Just got this in e-mail. : Hi everyone. I'm proud to say that Nmap has reached its 10thanniversary since I released it in 1997, and it is still going strong!To celebrate that, Nmap 4.50 has been released. It is the firststable release in more than a year (there have been dozens of devreleases), and the first major release since 4.00 two years ago. In related good news, the movie Bourne Ultimatum was released to DVDon Tuesday, and is currently the 3rd highest selling DVD on Amazon.In this movie, the CIA needs to hack the mail server of a newspaper(The Guardian UK) to read the email of a reporter theyassassinated. So they turn to Nmap and its new official GUI Zenmap(part of the 4.50 release)! I have screenshots up onhttp://insecure.org . Nmap has now appeared in at least fivemovies--it has become quite the movie star! The changelog shows 320 changes since 4.00 with a lot of great stuffin this release! It has a brand new GUI and results viewer (Zenmap),a scripting engine allowing you to write your own scripts forhigh-performance network discovery (or use one of the 40 scriptsshipped with it), the 2nd generation OS detection system (now withmore than a thousand fingerprints), nearly 1,500 more versiondetection signatures, and a lot more! You can read the full releaseannouncement, which describes the changes as well as future plans,right here: http://insecure.org/stf/Nmap-4.50-Release.html Or if you are ready to jump right in, head to the download page: http://insecure.org/nmap/download.html We don't have an ad budget, so please help spread the word about thenew Nmap. The 4.00 release made Slashdot, Digg, etc. and this releaseis even better! And of course be sure to try it out yourself! Let us know on thenmap-dev list if you encounter any problems. See http://insecure.org/nmap/man/man-bugs.html . Cheers,Fyodor

But what about those of us that are offended by those that are offended by us???? :)

WOW...I got my review last April (2006) and in December I got a raise of $1000.00 per year :-/

I understand the whole issue of needing to support a family. Something you could look into tho is getting into restaurant management. I've heard of some pretty nice salary's when you get into the actual manager position (depending on the size of the restaurant). I would like to add that you may not be one of the "anyone". You stated that you were a perfectionist and you strive to do the best. That is definately a needed characteristic for programmers. If I had to guess at your situation, I think you're more frustrated/bored than ready for career change. And THAT is as normal for geeks as you can get. I was having a conversation this morning with a work collegue and that was the topic. Basically it amounted to the fact that a lot of corporations tend to mold people to the positions they have. IT people don't mold too well :). I don't know your exact circumstances, but this may be your situation. If that's the case, spend time on your own (weekends/late nights/whenever) and study something that you can't do at work. Personally, I do game programming. I don't consider myself a game programmer...but I have a lot of fun doing it. That gives me the artistic outlet where I get to choose the outcome and reduces the stress in my life so that I can handle the box my job puts me in. I will also add that I have a different view than most on my career. I don't look at a job as a career. I look at as an assignment. I have several entries on my resume that are around 1 year in length. Most people see that as a bad thing...I see it as a good thing. When you consider that I only leave a position when I have reached the absolute limits that the position offers (knowledge and experience) then it shows that I provide maximum return to an employer in a very short amount of time. You may be ready for a change of employment...something to remind you of the challenge and satisfaction that being a developer gives you. Since I babbled on this long, I close with this. IT (all aspects of the community) is what you make of it. The best part of being in IT is that there's so many different options to choose from...you can make your career whatever you want it to be :)

I've been a programmer since I was 12. I can't imagine NOT programming. I think a lot of it has to do with how you actually feel about programming. Are you a programmer or do you hold a position as a programmer. This may sound silly...but I really believe that programming is in your blood. don't get me wrong...ANYONE can learn how to sling code...but a true programmer looks at what they do as art. You can't learn that. It becomes part of you. I've seen a LOT of people go through classes and learn to program and enjoy doing it...but didn't last. The reason is typically because they actually listened to the commercials from ITT (and others) who said take this course and earn $70k+/year. While money is nice, it shouldn't be your ONLY guiding factor. If you want my honest advice on what to do next...look inside. What makes you happy??? Whatever it is, do it. If you were given a choice between 24 hours of unlimited access with Linus (or any other genius of development) and 24 hours of something else...and you didn't take the coding...then you're probably in the wrong profession. /babbling off :)

ooooo...can you send me one??? My ip address is 127.0.0.1 :P