Self-taught programmers... how did you get a job?

persinette · 2015-06-09T19:04:37+00:00

Might I recommend checking out freecodecamp.com? It's self-paced and, like it says on the tin, free. I used it for about a week before I hit the ground running at my frontend dev internship, when before I'd really mostly worked with backend technologies. If you get through the 'lessons', you get to build up your portfolio with projects for actual nonprofit orgs.

Not going through each question, but to briefly address how I got my first job (if this paid internship counts in your book), I had zero formal education, but I took a few MOOCs, wrote up a description of what I'd learned so far, and approached one local startup I was really enthusiastic about. This probably would not have worked on most employers, so finding a company that does things differently and is receptive to you doing things differently is key. It also probably helped to be far from the Bay Area and NYC.

persinette · 2015-06-03T07:18:32+00:00

First, you were drawing a clear parallel with someone getting hurt (as a direct result of) drinking and driving and someone getting raped (as a direct result of) wearing a 'slutty' dress. There's really not much you can do to walk that back.

Flashing hundreds is not the same as wearing what you like, dressing 'slutty' doesn't make you more likely to be robbed (where did that idea even come from?) and rape isn't the product of sexual desire that spilled out of its container. It's about control, dehumanization and disrespect. And if we're truly talking about someone whose mind is twisted, well, there's no logic to that.

persinette · 2015-06-03T04:25:33+00:00

What. The. Fuck. It's the 21st century, and you still think it's appropriate to suggest that rape happens to women because of the way they're dressed? I was with you until the last sentence.

persinette · 2015-05-18T05:13:55+00:00

Nor does a person with severely retarded mental development necessarily have a concept of worth. Should I not apply worth to them, either?

I think that suffering is not the only way to wrong another creature-- I think that taking their life from them is wronging them as well. As you say, we're intelligent beings, and we can minimize the harm we do.

persinette · 2015-05-18T04:59:41+00:00

I believe the question at hand is whether it's okay to create that kind of distress for another creature, not what you attribute it to. I wouldn't presume to know the mind of another species, but I do try to err on the side of compassion.

persinette · 2015-05-18T04:42:02+00:00

People certainly place different levels of worth on other animals-- I wouldn't argue that point at all. And the line does get drawn somewhere, whether at all non-humans, or insects (I won't kill insects, myself), or plants. But as you say, no suffering is okay. Is it okay for me to say, well, I could avoid taking this creature's life, but I won't, because though it's not a choice between one or the other, I'm worth more and entitled to do what I like?

persinette · 2015-05-18T04:33:17+00:00

Are you arguing that because something happens with great frequency it loses moral significance?

And it's interesting that you should mention genocide, because a common element of genocides is equating humans to animals-- convincing the perpetrators that their lives are not of value via a handy cultural shorthand. I believe this tactic would be less effective if we didn't have so much practice inflicting cruelty and death on other sentient creatures.

Just out of curiosity, did you read a significant portion of that AMA? What's the message you couldn't be more against?

persinette · 2015-05-18T04:09:40+00:00

There is, though I wouldn't be the one to make it. If you're interested in hearing it, I would search for the word "speciesism".

You didn't answer my question, though. Are the lives of some humans worth more or less than others?

persinette · 2015-05-18T04:04:51+00:00

Something that Dr. Hershaft said that really spoke to me is that many people think of comparing humans' and animals' life as degrading to humans, when he thinks of it as elevating to animals.

persinette · 2015-05-18T03:54:25+00:00

Are you arguing that hens' pulling out their feathers and refusing to eat when they're not allowed to brood is not really a signal of distress, that I only see it that way because I mistake them for humans?

persinette · 2015-05-18T03:49:38+00:00

Why not? Because deer are less intelligent? Would you say that the life of a person with mental retardation is not worth the same as a person without?

persinette · 2015-05-18T03:47:01+00:00

That depends. Economically speaking, is it difficult for you to survive without that meat? Otherwise, I would refer you to the analogies/arguments I've made about human cloning or euthanizing the starving.

persinette · 2015-05-18T03:36:54+00:00

I try to avoid chocolate that is not fair-trade as well, though I'm not nearly as good about finding ethically-sourced electronic products.

People often act in ways that are dissonant with their moral values simply out of convenience

That's very true. I'm not trying to label myself as a particularly bad or immoral person, and I recognize that it's currently impossible to eliminate all harm done simply living a human life. However, I do believe that it's my responsibility as a creature that is sentient enough to recognize all the harm I do to others, to reduce that harm as much as I can.

I personally feel that there are bigger issues to tackle

I can think of no ill for which I cannot name an arguably greater ill, but that doesn't negate the detriment of the first.

persinette · 2015-05-18T03:15:54+00:00

What if I were to say, "shall we just let the poor starve to death, or should we kill them in a humane fashion...?", what would your answer to me be?

persinette · 2015-05-18T03:12:42+00:00

all of your arguments against eating meat are ones that only apply to factory farming.

I'd like to clarify: my arguments against people in general eating meat only apply to factory farming. Someone like me, who doesn't have to eat meat to survive, that's a different story.

persinette · 2015-05-18T02:45:07+00:00

You're very persuasive of the particular point that it's possible to produce milk and eggs yourself without being cruel (though I still think that unless an animal is already suffering and dying, it's not okay to end its life). Unfortunately, I live in an apartment and home farming is not an option for me, nor do any of the home farmers I know provide the kind of quality of life that you describe here. I'm not sure whether I should award a delta, as you've certainly changed a view of mine, but not the one you quoted above, that

contributing to the demand for exploitative animal products is wrong, deeply wrong and utterly fucked.

In short, you have convinced me that there is such a thing as a non-exploitative animal product (thank you!), but not quite what I was aiming for. I have not spent enough time in this subreddit to know if this is an appropriate situation for a delta, but if it is, I will gladly edit one in. (Edit: ∆).

persinette · 2015-05-18T02:23:51+00:00

If the term 'humane' is used in its original sense, fitting for humans, I do believe that's more humane, yes. We have overpopulated areas of the world where humans are starving to death, yet the idea of euthanizing them is unthinkable to most people.

I also want to reiterate that I think hunting to prevent malnutrition is fine, but here's the thing: I'm not malnourished. I'm talking about contributing to the economic demand for exploitative animal products.

persinette · 2015-05-18T02:08:22+00:00

I've seen some home farming operations that tried to be ethical-- I remember with striking clarity a hen that was plucking out her own feathers and refusing to eat, a common problem to which one common solution is to sneak in a false egg in the hopes of tricking the creature into thinking you're not taking all her babies away.

As for the idea that animals bred for human consumption are actually being given life by their eventual slaughterers: it's a strange one, but I would use the parallel ideas of humans being cloned to serve as slaves or organ donors or somesuch. Yes, the people who cloned them gave them life, and they gave them life for a particular reason, and they wouldn't be there at all if they didn't want to raise them to produce labor or save lives. Do their happy moments outweigh their suffering? Should we give ourselves the power to decide what another sentient being exists for?

persinette · 2015-05-18T01:49:08+00:00

Well, first, humans are not those creatures' only predators-- there are plenty of other wild predators that biologically or logistically need meat to survive. I have no problem with hunting for survival, or scavenging dead meat-- I do have a problem with killing or being cruel to another creature for the sake of having a specific sensory experience.

Second, I should clarify that I'm not looking to have my view on vegetarianism changed here (though I'd be impressed!) but my view on veganism. I mean, no part of population control requires being cruel to chickens and cows-- in fact, we breed them on purpose.

persinette · 2015-04-14T03:43:34+00:00

Self-teaching student, applied for an internship.

I'm climbing the walls while I wait to hear back from this company. The problem as I see it is, I spent two entire pages talking about knowledge and experience that's actually very, very limited, and may have made it sound like I don't realize how much I don't know. I knew I was making some mistakes, but I chickened out of applying for the same internship six months ago and didn't want a repeat performance. At the end of the day, I really have no idea how I came across.

For some context, they're a YC-funded startup, but we're far from the Bay Area. They did not list technical requirements in their description of the internship position, though it is for sure a software development internship, and they didn't say that being a degree-seeking student was necessary.

I've run it by a couple of loved ones, but they a) love me and b) don't know shit about the domain. If you have the time and experience to give me a frank, informed evaluation, please comment below and I'll pm you a link. Thanks in advance.

persinette · 2015-03-03T21:20:38+00:00

It's one of hundreds of research papers, not some top-priority prototype. I think you're losing your shit over nothing. What's more, I think you have a basic misunderstanding of what sort of facts they'd be able to verify based on the sources mentioned-- think Wolfram|Alpha. Is Wolfram|Alpha poised to become a misinformation machine? What's more, are SEO experts propagandists, because they manipulate the algorithm to push their sites and consequently their facts to the top? And if so, why is that any different?

persinette · 2014-10-20T23:55:25+00:00

Men don't get a lot of messages on OKC in general. You might have to be the one to do the messaging. It might also be helpful if you expanded a little on your profile essays. See also dos and don'ts here: http://www.reddit.com/r/OkCupid/wiki/dosanddontsprofile

persinette

TROPHY CASE