GrandMasterBirt

Let me rephrase this question because I have the exact same problem:

Granted that I do not have enough time to start a start up myself, or seek out VCs for money, since I NEED my 9-5 job to feed myself and family (literally), I am naturally seeking for one or few people to start the company with so that we have enough time/brainpower between the X of us to actually make the startup work at least while we are actually paying in peanuts.

Now my unfortunate problem is that I don't have a friend I am willing to do this with. So is there a methodology people here use to find someone to start the startup with?

Now it's either that OR I am forced to wait until my wife graduates with her masters and gets a higher-paying job than me. In which case I guess I can quit work and focus on the startup. Is this the better alternative than looking for someone?

I wasent aware of those yahoo videos on advanced js programming... Absolutely awsome! My only regret is that I can't vote this up 50 times :)

This actually solves a lot of my javascript design woes. I will start adapting some useful patterns now :) Leave it to the folks at yahoo to come up with some brilliant solutions.

When you get to the last boss of a video game you dont stop and think: "What was that command that was used to whip out my stape gun so I can staple his tentacles to the wall since I havent used that gun since level 1?" Then go though 10 manuals, google, and a buch of other crap and find out the command was: ^x+' obvious right? Just like copy-paste in vim.

Asside from the gawd awful language, the thing is that java is nothing special.

If its platform native code vs VM, well we got: Java (woo)

Ruby (woo-er)

Python (woo-er-er)

Haskel

Lua

Freaken' Emacs and it's lisp

tons of lisp derivitives

The list goes on. Java is not the only VM on the market. This article would have been good in 1996.

I don't understand how anyone can be against us Pastafarians/Lolcoders!!! What is wrong with everyone? Just because I write legibly does not mean that I don't want my code to tell me that its in my pants waiting for input!

And obviously you all have not been blessed by his noodly appendages, but I shall not go and spread our sacred gospel, he shall come and touch you with his noodliness and you shall instantly convert.

Also if you have really hot co-workers spending time in the office is always a plus! I have no problem looking for a different job in exchange for a hot piece of ass if company policy gets in the way. (alright now I offended someone)... The trouble is getting the hot married ones, this takes skill and dedication (and a complete lack of caring for your current job).

I did... in training :)

However be careful, a smart person with nothing to do is a very unhappy person.

At some point though we start to create problems for ourselves. It depends on the job. Some jobs let your creativity go wild by pushing your limits and mental capabilities. Sometimes they don't and they feel stale and not moving anywhere.

The stale jobs (and I see this) cause good thinkers to start thinking up big problems to solve. They don't like to be bored with monkey work (coding where no amazing creativity is necessary).

My last job pushed my capabilities to their limits. However my current one does not. And right now I feel like I am not learning anything, not getting better (getting worse if anything), but I try to learn from anything I can. Eventually if this job does not pick up I will be forced to leave not due to bad people, but due to boredom.

Last job I went on google news, hacker news, the daily wtf when I had down time. Here I do it because its the only way to keep sane. Damn you economic recession!

In any case next interview ask the question: "I like a challenge and chance to improve myself in things I am good or bad at and feel that my job should be something that forces me to become better than I am today. Do you think this position will challenge my abilities to their limit, and I don't mean can I do a 10 day project in 5?"

My co-workers are big-time mac enthusiasts... however we all run windows at work.

I think his comment on Mac OS and Linux are perfect:

1) "Mac OS is really good for the things that are easy to do on it. Apple put alot of effort into making certain asspects easy and stable. Everything else, you don't want to do jedi mind trick wave."

2) "I've never had problems with Linux, EVER, I know where everything is, what programs start, what is on it, etc... the only thing is I've never used Linux as a desktop."

And of course my take:

When buying a computer, does not matter what computer and for what reason, KNOW YOUR REASON FOR BUYING IT. I tell my friends, my wife, anyone who asks me, "If you are buying a laptop buy one that is CHEAP and accomplishes what you need to do, don't get 100000gb of ram and a Pentium 4 processor (just an exaggeration)." The same goes with the operating systems. Know what you are using it for, what works on it, what works well on it, and who is using it. I tell my friends "you can get windows vista, but don't ask me for help configuring it since I don't know it" because I know they will ask. And to them the coolness and ease of vista does not outweigh the need to be able to ask for help.

1 - Why do you want Mac? Because you saw those mac commercials? Then get a mac and live in a fantasy world.

2 - Are the developers you want to hire going to want to learn the OS you chose? People can get turned off at the fact that they use windows at home, mac at work, and don't feel like learning another OS. Do NOT get frustrated at people asking the same questions over and over about configuring the OS. It takes time to get used to it. Like driving a Honda Civic vs driving a Ford Expedition, people need time to get comfortable.

3 - Do you ALREADY know someone who can support the OS of choosing? If not then your company is in serious trouble. You WILL run into OS problems. I know how to solve windows problems, not mac problems, so if I was to get a mac there is a learning curve before I can solve problems as well as I can on windows.

4 - Are there applications for the OS of choosing that you want/need to use? If you are using eclipse, then whatever, you can run VM to emulate IE6/7. If you care about TextMate like it is your only oxygen supply, then you better go mac. If you want the nifty linux commands, then download cygwin OR unixutils (http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/). Don't pick the OS before you pick the tools. The tools are your lifeblood, the OS is your heart. If your heart can't pump the composition of your lifeblood then its worthless and you are dead.

5 - Linux does not save you money.

Unfortunately windows has a grip on us. And don't fight it "just because". I actually thing while MS is evil Apple is 10x worse. So shed those personal beliefs and think what is best for the company, not "cool".

People love high numbers. They don't want to hear that they buy cable but their packets get the same priority as anyone else. They will sue saying "You promised me 1mbps I can't reach that".

Remember how time warner doubled or more their up/down speeds, but put major caps in place making users cap out their monthly quota in a matter of hours if downloading at the given rates?

Prioritize by pay. If I pay more, my packets are of higher priority than someone else's but as long as noone starves the internet will be fine. If the server is 50% free, and I have enough bandwidth to use the other 50%, why not? HOWEVER if someone needs it, they will bump down my usage.

What I never understood is why people like computers to be IDLE? We have a server that runs at 50% capacity, we want 50% capacity free just in case... No, we want a system where every bit of capacity is used, just tasks that are low priority get bumped down when resources are needed. It makes no sense, we are not dealing with water buckets where filling it prevents more water from going in. HOWEVER upper management likes to see the fact that they are always "safe" even if safe is stupid, expensive, pointless, and not safe.

Work out??? Oh no no no no no. If you get hired because you look good, either you are incompetent (work out and do it man) or you should not take the job. ALL jobs I interviewed for dug deep within my brain to get a taste of my problem solving skills and knowledge of programming. Good people skills help, if you can get along with the interviewers (a few laughs to ease the tension) then you have a better shot than someone else, but that's where it ends.

If it is a choice between a weak candidate who looks good, is fun, and has a ton of linked in buddies, or a strong candidate who is worse at all of the above, I doubt the pretty face is going to get the job.

I happen to be one of those. After I left my manager left to a different team, and my most senior member got promoted. He actually offered to try and get my job back at a 30% salary increase because I was too damn useful to get laid off (with a hefty severence). Fortunately for me I had another job and I actually wanted to stay at that one (I liked the old job quite a bit, but I didn't trust the company enough to even consider going back).

I ended up with a large bonus and a shiny new job with a higher pay. So I ended up on top :). Its skill and mainly lots of luck. So polish your luck skills! How? I duno but damnit you need to do it!

In any case, to upper management you are a number, to the people who know you, if you are good then your value is known, but to upper management you are a title and a salary. Unless the CEO knows you by name management does not know about how great you are, what you did, and how much they are going to miss you.

Unfortunately not all companies have you, your manager, his manager, and the CEO. At some point its you, your manager, his manager, his manager's manager, (go 4 more levels up), CEO. And after his manager's manager nobody will know you, about you, or anything good/bad you did.

This is especially true when you have a team of ALL excellent developers (I was fortunate) and they have to lay a few off.

That's why I love computers. As for the sea, people were just not made to be sea-faring. We just came up with really cool ways to get around this limitation... Stupid requirement of having to do things like breath air.

This methodology is so simple that it is brilliant. My favorite one was the file extension problem... of course ubuntu would solve everything. No file, no problem! I am surprised he didn't tell the receptionist to roll on the floor saying hail linux while he did a witchdoctor dance. Now only if my office had a receptionist so we can do this.

As to why computer jobs require competence, it is because any engineering position (computer, or otherwise) requires competence. Would you live in a building without knowing that it won't collapse tomorrow because the construction company didn't know how to calculate the required strength of the steel beams needed to support the structure?

A company won't go under because a secretary does not know how to make perfectly formatted word files from the get-go. Where as it will fail if a software company's key product is managed/coded by incompetence.

This puts my faith back into humanity. I've heard people say "we should have nuked Afghanistan, to show that we are not to be messed with... you punch a bully in the face, you don't talk to him trying to work out your differences."

I've always felt that taking people out of ignorance will always make them less inclined to kill. The more logical justification people have for doing good and not doing bad vs purely faith-based, the harder it is for some religious nut-job to come in and say "kill the infidels in the name of god".

Oh god, I already trust Microsoft to slow down everything I do at home, but if my breathing apparatus in my hospital responsible for saving my life hits the BSOD, I am going to rise from the dead and eat some MS brains.

Aside from the fact that my wife would kill me... I would neglect my daughter which is perhaps the most unappealing aspect of this whole business... I guess a compressed 30 years of 9-5 does not sound good to me.

MS having unusable products is like Exxon not selling fuel. Very quickly users will abandon windows in favor of Apple if it gets too bad.

Its good that these sort of issues are exposed, even if by Bill. The scary thing is that MS QA does not pick this stuff up.

As more of this stuff gets exposed this will hopefully make MS work harder. And as Apple is becoming a REAL contender, hopefully MS will pull their head out of their ass.

He should have mentioned: "Its an open desk area where talking to other employees is highly discouraged"

Hows about my new job:

$0 salary. In fact you spend money to work. Its a privilege. You can't quit.

You can't act on your frustrations or the government might intervene.

You have to deal with a lot of shit.

Its always noisy.

You need to get a second job. Usually the second job is a vacation from your first job.

The only time you can go on vacation is when you get someone to take over for you at your expense.

There are no sick days, if you are sick you have to come up with creative ways to do the job and not get anyone at work sick. Also you have to work.

Sometimes you get the job. Sometimes the job is given to you, you can't reject. The government ensures that you take the job whether you like it or not.

You might be offered the position multiple times. See previous point.

There is an eventual payoff... But it is not guaranteed.

The only real up side is looking for the job is REALLY fun.

What I like about this is the following: Recording industries retract all laws regarding media types, once you buy content you are free to convert it as you please.

This is a step in the right direction. However I am just waiting on people using ToR and such networks to hide their traffic causing this whole mumbo-jumbo of a law to become completely useless. Its just necessary to have a "seamless" integration into your favorite downloading software.

That's what this system is set up for. To protect YOU. Linkedin mislead you (allegedly) to believe there would be no recurring charge. They made it extremely difficult (currently impossible) to cancel these charges. Call your CC company and put a stop on all future charges. Your CC company will fight to help you. Remember CC companies make good money if you stick with them (a % of every sale goes to the CC company's pocket) so they want your business.

I would always dress "professionally" because I do not know what the guy on the other side is going to think. I don't want the start of the interview to be the end of it. When I talk to the interviewer I can know if that person is someone I can be working with, I always ask what the dress code is like and I assure you it makes no difference.

One company was 100% casual (don't wear a miniskirt and you are fine). The company was the biggest POS to work for.

Another company is business casual (occasionally they don't mind me wearing a t-shirt and jeans) and it is is just a pleasure to work at this one.

Edit: I actually like wearing business casual, very comfortable cloths.

Alternative to drilling = no need to drill in wildlife preserves. [good]

Alternative to drilling = main money-maker of middle east going to be eliminated (good for us, bad for people living there). [bad]

Alternative to drilling = global warming problems going to worsen because oil-user companies (car companies etc...) will have less incentive to become more efficient. I just hope that this "carbon negative" statement they made is not a pr-ploy [ugly]

We just hit that straight on a few days ago. Client wanted something (obviously overdramaticized it), catering to their needs we came up with an elaborate and unfortunately ugly solution, which we thought was ridiculous but necessary. Then my co-worker asked the client a REALLY good question "Did you really have 'this[something]' in mind?" and after a yes from the client the solution was ridiculously simple. And everyone went home happy.

Next time just step back and ask yourself "what did the client really want?" Then ask the client if you guessed correctly.

You need investors when you need heavy funding. For now just live with your parents or wherever and make a prototype. From there you might be able to convince an investor that this is the next big thing. If you are hosting a website, then start it up, and show it off.

Hell I am 24 and I am not waiting for an investor to make my company a reality. If it fails, who cares, I got many years to try again :)

A nice recap, I doubt anyone can just pick up calculus from this.

Plus, calc 1 was a breeze, calc 2 is where the brain-pain started.

My friend's company has a policy: Everyone gets code reviews all the time by peers.

The benefit is, the reviewer gets to learn a different part of the system, and the person getting reviewed gets his code scrutinized. It is a very beneficial system.

As far as showing bad code: There is a different between delivering crap and delivering code you are satisfied with. If you are satisfied with it, thats when scrutiny is necessary. You need to get a feel for when the code is good enough, because you can spend all your life making it just a bit better. Same kind of stuff applies to artists, you just need to know when to stop improving and start letting others scrutinize the work.

I always felt that if I can't put my code to others' scrutiny and live with the fact that it has errors and be glad that others spent THEIR time to help ME find problems, then I am a pretty crappy programmer. After all I can't expect myself to be the omnipotent programmer who writes perfect code.

Edit: I always felt that if someone did not look at some code and find a problem with it, they just didn't look hard enough :)