Ok, so let the rest of us know the secret...:confused:

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

Gee, you should have grown up when I did, in the 60's when practically everything worked, AS ADVERTISED! Whether it was the car (450 HP Roadrunner that would literally stomp the dog P!$$ out of any of today's pocket rockets) or the telephone (you could burn one of Ma Bells phones up in a house fire and it would still work!) it all worked. Sad to say, could'nt say the same for the government. It took us a long time to get out of Nam...

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

That's exactly how I've been developing software, small steps... I've found that in many cases the cycle is as short as a day or even hours depending on the nature of the project. However, my average seems to be around a 1 to 2 week phase. I personally don't like projects that do not implement 'staged' deliverables. With staging (i.e. delivering features to test/users when they become available) one can more easily spot unwanted 'features', work flow compromises, un-anticipated side effects, etc. This allows for a better foundation to build the rest of the functionality into the software. Planning is a necessary phase however, it should be treated as a 'battle' plan. No battle plan has ever survived intact the initial strike and no software plan that I know of has ever survived the initial development phase intact. The plan is a guide to a path, it is not the path. So much for my soapbox today, I thank you for your response, have a great day...

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

Gee, I thougth that was called 'programming'... Iterative development is what I've been doing for the last 20 years, no matter what the tool, it's a methodology, not something that comes in a package. I have never seen a piece of software that was of any significance (developed in assembler, cobol, fortran, old basics, c, c++, c#, asp, vb vb.net, lisp, algo, modula, python, etc...) that did not go through iteration after iteration both in development and with the inevitable change request, feature upgrades, re-design for a newer platform, etc. And yes, 99% of the time all of the requirements are not identified up front. The problem with many people in management is that they think they can order up software like a big mac and fries. What they don't realize is that in the un-real world of coding there are a whole lot of considerations. It's kind of like the company that models some sort of application/database in access. Sure it works with 100,000 rows but what happens when you scale it to 20,000,000 rows? It breaks, then you need to get out sql server or oracle or db2 or something that is designed for large scale, high volumn transaction processing. However, now the apps themselves won't work. So they have to be re-engineered. And finally, some genius bean counter wants to run everything off of a windows app server on the network because some smuck salesman told him he could save money that way. Never mind the extra money that has to be paid to the poor data entry person who has to wait 30 sec to a minute everytime they refresh the data... So you see, software development is always an iterative process, and it is an educational one too. Those of us who know technologies have to constantly save people like the poor bean counter from themselves. That in itself is an iterative process...

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

Hmm... locks... I worked in Da City for awhile, I came up out of the hole at Madison in front of the Mitsi building. There was a bicycle frame attached to a lamp post via a kryptonite lock. Just the frame, no wheels tires, crank ball bearing raceways, nothing but the frame... That afternoon I returned to the 'hole' to journey out of Da City and it was gone. Moral to the story: Locks are to keep honest people honest and lazy thieves from getting it. Nothing will stop a determined thief (except for the law, crowbar, 357 magnum, etc...) Regards,

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

60 to 80

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

I've played this game before... The consulting firm will always try to get as much as they can and give you anywhere from 40% to 70% of the pie. The trick is to know what you are worth in the market and then: Nail the interview and create NEED at the client for your talents. Don't let the firm lock you into a rate of say $30 or $40 an hour when you know they are going to get $60 to $100 for you (remember, do your research.) Let them know that you are willing to take say 25% to 35% less but that's it and stand on it. Remember, they need you and you can usually up your rate somewhat with them, however, most firms have guidelines that specify that the recruiter can only cut it to say 60% or 70% and that's it. Also, depending on the needs and saturation of the market some firms may just as soon say ADIOS and find someone else as go through taking a reduction in their cut. However, if you know that you are meeting a unique and rare need you can negotiate from strength and maximize your take of the pie. Do your research on both the client and the firm, know what the firm is generally getting and the client is paying but don't throw it in their face, be subtle about it when negotiating but set a bottom rate that you will not come off of. If their not willing to meet your expectations, find another firm. Remember this fact: Consulting firms do not exist without consultants. If you decide to go the 1099 route keep ALL of your expenses and file your TAXES! Don't miss quaterly filings. The penalties can really add up if you don't have enough money to pay so, pay the IRS, STATE and whatever else you have to WHEN YOU HAVE TO. Regards,

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

I agree, how many of those "academics" have written a 'real' application? I'll bet you very few, or it's mostly unix based mishmashes of borne shell scripting along with some C or C++ or whatever (maybe lisp). In the real world we write real apps. complete with the always challenging and sometimes very difficult graphical user interface, backend database server and usually client/server architecture (n-tier, 2, 3 or sometimes 4). Couple that with trying to get good project specs from end users (usually like pulling teeth out of a chicken) and now we are getting pretty close to the 'real world'. Now, add in the internet and the level of difficulty suddenly increases by an order of magnitude...

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

Have you ever been to Redmond? Their headquarters is located at One Microsoft Way. There is always something in a name...

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

The same thing that happened to the Venusians. Runaway greenhouse effect. When all that peat moss in Siberia heats up and releases it's Carbon Dioxide along with the trapped 'soda bottle' type of carbon dioxide in the Oceans that will be release we will soon have temperatures in excess of the boiling point of water! So it's goodbye cruel world, we thought we were going to make it to the stars but alas, we couldn't keep our greedy little hands out of Mother Nature's cookie jar long enough to realize that burning the cookies just wasn't right. And, since we were not smart enough to figure out how to get off of this rock after we've ruined it then its goodbye to the species, hello extinction! Hell, the Dinosaurs lasted longer than we did...

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

WinTune? WinMusic? WinPlayer? WinStream? Oh, here's a good one, WinPod... Whatever happened to the win moniker...? Can it kill the iPod? Where does a 50,000,000,000 pound gorilla sleep? In Redmond, WA.

Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

100000110100111010011100010110011011000010100110010110011000001001001101001110000010011101001111101010010000010100111001111100000100001010000011000100100001 Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

It's better than toting rebar.... Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

Trust me, I LOVE development. I am a developer with over 20 years of experience. I was out of the field for about 5 years and it was pure HELL! I worked in construction, the moving business, retail, for nothing ($10 an hr tops, usually $8) in a thankless job environment. I had taken time off for several years to care for my aging mother, then 911 hit and they froze hiring for another year. When I went to go back into the dev. field no one would touch me because I had been out of it for almost 5 years. I ran out of money, had to take any kind of job I could find. I worked rod-busting in the extremely hot August sun in South Carolina and nearly died of a heat stroke. I was one of those guys on the construction site that carry bundles of 10 to 20 foot long steel rods on their shoulders and then tie them into foundations and walls for concrete pours. I still have a scar on my shoulder where the hot rods branded me (they get VERY hot laying out in the sun in July and August). I'd use a chop saw to cut them to length, the sparks from the saw would set my pants legs on fire and I would nonchalantly beat the fires out with my bare hands. I was laid off from that job and went to work for a moving and storage company. While I was there I feel 10 ft. through the top of a shipping crate, broke my left shoulder blade in two places and fractured my spine. I was in the hospital for a month and in bed for 6 months. I sued and got $16K out of it because of South Carolina's workmen’s comp. laws. And by the way, I was fifty (50) years old. It would have probably killed someone else. I worked some more thankless jobs in retail suffering from the pain until I finally was given another shot at development. I excelled at what I am doing. In less than 2 weeks I was up and running in ASP and .NET and I had never touched a line of ASP or .NET code (I was a C++/Windows developer). I put in 60 to 80 hr. weeks not because I had to, I wanted to. I still can't believe how lucky I was to get out of that purgatory. And I'm still putting in 50 to 60 hr. weeks. Oh yeah, while I am at it on the subject of headhunters, those gutless, blood sucking, pimps of the corporate world. Do you know that they would not help me in the least? I went to four (4) interviews arranged by those pigs in two years. They all said the same thing, "Gee, your experience looks great but you appear to be a little dated. We'll call you when we find something suitable." The call never came. I found my current position on my own with absolutely no help f

Don't forget impaling, like Vlad Draco in the 1500's. Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

Their is this whole bunch of 'misguided' individuals that think knowledge is some sort of intellectual property right. I don't know a single programmer, developer, engineer, politician, farmer, lawyer, school teacher, writer, etc. that has not plagiarized material at some point in their professional career. It just the way that we learn things. If you want to carry this to the ultimate extreme, why have schools? Is not every student, teacher, dean, associate, etc. plagiarizing material every day of his/her life? Didn't we do that even when our parents were potty training us? Come on, I do believe that there is some validity to intellectual property rights however, there is a FINE LINE between what is legitimately a right (i.e. music, videos, movies, patented or trademarked items) and what is not. Now I will put the soapbox back under the desk... Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

If peate and repeat were sitting in a boat and peate fell out... Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

:mad: What a way to get someone NOT to use your products.... I guess you'd have to an ass to work for someone developing a tool that is used primarily to browbeat employees about their lack of wherewithall at their jobs... Now, I'll get off the soapbox... Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

I write comments... The rule of thumb I use is this: If it looks sufficiently 'tricky' then I comment it. If it looks real 'tricky' then I comment every line. Why? Because in 6 months when I have to go back and maintain it I really want to know, in a hurry, what it does... Regards, By the way, by sufficiently tricky I mean code that would take someone an hour to two to figure out. The real tricky stuff is code that the next programmer will wast a couple of days on, cut it out and write their own. Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite

I once had a commute from northern Connecticut to Midtown Manhattan. It ruined my life. I don't know about you, but I agree with one of the other replies, work to live. No job is worth losing what's important to you. I know. Remember no job is worth losing what's important, no job, no amount of money, no prestige, nothing is worth that. I guess I'll never run for President... Regards, John McPherson "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clark, inventor of the telecommunications satellite