leap_ahead

>> Patent trolls have no political clout. Zero chance of police arresting someone on their behalf (let alone them calling police to request this).

But they have rich guys behind them. What if they decide to make "an example" of me, to scare everyone in the US and abroad and convince them to give in and just pay extortion money to them? Right know every non-US company just ignores them and that's huge potential money to be made. It cannot be done through European courts for instance but they could use another intimidation tactic like making the IT community know that everyone who doesn't pay to the trolls will be arrested if he ever crosses the US border. That would be a very profitable venture.

>> Muslim friends could bring you more scrutiny. But they'd have to be pretty dirty to warrant that much attention on you. I haven't heard one case of someone being taken to a secret prison just to be convinced to turn spy.

What about this?

http://www.thelocal.se/20120419/40368

>> If you're taken to a supposed "secret prison", you're probably there to stay.

Okay, thank you very much, I'm staying home then.

Of course. But the thing is, they actually reported what really happened.

Conversely, do you realize this sort of things shouldn't be really happening in what claims to be the most advanced and civilized country on this planet? I'm not hearing of this crap happening in central Europe for instance. You can expect these things from some forgotten African country, but not really from one of the so called first-world countries.

Really, those government agents should have had access to sufficient information to determine if those 160000 dollars had a legitimate origin and a legitimate objective. Where's the due process please? For many people this sum could represent several years of savings. The government can't just take it for no reason.

Perhaps this poor black guy should consider emigration from the US. He could move to Europe. I'm sure if he was ready to launch a startup he should be able to land a good job there, then get rid of the US passport a few years later.

Maybe some day but not today. Today I'm not comfortable with the mere idea.

What if some patent troll learns I'm going for a visit to the US? What if they secretly tell the police to arrest me at the airport and then sue me over some dumb patents?

What if somebody makes a joke on the Internet and then I'm detained at the airport and interrogated whether I have fought in the Ukraine?

What if they learn I have some Muslim friends and decide to question me if I knew of any bombing plans? What if they send me to one of their secret prisons to beat out my consent to spy on my friends?

You see my problem?

>> In the US, you can talk about it, you can get a lawyer

The problem is, you must be able to afford a lawyer. If the legal process of defending oneself is only available to the rich, then it largely does no exist for the general population.

Same here, from a Russian citizen.

Russian citizen here.

This sort of things I have regularly been hearing about the US over the last decade make me really sad. Some 20 years ago America was a symbol of civil liberties for us. I considered one day maybe going there to work and live. A few years ago I still entertained an idea of going there for an internship. Today I'd be scared to go there even as a tourist or on a short business trip.

Let's say I go there. Then what? My cell phone and laptop can be confiscated at the airport for no reason. When I continue on to the streets I can be mugged by the police and get all of my money taken from me. And then when I go on without my phone or any money in my pocket, I can get killed in a mass shooting by yet another disgruntled worker who's just been laid off or by a high school freak whose girlfriend has just left him. Or maybe I don't get shot but then get sued by somebody for whatever reason and then I'm going to need from a few hundred thousands bucks to a few millions to defend myself in a court. Which will probably consider a Russian citizen a hacker and a criminal and pronounce me guilty anyway.

Sound like a true third world country to me. I'm not saying Russia is much better. But it's not the same America I've gotten to know from the movies of the 60s-80s.

What happened to you? How have you fallen so low?

>> The Dutch can be horribly rude and argumentative...

As a Russian, so can I. It can be a useful trait under circumstances, but I generally try to keep it in control.

If I get an idea to work in Europe again, I'll pay closer attention to the Dutch opportunities. It's important for the people to "click" on a cross-cultural level in order to work well as a team, and I'm afraid I didn't click nearly enough back in Germany.

Anyway, no culture is perfect. We're supposed to learn from each other and work on our bad sides as recognized in others and by others.

Agreed. I should have been more specific and said "maintenance jobs from a mainstream market". COBOL is different in that it was used to develop niche software for rather prosperous organizations. Naturally, they didn't mind paying extra to get the necessary skills. Somehow I doubt many of the currently hot web frameworks will enjoy the same fate. Some might last longer than the others but for the most part these are the commodities with a relatively short life span.

Somehow the reality demonstrates the opposite:

>> 1. Go increases in popularity.

Lots of people rush into the market with the newly learned Go skills and the salaries take a dive.

>> 2. Go decreases in popularity. Many many projects still exist that are written in Go.

These need to be maintained. Maintenance jobs pay poorly and do not advance one's skill set, leaving one with the outdated skills after a while. New shiny things are developed in new languages and those who quickly learn them before everybody else get to earn some good money.

Specialization gives you an edge... for a brief while until this skill becomes a commodity and is eventually outsourced.

Lesson to take: focus on some skill which cannot be easily learned by a vast army of outsourced workers. Everyone can learn some Java or Go or whatever. Not everybody can run a consultancy. Not everybody can talk to humans and translate their needs into software solutions. Not everybody can found a company. These are the skills that provide the highest ROI in the long run.

Being able to deliver, seeing the big picture and recognizing the opportunities. Turning ideas into products. Becoming your own boss.

Technology-wise, nothing will guarantee you a safe future. Tools change all the time, every few years the names of the instruments you see in job ads get [almost] completely replaced. Every year more and more people go into IT attracted by high salaries, hence the competition always grows.

You're just a few years away from realizing technologies will always change and you won't be able to keep up for long. You will also realize soon the tools are not that important compared to the problems you're trying to solve.

Focus on preparing yourself for a leadership role and an independent future. Should pay off more than any next programming language you can learn (and then discard a few years later).

I find this all fascinating that resonates well with me. I used to work in Germany but found them too formal and official in both working and personal relationships. Perhaps I should have tried it in the Netherlands.

That's because experienced software developers know they can only be productive for 4-5 hours a day and any attempt to forcefully extend this time results in lower quality work and hidden bugs. Then you get a senseless situation on your hands - you first waste a few extra hours to make things bad then you spend additional time to correct your mistakes. You might as well just go home and enjoy extra personal time, to come back fresh and energized the next day. In 20-25 hours per week you can actually accomplish a lot. A 40 hour week will wear you quickly. A 50 hour week can bring you one step closer to a burn-out and possibly damage your health in a long run.

Additionally, there might me some cultural issue involved. A few years ago I worked in Germany and the one thing I didn't like about the German workspace is that companies didn't really want their workers to be productive and efficient, they just wanted them to put in all of their official working hours and complete all of the formalities involved, while also frowning upon any activities outside work. That was one of the reasons why I eventually moved out. I wanted to accomplish things and grow, the companies I interviewed at wanted me to stay 9-5 and be satisfied with their routine. I grew to dislike this attitude and eventually made other plans for myself.

Personally, I have come to realize that you cannot truly prepare for a technical interview no matter what you do. You can study for months in a futile attempt to commit to memory everything that might be relevant (data structures, algorithms, maths, statistics, API reference etc.) but they will always find something to ask you that you missed during your studies.

These days I simply reply that I do not do technical interviews any more as I do not believe these can efficiently probe one's professional abilities and I cannot justify expending time in memorizing bulkloads of trivial information for the sake of going through some rite of passage, which some interviews often turn into.

Agreeing to a technical interview also puts you at a disadvantage. They will probe your weak spots and then use this knowledge to publicly disgrace you, declare you less competent than what you'd like them to believe and then to low-ball you with an offer below what you might otherwise get. Many developers fall for that trick, the best you can do is to make sure you don't join their group.

Just say to them you will not do a technical interview (or a test project on your own unpaid time) but that you are prepared to meet and have a constructive discussion around their needs and your willingness to possibly help them out with whatever they have in mind. If they don't like it, skip them for the next company in your list.