Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's quite common in Europe and Asia
Ya, along with a picture and your gender in Asia.
pls send n00dz
My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
351–360 of 408 posts
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will be very cool if he could though, as I do believe he will much rather work on something he loves doing and is good at rather than being committed to a nursing home, besides it will definitely be a sight to see, a 92 year old man hacking away on a system, debugging, writing code, and joining up in meetings, He was literally alive when computing was not a thing or worth much and he got to not just see it grow bu…
Is this a troll?
No I'm not a troll and yeah true to the other posters words I'm 24 and apologize for my ignorance to the reality of ageing.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#353Wow, I wish I was an engineer in that era. 25 years at the same company, 3 languages over 13 years. And when he needed to learn a new language he actually went to school for it. I just started a new position, I have to learn at least 2 new languages (on my own time) which I need to be proficient in basically immediately. My very first project was, fix something in this new project which uses a new language, you have…
I got fairly proficient in RoR some years ago. In that I understood most of the magic and was thinking on what is the best ways to design the program for readability / maintainability. Then I got good at Java + Spring Then I got good at React + Redux Now I gotta get good at Python + Django and the damn magic it does. Next I gotta get good at Scala. It is frustrating. And I feel that had I spent 10 years in any of tho…
I promise you. If you ignore the churn and learn the fundamentals, your skills will have an order of magnitude longer shelf life.
If you know js and web standards then anything on the frontend is just a new application of the same ideas. If you know a bit of networking and a bit of operating systems then web development in python/django/Scala are all just interesting new ways to say basically the same thing.
If you know the specs then you don't need to find out about technology by following 100 different blogs.
Occasionally there will be new fundamentals to learn but you'll be ready because you won't have a backlog of relearning framework X's new way of saying "hello, world".
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#354Wow, I wish I was an engineer in that era. 25 years at the same company, 3 languages over 13 years. And when he needed to learn a new language he actually went to school for it. I just started a new position, I have to learn at least 2 new languages (on my own time) which I need to be proficient in basically immediately. My very first project was, fix something in this new project which uses a new language, you have…
I'm a games engine programmer. I pretty much only know VS and C++, plus some bits of C# for an occasional tool. I feel like what you described is only applicable to Web programmers - my coworker has been at the same company for the last 26 years and he only knows assembly, C and C++, and uses windows batch for scripting. No need to learn anything else - that's enough to build the latest AAA games.
Ha, you're right about web engineering. But how available are jobs like yours? Because the guys that were doing them 20 years ago are still doing them today.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
He has severe dementia unfortunately. I just thought it might be interesting to people to see what technologies were in use at those times. My dad loves to play catch with his stuffed doggie (or whatever you will throw to him) but activities more complicated than that are not feasible.
> He has severe dementia unfortunately. Sorry about that. I have this theory on dementia that part of the cause (stress among other things) is a change from an intellectually demanding career or a life involving thinking and a change to either retirement or not having to do much thinking. The delta in other words. So my question is does any of this relate to your father? Did he remain active in thinking past his reti…
His memory was going down hill for many years, even before he retired.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#356One Page resume was still the style in 1980, that's cool. Really well written cover letter as well, hard to see that come by these days.
I tried cutting my resume down to one page.
I received virtually no callbacks, because I'm perceived as inexperienced. (OR: the shotgun approach to getting past resume filters is a real thing).
So then, I exhaustively detailed every past project on my resume. At every interview: it's excruciatingly clear, nobody read the fucking thing.
Junior engineers who I interview, know this: Even if my boss hands me your resume the day before, I will read every single word, and I will pay attention, and understand what it means in context of your background. 3 pages is my upper-limit for patience. Your competence is usually demonstrated by about halfway down the second page.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#357Isn't this a misuse of Github? Surely there's a more suitable website for hosting a page with text and pictures than a source control system? I don't mean to pick on this guy - I've seen an several repositories like this recently.
I set it up with my phone. GitHub was the easiest way to do it that I knew HN wouldn't ban. They don't allow image links I don't think.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#358Put in a home? Why wouldn't you want to spend all the last time on this mortal earth with your parents, and holding their hands as they leave this lifetime? Repayment of when you yourself was born into this one? I don't understand Western opinion on this matter. But on topic, that is one concise application letter. Cheers for your dad efforts back then!
It's a breach of HN's civility rules to disparage other people's intimate personal situations. There's always a great deal we don't know, and what lies underneath is often pretty tragic. Please don't post like this to HN.
Thank you for the gentle reminder, I'll make sure to not do this again. Not the forum for it.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#359Put in a home? Why wouldn't you want to spend all the last time on this mortal earth with your parents, and holding their hands as they leave this lifetime? Repayment of when you yourself was born into this one? I don't understand Western opinion on this matter. But on topic, that is one concise application letter. Cheers for your dad efforts back then!
Elderly care homes have professional medical and nursing staff on site, so far better care can be provided than most families can offer in their homes. It's a separate matter as to whether families make adequate effort to visit and spend quality time with their ageing parents/grandparents when they've been put into a home. In the case of my family, my mother visited her parents daily for the last few years of their l…
Thank you for the perspective.
Not as much difference from what your family was and is doing with people with hospitalization, I think.
Re: My dad’s resume and skills from 1980
#360Wow, I wish I was an engineer in that era. 25 years at the same company, 3 languages over 13 years. And when he needed to learn a new language he actually went to school for it. I just started a new position, I have to learn at least 2 new languages (on my own time) which I need to be proficient in basically immediately. My very first project was, fix something in this new project which uses a new language, you have…
>Wow, I wish I was an engineer in that era. 25 years at the same company, 3 languages over 13 years.
I work for a competitor to General Dynamics in practically the same field (as close as you can get in 2018) as Mr. Ray Livesay.
Counting the acquisition, I've been with the same company for 11 years, having worked my way up from being a technical writer to programmer to systems engineer.
When I wanted to transition from programmer to systems engineer, I went to school to get my Master's and the company paid for most of it.
Sometimes I feel like an alien, reading about other working programmers and engineers, because everyone here has their own office, has worked here for years, is happy, enjoys great benefits, the company promotes from within, and encourages professional development.
But then I go to our "competipartners" and their offices are set up the same way, their benefits are within a marginal twist of a dial up or down here or there, and when I go to trade shows I see the same people with the same employer polo shirts year after year after year.
The only reason I'll leave my employer is if, in a couple of years after I transition to "senior" systems engineer there isn't a position on a contract or program that will support my labor category.
Maybe aerospace is the field you want to look at getting into? There are no "rock star" programmers, just people who work 9-5.
It is not really appealing to most younger folks because we aren't a bunch of "hip young urban professionals" with MacBooks clustered around a communal workspace in a downtown startup incubator in a converted loft/warehouse lit by faux edison light bulbs in iron-pipe light fixtures with a pinball machine and some scooters in the corner.
We're a bunch of old dudes in a generic office park. And we're paid in "lots of money" instead of "a little bit of money with tons of stock and a promise".