Posted on 11/15/2008 8:33:25 PM PST by neverdem
My cousin was writing avionics software in JOVIAL at Boeing. That was in the early 90s. I wonder if Ada actually replaced JOVIAL for that application. I've watched a few projects launched in Ada. After months making no progress, they were ordered to switch to C++ by the customer. While they made more progress, it wasn't stellar as they had retained the "ada engineers" to write C++. They were clueless when it came to writing constructors, destructors, initializers, copy constructors, assignment operators and a host of other common C++ coding tasks.
Yowza! See, that’s what instantly drove me out of the field before my feet were even wet. I take an average of 6 weeks vacation per year, and I like it that way.
There was a study several years ago about the extrovert / introvert ratio for various professions. The group with the highest number of isolated introverts was park rangers. The second group was IS professionals.
Women tend to require more social interaction than men. They tend to avoid both of these professions.
Now my question is this: It seems to me that the majority of women in the computer field specialize in database. I have no idea why.
the neat (and important) thing is that it teaches how it all works under the hood. C is like that to some extent. Come to think of it, w/ C you can also get a good feel for how the underlying OS works as well.
Today, I purchase my tech books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders. Amazon has a good everyday price. Borders puts out 20%-40% off list coupons on a regular basis. That is a good approach when Amazon offers no discount. A B&N membership is useful on those rare occasions when the store stocks a title you want. My recent purchase of Skolnik's 3rd edition Radar Handbook was accomplished via a "used" book listing on Amazon. I paid $90 for a book with a list of $166 and everyday discount to $118. Aside from a remainder mark, it is new.
I've been in software development for more than 35 years, and I am good at mathematics. But it is my experience that very few programming professionals have an eighth grade math capability. Unless you are programming for an engineering firm, 5th grade arithmetic suffices.
I googled “emo girls” and there are lots of pictures out there. But what the heck does “emo girl” mean?
My company has plenty of openings for software engineers. The sticking point is getting the security clearance AND having the right skills. Those jobs aren't getting outsourced, but many aren't getting filled either. You also have to be willing to relocate as the classified tasks are going to be done at a specific geographic location. You need to live nearby to come to work.
Porn? How do you connect computer science and porn? There’s nothing sexy about OOP, normalizing databases, DASD allocation, coding EDI transactions, or designing SSIS packages.
My students at Southwestern College (1980-1983) received a good dose of 6800 and 8085 assembly language. The class used some dedicated 6800 single board computers made by EPA and a Hewlett Packard SBC based on the 8085. It was a bit primitive. We "assembled" on graph paper. Addresses down the first column, mnemonics in the 2nd column, arguments in the 3rd column, comments in the 4th column. Most loops required a 2's comp calculation to make a relative jump backwards. I had the entire 6800 op code set memorized to facilitate rapid examination and debug of the student's work before it was entered into the trainer.
After 3 1/2 years of teaching this class as a mixed academic/Regional Occupational Program course, the ROP administrator reported that 91% of my students had been hired by DEC or IBM. A few of them had jobs maintaining equipment installed at my PacBell data center.
A couple weeks ago, I discovered the C18 compiler used in my embedded system was not doing a unsigned 16-bit X unsigned 16-bit multiply properly. I had to write a few lines of assembler to do it right. No big deal. I wrote all the A to D code in assembler as well. One of the tasks in the chip is to sample 3 accelerometer channels at 128 samples per second. The RMS and peak calculations are then forwarded over the CAN bus to the PC104 Linux system.
Second, you haven't challenged my point at all. My claim is mathematical inclination, and it stands: women are (statistically) less interested and less proficient in pure logic and mathematics. There are structural changes in the human brain that occur as early as in utero as a result of male hormones. This isn't politically correct, but it's the truth. That isn't to say some women aren't capable: it's a statistic, which has no valid application to individuals. But statistics is what this article discusses. And for any Amy Noether or Marie Curie you can name I can name dozens of equally or more capable men who've advanced mathematics, mathematical physics, science and engineering.
I have to do the web site work as collateral duty. Along with keeping the Linux system patches up to date and system backups. My Apache server also doubles as a means to capture my incoming data from the rail cars. The company firewall only allows TCP/22 and TCP/80. Incoming data arrives via TCP/80 to a CGI coded in C for speed. Less demanding CGI apps are done in python. The database back end ia mySQL. I have to do the database admin too.
I've purchased a hunting license every year since moving to Idaho in 2000. Inevitably, the new contracts get funded in October or products need to be delivered over the "holidays". I have yet to hunt anything since moving. Even the paper targets and spinners are feeling neglected.
I suppose that is why the DSP heavy jobs still have openings. Some of my colleagues have attempted using the MATLAB compiler to create "MEX" files that are natively executable. Sadly, the code doesn't run as fast as the interpreted MATLAB code. That's good for me. My C++/assembler equivalents run like lightning. The only faster alternative is Xilinx FPGA implementations.
I had some coworkers go to Providence a couple of years ago on business in late October and they went up to Salem on Halloween night. Judging from the pictures and their comments "freak show" just scratches the surface. ;-)
Best of luck to your son.
I'm a good example of combining those two careers. I am both an RN (patient care for 20 yrs) and a clinical analyst in a hospital IT dept and absolutely love my work!
There are a lot of varied job opportunities out there in the nursing field if you are prepared to think "outside the box".
It’s been a great career for my husband. He’s made enough money for me to stay home with the kids, and we’ll probably be able to retire fairly young.
In Silicon Valley, my husband can’t find enough engineers to hire. He said the salaries the engineers are asking are outrageous, even kids straight out of college.
If your idea of Computer Science is MCSE or CCIE, you clearly do not understand Computer Science.
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