive home what you already know, but not really to discover information. At a functional software house, it's…
You're doing nobody any favors by being passive-aggressive. The employee needs to know, management needs to know. Talk to his manager behind closed doors. Be reasonable. Provide data. Metrics can be misleading, but if…