Ξ February 25th, 2008 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Welp, I received notice that my 20 year high school reunion is coming up. I went to St. Johns Prep in Astoria NY. I can almost hear the gasp of some of you when you read that. A prep school? Really? I realize that I may not fit the mold of one that was educated at a prep school, but I graduated (by the skin of my teeth) with the class of 1988. I’ll certainly go to my reunion, but not without being a little nervous. A lot has changed over 20 years. In 1988 my career plan was to join a biker gang and sell crystal meth . I had already started working on my tattoos and I had no intention of going to college because I did so poorly in High School. In 1988, I was a regular at CBGB’s and listened to New York Hard Core and Death Metal. I was rarely seen without my black leather jacket and motercycle boots. I was ALWAYS up to no good, and the local police and I were on a first name basis.
Now, twenty years later, I’m a big disapointment to my former self. I not only finished college but went on to grad school .. and .. *gasp* .. I work for “The Man”. In 1988 I was looking for employement of the variety that would allow me to “wake and bake”. I hated Corporate America back then, I don’t remember why though. I never even owned a motorcycle, much less had the opportunity to ride cross country wearing the colors of an outlaw biker gang. I may still have some hard core punk on my IPOD, but it shares space with Kelly Clarkson, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, 50 Cent and Avril Levine. I would have been appalled. If you couldn’t slam dance to it, it was no good. I’ve gotten married .. something I was adamantly against in my younger days. And children? In 1988, I would never have seen the reason for wanting one of those things. Sheesh .. get a dog, at least they don’t drool snot.
I have other feelings of trepidation as well. I’m on the down side of my prime. My knees crack so much, it sounds like I walk on bubble wrap. I still go to the gym, but I don’t have the 3 hours a day I used to work out with. I can squeeze in an hour and a half (more or less) a few times a week, but thats nothing compared to what I used to do. I’ve put on a few pounds since high school too, and my dreams of having pro fights are dashed. Have I aged as well as my classmates? I hope so. Am I working on children later then everyone else? Have I achieved a professional status that I can be happy with? I don’t know about any of that; I strive to be the best I can be in life but who knows where I fall. I do know that in life I am happy though. My work in interesting, I have a close family and friends and best of all, an awsome wife to share it all with.
I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drummer. Its one of the things I’ve always been proud of. Its weird to feel like I have to be competitive with people I don’t even know anymore. Is competitive the right word? Probably not. I’ll use it for now, for lack of a better one though. In any event, the 1988 version of me would have been disapointed in the current me for even thinking along these lines. In 1988, I would have extended the middle finger and muttered something about yuppies at myself as I strutted past.
Ξ February 13th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Cyber Command is the US Air Force’s newest command. If there was ever a government group that I’d want to be a part of, its this one. How flippin’ sweet would that be .. hack foreign nations all day.
I got a call from the library I have been working with for ten years. I’m the UNIX Systems Admin and Programmer for them. My gig there is mostly running webservers figuring out why websites aren’t working, writing the occasional utility, dealing with spam issues, networking and security. For the most part, everything there is automated. Over the years I’ve built in all kinds of monitoring and software that handles events. I keep an eye on things, but intervene when there is a problem. I got a call yesterday .. there was a problem. The call was that the network had slowed down to a crawl. I did the “low tech verification” and tried to bring up the library webpage. It crawled. hrmmmm .. what the heck is going on here. I logged into one of the servers and while my connection was slow I was able to run some commands and look around. Holy Cats!!! hundreds of connections. Not just to the server that I was on, but to all the other servers on the network. The IP addresses were coming from China and Italy. Some Mo Fo’s were trying to hack me from Italy and China. Grrr. In the end, our systems are updated every week with the latest security patches. Nobody was able to get in, but it brought the network to a crawl for a while.
You’d be surprised how often this sort of thing happens to small networks. To the library it happens every few months, which is why we always keep our security up to date. I’m sure they get into a lot of networks. Just not ours; this time.
a few articles on cyber warfare
Hackers Attack Via Chinese Web Sites
US and Chinese hackers trade blows
Chinese hackers breach US military defences
Chinese Hackers
Ξ February 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
As a consultant I’m in the job market more often then most people. Because of this, I have learned a few tricks to get my resume noticed and to zero in on the right job I’m looking for. I’ve decided to post some of that information here.
1- Post your resume on-line. I use Dice.com, Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com and Computerjobs.com
2- Change your resume every week .. add a space or something. Editing your resume keeps it at the top of the search results recruiters see.
3- Never meet with a recruiter unless they have a specific job that you are interested in and they have already submitted your resume to an employer (because you both agreed that it would be a good match). There are MANY recruiters that will ask that you come into their office to meet first. Don’t bother. In all the years that I’ve been in the industry, not a single one of these recruiters was effective. While I don’t blame a recruiter for wanting to screen a canidate before sending them in for an interview (they make sure you don’t have a green mohawk or facial piercings), it is important for you not to waste your time dealing with a recruiter that simply wants to get people into his office. There are a lot of recruiters that are like this, so here is some advice on how to avoid it:
- Talk with the recruiter on the phone. See what kind of positions he sees you in. If you agree with him/her then we can assume that the recruiter “gets” you.
- Keep in mind that many recruiters don’t understand the industry that you’re employeed in. This type of recruiter simply scans through reqs for keywords and matches the keywords to resumes. So if you’re a systems administrator who once copied C++ code to a machine and compiled it for a developer, you’re resume may pop up to the recruiter looking for a developer because ”C++” appeared. In most cases this is fine; as a systems administrator it’s important to show that you’ve been around source code and are used to compiling code. A good recruiter will understand this and feel that this is a positive thing in presenting you to a company. He won’t try to limit you to roles he sees listed as a Systems Administrator, he may try to discuss roles working on integration or applications support. I view this as a positive thing. They understand the industry and realize that there are many positions out there that require multiple skill sets that you may have.
A bad recruiter will try to submit you to software engineering jobs because the phrase C++ appeared. They won’t understand your potential because they simply see candidates in terms of “network administrator”, “software developer”, “systems administrator”. Not knowing the industry, they don’t realize that many jobs are hybred positions that require experience in multiple areas.
Appications support for instance .. is an application running slow because of the nested database calls it’s making? Because the network is running slow? Because there isn’t enough memory or CPU’s to support the load? Does the Operating System need a patch? Should the application should be multi-threaded? Perhaps it should be a multi-process application?
Someone who views candidates as of “network administrator”, “software developer”, “systems administrator” will never be able to place someone in a position like this. Talk to the recruiter .. make sure that they understand the business and the value that you can bring to a company. If they don’t, add them to the list of recruiters you won’t deal with
- You may be a software developer, but you may specialize in network programming or investment banking applications. A good recruiter will understand the subtle differences and understand that you have industry knowlege in a particular area. Staying in the same industry gives you a great chance to move up the food chain to bigger and better jobs. The assumption is that you’ve picked up things along the way and can apply them to another job. Good recruiters will use this to make a good deal for you. A bad recruiter will simply see you as a software developer and want to submit you to every software development job that crosses her desk.
If you’ve worked at companies like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, and a recruiter that calls you about a hot position running systems at Kmart or a law firm, realize that this recruiter is not someone that is interested in your career.
- If you clearly have 10 or more years of experience on your resume and a recruiter calls you about an entry level position. Just hang up. Sometimes they don’t even try to pretend that they’ve read your resume.
- Don’t be wishy washy about what your salary expectations are. This should be spoken about within the first conversation. Have a number set in your mind about what you think you are worth, and never go below that number. It may take a little longer to find a position that will pay that number, but you don’t want to go to a company that won’t pay you what you are worth in the market. Companies that low ball you are typically bad places to work.
4- Interviews. Take interviews even if you have no intention on taking the job. Fielding the questions keeps you sharp. Its like dateing, the more you date, the better you are at it.
5- don’t fixate on a single job. Take the approach that unless there’s an offer on the table, you’re still listening to pitches and still talking to potential employeers
6- indeed.com is perhaps the best search engine to use when looking for positions to apply to. indeed.com takes all the jobs off dice, monster, careerbuilder, and what seems like hundreds of other job sites and pulls them all into one place. So .. remember, post your resume on the other sites, but use indeed.com to search yourself.
7- apply to lots of jobs with lots of different recruiters. Talk to them all. Something always comes out of it. Explain your situation and what you are looking for. They may have reqs on their desks that are a better match then the one you’ve applied for. While in search mode, you should speak to no less then 8 recruiters a day while you’re looking, and you should apply for no fewer then 10 jobs a day. With your online resume, and job boards, this shouldn’t take very long.
I’ve been a little harsh on recruiters in this posting. The truth is, there are a lot of hacks out there. That being said, there are a lot of good ones too. Some of the ones I’ve worked with take a real interest in my career. They want to make sure I’ll be going to a job that I’ll be happy with. It’s up to you to ask questions and figure out who the hacks are and who aren’t.
Ξ February 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
For those that may not be aware, BeOS is an operating system that was developed in the early 1990’s. I mention it here because of an article I came across today : First look: Haiku poetically resurrects BeOS. In a nutshell there is a small group that has been developing open-source clone of BeOS.
The central goal of the Haiku project is to create an operating system that is ideally suited for use on the desktop—this differs significantly from Linux and other open-source operating systems which are intended for use in a diverse range of settings including server and embedded environments. The focus on desktop performance means that Haiku is designed from the ground up for optimal responsiveness.
I found this all very interesting. I’m not saying something like this would take the market by storm, but if there was ever a time in history when an OS could take the desktop market, this would be it. My reasons are as follows:
1) MS Vista is precieved as a bad Operating System and has helped MicoSoft lose some of its desktop market share. Companies and consumers are resisting moving to Vista.
2) We’re still two years away from the next version of Windows. Microsoft will lose an even greater market share.
3) The MS Office suite is less important to desktop users then it was a few years ago. This is the product that MicroSoft has really done well and has kept users tied to the Windows Operating System. Unfortunatly the price of this office suite is expensive and as a result, over the last few years, alternatives were created. Today OpenOffice offers all of the same features that MS Office offers. It’s been evolving over the last few years and it is a VERY good office suite of products today with all the same features. You can even save files that can be opened and read in the MS product line. Google also offers an office suite that they maintain. Click Here For Google Docs. Both are good alternatives to the MS Office Suite.
4) The Open Source movement is getting bigger. There are more products available under the open source license agreement then ever before.
5) MAC (Apple) is expensive.
6) Its becoming clear that Linux is not the choice of many people to use on their desktops (although its superior to most other OS’s out there). This is fine, Linux makes a great data center choice.
Again, I’m not saying that anything like this would take the market by storm, but if it were to come out, it may find a strong user community out there. Especially if commercial support were available for it.
Ξ February 8th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Agent 99 is the greatest character name on any TV Show.
// prints a random number
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
int main ()
{
int num=0;
time_t *tloc;
/*
* get random numbers
*/
srand(time(tloc));
num=rand();
printf(”%d\n”, num);
exit(0);
}
Ξ February 8th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Linus Torvalds: Well, I mean, it’s really not a democracy at all and some people call it a meritocracy which is not necessarily correct either. It’s – I have a policy that he who does the code gets to decide, which basically boils down to there’s a – it’s very easy to complain and talk about issues and it’s also easy for me to say, ‘You should solve it this way.’
But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is actual code and the technology itself and the people who are not willing to step up and write that code, they can comment on it and they can say it should be done this way or that way or they won’t, but in the end their voice doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is code.
And it turns out people are lazy, so most people are much happier just arguing
Ξ February 5th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Its been a while since I posted so I thought a quick update was in order.
Books: I just finished reading The Cuckoo’s Egg by Cliff Stoll. Both the book and Cliff are interesting topics.
Work has been fairly interesting and things are heating up in that area. I’ll give a full report hopefully in my next posting
Rosie and I are starting to talk about some of our vacation plans this year. Any interesting suggestions for remote locals that aren’t densly touristy would be appreciated.
Anywho, thats about it for now. I’ll update with more info in a few days
