"Inflation is coming down"

[DTB]

View attachment 94502

My "watch" as a kid. play time=

Get home time =

 

[Red Flint]

Children, in particular adolescents, if they can handle the load, should be given the opportunity to go as far as possible in designing and writing lengthy programs, - as this will instill in them early skills at remembering complex workflows and steps that will remain with them for the rest of their life.

Hey ChatGPT, how about some python code to print 'You're a Gem, Bert" five times followed by printing "I'm an Idiot!" two times?

# Print "You're a Gem, Bert!" five times
for _ in range(5):
print("You're a Gem, Bert!")

# Print "I'm an Idiot!" two times
for _ in range(2):
print("I'm an Idiot!")

And… compile

You’re a Gem, Bert
You’re a Gem, Bert
You’re a Gem, Bert
You’re a Gem, Bert
You’re a Gem, Bert

I’m an Idiot
I’m an Idiot

 

[Fernando]

The days of getting easy employment as a coder are over unless you are smart who are in high demand.
I know someone who is smart (graduated in 3 years from UC Berkeley) and he tells me that in his company, a degree is required now as a way to screen the many applicants.
The days of no degrees and getting a coding job are over.

 

[RCA]

The days of getting easy employment as a coder are over unless you are smart who are in high demand.
I know someone who is smart (graduated in 3 years from UC Berkeley) and he tells me that in his company, a degree is required now as a way to screen the many applicants.
The days of no degrees and getting a coding job are over.

That is only true if the applicant doesn't have good software engineering experience. Experience tops everything. I know some programmers who only have an AA degree - but are strangely gifted. It can happen if they come from a family that has experienced hardship.

If all you have for education is a HS degree, then I would say it is next to impossible to get a job as a programmer. You need at least an AA degree, - and then it is assumed you are working on a BS.

But, for someone fresh out of college, a degree by itself is worthless - it has to be a degree in math/statistics, computer science or possibly engineering. And of course there is a rough ranking of college degrees by college and major. CMU and MIT rank very high. But don't make too much of the degree, because there are always software engineers around that have the best degrees, but are just not that great as programmers. -

But, to reiterate, it is the skill set that counts. Also, having the right attitude, being hard working, being committed, being a fast learner, getting along with people, getting the job done.

====

1. And, as far as I can see, there are plenty of $150K+ jobs around for software engineers in the SF Bay Area. Python tops the list easily, followed by Java, C, C++, C#, Javascript, Go, ....
2. The most requested degree is Masters (5000), then Bachelors (4000), then PhD (1000).
3. Experience level demand is first for "mid-level", then "senior level".

====
AI is a long ways off from replacing all or even "most" programmers. It will replace "some" lower level programmers, for sure.

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=python&l=San+Francisco+Bay+Area%2C+CA&sc=0kf%3Aattr%28D7S5D%29%3B&from=searchOnDesktopSerp&vjk=3aec91ffb34ba88f

 

[Fernando]

That is only true if the applicant doesn't have good software engineering experience. Experience tops everything. I know some programmers who only have an AA degree - but are strangely gifted. It can happen if they come from a family that has experienced hardship.

If all you have for education is a HS degree, then I would say it is next to impossible to get a job as a programmer. You need at least an AA degree, - and then it is assumed you are working on a BS.

But, for someone fresh out of college, a degree by itself is worthless - it has to be a degree in math/statistics, computer science or possibly engineering. And of course there is a rough ranking of college degrees by college and major. CMU and MIT rank very high. But don't make too much of the degree, because there are always software engineers around that have the best degrees, but are just not that great as programmers. -

But, to reiterate, it is the skill set that counts. Also, having the right attitude, being hard working, being committed, being a fast learner, getting along with people, getting the job done.

====

1. And, as far as I can see, there are plenty of $150K+ jobs around for software engineers in the SF Bay Area. Python tops the list easily, followed by Java, C, C++, C#, Javascript, Go, ....
2. The most requested degree is Masters (5000), then Bachelors (4000), then PhD (1000).
3. Experience level demand is first for "mid-level", then "senior level".

====
AI is a long ways off from replacing all or even "most" programmers. It will replace "some" lower level programmers, for sure.

https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=python&l=San+Francisco+Bay+Area%2C+CA&sc=0kf%3Aattr%28D7S5D%29%3B&from=searchOnDesktopSerp&vjk=3aec91ffb34ba88f

My smart friend quit his job and moved to be with his girlfriend. He didn't work for a year (nice not to work).
When he finally decided to get back to work, he seemed to have easily gotten a high senior computer job.
Smart people are in demand especially with his prestigious degree from Berkeley.
Over Thanksgiving that's when he told me that his company has too many applicants and to screen them, a degree is required.
Sure you can get by with an AA degree but your resume must be strong to prove your worth.

 

[RCA]

My smart friend quit his job and moved to be with his girlfriend. He didn't work for a year (nice not to work).
When he finally decided to get back to work, he seemed to have easily gotten a high senior computer job.
Smart people are in demand especially with his prestigious degree from Berkeley.
Over Thanksgiving that's when he told me that his company has too many applicants and to screen them, a degree is required.
Sure you can get by with an AA degree but your resume must be strong to prove your worth.

It's kind of a question which comes first? The horse or the cart? The horse of course.

It is not the degree, it is just that to get into the computer science program at UC Berkeley, or Stanford, you have to be darn smart. So, people "expect" that grads from these schools will most likely be very good programmers. That is often not the case. In fact, as an aside, PhDs often have a hard time getting good paying jobs, as employers prefer Master Degrees. With the PhD comes a snobbishness, an eliteness, that make working with these grads often difficult.

When you see a programmer doing his work, you will see speed, slowness, creativity, depth - all interacting against each other in most cases. Then comes being able to communicate with team members, share responsibilities and credit and so on. After at most 2 years, it usually becomes crystal clear who you are dealing with. And, admittedly there are all kinds of problems that take longer to popup. I have seen startups come out with what looked like a very promising killer app, that the world comes to realize after 3-4 years, has instead a killer flaw - usually because the founders didn't really understand the application area, i.e. they lacked sufficient experience in the field - although they had top degrees and were very bright.

 

[Fernando]

It's kind of a question which comes first? The horse or the cart? The horse of course.

It is not the degree, it is just that to get into the computer science program at UC Berkeley, or Stanford, you have to be darn smart. So, people "expect" that grads from these schools will most likely be very good programmers. That is often not the case. In fact, as an aside, PhDs often have a hard time getting good paying jobs, as employers prefer Master Degrees. With the PhD comes a snobbishness, an eliteness, that make working with these grads often difficult.

It is very difficult to get into the engineering/computer science major at Berkeley. The smart ones get through the program with no program whereas the majority struggles. Thus, the smart graduates are in high demand. Others will struggle to get ahead.
It's a known fact that PhDs are more toward academia and they do not make much money working as Professors. Money is in the private sector.

When you see a programmer doing his work, you will see speed, slowness, creativity, depth - all interacting against each other in most cases. Then comes being able to communicate with team members, share responsibilities and credit and so on. After at most 2 years, it usually becomes crystal clear who you are dealing with. And, admittedly there are all kinds of problems that take longer to popup. I have seen startups come out with what looked like a very promising killer app, that the world comes to realize after 3-4 years, has instead a killer flaw - usually because the founders didn't really understand the application area, i.e. they lacked sufficient experience in the field - although they had top degrees and were very bright.

There's a difference in working for a startup and an established large company. It's good to have experience working in a structured environment as how big company is run before having more latitude working in a startup.

 

[RCA]

It is very difficult to get into the engineering/computer science major at Berkeley. The smart ones get through the program with no program whereas the majority struggles. Thus, the smart graduates are in high demand. Others will struggle to get ahead.
It's a known fact that PhDs are more toward academia and they do not make much money working as Professors. Money is in the private sector.

There's a difference in working for a startup and an established large company. It's good to have experience working in a structured environment as how big company is run before having more latitude working in a startup.

It seems you are too focused on getting through college. It is one thing to do good in college and other to be successful in the real world. Yes, there is a fairly strong correlation. It is just that it often doesn't hold up well.

Sam Altman is a dropout. So is Bill Gates. The stories are all over the place.

YOU DON"T NEED TO GO TO COLLEGE TO BE A FANTASTIC PROGRAMMER. You can learn everything on your own. Really. It is just that you will have a more difficult time convincing others you are as good as you think you are.

At the other extreme we do have Ilya Sutskever, who does have a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto (ranked 9th in the world). He was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, but now works at his new company Safe Superintelligence. He is a genuine "doer" in the field. But, note that he is a self-starter. You can have a Ph.D. no problem - if you are a self-starter and leader.

Altman is not really a software engineer; rather more of an entrepreneur. That is not to say that he can't program. It is just that he seems to be more of a generalist. I don't find him interesting at all. I think he is wierd. He doesn't seem that popular as a person.

Ilya is more to my preference and down to earth.

Ilya Sutskever - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sam Altman - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Fernando]

It seems you are too focused on getting through college. It is one thing to do good in college and other to be successful in the real world. Yes, there is a fairly strong correlation. It is just that it often doesn't hold up well.

Sam Altman is a dropout. So is Bill Gates. The stories are all over the place.

YOU DON"T NEED TO GO TO COLLEGE TO BE A FANTASTIC PROGRAMMER. You can learn everything on your own. Really. It is just that you will have a more difficult time convincing others you are as good as you think you are.

I'm saying companies are using a degree as a way to screen out applicants.
College is different from the workplace environment. Once working for a company, everything has to be relearned from expectations while in college.

At the other extreme we do have Ilya Sutskever, who does have a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto (ranked 9th in the world). He was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, but now works at his new company Safe Superintelligence. He is a genuine "doer" in the field. But, note that he is a self-starter. You can have a Ph.D. no problem - if you are a self-starter and leader.

Altman is not really a software engineer; rather more of an entrepreneur. That is not to say that he can't program. It is just that he seems to be more of a generalist. I don't find him interesting at all. I think he is wierd. He doesn't seem that popular as a person.

Ilya is more to my preference and down to earth.

Ilya Sutskever - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sam Altman - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Most PH.D.s work in academia or research. They usually work for an entity and not self-starters. Few are entrepreneur thus many don't make as much money as business people.

 

[Fernando]

Fernando's take on business:

The interesting thing about business, it's not like the Olympics.
YOU DON'T GET ANY EXTRA POINTS FOR THE FACT THAT SOMETHING'S VERY HARD TO DO.
So you might as well just step over a one foot bar, instead of trying to jump over a 7 feet bar.