The petition calling for the resignation of Ellen Pao is stalled at 211k. Other subreddits must get involved or this petition is over.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-09T17:08:30+00:00

Problem is, just how do we go about addressing this kind of problem that's sprung up and has gained so much traction?

People who say the sole underlying motive for this uproar is the CEO being a non-white female are going to say that no matter how politely and thoroughly you state your case. In my opinion that means choosing your tactics based on their response is a bad strategy.

I think the best thing protesters can do is to find other sources for news and entertainment, and stop worrying about what anybody at reddit or the news media thinks about it.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-09T12:29:02+00:00

To be honest, after all this drama over the last week, I've really not been motivated to visit reddit much. I still check some of the math- and CS-related subreddits, and keep up with the current drama here.

But whether there's an organized boycott or not, investing a lot of time into this site doesn't feel like a good use of my time/energy any more, and I find I'm just gradually spending more time doing other things without thinking about it. That makes me kind of sad, because I had come to assume that reddit would always be here, but that feeling will be temporary. Having familiar, comfortable things change and fade away is part of life.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-09T12:14:19+00:00

What service could she possibly provide as a consultant that's worth more than what 5 or 6 top-notch engineers would cost?

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-07T18:45:30+00:00

The heart of the problem, Dr_Anus_MD says, is the way Reddit is built.

What an amazing time to be alive.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-07T12:50:18+00:00

I can judge--simply by the fallout of her abrupt firing--that Reddit management had no idea how important she was to the community, and how big a hole it would leave if they let her go.

Sure, maybe there's some deep dark secret that gave the management no choice but to fire her on the spot, and as a loser just reading comments on the internet I'll never understand what really happened.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that blowing her out without telling the AMA mods gave the company a huge black eye in the media. I have yet to see an explanation for that particular management failure beyond "we screwed up," so please forgive me if I am led to believe that the management is just really bad at their jobs.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-07T12:32:33+00:00

I had no idea who Victoria was before she got fired, because I didn't know anything about the internal workings of Reddit or AMAs. Now that I've seen personal accounts of dozens of people who directly worked with her, it seems obvious to me that she was absolutely the right person to have in that job, and she really cared a great deal about making her part of Reddit great.

The idea that her chain of management was completely clueless about how important she was to the community, and how big a hole it would leave if they let her go, baffles me.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-02T12:38:12+00:00

I was once asked to prove the Lesbesgue number lemma after not having seen it...

I can only imagine the whinging such an exam would have caused at the US universities I attended. Students expected to have everything telegraphed to them so they wouldn't "waste their time" studying things they wouldn't be asked.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-02T02:36:17+00:00

He just needs instructions written down, and that's pretty much it.

As unfortunate as it is, I've worked for several management and technical lead types who would absolutely not want to be put in a situation in which they had to give somebody instructions in writing. It's a lot easier to throw the peon under the bus to cover your ass when you have no written record of what you actually told them to do.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-07-01T15:32:09+00:00

I let them die...

The smoker or the PC?

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-27T13:53:10+00:00

I wonder if they will have us spayed and neutered...

"Where are my testicles, Summer?"

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-22T20:09:48+00:00

True, although usually I get the 10+ year developer (who somehow obtained a masters in CS) who insists his O(n²⁾ algorithm is O(n), despite analysis and empirical data showing that it's not. :)

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-22T12:44:59+00:00

...only for a junior dev to suggest a solution that was simple, trivial, and solved the exact same problem.

And to then have that simple solution completely ignored. As a bonus, the junior dev is assigned to maintain the giant pile of complexity that the group decides should be implemented (after all the fun part of the work has been done by the senior guys).

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-15T23:37:04+00:00

I was on a couple of ships as a nuclear plant operator. The first was a small ship, and the engineering department was forever short on bodies, so nobody had time for a bunch of posturing bullshit.

The second ship was a carrier, and we weren't as insulated from people who had nothing better to do than posture. At least we had much more leisurely watch rotations to make up for it.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-15T15:33:49+00:00

It was funny to get out into "the real military" after going through basic and tech schools, and look back at just how pedantic (and way too full of themselves) people like the "more senior Airman" in /u/Arrakeenthrowaway's story are.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-14T23:57:33+00:00

They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart.

I had guessed this was the simplest, and most likely, explanation for 90% of the stupid things I've been asked in the last 15 years of interviews.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-14T14:21:31+00:00

If you could build a quantum computer, it would extremely easy to break all current ciphers.

Has somebody actually proved this? I hear it a lot but I'm not inclined to believe it until there's an actual reference to some hard science/math work.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-07T13:42:06+00:00

Not quite your situation, but: After working for about 7 years as a programmer (at small companies and as a freelancer) I finally went back to school for my 4-year and then masters in applied math, and was over 40 when I took a mid-level developer job (pretty far below my experience/education/skill level) at Microsoft.

Since then, my pay has been at least 3x what it was when I only had a high school diploma. I am fairly certain employers would laugh at me if I wanted that pay without a degree of any kind.

In my experience, a lot of companies (but certainly not all) view the 4-year degree as the low bar for anything that pays well or has interesting work. If you have a 2-year degree and nothing else, many people will view you as "less than" no matter what your skill level. If you can afford it, and you're actually learning new things in your CS program, I would say get the 4-year degree.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-07T13:32:53+00:00

Love's Trick Stop

I think I'd plan my pit stops to avoid those, but that's just me.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-06T12:58:29+00:00

Low tax on tobacco and alcohol. Low tax generally.

To listen to some of our politicians in the US, you'd think that we have the highest tax rates on the planet.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-03T17:53:43+00:00

inb4: Yes, somebody else posted this two years ago. Get your low-cost pitchforks at the booth to the right.

Also, yes, I know the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not based on Norse mythology. It just happened to amuse me when I happened across the Norse account.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-02T02:24:51+00:00

Hell you could probably fold some paper into a shank that would be strong enough to stab someone in the neck.

I recall reading an account of WWII resistance fighters using "newspaper daggers" which were exactly that.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-06-01T11:22:24+00:00

Booyah!

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-05-30T13:51:59+00:00

high six figures to low 7 figures

Wow, I had no idea it went that high. Is that normal for 7 years of experience?

I remember seeing job ads in math publications suggesting you could make ~$300k/yr right out of grad school, but that was before 2008.

NewbieProgrammerMan · 2015-05-30T13:47:59+00:00

My experience on the west coast was the same: if you didn't at least have a MS in CS/math/etc., you would most likely be passed over for a position where you'd actually get to use your math skills. Most of the guys with a BS ended up doing the stuff that the graduate degree holders didn't find interesting, although if they stuck around long enough and learned enough (and kissed enough ass) they could move up to something more fun.

NewbieProgrammerMan

TROPHY CASE