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My dad's resume and skills from 1980

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Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father was a physicist. He learned to program in FORTRAN in the university in the 70's. Decades later I, still a teenager, asked him something like this: "Dad, you were a FORTRAN programmer and physicist in the 70's, you could be a very well paid developer anywhere in the developed world... why didn't you?"; he answered me: "I didn't thought this thing about computers would go too far."

We probably are close to the same age. My dad was an engineer who also learned to program FORTRAN in the 70's. When I asked him a similar question his reply was (quotes are paraphrased): "It was way too tedious to do. You'd spend hours getting the cards just right. We used to put them in a shoebox and mark them with a pen in case we dropped them on the way to the lab. Then you'd wait until the next day to get your re…

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Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, indeed I don't. So enlighten me, since I don't use Word much: if you mark your resume "Final" and a headhunter wants to "improve" it, what do they need to do?

I just answered my own question, since I had the MS report in Word. I was hoping I'd have to supply a password to edit it, which would be a somewhat reasonable level of security. But no; you just click "edit anyway." Duh.

Unforunately, being able to read the document is already sufficient access to make your own copy and alter it however you please.

The best you can do is a digital signature[1], which proves that the document has not been tampered with. Of course, it's up to the recipient to ask for a signed document and to actually check if the signature is still present and accurate upon receipt. Otherwise, it's very trivial for a third-party to remove the signature and add their own edits.

[1]: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/add-or-remove-a-di...

Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I didn't thought this thing about computers would go too far." I almost didn't major in Computer Science because in the late 90s, there were so many negative articles in the New York Times, vis-a-vis software. People don't remember it now, but the media and the culture were utterly hostile towards us, and loved to say our jobs were going to India, that everything there was to know about Computer Science could be s…

> I almost didn't major in Computer Science because in the late 90s, there were so many negative articles in the New York Times, vis-a-vis software. People don't remember it now, but the media and the culture were utterly hostile towards us, and loved to say our jobs were going to India, that everything there was to know about Computer Science could be studied in railyard switching, in existing abstract math textbook…

Yes, this is one reason I am personally really sensitive when various people say how privileged I was to get into computers and that we somehow got all this encouragement unlike young women, etc.

In the 80s we were mocked and called nerds for being interested in computers, and before and after dot com people thought this was dead end career.

Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#484
post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify, are you talking about modeling, standup, acting? What role exactly?

all of the above the main point is how it is in direct contrast to how other sectors will interview for weeks and months , before any resolution at all, then require negotiating an offer, just to get to a two-week notice at a minimum and then require another 2 weeks to a month to get paid, with deposits taking several more business days (up to 5 actual days) to be available paid instantly when you realized you might…

I wouldn't call entertainment work (even the craziest corners of that world) nearly as off-brand as suggesting that women dominate it. I have no idea how far from 49/49 the makeup might be, but I do know that I'm a guy who's done plenty of entertainment industry gigs (music production, fwiw) where the pay is quite reliably received before going home, and that's the important distinction here.

Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I didn't thought this thing about computers would go too far." I almost didn't major in Computer Science because in the late 90s, there were so many negative articles in the New York Times, vis-a-vis software. People don't remember it now, but the media and the culture were utterly hostile towards us, and loved to say our jobs were going to India, that everything there was to know about Computer Science could be s…

> I almost didn't major in Computer Science because in the late 90s, there were so many negative articles in the New York Times, vis-a-vis software. People don't remember it now, but the media and the culture were utterly hostile towards us, and loved to say our jobs were going to India, that everything there was to know about Computer Science could be studied in railyard switching, in existing abstract math textbook…

No post body was provided.

Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And sometimes you are hiring construction workers, and sometimes trade-specialists. I've hired contractors to address specific tech-debt, or accelerate QA on project, to implement a CRUD type stuff for things with well-known approaches that just take time.

Well, then may be it's important to note that we are talking about two different industry niches and practices from one of them are not a good match for the other. And may be we even should come up with some kind of names for these kinds of "tech" to avoid mixing one up with the other.

We do have a variety of words that have certain connotations -- there are even essays / blog posts about the supposed hierarchy (or soup) of script kiddies, hackers, coders, programmers, developers, architects, etc. etc. etc. but the analogies to their metaphorical ancestors (very often from real construction) are neither perfect nor stable. A housing developer can more easily search for laborers than a software hiring manager can search for a code monkey who doesn't try to steer the ship!

Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#488
post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your software is going to need to change over time! Not so for anything shipped on ROM.

The software running on a specific ROM might not be able to change (assuming we're talking for devices using mask ROM and not EEPROM) but it doesn't mean the code itself is supposed to be disposable. Different devices or revisions of the same device can benefit from code changes. Even on the same device unit, they might want to replace the ROM chip to include some fix if it's important enough and makes financial sens…

Ha, perhaps. I work in game dev, and previously had a stint in integrated display controllers for feature phones. Anecdotally, most of my code is effectively thrown away once shipped.

Re: My dad's resume and skills from 1980

#490
post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dumb things such as having a tiny bit of color or a slightly less basic format can make or break you when the recruiter/hirer is sifting through the pile. Besides, it takes all of ten minutes to do this and be done with it. It's like fashion. Arbitrary but just having the basics understood goes such a long way professionally and socially compared to the effort expended

Maybe this is a good use case for AI. Write your resume then let AI rewrite it to be aesthetically pleasing to resume readers. People like my interior decorating, I can appreciate other things that are aesthetically pleasing, and I've made my share of actual art. I just don't think I have it in me to understand whatever in the world is going through someone's mind when they're displeased with this resume. It's a miss…

It's not that they are displeased with the Word doc or examining every detail. Just that aesthetically pleasing things attract our good graces on a subconscious level, and CVs are in competition with other CVs. Really we are overcomplicating this. The OP could have fixed the CV in the time it took us to discuss it.

I'd say too often what happens is that engineer minded types rebel against unwritten norms like these and derive a sense of moral superiority from being immune to them, when ironically from an engineering POV it would make more sense to just do these little things, iron the shirts, use a template, and call it a day.

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