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Programmers are getting cheaper

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 12:19:00 GMT

ASP .NET programmers are now going for $15/hour. Sure, it’s ASP .NET, but nonetheless a disconcerting sign for those of us who make our living writing code.

Two questions pop into my mind, though. First, what kind of programmer do you get for $15? Can he think outside the box? Can he code with scalability in mind? Is he a hack, or does he adhere to good programming practice? Will it cost you more to update the code down the road than you’re saving now?

If you’re talking about American programmers, you get what you pay for, in my opinion. Foreign labor is a different story, though. They may posess all these skills and be willing to work for less.

About jobs moving abroad, I’ve heard things like, “America will still handle all the innovation; foreign labor will do all the grunt work.”

But just like in the Terminator films, the machines will become self-aware. Take factory production, for instance: America has moved factories overseas in the last few decades to exploit cheap, uneducated foreign labor.

Now, as we’ve pumped money into those foreign economies, those societies can afford to educate themselves, and we face increasing competition from enterprising nations like China. There’s no reason to expect this won’t happen with tech, either.

The second question: As a programmer, how does one maintain their competitive edge? I figure you could take one of the following paths, and I suggest taking both:

Diversify:

Learn new technologies
Have supplementary skills, like networking and systems administration
Study design and usability
Know how to make disparate systems talk to each other
Understand how business works

Become an expert in a niche: Find an aspect of tech that you really like and get all the books you can on the subject. Learn it in theory and in practice. Publish and demonstrate what you know on a Web site.

Bad keystroke leads to $251 million stock buy

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 17:08:00 GMT

Bad keystroke leads to $251 million stock buy

“Fubon said that the trader was unfamiliar with new computer systems and will be fired.”

It’s a sad, sad day when the blame for such a massive mistake is placed on the user. Training or no, the responsibility for something that grave falls on the shoulders of the software makers. Clearly, there was a breakdown in the information design of the product.

[Note: I don’t like the idea of software “training”. First, you train bears to dance, you train lions to jump through hoops, and athletes train for competition. It implies some kind of inferiority, and it suggests a lot of boring, rote learning.

In regards to software, training is usually for a user interface that wasn’t designed very well. It’s a concept devised by a small percentage of techno-jocks who can’t understand why everyone can’t whip through the software like they can, but it’s an arrogant and insulting point of view. Well-designed, user-centric software is inherently usable and should require little - if any - training.]

Happy 4th

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 00:37:00 GMT

Happy Fourth of July. Here is a picture of me drinking beer with some girls. Yay.

And here’s me and Da Regulator at a Fourth of July BBQ. Can I just say the meat was off the hook?

MySpace: Design travesty

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 10:07:00 GMT

Hey, folks! What do you get when you let non-designers design Web pages?!

Good times. Here’s a barf bag.

Breaking the seal

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 01:53:00 GMT

I’ve found that once you spend a stupid amount of money on a pair of designer jeans, it’s very easy to do it again from that point on.

In the same day.

Not that I did that. Just saying.

Raucous birthday event

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 15:05:00 GMT

Thanks to everyone who showed up for my birthday party. We threw a Scientology-themed rager, in case you didn’t hear.

Yard: trashed. House: trashed. Cat: missing (briefly).

10-year High School Reunion

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 17:45:00 GMT

It’s pretty awkward until you start slamming beers. Then it’s like any other party except you have a much better excuse to talk to chicks.

Good times.

Europe & Balkans 2005

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 06:05:48 GMT

Nov 08 2005 : Back in the USA
Oct 31 2005 : Dubrovnik, Croatia
Oct 27 2005 : Prishtina, Kosovo
Oct 20 2005 : Belgrade, Serbia
Oct 13 2005 : Ljubljana, Slovenia
Oct 10 2005 : Weird food
Oct 09 2005 : Bad karaoke in Augsburg
Oct 06 2005 : Oktoberfest is bad for your liver

The Most Annoying Car Ever

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:50:00 GMT

I like to use car analogies a lot when explaining to people why a lot of user interfaces suck.

Pepole often hear me say something like, “You just know how to drive a car. It’s intuitive. If they designed car controls the way that they design most software interfaces, you’d have wrecks happening all the time.”

But now what happens when the car - a BMW M5 in this case- with its relatively mature interface is mashed up with a computer? According to the host of a British TV show, Top Gear, it’s a disaster. Check out the video.

Luckily, the magic M button, which boosts the car into high-performance driving mode, seems to be its redemption. I just wish computer applications had one of those.

Cat bite?

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 17:17:00 GMT

Has a cute little cat managed to sink his teeth into your luscious flesh lately? In multiple places, most notably on a joint? Wondering if it will get horribly infected?

The answer is PROBABLY.

That’s right. Cats have dirty little mouths (dirty as in bacterial dirty, not dirty like a sailor’s). Not nearly as dirty as a human’s, but dirty enough that you will see serious infection in about 50% of bites, according to the doc who treated me.