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xexerson Companies shouldn't give candidates homework assignments

> "Have a high "pass" rate. If 90+% of candidates aren't progressing past the homework, you might have an abuse problem. In an abuse problem, companies are giving homework to candidates who are unlikely to make it. Figure out why you're giving too many poor fits homework, or figure out why good fits aren't doing well."

That sounds crazy to me. Both from an employer and employee standpoint... If that's the case, it's a waste of time. Why have a test that almost everyone passes?

I've given homework like this before and our pass rate was about 40%.

xexerson France bans smartphone use in schools

> Boredom is a fact of life, and learning to accept it without forcing yourself to depend on a smartphone is an underrated skill.

There is a whole book on that topic:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VTZYPTF

xexerson France bans smartphone use in schools

So why not use a dumb phone as a cell; They're cheaper too!

xexerson Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do?

I agree. There are lots of tangent careers you can do with a CS degree. Also consider: IT operations, Quality Assurance, technical PM, network infrastructure. Some of these might require a bit more training, but your CS degree is a solid foundation to build from.

xexerson A new digital divide: Young people who can’t use keyboards

> If you aren't actually creating content [art, software, serious writing, etc] then using a mobile is fine

I've seen some serious art been made using ipads and even mobile phones alone. Hang out with creative teenagers and you'll see it too. There are entire video editing suites on ipad that can create slick videos entirely with touch gestures.

https://www.imore.com/why-i-love-editing-video-ipad-it-can-s...

xexerson Intel CEO resigns after relationship with employee

And Jeff Bezos

https://www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/scandalous-office-...

xexerson Intel CEO resigns after relationship with employee

> it's a Very Bad Thing

It's happened probably 10s of thousands of times in the past few decades... and some of those couples are now happily married. I personally know of a boss who married his secretary and a professor who married a student.

I think the words "Very Bad Thing" are a little excessive. It's risky behavior.

xexerson Ask HN: ZOS/Cobol Development in Canada?

Damn near every bank in Canada uses cobol on zOS and DB2. I'd suggest searching job postings at all major banks. Likely you'd need to move to Toronto though because that's where the bank HQs are. Also check out a company called CGI... they have a few Cobol/mainframe positions open right now:

https://cgi.njoyn.com/CGI/xweb/xweb.asp?page=joblisting&CLID...

Also, check out the Cobol cowboys:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol-idUSKBN17...

xexerson The Divorce Surge Is Over, but the Myth Lives On (2014)

ok, but now you are talking about kids. Your original comment was simply talking about partners.

xexerson The Divorce Surge Is Over, but the Myth Lives On (2014)

I don't understand. Sharing a house with a stable partner is cheaper than not. Right?

xexerson Ask HN: Is there a new habit you cultivated recently that is really paying off?

Scott Adams does this too. He goes to the gym everyday and laces up his shoes. Once that's done, it's considered a "successful day at the gym". Of course 99% of the time he stays for a workout... but yeah, the odd time he just goes home after lacing up his shoes.

xexerson Habits of Highly Miserable People

There is a school of thought in psychiatry that some people would do better to simply move on and forget about it. There was a good podcast on this topic here:

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-193-fck-feel...

xexerson Walmart will begin offering to subsidize college tuition for its U.S. workers

As apposed to now? Where you have 40 history PHDs all going for a single professor slot... and at the same time have tons of positions go vacant for months because there are no qualified candidates?

It may not be perfect, but it might be better than what we have now... Although, I'm not saying it will be... I'll reserve judgement until the data arrives.

xexerson Walmart will begin offering to subsidize college tuition for its U.S. workers

I totally agree. Also, Tom Hanks & Tina Fey both studied Drama... and both have contributed enormously to the world.

However, for every employed actor, there are probably 9 other starving drama students who will never make it. It's hard to encourage kids to take Drama with those odds unless the kid is super passionate about it... especially when it costs $60k to do so.

xexerson Walmart will begin offering to subsidize college tuition for its U.S. workers

> With that company

only temporarily. Once your working CV is strong enough you're free to move to another company

xexerson Walmart will begin offering to subsidize college tuition for its U.S. workers

I partly agree. But to play devil's advocate:

We have a lot of people graduating with useless degrees like History & Literature. These useless degrees often land people in a state of debt with no job. If a corporation(s) decides what degree you should get, there is a higher likelihood that at the end of your degree, you'll actually get a job.

xexerson Two Canadian banks say accounts compromised: CIBC 40,000 and BMO 50,000

Wow! That seemed so unbelievable I had to google it:

"Tangerine, much like BMO, also has a six character limit – numbers only, no letters and no special symbols allowed."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/digital-culture/w...

xexerson Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

Correct. $20 appears to be the exception. The majority of charges seem to be worth $5

Source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/8l12oj/electric...

xexerson US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

You would need 76 work days per year to keep up with reading all of your TOS

http://techland.time.com/2012/03/06/youd-need-76-work-days-t...

xexerson What Data Does Facebook Collect When I’m Not Using Facebook, and Why?

Is there a rock solid proof that shadow profiles exist? I only ever seen anecdotal evidence... and Zuck said he's not aware of them.

The wikipedia page doesnt have much:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook#Shadow_profiles

xexerson Teenager facing prison for downloading unsecured files from government website

I think someone's house is "private by default"... even if the door is unlocked, you know you shouldnt go in there.

The internet is public by default.

xexerson Don’t Do for Money What Others Do for Love

Is this article a total rip off of a reddit thread from yesterday?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/8aqs7q/whats_a_j...

EDIT: I'm an idiot. The author mentions this fact. I should really read the full article.

xexerson Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

> Isn’t it intensely anti-meritocratic and something to be discouraged, not encouraged?

Life is not fair. You may as well learn to play the game as the rules actually are as apposed to what they "should" be.

xexerson Comcast, AT&T and Verizon pose a greater surveillance risk than Facebook

When the article says "what medical symptoms you search"... Comcast can't see what you search if you're connected to a page using https, right? All of the major search engines and medical sites all use https... so, what are they talking about?

xexerson Comcast, AT&T and Verizon pose a greater surveillance risk than Facebook

I recommend installing a VPN right on your router. Flash your router with something like dd-wrt

xexerson Users Abandon Facebook After Cambridge Analytica Findings

Are you sure those companies aren't still selling your data? Especially in your example of youtube premium... I'd imagine youtube is selling the data about which videos you liked, watched, etc. The premium part may just be that you don't see any ads

xexerson Self-driving Uber car kills Arizona woman crossing street

No, I'm not going to do that. I just didnt know what they meant.

xexerson Self-driving Uber car kills Arizona woman crossing street

Forgive me, I don't understand what you mean. Please elaborate.

xexerson Canada to Scrap IBM Payroll Plan Gone Awry Costing $1B

The unions have crazy complex pay rules.

For example, in the private sector, if my boss goes away on a 2 week vacation, usually the boss might delegate someone to answer questions and possibly run meetings... but that delegated person doesn't get paid more.

However, the public sector unions have negotiated that the delegated person get a pay bump for those 2 weeks only while the boss is away.