I honestly don't recall the jumpers. This was my very first PC and I wanted whatever the Computer Shopper said was cool. The Pentium had already peaked when these new "overclockers" were starting to come out. I knew nothing but that I was future-proofing by investing in the "next big thing". But I do remember the prominent turbo push button and wondering why you would ever not want it on - it wasn't as if running it at a blistering 66 made the lights dim.

Dude, I had the DX2/66 clock DOUBLER! Good times, state if the art MAG monitor, thought I was in the future...

I think part of the problem is the perception that a college degree is often taken as a de-facto "license to practice" software. Also, from your experience this person was able to get that job because we tend to operate on the honor system with regard to one another's credentials. Now if this person did a passable job as a software manager no one would have questioned or ever been the wiser regarding his exaggeration (alright, outright lie), though I would like to think that kind of ethic would show itself in other ways. I am not putting down higher education. On the contrary, I think it must be considered in all of its forms, university being only one. After all, much of what we have encountered after school has little to do with our respective majors and more to do with our own personal habits, ethics, and especially other experiences. What if the aforementioned "manager" had not ever graduated college, never claimed such, and nonetheless would have made a fine manager? I think that's worth considering but I'm not sure our industry is completely on-board with that yet. If a professional licensing program for software could determine a person's competence much the way (I believe) professional engineer licensing does, I'm all for it. However, I may be assuming too much about the PE credential.

I've found in my experience, which admittedly is mostly Big Aerospace, that there is a huge bias among management towards reuse rather than refactoring. They get all wet over the concept of earned value and avoid thinking about the real costs down the road. It comes out of a different funding bucket, after all. I've also seen it in smaller ventures. It's way too enticing to reuse because there is the comforting, often misguided notion that what was used elsewhere will fit like a glove in the new application. Maybe it will, maybe it won't but "all you have to do is ...", therefore saving you all of those development costs. And let's face it, if we're honest, we have all done something similar because of some perfect storm of converging priorities, events and time. Because we're going to circle back around and fix it; yeah, right after the whatever. Sometimes (if I may quote Adm Akbar) It's a trap!

I intended to mention previously that I agree with you on goals, 100%. But these things get out of hand. The next thing you know the guy who barely phones it in is being promoted just because he's been there too long or you're on strike because there isn't enough tartar sauce to cover the mandated 7 fish sticks for lunch in the cafeteria. And who doesn't like a little on their chips as well... I only want to emphasize caution because I was part of a system that was too old and established to be changed or removed. To say that no one worth their salt was for it would be unfair because I worked with some truly exceptional software engineers who thought it was a fine idea. But it left me with the impression that there were limits to where my hard work could take me. To your aside, perhaps I should have use the term "world wide web", but ARPANET, man you are older than me!

While I agree with your reasoning (it astounds me what calls itself a programmer these days), collective bargaining is not the answer - and that's one of the undesired outcomes of becoming part of a professional association. I know what I'm talking about. In the early 90s (yeah, before you looked up stuff on the internet) I was an up-and-coming Ada programmer with General Electric. Whether I wanted to be or not I was represented by ASPEP (Association of Scientific and Professional Engineering Personnel). Apart from the monthly sub-par (free!) Prime Rib dinner to discuss... whatever, there was nothing positive about the experience unless you were the sort to not really apply ones-self. ANY kind of reward system is GONE! Everybody gets a raise, so no one gets a decent raise. Management tends to love this because you can't appeal to them directly or you get something like "Sorry, the union says blah blah blah, and there is nothing I can do about it." or "You know, if it were up to me I'd give you a huge raise, you deserve it, but the union...". I can see you have the best of intentions and you didn't explicitly use the term "union" but that's what "professional associations" inevitably become. Then they become an organism whose sole drive is to exist and procreate. I've been there and there is no "union" in ASPEP either. Vote No!

I didn't realize most preferred 'char* c' as opposed to 'char *c'. My initial intro to C was K&R so I started out with the former, but long ago switched to the latter, it just feels better somehow. I will say this in regards to 'char *c', though I realize this is wholly a religious debate and do not wish to antagonize, but it makes this look better: 'char *a, *b, *c;' Full disclosure, I use the 'goto' statement too.

Very well said. It's hard to convey that to someone who hasn't done so but what you wrote really resonated with me. Still go as often as I can. And I loved Doom, but not even close.

Agreed. On a Dell XPS right now. Great build for the money in my opinion. Excellent advice.

Amen, brother. I've taken apart a few HPs. Very flimsy components. You half expect them to dissolve in direct sunlight.

That's it. Was trying to find the words and you nailed it. I have a similar story at about the same time. Mine though had to do with the TRS-80, a model III mind you (CLOAD, baby!). Writing code is just awesome.

Don't need an alarm clock, dogs and cats are on that. But just in terms of getting the mood up getting your steam on I like Elvis Costello's "This Year's Model". IMO it's one of those rare albums where every track is great. "Pump It Up" however is a shot of pure adrenaline.

It isn't hard to believe in UFOs if you don't confuse the term with "extraterrestrial" like most yahoos seem to want to do. Every experimental aircraft that goes up and is seen by someone is technically a UFO as it has not yet been classified. Why do you think it happens so often near air bases? Do I think extraterrestrials have visited this planet? I sure hope not. I mean, the way we treat our elderly, our soldiers, folks with different skin tones? Look at our own (US) government, the rich minority screwing the vast majority for more of what they already have in abundance. Nation states making war with other nations states over what - lines on a map, words in a book. I sure hope not. Ignorance rules over Sol 3 and it's embarrassing.

Ha! Yes, the pic clause, casting out all ambiguity. Did we even do type casting? If we did, I don't even remember. And the other three divisions (and of course the sections within), sure. I haven't seen that language in decades and often wonder what it morphed into. I remember considering myself "advanced" when I embraced the 'perform ... depending on ...'. Seemed so elegant.

I can't make a claim that far back but I can say my first professional software was in COBOL on punched cards. My debugger was about 6-8 inches above my shoulders. Today I work embedded C and love every minute, even the crunches. I cringe at these new wonder tools that crop up about once a week that do everything that once required discipline. I imagine these are for kids who need to keep one eye on their phone. Where will you be when something goes wrong or when that tool isn't there? "Never happen", the young one will say with complete confidence and unearned arrogance. Youth is wasted on the young.

I haven't read through the entire thread to see if anyone else has given this advice but trust me, apply anyway. It costs you what, maybe another cover letter? My experience is not so different from your own. Admittedly I spent most of my early dev career in big aerospace (Boeing, GE, TRW, etc.) so I guess your mileage may vary. But I can tell you that every position I held required a degree. Smart companies will still want to talk to you. I took the interviews, got the jobs, made the same money as everyone else. The requirement is usually to weed out the timid. Go for it.

With regard to your quote from Sir Winston Churchill, I thought Lincoln said that. Anyhow, I'm stealing it; it sounds more like Churchill anyway.

With respect to An autonomous roving vehicle - Part 1 of n[^], it's Robot B-9. The robot on Lost In Space was called Robot B-9, or just Robot. Robbie the robot was from Forbidden Planet and never uttered the phrase "Danger Will Robinson". I know it probably sounds like a small thing to you, but details are important. You kids today...

I came to the conclusion a good while ago that advice from audiophiles or home theater enthusiasts (I count myself among these, even chased the THX dragon for a while) is largely religious in nature. After many years and much discovery I have come up with a solution that absolutely works for everyone. Throw away the science. A true audiophile will balk at this because no one wants to admit their time might have been wasted. We all have basically the same auditory senses in various states of disrepair. That's why this works for everyone and there is absolutely no argument against it: 1) position your speaker one way. 2) Listen. 3) Position it another way. 4) Listen. 5) Place the speaker in the position that sounded better. Repeat as necessary.

I'm one of them, though it's been many years. People generally scoff at the idea that I got a first rate education in computer science through the military, but I did and wouldn't change a thing. They weren't training me for some job I might get someday - they needed me to know what I was doing on their stuff. They don't necessarily teach good communication skills which I might otherwise have gotten at a university but I was fortunate to have had excellent mentoring that insisted on it. I'm not knocking a college education at all. I would have finished my degree while I was active duty, but I got this opportunity after-hours writing COBOL (this was the late 80's) for a local real estate company. I couldn't pass it up. I learned tons, and being the only one writing code had to answer for everything. You learn or you burn. I have to agree with the 90% consensus. 10% research, 90% jump in, figure it out, screw it up, fix it. I've had a great career going on 30 years now. Lately I write embedded micro-controller stuff, with a minor in android apps, next year, who knows?