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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Whoops!
Posted by: Dave_Darling Jul 5 2005, 03:23 PM
What is it that the petunia thought when falling several miles (alongside the whale)?
"Not again!"
(Hitch Hiker's reference.)
It seems I'm jobless again; no longer part of the SF contingent of the 914 club. Probably not a bad thing, because the commute was really killing me. Jeff and others with the same miserable commute, I stand in awe of you. 
I'm thinking that I need to do a few things now. There are a number of "chores" that still need to get done (and now I have time for them!); plus I have a bunch of sleep I need to catch up on. There's some family visiting that should get done. And I really, really need to figure out what it is I want to do with my life from here. Do I want to really figure out how C++ programming works? Do I want to bail out of software alltogether and do "something else" (and if so, what)??
Fortunately, my attorney 
has been very supportive. Hopefully she will remain so.
(Hmm, I wonder if the San Mateo cops had anything to do with this one??? 
)
--DD
Posted by: tat2dphreak Jul 5 2005, 03:26 PM
man, sorry to hear that Dave... 
Posted by: nebreitling Jul 5 2005, 03:27 PM
i'm sorry to hear that, dave -- but i must say, you have a great attitude towards the whole thing.
Posted by: redshift Jul 5 2005, 03:27 PM
THAT SUCKS!
What is it with 914 people, and work situations? We need a union.
Good luck Dave, I am sure you will land on your feet, or at least be able to simulate that.
M
Posted by: trekkor Jul 5 2005, 03:33 PM
Remember that funny suggestion I made last time?
Try that...
KT
Posted by: jasons Jul 5 2005, 03:36 PM
If you are interested in a C++ job and relocating to Phoenix AZ, I have an opportunity.....
Posted by: Jenny Jul 5 2005, 03:46 PM
Sorry to hear about it, Dave. You don't seem too upset, which is good. Now, if we can just get you to step away from Palo Alto for a minute, maybe we can hang out sometime!
Jen
Posted by: Travis Neff Jul 5 2005, 03:55 PM
Sorry about the job, but it sounds like your commute along will have you hating your job in no-time. Have fun with your time off!
Posted by: Dave_Darling Jul 5 2005, 04:01 PM
It isn't a huge surprise that I got sacked. I was very frustrated at my lack of progress, as well. There was more than one occasion that I found myself sitting at my desk, muttering "What the hell am I doing here anyway?" My heart just wasn't in it for whatever reason.
I'm kinda bummed about it, but not really that immensely upset.
--DD
Posted by: kwales Jul 5 2005, 04:28 PM
Crap!
I'm sorry Dave!
We need to start a club....
Have a secret handshake.....
Find perfect jobs......
Ix-nay on elling-tay iles-May
Ken
Posted by: MW 914 Jul 5 2005, 04:51 PM
Hmmm....just when I think a have things figgerd' out, I get all confused again. I thought Dave worked at Pelican??
Posted by: Bruce Allert Jul 5 2005, 04:57 PM
Hey, look at it this way... now you can come up here, visit family, friends & go have a beer & burger wit me at da RoadHouse 
right??? Maybe even get ya to help tear down Punkin's engine t'see what all the noise is 
....b
Posted by: Headrage Jul 5 2005, 04:57 PM
If ya wanna relocate to the southern San Juaquin Valley and learn a new trade c'mon down. You too could learn to be a lineman in the oil fields.
Posted by: redshift Jul 5 2005, 04:58 PM
Tell me what?
M
Posted by: Twystd1 Jul 5 2005, 05:07 PM
Dave,
don't really know ya except for all the stuff I have read on the forums for a couple "O" years.
So what the hell. Got a suggestion.
Do something stupid like:
"GO LIVE YOUR DREAM"
Cause it's all over in a blink of an eye.
Respectfuly,
Clayton Clark
Posted by: GTeener Jul 5 2005, 05:23 PM
Bummer Dave
At least you've got a supportive SO.
This whole Bay Area work thing is a Catch-22 for sure.
Your hours are better though 
Posted by: ! Jul 5 2005, 05:31 PM
| QUOTE (MW 914 @ Jul 5 2005, 02:51 PM) |
| Hmmm....just when I think a have things figgerd' out, I get all confused again. I thought Dave worked at Pelican?? |
He moderates the 914 board for them and shows at the swaps and shows....not a fulltimer as PP is in El Segundo CA by LAX.
Posted by: fiid Jul 5 2005, 06:10 PM
IIWY, I would skip C++ and go straight for Java. If you are interested I can introduce you here - we're looking for solid engineers. It's all java though, and nothing to do with graphics, although we are doing some interesting algorithms stuff for networks.
Let me know if I can be of help. Oh - we are located in Foster City.
Posted by: Lyressa Roberts Jul 5 2005, 06:42 PM
Well, that sucks, but I understand the commute thing. I'm so happy with my commute right now...nice and short.
Take some R&R and get back into the swing of things with what you REALLY want to do. 
Posted by: Grimstead Jul 5 2005, 06:47 PM
| QUOTE (fiid @ Jul 5 2005, 05:10 PM) |
| IIWY, I would skip C++ and go straight for Java. If you are interested I can introduce you here - we're looking for solid engineers. It's all java though, and nothing to do with graphics, although we are doing some interesting algorithms stuff for networks. Let me know if I can be of help. Oh - we are located in Foster City. |
Java is the way to go...
Posted by: Dave_Darling Jul 5 2005, 06:49 PM
Z's right. I answer emails for 'em, deal with the 914 BBS, and "show the flag" on some of the other places. (Like this one!!) I do it for fun, and for "the reeely bitchin' employee discount". It don't pay the mortgage...
Fiid, you're not the first person to suggest Java over C++. I might start poking around with that, but I have zero experience with Java. And nearly zero with C++ for that matter. (Which was one of the problems at the SF job.)
Hmm... I wonder if my copy of Visual Studio will deal with Java? If not, I bet I can download someting for XP or Linux...
Aaaaah, f--k it. I still have to figure out if that's what I wanna do.
--DD
Posted by: mikelsr Jul 5 2005, 06:51 PM
Dave if you want to come back to Urbana and know C, UNIX, or X window servers, PM me, I have an opening.
Mike
Posted by: lapuwali Jul 5 2005, 07:27 PM
Dave, if you don't know any OO stuff at all, then you certainly owe it to yourself to learn that if your going to stick with programming. At the very least, it makes interviewing a lot easier. It's not a language specific thing. There are general concepts that apply to a whole host of languages. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend any books that tackle it on a non-language specific basis. As stated, Java is generally easier to pick up the OO stuff that C++, which is basically a kitchen sink language (as in, they threw in everything and the...).
Hey, fiid, I thought you worked at a bank in the city. Did I dream that, or have you switched jobs? What place in Foster City? I'm mostly asking as I live in San Mateo, and could WALK to Foster City from my house.
Posted by: jasons Jul 5 2005, 08:08 PM
| QUOTE (Grimstead @ Jul 5 2005, 04:47 PM) | ||
Java is the way to go... |
I love C++. Its kind of Zen in a way. As soon as you think you know it, the language bites you in the ass. It keeps you humble in a programming sense. You have to maintain humility and an open mind.
Posted by: pokey1168 Jul 5 2005, 08:20 PM
I know probably should stay in the shadows, but find you some hospital IT job blocking hackers and internal net security.......they are nuts about it right now. I know of one that won't even ;et their dept heads download their own software..it all has to go thru the IT dept.
just my .02 
Posted by: Bleyseng Jul 5 2005, 08:43 PM
Hi, and we always like double posts when your avatar looks like that.
DD, I think you should start a 914 repair shop!
Posted by: rdauenhauer Jul 5 2005, 10:13 PM
Dave, sorry to hear but look on the bright side....
At least you have a 914 that RUNS 
Posted by: jkeyzer Jul 5 2005, 10:50 PM
Sorry to hear about your misfortune (?) Dave... I know the feeling of "is this what I really want to be doing with my life?" because I have been through the same thing more than once before. If you have the cash, I would take a break and travel a bit, do what's important to you, relax a little bit and get your mind together. I did that after I was laid off a couple years ago and it really helped a lot. I found a good job in the end and I am much happier as a result.
If you know C, C++ is not that hard to learn.
I am told Java is similar to C++ but I have no experience with it.
Maybe you can get on the TV show Mythbusters, that's my dream job.
Posted by: ematulac Jul 5 2005, 11:25 PM
Sorry to hear that Dave.
Ater having BTDT, take a moment to figure out what you really enjoy doing, and do it. I gave up IT management do become strictly a programmer. I was even able to do my own gig, working my own hours, from home, in my pajamas if felt like it. But I had to go back to a good old 9-5 when I started raising a family.
I'm finding that Java and C# are way easier to get into than C++. And I'm also finding that the jobs are a bit easier come by. One reason is that those two languages are predominantly used for business applications. C++ is used mostly by software development companies. If you choose Java/C# you will have skills sought after by companies in wide variety of sectors, versus just the Software industry.
What were you doing before the C++ gig? Was it the flight sim gig?
Posted by: MecGen Jul 6 2005, 05:14 AM
Hey Dave
You ever thought about going thru a mid life crisis ?
You get to do a whole bunch a stupid shit and blame the crisis 
Quit your job, sell your busines, be a bum for a month ...2 3 4 ...
Complete total 180 deg switch..switch the god almighty trade that for some reason, our education, or upbringing of society, tells us to stay put, shut up, you can't be happy unless you are retired after working the same job for 25 years, change is good for the soul....
914 owners may be down but they are never out
Best wishes for you, I'll let you know how "my" crisis finishes...
Later
Joe
Posted by: fiid Jul 7 2005, 07:09 PM
| QUOTE (Dave_Darling @ Jul 5 2005, 04:49 PM) |
| Fiid, you're not the first person to suggest Java over C++. I might start poking around with that, but I have zero experience with Java. And nearly zero with C++ for that matter. (Which was one of the problems at the SF job.) Hmm... I wonder if my copy of Visual Studio will deal with Java? If not, I bet I can download someting for XP or Linux... |
C++ has *LOTS* of language features (READ: rope to hang yourself). Java has less, and is in a lot of ways quite simplistic in comparison. As a result, java code tends to be quite simple and readable (comparitively and when it's well written) - and getting something to run is generally quite easy. It's a modern, clean object oriented, type safe language that takes a lot of worries (esp about memory mgmt) off of the developer. I tend to worry more about threading issues than if I have bothered to free memory.
C++ can do things like smart pointers: your objects can count the number of references that other objects have to them, and when that count goes to zero - the object can automatically self-destruct. In Java - if nothing has a reference to an object, it gets garbage collected automatically next time RAM is a little tight - which isn't quite so ... uh... sexy, but works just as well in practice. People like to bash java's performance, but for a lot of operations it's really quite choppy, and for the time usually saved in development, you will usually have enough money to buy a second server for that big app to make up the difference.
That's not to say C++ is useless, or bad. Java is useless for a lot of (most - perhaps all) system level development, and when performance is paramount, Java is probably not the best choice. IMHExperience, most apps don't run into the kind of performance theshholds that necessetate that though - from what I have seen most apps are really just trying to have functionality that works.
If you want a free Java environment, I would look at Eclipse. On the commercial side: a lot of enterprise Java developers are using IntelliJ by JetBrains. You could mess around with the eval copy or try and get on their open source free licensing program (http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/opensource/opensource.html). I highly recommend IntelliJ.
If you get into Java and get stuck or have any Qs - feel free to email/pm me any time. I'm also on AIM/YIM most of the time.
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