vermasque

'Is dropping out of a CS degree from a good college saying "I also want startup thrill" a good idea? Or a stupid idea?'

Instead of dropping out, you could simply take some time off from college. Pursue an idea or a skill for the duration of a semester instead of spending time in the classroom; you can go back to college at the end of your sabbatical. You may want to check with your college if you have to notify them of your temporary absence so they don't think you dropped out entirely (never done this before so just playing it safe). I wish I had done this. I would have taken sabbatical after my second or third year to build up skills that I enjoyed. It would have also helped for applying to internships or full-time jobs that require some level of experience. In addition, I would have used that time to work on other life skills like fitness.

As others have said, complete the degree to play it safe.

Thanks for posting this.

The takeaway here is to turn off auto-fill and auto-login. You'll still get most of the convenience of the browser extension password manager: a repository of strong passwords that you don't have to remember and can access easily on multiple devices. This is why I use LastPass. I used to use KeePass and even donated to the project, but I wanted more convenience, support in the long run, and never liked the .NET dependency.

Google?

In my few months in RTP, I felt like there was no center of action in the place. Just lots of trees and roads.

I look at http://careers.stackoverflow.com/ and of course the Who's Hiring postings here on HN

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

I've been using Ubuntu for 3 years and just never bothered to switch away to another distro. Before I started using Ubuntu, I had a Windows Vista laptop, and I just wanted to migrate to some Linux away from Windows. Chose the most popular option.

Since I began, I've had two major issues. A failed upgrade from 11.10 to 12-something put me between a rock and a hard place. I couldn't find a way to fix the upgrade or restore to a clean state without reinstalling the OS. Eventually, I just installed 12.04 LTS because I could install it from Windows. The other major issue was my wireless not working (Realtek on a Dell Vostro from 2009). I had to install the wireless drivers from source code (Ubuntu installation tools didn't help at all) and then reboot a few times to get it working.

I use Linux primarily because I wanted a first-class *nix command line: bash, GNU core utils, etc. When this laptop dies, I'll probably switch to a Macbook Air.

I partly agree here. We do need better tools that make complexity more maintainable. On the other hand, we have to be wise in the features we choose. Design has to change to accommodate features, and sometimes the design would be better without supporting a feature. It's all about benefits vs. costs.

"Just if we have to relearn this every year, let alone every generation"

Perhaps this assumption is wrong. The problem is that some people never learned to be wary of the total cost of their choices. If you miss the forest for the trees, you'll never recognize the actions that can cause technical debt before the technical debt is realized.

When you say centrally stored, who do you want to store it? I use LastPass, and the LastPass company stores backups. I previously used KeePass but had to manage the backups myself (Dropbox in my case).

She can either fix her workplace or get a new one. If she is as talented as you say she is, then she should take her talents elsewhere. Vote with your feet. I would not be so pessimistic to say that every environment would be like this (at least in the USA).

Sounds like a TODO for a desparate Steve Ballmer

According to this, apparently IETF may not care much: http://people.csail.mit.edu/jaffer/MIXF/

Smartest Guys in the Room (about Enron) Cocaine Cowboys (about the drug boom in Miami during the 70's)

I tend to get into work at 10:30 AM which is later than all the other developers at my workplace, but they all have families so their schedules may revolve around other responsibilities. I've tried getting up earlier, but I always revert to the 10:30 schedule after a day or two. I always end up doing something or getting more sleep that undoes the early plan. While I understand the lack of interruptions is a benefit, I'm not even sure why I get up at 8-8:30 AM. Perhaps it's just a random habit.

odesk.com or elance.com

The next big thing won't be the next big thing until it is obviously was the next big thing. It may be more productive to focus on a problem and see how far you could make progress on it. If you make enough progress, it becomes the next big thing. For example, I've been dreaming about speeding up software development. There are a lot of pieces of that puzzle across tools, project management, training, etc. I think about it a lot and over time through my career I want to explore all sorts of ways to go faster and faster. Years from now, I'm sure software developers will say how slow things used to be just like we surely can make comparisons to the past of punch card computing and manual memory management.

In terms of watching the future unfold as a spectator, perhaps self-driving cars or 3-D printers are the next big thing.

In the US, I see an apprenticeship program not necessarily as an alternative to college (yet), but as a way for companies to groom junior engineers into senior engineers. If top talent is hard to find and costs a lot, it makes sense to invest in your employees to build them up. I can't see a 10x return from such a program, but just 2x would justify an investment. Like code reviews, it would reduce rework with more feedback to avoid future mistakes.

Perhaps you need to work on persuading your parents about your intentions by describing a complete plan. Do you have a plan to get a job from the self-study through books and Coursera? Have you considered dropping out of school and getting a GED so that you still will have a piece of paper while spending more time on your personal projects? I have heard of this approach from an entrepreneur who was building a business around your age. Are you planning on applying to college after dropping out of high school? AP courses in middle/high school can be used to get college credits, saving a lot of money and time.

The "stupid piece of paper" is used by employers as another way to confirm that a person has skills they need. It's about reducing risk. Some companies might not be willing to hire someone who doesn't a piece of a paper from a respectable university. And you might want to work for these companies. There are always exceptions, but you will have to be exceptional in their eyes.

I'm not saying you shouldn't drop out. I definitely have issues with the schools and understand that time can be wasted for some students. Have a plan for how you will achieve success and understand that all decisions have trade-offs: benefits and costs. And consider how your plan might fail and how you will handle it.

Very useful! I got a job through a post. I was able to hire an intern for my employer through a post. The first place to look for my next job will be there.

Search/Sorting is a definite room for improvement so I can narrow down the opportunities that I'm interested in by location, skills, etc. Obviously, the HN comment system is quite limited for that stuff.

Thanks for posting this article! I was actually in the middle of getting back into lifting to 1) improve my health and 2) gain some confidence by accomplishing something in my personal life. I e-mailed a personal training studio a few weeks ago, and they never responded even though they recommended that means to get in touch with them. My next step was going to be to enroll in a "big box" gym to take advantage of year-end deals and start personal training sessions there. This article gave me the thought that I should consider some more self-education first. I may enroll in a gym anyway as they have the gear and the space for working out, but I should consider self-training. Will check out the Starting Strength book.

Thanks for the feedback! austin360 is already looking promising. Too bad I'm not a bar guy though.

If there is a group of companies that you would like to work for, you could learn the programming language that those companies use. That could be less risky in order to get a job with them.

Another option for getting job experience as a beginner would be to do small freelance work available from a site like freelance.com or odesk.com (or a similar European site). The barrier to entry may be lower as someone doesn't have to hire you for a full-time position to do some paid programming. You could learn a programming language that matches the needs of jobs available on those sites that you are interested in.

MJ DeMarco: The Millionaire Fastlane

Regardless of what you read, you'll prove that you learned something if you do something with this stuff beyond reading.

Renting a place to live is form of reliance; in this case, the renter is relying on the landowner to maintain the property and allow the renter to live there. Ultimately, we have to choose between what freedoms we want and what freedoms we are willing to sacrifice to live a good life. I've rented for a while because I needed the freedom to move around, and it has been the right choice so far. My parents own a home, and it has been the right choice for them considering that they have settled in one location for a much longer time.

What are these fundamentals that devs should know?

Got a new job through one of the hiring threads. Got a compensation boost from previous job so HN has been thousands of dollars profitable for me.

Highly recommended. Gives a "behind-the-scenes" feel. I like JWZ's comment about how he won the "startup lottery."

I've had a good experience with Ubuntu on one of Dell's Vostro laptops. Vostros are part of Dell's small business offerings, but you don't have to actually run a business to buy or use them.

It would be more useful if it was easy to compare places. For example, do I save money crossing the state line to buy something? Some states also charge sales tax on specific things that other states disregard (e.g., clothing).

The biggest benefit is more clear understanding of changes in development teams over significant periods of time. For example, when was this function changed? That's very hard to answer when the diffs are not semantic.

The Eclipse IDE provides semantic diffs on top of version control when viewing specific commits (pending or already committed) but this is obviously not part of the underlying version control system and is limited.