fbnt

Anyway, writing machine code from scratch might still be readable, looking at compiler-generated code could be really complicated, as lots of redundant information is added.

I remember dealing with x86 assembly only when.. ermm.., 'bypassing' some software restrictons. It's amazing how much money a single JMP instruction, surgically replaced in an executable file, can save you :)

Negatives/things I didn't like during my experience in Accenture:

  - Working 10-14 hours a day (^). If you were to leave at 6pm your supervisor 
  would joke about it ("hey, did you get that part-time thing?").
  It's alienating and can be done only if you're young & single. 
  You are supposed to immolate yourself for the company.

  - Procedures & timetables to fill: I were required to follow the 
  most cumbersome procedures even for the simplier tasks and file every 
  single small detail of what I've done in a form somewhere for monitoring 
  purposes. 
  While this is a good practice in general, what was going on there 
  was beyond absurdity. I spent more time reporting what I was doing 
  than working on the actual task.

  - Dressing code = compulsory business attire, Suite + tie (!)

  - Managers overlydramatic speeches. Laughable attitude.

  - Strong pyramidal scheme. If your non-technical supervisor closed a deal 
  with the client on a specific feature, it didn't matter if it was technically 
  unfeasible and risked to put in jeopardy the whole system, you were -ordered- 
  to do it. obey. Reworking was then very common.

  - What matter isn't the quality of your work, it's the amount of time 
  you spend on it. You're consultants and your company charges the client by 
  the hours you do. The more you stay in the office, the better is for the company. 
  Optimization? who cares.

  - Most of my coworkers there were really, really, really bored. 
  Their life was sucked into the office, and the only thought they had on a 
  typical monday morning was how to make it through the next weekend.

  - I found some truly talented people, and I learned lots of both technical 
  and people skills.

  - You get to learn some self-discipline, especially when it comes to schedule 
  your time to reach specific goals.

  - On a professional point of view, I grew up a lot, it's a good 'gym', 
  an eye-opener.

(^) I don't mind working 10-14 on my own stuff, things that I'm crafting with my hands and that I find exciting. Pretending to work 14 hours on a bi-monthly report just because you've got to leave at the same time as everybody else is another thing.

The whole school system is fundamentally broken. Since elementary school to the very last stages of university education I've been told to study, work hard and eventually, with time, gain access to some big and famous corporate in a responsability position, get a lifelong contract, settle down and enjoy life. That should have been my professional life goal.

Entrpreunership isn't even remotely considered. It's like it was 'none of my business', as companies were somehow a father-son 'inheritance'. Add to that a very entrpreunership-adverse legislation (for an LLC equivalent in Italy you need a 20K deposit upfront and you'll be paying, at the end of the day, more than 50% of your profits in taxes) and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Also, the public opinion seems to have no or little interest in the matter, and the situation looks dreadfully stagnant.

Fortunately, there are sparks of cultural changes lately, especially with the younger folks, but it's a change that won't happen overnight for sure.

No problem, I'll add a few kbytes to every single page of my sites, so I can replicate the information I've already stated in a number of sitemaps, video sitemaps, headers and XML files.

P.S: I'm not agaisnt standardization at all, I'm just saying, this comes a bit late.

That actually wouldn't be a bad idea. As someone pointed out, I also feel that filesystem hierarchy, window frames and the desktop metaphor is now outdated and overly stretched. Imho, they would be better come out with a whole new OS with no backwards compatibility, while keeping developing windows for the time necessary (10-15 years) to allow most of its users and software a 'transition' to the new system.

If they don't do it, someone else will do.

This is my usual line when somebody ask me what I do for a living.

Still, I can see in many people's eyes (especially girls) a spark of prejudice: ( IT Guy = pragmatic, heartless, frustrated, framed boring nerd )

She paused 5 seconds and then replied: "It's exercise for your brain, it makes it more elastic!".

Eventually, I became an engineer (and learned the hard way why math matters), but I really hope she dosen't teach anymore.

Youtube wasn't the only video sharing service on the net at that time, but the only one allowing copyrighted material.

So youtube quickly became an hub for tv shows and music videos and while everyone else was fighting against DMCA notices, RIAA and taking down content, no one at youtube seemed to care. That's how they've got their first 10k users.

As they've estabilished as no.1 video sharing website, Youtube started to take care of the legal implications.

My objection to the article was that too often, engineers are considered subordinate by definition, and seen as mere doers with no say in the matter, which is in great contrast with the idea of being an engineer I had back when I was at the university.

Reality is that in some workplaces what you call 'managerial capability' ends up being the ability to carefully choose whom you're going to spend your coffee break or lunch with, false empathy, or just plain arsekissing. Some says this is office politics, but it's a game I don't like to play.

- 'Do not overlook the steadfast truth that your direct supervisor is your “boss.”'

Right, I'm an engineer, a technical person, and as such, I'm the one doing all the hard work. If I'm very good at my job, there will be no reason to promote me or assign me a responsability position, I'm perfect at doing what I do. I'm the only one with the ability to get things done. My boss instead, a non-technical people-person, can roam around and chit-chat all day.

- 'Be as particular as you can in the selection of your supervisor.'

What? How do you select your supervisor? In the real world, you get assigned a supervisor.

- 'Whenever you are asked by your manager to do something, you are expected to do exactly that.'

Exactly. You're a beast of burden, it dosen't matter if his/her requests are utterly absurd or impossible, you are expected to do exactly that. Obey your master.

I'm just a bit perplexed on one point though: if you're a founder of an 'hybrid startup' you're supposed to have deep knowledge of the (physical) industry domain you'll be working on and some kind of expertise of web dynamics. I think very few entrepreneurs can be very good at both.

I'll keep them in mind the next time I'm choosing the colour scheme for a new site.

Plus, now I can see why Facebook is all blueish.

However, I think you might have two minor problems here:

1) Getting people on the site and let people know you exist. See rmah's suggstion above. Free accounts for bloggers is a good idea at this stage, but not enough.

2) Customer acquisition: Please tell me immediately _how much_ I am going to spend. I won't hook my twitter account with your app, I've come to know your site 10 seconds ago, I won't let you dive through my contacts. I don't even know if this is a paid or a free service. To me this is a enough to let me close the browser tab and look away.

(works if you're already fluent with programming fundamentals)