(IT support) I actually don't know where that random setting in your application is, I'm just really fast and good at guessing from doing it a million times in applications I've never heard of before.
Similar to that, just because someone works in IT, doesn't mean they can fix your computer problem. I've worked with a lot of developers who were great coders but couldn't resolve networking or random OS issues.
I'm a developer. Most of the time when I contact IT it's because they broke something I rely on, like our vCenter appliance or network communications between some Linux appliances with static IPs.
Oh yes. I support a lot of developers, and being a good programmer is not the same as understanding networking in a corporate environment or even knowing anything about printers. That's why I'm needed π
no one QA'd this AAA game
Actually, that game breaking bug was caught weeks ago by QA. Unmoving deadlines set by upper management meant that a fix couldn't be made in time for the content schedule.
Also, by the time the game has been released for 1 hour, the players have already racked up more playtime than the full QA team could reasonably achieve throughout several years of development (and for most of that time QA were playing an older versionβ¦). So, if your game has a lot of player choice, randomization, simulation, complex systems, chances are the players are seeing things that QA never did. And then the players wonder how QA could miss such an obvious bug.
I've mothballed multiple RCs from finding P0 issues by pure chance. In my experience, 90% of bugs are already caught by QA, 8% were isolated bugs that would realistically never get caught in QA, and 2% just slip through.
That's why bugs can be labeled "in shipped version."
They know. It's just they balanced it against everything else and it wasn't worth spending time on or delaying the game for.
I won't say that it's purely a AAA problem, but it's harder to excuse there.
"IT is mainly introverts doing mysterious stuff no one understands"
It is a very cooperative field where everyone has different roles with different responsibilities, but everyone has a vague idea what everyone else is doing. Most of the time is spent making sure everyone else can also use the systems you build, not just yourself.
That the folks in IT have any sway over microsoft or facebook's ui plans.
NO Karen, I can not make Teams go back to the way it used to be. No matter how many times you ask.
That IT people can pretty much fix anything like TVs, HVACs, stoves, water heaters, fridges, toasters, rice cookers, and many more.
Just because we work in tech, doesn't mean we can deal with every technology known to mankind.
And no, we're not certified electricians.
I think that comes from the fact that a lot of people got into computers by learning to take apart and fix things like that.
That, and the general populace has fuck all for troubleshooting skills.
The error on the screen tells you exactly what is wrong in plain English... But you got impatient and clicked past it.
TVs, HVACs, stoves, water heaters, fridges, toasters, rice cookers,
Lol, rocket scientists wept
I had a lady I was helping with tech support ask me about her lightbulbs. I just told her I didnβt know the answer. She said βwell you should know, itβs electronic.β
As a certified electrician, this logic also works the other way. I wire things. I don't know why your PC won't boot. Yes your computer uses electricity, but this is not my professional fortΓ©.
That what I do is easy and that I'm "just pushing buttons". Yeah, I'm pushing the right button at the right time because the whoke shebang has been program'd, cued, mixed over weeks of rehearsals so that, come show time, it's all by magic. Magic of pushing the right button at the right time while also reading the brochure, watch the stage, issue cues to other dept sometimes in 2 different languages.
Easy peasy!
Stage manager? I'm not one myself, but I used to work in a theatre, and those people earn their money for sure. It's an amazing talent to keep everything running so smoothly, and it rarely gets the credit it deserves.
Yup! Must say this stemmed from a not-so-long-ago public comment by a "lead actor" which later took an hour-long dressing down by the director straight through his face. He apologized.
That we IT people know everything about every bussiness application that is used in an org of more than 5 employees.
If I new that I would be automating your job and you would be out of a job.
I work with the homeless. the main misconception is that they're all either addicts or mentally ill. This is far, far, from true. The ones you see daily, chances are they are addicts or mentally ill but the "hidden" homeless vastly out weighs the ones you see on the streets.
Most have jobs or are actively looking for work. A lot are escaping domestic abuse or are LGBTQ+ and escaping hostile home environments. There are A LOT of families and elderly people who simply can't afford to keep a roof over their heads.
That I could fix Windows PCs. Nope. When my work PC has issues, I call IT. I design computer chips.
Hey! Can I ask you about that? What type of chips? What are your most used skills/technologies and what helped get started when you were new? I want to work with fpgas, and I'd love to know what your experience with that has been like
I started with programming about anything that is programmable and not up on a tree at the count of three. I did industrial control units, and I worked on a Cray X-MP, and about anything between. I wrote computer games, compilers, an OS, database engines, and loads of applications. I've probably forgotten more programming languages than todays students have heard of. One day I ended up in embedded systems.
As our company had only one FPGA developer, I got sent on a three day course to learn VHDL from the source (Eugen Krassin, one of the original key developers of ISE). Right after that, I started developing FPGA firmware for our company. Luckily, I had some hardware experience from my work on the C64 and earlier, so I had a good understanding of clocks and signals. I know that even seasoned programmers really hit a wall when entering the world of HDLs.
I started with ISE back then on Spartan S3 and S6, then Xilinx f-ed us up so hard that the boss slammed the phone down after the last call with those guys and told me to find a more reliable company STAT. We now use Efinix FPGAs which has the big advantage that people there actually listen and help when I ask a question.
My field is isosynchronous low-latency networks for audio applications.
Woah, you're on OG! I'm unfamiliar with a lot of those things and had to look them up. Crazy!
Hah! ISE - I used that for a hot second, and you still see tutorials using it as well.
My goodness, tell me about it, I'm new and I already find myself frustrated with Xilinx sometimes. It feels like there are very few resources from them for learning, but I thought that was just because it's a niche subject. I'll have to take a look at Efinix. I guess I thought it was safer to stick to the biggest name while I'm trying to get established. At the moment I'm trying to get some example projects working on a Zybo Z7. I'm finding out that it's a lot to take in
Thanks for taking the time to reply! I feel strangely honored to hear from such an OG :) Cheers!
Whenever you are looking for a supplier for something, keep in mind that there are advantages and disadvantages when choosing one.
If you are in a small niece company, and your supplier is THE BIG OLD COMPANY, you are completely at their mercy. On the other hand, they usually have vast resources you can tap, like training capabilities and software you won't get elsewhere, or at least nor for the price.
That was our relationship with Xilinx. Yes, you get trainings and tutorials for everything, and they have a "light" version of ModelSim thrown in for free in their IDE, but on the other hand, they basically cut us off from one day to the next. And that was not even our fault.
So we went looking and found Efinix. Small, but growing, their IDE has a few edges that need to be rounded off, and they can't afford to throw in a free simulator, so we had to spend quite a few bucks to buy that (and it was not even ModelSim we bought, so I had to re-train). But at least they are open and helpful. You ask a question in their forum, and they come back to you to help. I've been talking to real people who are directly in contact with the dev team. When I had a strange compiler problem, I had a fix within 48 hours. THAT is gold in a supplier.
Iβm finding out that itβs a lot to take in
Yes, indeed. The step from CPU-based programming languages to Hardware definition languages is hard for most programmers, and for some, it is even insurmountable. Once you get the hang of it, it gets way easier.
I met a student once in a Reddit sub once who had issues with her code. I helped her and gave her a few tips how to improve it, and at the end, she asked me of my opinion of the project. I told her that it was a nice little beginner project, something to pass a boring Friday afternoon. Her reply: "Thats my Bachelor Thesis!*". What looks big and difficult to master will one day look simple and meek when you look back, so don't let it drag you down if things don't work on the first try.
Iβm going with beekeeping as my βfieldβ because itβs my main hobby now Iβm retired. So. Many. Misconceptions. The Bee Movie was not a documentary, people! The mating process for honeybees is horrifying and you donβt want to know. Male bees have one job, and then they die. If they donβt do that job, they still die; their sisters kick them out at the end of summer. Plus, I was talking to someone the other day who didnβt realise we let the bees just roam around.
I wonder how many of us instantly wrote bee-versions of the lyrics?
The saxophone solo is definitely now done by bees.
Haha, most people here do tech it seems. Well, me too.
People seem to think I'd be good at maths and my entire job is like maths. I'm not and I don't view it that way. There's a lot of problem solving and engineering, but I find it very creative and expressive
I know, the proportion of professional tech people here shocked me. I know there's a lot of like open source nerds and whatnot here but I only do that stuff as a hobby lol
People generally assume stay at home parents only choose that if their spouses make a lot of money, that they are bored or unsatisfied with their life, and that it's a job that is very hard and not much fun.
Obviously I don't speak for SAHPs and maybe these things do apply to some, but my life is freakin awesome! We choose to live very simply and frugally on a single below average income and it is completely worth it every single day for us.
I have so much control over my own schedule, I can't get enough of spending time with my kid and have so much fun with them, I have more time for my own interests, self care or friendships when my spouse can take over at times after work, we get fun family time all together almost every day because we don't have to spend all evening cooking and cleaning (plus our schedule is more flexible), and this is the only job where everything I do all day long directly benefits myself and my loved ones (beyond financial support).
There is genuinely nothing in the world I would trade for this. But man do I get tired of the negative comments from nearly everyone who finds out what I do.
My brother in law is a stay at home dad too. He's a wonderful father and supportive spouse. Yall deserve a hell of a lot of credit!
My wife is a stay at home parent, she works way harder than I do on a daily basis. Whoever thinks parenting isnβt a full time job clearly has never had kidsβ¦ or is full of shit if they have had kids.
That's so sweet, I imagine she feels very supported by your words! It's for sure a full time job, but to me personally it doesn't feel like a job most of the time even though I'm super busy. I think it's the "find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life" thing?π
I'm a web developer and people seem to think that once a product is brought to market the devs are no longer needed.
In any software development timeline given, triple it to be safe!
Programmers don't just pull perfect codes from their butts
Programming languages (yes, in some scenarios, even python) are hell to work with. And yes, I know developer experience has gotten so much better compared to 5 years ago. Still, there are too many unknowns.
It's like trying to shush a crying baby. Trying every trick on the book to put her back to sleep. But naaah, all she does is cry (no reasons, no hints)
This makes a half-an-hour job take 2 days (hence the unknown delays and setbacks)
If you meet a programmer that pulls a rough prototype of a single module inside a program in a few seconds and works immediately. Know that he/she has 10+ years of experience in that language domain.
i.e. that one granny that "feels the baby" and knows what it wants, making the baby calm immediately.
And even then, it just meant that whatever solution they thought up worked first try.
With experience you get better at finding good, working solutions quicker, but there will always be times when things take a bit of iteration.
Medical field here: The vast majority of us are not in it for the money. Physicians have to spend 3 to 9 years after medical school working for a wage that works out to about $5/hour to gain certification and a medical license in their specialty. And that's after 8 to 12 years of undergraduate/graduate/doctorate education that basically has to be paid for with loans unless they're in the military or come from a rich family. So, yes, physicians do make high salaries once they're established, but there was a lot of work and sacrifice to get to that point, and very few people are masochistic enough to put themselves through that just for the money.
Also, the most expensive parts of a medical appointment/surgery/ER visit etc is the administrative overhead, inflated prices of drugs and supplies, and insurance company bullshit. Very little money from that price tag actually makes it to the healthcare workers. Your average EMT on an ambulance makes between $13-20/hour depending on the state minimum wage.
If you have a problem with your healthcare costs, that's something to take up with your representatives in government, not the EMTs, CNAs, nurses, and physicians providing your care.
As a patient, the reason I'm complaining about healthcare costs is if you say something like "My job isn't to worry about the money". Well mine, as the patient, is. Sometimes it helps when I explain that financial stress is a predictor of heart disease, then they get where I'm coming from.
I need to know in advance how much this costs because I'm doing a cost-benefit analysis against other forms of harm that I can spend the money to avoid. And if you (the royal you, your entire profession) can't understand how that could be a factor, I can translate the financial cost into morbidity statistics.
I'm in my third year of medical school, so I've just started my clinical rotations, but one of the things that shows up on almost every reference table for physicians regarding treatment options is information on the price for the patient. I'm rotating in a family medicine clinic right now, and we pretty frequently prescribe the best possible treatment, and then when the pharmacy runs it through the patient's insurance and finds out how much it's going to cost, we then start working down the list of next-best alternatives until we can find something the patient can afford. Because there are so many different insurance plans out there, we have no idea how much something is going to cost until the insurance tells us.
I understand that you donβt have the information. But the information is retrievable, just with way more delay than we need.
Each time I talk to you, to get a new prescription for the next-best thing, it costs me about $100.
If we could get all the information systems good enough, you could prescribe, insurance could quote, and you could re-prescribe in seconds.
Unfortunately, most health insurance plans have a separate sub-company manage the pharmacy benefits and we have absolutely zero way of accessing their systems. It would be lovely if we could see what your insurance would cover immediately as we prescribe it, but that also runs into the problem of us not having any control over the actual pharmacy and their billing and pricing.
As a mathematician I will reiterate what my supervisor told me: Math is not hard, it is only we that suck at it (said in context of me complaining about having used way too much time on what I in retrospect found to be simple).
Physicist: Makes a weird formula, uses it for decades without knowing why it works.
Mathematician: Looks for an approach that makes sense for decades, dies.
I get annoyed with the way they use math sometimes, but I have to keep in mind there is an advantage to it (I guess).
We arenβt trying to screw you, the actual solutions (not bandaids) are just expensive (paying for knowledge, skill, equipment, and parts). That 5 min fix took years to know to look for and how to fix quickly, plus have the part on the truck for immediate installation. Typically a quick tech is a good tech if the problem is solved.
I worked in food logistics before my current job.
People think baked goods in stores are fresh, many are packaged and flash frozen then defrosted when it arrives at the store. Even fresh baked stuff is often proofed then flash frozen, baked from frozen. Nobody but expensive bakeries has actual bakers anymore.
Was a cook at retirement home. Amount of pastries I've essentially warmed up are over easily over 10k
If I'm out can spot if someone is using that same Cisco pastry or Pillsbury scones lol
That you can quickly pick up coding with a few courses.
Can you learn it? Sure why not. Just keep in mind that you'll never stop learning, so it has to fit into your lifestyle.
Further, you'll have to be patient and be able to deal with stress well. If you can't adjust yourself to work in a team, you'll have difficulty finding work.
Another misconception is that coders stay alone at home in a dark room all the time. Coding is just one part of your life and people do all sorts of stuff.
Yeah lots of people who aren't in tech think of coding as a solitary job, but it's a very social-skills-dependent job.
Social skills required to be a coder (at least; probably forgetting many):
As an autistic person, I struggled mightily with the social skill requirements of being a coder on a team. I ultimately failed. I'd like to go back and try again, after doing some really basic shit to improve my own character.