I don't have time for this

I'm a bit older, around 40 years old, recently...

2011-01-08T17:55:33.884-05:00

I'm a bit older, around 40 years old, recently made redundant.

I chose to go straight into my chosen field of work after high school and not get a degree. This has never held me back until now.

Most employers now simply say you must have a degree - any degree - because they are so easy to come by these days that most people have one. I personally don't agree that a degree is worth anything unless it is relevant to the working environment.

Also, the analogy with the driving licence is ridiculous.

my issue with the subject of education is this: wh...

2010-04-26T10:40:10.130-04:00

my issue with the subject of education is this: what ever happened to employer assistence in formal training? who cares if you have a degree? if an employer is implimenting a new technology, it seems that the bottom line concludes that hirering a person that already knows said technology is cheeper then sending existing people to up their skill. this maybe so, but the loyalty and moral costs with hurt in the long run

Thanks for your comment. I agree that the slow pac...

2010-04-14T13:21:40.846-04:00

Thanks for your comment. I agree that the slow pace of progress is serious problem. Of course, Microsoft hasn't had much motivation to make progress until recently. Also, I think that as time goes by and the number of features increases and the user base grows, any project will slow its pace of progress. This works to the benefit of Chrome and Firefox today, but I think the advantage will diminish over time. In fact, I think Firefox is struggling to keep pace with Chrome for the same reason.

None of this matters. The web moves at light speed...

2010-04-14T12:28:53.586-04:00

None of this matters. The web moves at light speed. IE development moves at the speed of the US postal system. It does not matter if IE9 is the best thing since peanut butter met jelly. Anything it brings to the table will be matched by the other browsers within a few short release cycles.
Then we'll be waiting another 2 years talking about all the goodies to be released in IE 10.
It doesnt matter, the web would have moved on by then.

'a' is a function. it's the constant f...

2010-03-13T22:46:21.281-05:00

'a' is a function. it's the constant function, without which the lambda calculus would not work.

Hi, I'm considering using VSTS DE at our compa...

2009-11-17T11:05:03.190-05:00

Hi, I'm considering using VSTS DE at our company. We also have a pretty sadistic db schema that we want to move away from, and I wonder if this tool would help. I've been stalking it for years but I haven't heard many people getting excited about it. Have you been using it? What are your impressions?

Hello, one doesn't have to posses a degree to...

2009-08-14T08:29:49.936-04:00

Hello,

one doesn't have to posses a degree to be considered "intelligent". It's like possessing a driver license - you don't to have one to be able to drive, even to drive better than others do.

But.. Would you sit down in a taxi with a driver w/out a driving license? Nor me. Would you trust a doctor w/out the license? Well, nor me. I mean: when you feel like a SW architect, why don't you have a degree? A degree is not THE guarantee to be good, but it's a good way to show the others you are a pro.

Bye,
MA, M.Sc. ;-)

One thing I think a lot of us are guilty of is usi...

2009-06-16T09:01:21.604-04:00

One thing I think a lot of us are guilty of is using comments as a way of "validating" what we've done in code.

For instance, I've seen a lot of instances where the writer has felt the need to provide justifications for poor work, rather than taking a bit more time to write something "good" and perhaps even self-documenting.

I guess the rationale is that, because "commenting is good practice", making use of comments absolves us of bad design choices.

My general rule: I find that running narratives in the comments almost always mask what we know to be sub-par design.

Instead, be concise, and use comments sparingly. Following what Daniel has suggested, and assuming you *care* for the maintainablity of your work, this mindset will be an asset to the quality of your product because it will help promote code that doesn't need explanation or justification.

Certainly comments do have their place when used well. BUT, one should always question their motivation for adding a comment.

A quote: If the code and comments do not agree, bo...

2009-04-01T17:39:00.000-04:00

A quote: If the code and comments do not agree, both are wrong.

I find this to be true. If they don't agree, then one or the other was changed, and steps weren't followed to properly test and comment the code.

I think I figured it out, you have to start from t...

2009-03-16T11:51:00.000-04:00

I think I figured it out, you have to start from the highest part in the chain in order to drill down like that.

are you sure your example works? I tried it and w...

2009-03-16T11:39:00.000-04:00

are you sure your example works? I tried it and when i hit dot on the table I'm referencing I can pull up the related tables but when I hit dot after that I don't see any column names, just functions relating to LINQ like "add", "addRange", "Aggregate<>", etc... From what I'm experiencing, I will have to do a join anyways, not the magic that you describe in your post. :P

This post triggered some thoughts: http://www.deve...

2009-02-16T03:08:00.000-05:00

This post triggered some thoughts: http://www.develop-one.net/blog/2009/02/16/HowAboutThoseCodeComments.aspx

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the comment. I agree th...

2009-01-19T15:42:00.000-05:00

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the comment. I agree that Haskell can certainly be concise to a fault. On the other hand, we as C# programmers have taken it for granted that we must say all the things C# expects us to say.

It's interesting to consider the perspective of someone who does not know of either C# or Haskell. Which version of "square" makes the most sense to that person? I dare say that almost anyone with a basic understanding of math can understand the Haskell version. Not so for the C# version. There's too much there that doesn't have anything to do with the actual intent of the function.

I agree that Haskell can be more concise than C#. ...

2009-01-19T02:11:00.000-05:00

I agree that Haskell can be more concise than C#. But is that a good thing, or a bad?

Are developers in the business of achieving most with minimal typing, or is a language allowed to be a little verbose, just to be more clear?

In you example I'd have no problems typing the extra characters needed to create the Square function in C#. Why? The typing requires little to none effort in terms of thinking about the code. Ofcourse this is partly to because I'm less skilled in reading/writing Haskell, but I would venture to say that Haskell is a harder to read language than C#. There is less information, so understanding what the code is doing requires more effort, or a more skilled programmer. Right?

Also, and I've said this before,the usefulness of a programming language is greatly defined by the quality of the development environment that is available for the tool. Syntax is only the second useful quality to look for.

- Mark

Even if you're a non-degree holder, there are seve...

2009-01-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

Even if you're a non-degree holder, there are several sites now that help students create a free student resume online and even post their jobs wanted ad! One example is NUresume, http://www.nuresume.com, where students create a free online resume and can post internships, scholarships, jobs and even colleges wanted.

I wasn't necessarily trying to make a "point" in m...

2009-01-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

I wasn't necessarily trying to make a "point" in my first part. I was only stating that I agree with parts of what Adam said. Simply, there are companies that do look at and care about education. This is not my opinion but a fact proven to me through action of companies I've seen.

For the higher level math comment I will say something. We'll occasionally give interviewers a basic problem like translating between logarithmic and linear scales (something done all the time in AD converters and DSP processing). Not even asking for pseudo, just to explain where so start and 9/10 well get a "No idea". To be honest, most of the time we'll get blank stares when asked to show how to do a bit-shift operation.

Good write, BTW.

My company treats a bachelors degree as about the ...

2009-01-04T15:08:00.000-05:00

My company treats a bachelors degree as about the equivalent of two years of experience. If you have no degree and no experience, you probably aren't going to get an interview. If you have no degree and no experience, you might be a good lone programmer, but you probably know nothing about software development in a team, version control, build management, etc.

This 2 year gap decreases over time, because the more experience you have the less importance is placed on a degree.

Nick,

Your first point seems to be that deg...

2009-01-04T14:06:00.000-05:00

Nick,

Your first point seems to be that degrees must be important because people think they are important, which seems to me to be circular reasoning. Or are you just agreeing with me that "Perception Is Reality"?

Regarding your other point, do you truly believe that a college or university is the only setting in which someone can learn "higher level" math?

Daniel,

Hi. Right on target! Nah, I am no...

2009-01-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

Daniel,

Hi. Right on target! Nah, I am not talking about your "little dirty confession" ;). "Perception Is Reality", so why do you act as if you were ashamed of the fact that you are not a college graduate? You clearly have a cutthroat debate in your head where the whole thing is divided into two perspectives - your own ("I could take on a college graduate") and the rest of the world ("Without a degree I am a failure").

I was hardly able to retain sarcasm when I see you trying to rationalize your life long observations in the single blog post.

I am 25 years old and a Data Architect. For me disregarding official degree was a conscious choice, a choice that I've been always proud of. You are right, not everyone needs a degree. Why don't you do us all a favor and carry this fact with pride that it deserves?

I have to agree with most of what Adam said, excep...

2009-01-04T10:45:00.000-05:00

I have to agree with most of what Adam said, except maybe the money part. If we get a stack of resumes, and need to find ways to slim it down we will look at education, but who doesn't? If it wasn't important then people wouldn't put it on a resume at all.

Perhaps education isn't that important at some companies, like if you're just blabbing stuff to a web page, but sometimes you need to use math to deal with coordinate translations, transposing logarithmic data to linear, breaking a task to run over a few processors, etc. For that, you want to hire someone that's taken and understands higher level math.

I agree that having a degree is not important. I'v...

2009-01-04T03:58:00.000-05:00

I agree that having a degree is not important. I've just graduated and from a technical perspective, I've learnt almost nothing that I didn't previously learn myself.

BUT, college did allow me meet some great people, lecturers and students, who have pushed me to do my best.

A degree, not worth it (except for resume padding). As a learning and socializing experience, worth it.

You hit the mark when you said:

"I think th...

2009-01-03T17:37:00.000-05:00

You hit the mark when you said:

"I think the primary benefit of learning in a college/university classroom setting is the fact that most people do not have the motivation or, in some cases, the ability to educate themselves."

I know several people who have a degree and have never done a darn thing with it. They simply don't have the passion for their chosen field that a self-taught person has.

Employers who will only hire and pay well people with a degree are foolish and ignorant. They are following the pack that says you must have a degree in order to qualified for something. Ridiculous!

A degree in CS is great just for completeness - do...

2009-01-03T17:22:00.000-05:00

A degree in CS is great just for completeness - doesn't make you any more or less smart. As a coder - if you can find a niche and work happily within it, you probably don't need one.

The big benefit, though, is not having to learn fundamental skills as a function of the process of developing software, and (hopefully) not making fundamental mistakes.

That is, it's not so much what it teaches you; but the sheer spectrum of concepts that you may not otherwise encounter that form the value of the degree.

I blogged about this entry here.

I totaly agree with this:

I might be prejud...

2009-01-03T11:59:00.000-05:00

I totaly agree with this:

I might be prejudice, but fact is if a developer can easily explain to me what Big O notation is and the difference between a linked list and a hashtable, I'd prefer going on with the guy that knows these things and does NOT have a degree then the person who learned those subjects at college...