I taught myself coding, but struggled through some of my CS computer science classes because I hadn't learned some (important) boring details. My peers who hadn't coded before, but were otherwise bright, excelled in these classes and have had impressive career trajectories after school.
Based on my personal experience, I don't believe prior experience with programming before college is that predictive of engineering talent.
I found the preamble at the beginning of the announcement charmingly dated:
> The Minor Planet Electronic Circulars contain information on unusual minor planets, routine data on comets and natural satellites, and occasional editorial announcements. They are published on behalf of Division F of the International Astronomical Union by the Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
>
> Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network
> The OpenVMS cluster consists of nine single-CPU workstations and one four-CPU server. All the machines are running the extremely robust and secure OpenVMS operating system. The twelve Alpha-based machines are arranged as an OpenVMS Cluster, allowing all machines to share disk storage, execution and batch queues and other resources, as well as simplifying system management.
Maybe not as old. I deployed a few racks of HP Alpha DS25s in 2007-2008 before they were replaced with Itanium based Blades (running OpenVMS 8.4). I do not miss working with OpenVMS one bit. It was rock stable (basically an on/off appliance) but the user experience left me wanting (coming from Linux).
I can see how they may be still stuck on Alphas because unless they can somehow simply recompile for x86-64 OpenVMS, it’s a complete rewrite from scratch.
Could they not get more juice out of a single, modern server? I get porting over to a new system and migrating is a huge time suck and a good enough reason not to do it if everything is working, just seems excessive for 14 cores.
> Could they not get more juice out of a single, modern server
They could probably get more performance out of one core on a modern phone, never mind a single modern server. But you see some really old systems in a lot of equipment, not because the porting costs are expensive, but the certification of proving the new system works the same is more than the operational cost of the legacy equipment.
I’ve heard of consultants who will virtualize systems like this in place using qemu emulation of CPUs like Alpha and Sparc and run it on a single server or in the cloud.
Sure, but the capital and one-time cost of acquiring and shifting to the modern server would be non-zero, and it would entail some risk. (While OpenVMS is maintained and runs on newer systems, that doesn't mean the software that matters on the existing cluster would run without modification.)
It probably would save operating costs, and probably over a reasonably short window, if it was done successfully, though.
In my personal experience I couldn't use Zed for editing python.
Firstly, when navigating in a large python repository, looking up references was extremely slow (sometimes on the order of minutes).
Secondly, searching for a string in the repo would sometimes be incorrect (e.g. I know the string exists but Zed says there aren't any results, as if a search index hasn't been updated). These two issues made it unusable.
I've been using PyCharm recently and found it to be far superior to anything else for Python. JetBrains builds really solid software.
Yes.. but all that really matters in a zero sum game is that Vscode and cursor have good Python integration and zeds is not good. I live zed otherwise but I have to do Python all day so I don’t use it
This is tragic. It's one of favorite games of all time--heck, one of my favorite media experiences, period. It's worth pushing through until you get hooked.
If you are trying to advance your career, I feel prepping for interviews is probably the number one most important thing you can do, unless you are freakishly gifted at acing interviews with no prep.
The number one most important thing you can do is to learn how to actually do the job. Your ability to pass interviews will follow from that. If the place you're applying to has an interview process that does not align well with the job, then you might not want to apply there -- they will be hiring a lot of people who are not a best fit for the role, and that's the environment you might end up working in.
Agree becoming good at your job is number one, but interviewing is an independent skill worth developing. The places I've worked that required interview prep in one form or another, were all around better and all around had higher quality employees. That's not an absolute rule (nothing is) of course. But prepping for interviews gives you more "yes" opportunities to evaluate companies, and once you get competing offers you see something you normally don't. You can get paid substantially more for the same job, without ever negotiating. Merely having other opportunities, your prospective employers will magically offer you more money, a bigger signing bonus, more stock, for the same exact job, and you don't even have to ask for it. You merely tell them all what they are all offering. But of course the real value is being comfortable and confident enough to _take_ multiple interviews, and ask hard questions, and using that to find better companies.
(This of course works for all kinds of things, not just interviewing: Quotes for house work, car purchase / sell offers, etc. Simply get more than one, and poof you get better deals).
I agree with you but only for junior engineers. You have to distinguish yourself. A senior should be expected to show competency in something already on their resume, and be able to learn whatever is thrown at them. The bigger priority with interviewing a senior is making sure they aren't bullshitting.
I took 2 years off where I made 0 income. Insurance was covered by the government and my healthcare was quite good. I didn't pay taxes because I didn't make any income. Getting back into the workforce happened literally within a single day (this was ~4 years ago when the market was different, not sure the same thing would happen now). I had no trouble switching jobs multiple times afterwards, either—recruiters and interviewers have never seemed to care that I took a break.
I was able to take some much needed time off to focus on personal projects and I'm extremely grateful I was able to do it.
My friends who didn't take time off were able to advance more in their careers, but I think it is a fair trade.
> Have been to the DMV? It sucked? There is a human being whose job it is to be in charge of the DMV. They do not care that it sucks.
Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've actually never had a bad experience at the DMV here in Seattle. The staff have been efficient, fast, and friendly every time.
I've had experiences with the DMV in three US states, and in two out of the three it was highly efficient and worked great. In one of them it was mediocre to unpleasant, but nothing to write home about.
I suspect the DMVs in LA and NYC are particularly bad and that's why it's a cultural meme.
Patton Oswalt has a bit on this and its too true. The problem with the DMV isn't the DMV or its employees... its the general public who can't be bothered to read basic instructions.
The idea that the DMV is a particularly awful experience does seem like something that would be especially susceptible to selection bias. Why would anyone ever announce "I went to the DMV today and it was fine"?
The service is fine. The lines and waits are horrendous and a DMV never seems to have the seating room for that. So you spend an hour before you even get in the door like you're waiting for a new iPhone or something.
Well, now that it is a meme, and the DMVs where I live is actually very effient, I've actually heard multiple people say "I went to the DMV, and actually it was fine"
Indiana's BMV used to be the Kafkaesque when I went with my mom in the 1970s. She waited in a huge line only to find out it was the wrong line...waited again to find she didn't have a certain document and had go home to get it.
About 20 years ago the would check to see if you had everything right as you came in.
Now it's almost magical how fast friendly and efficient they've become for the few times you actually have to visit. Most transactions are online or via mail.
I've had wonderful experiences at DOL offices (which are 3rd party contracted), not so much at the DMV. Which one are you going to? Honestly worth a drive (or bus ride, depending on the issue) to go to a a decent one
Same. Getting a drivers license and car plates in Seattle was a _fantastic_ experience. Start with a simple, fast web app. Finish with a 10 minute start-to-end in person appointment.
I think I have dealt with such organization thrice in my life. 3 driving tests. And on all times it was as pleasant experience as possible.
Only complaint I really have with that system is them caring too much. Why does my car need "type certificate" sticker... It is all online and tied to VIN... Replacement cost like 200€ and then tens more for showing them paperwork new one was ordered...
Nope. DNA is not really useful for show boundaries between species, because we all share a lot of it and an only a very specialist expert would know what genes make the flower. Is also very expensive and time consuming.
Plant families have consistent, easily recognizable and often stable floral formulas [1], that don't change among entire tribes. Finding an interval of families to classify our sample is much easier this way, does not need expensive machines and can be done in the middle of a jungle at 1000 Km of the next laboratory. In any case floral formulas are just a small part in the whole picture.
[1] This was the master plan; and now here come the tropics with its own agenda.
I taught myself coding, but struggled through some of my CS computer science classes because I hadn't learned some (important) boring details. My peers who hadn't coded before, but were otherwise bright, excelled in these classes and have had impressive career trajectories after school.
Based on my personal experience, I don't believe prior experience with programming before college is that predictive of engineering talent.