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.
“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.
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 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.
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.
I’m finding out that it’s 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.
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
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.
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.
Everyday I’m thankful I don’t develop software. Yall are a different breed. Thank you
LoL Buddy, I’m not.
One word: “patience”
Patience in trying and trying until a solution sticks :)
I’m a physicist and we are actually dumb as a box of rocks.
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).
We aren’t 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.
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.
That I know how to fix problems with their printer. That includes members of my own household.
No, as a webdeveloper I don’t know anything about your custom windows server environment and how to share files between all kinds of devices on it.
I work with radio camera links. The number of people who get upset over the receivers is depressing. They can make the 5G conspiracy theorists look educated.
Receive equipment is incapable of radiating at all.
The part that radiates is completely safe!
Seriously, any danger would be at the camera end. I am happy to sit with it fully powered and the antenna between my legs. (It stops the camera getting knocked over). It can’t put out enough power to do any harm. It’s comparable to home WiFi and weak compared to the mobile phone you are happy to put to your head!
That they could get the same level of table service if waitresses were paid a flat wage.
That waitresses rely on tips to make up for a deficient wage instead of the other way around.
That less ice will mean more drink in the glass.
That the 185°F water from the coffee machine will clean the silverware better than the much hotter sterilizing rinse of the industrial dishwasher.
That they should wait to complain to a manager instead of telling me right away if something is off so I can fix it.
I ask for no ice because pop is pretty cold when it comes out anyways and I hate watered down pop. Also if I take it home I can put it in the fridge … and it doesnt get watered down.
Sure. But you’re be surprised how often someone asks for, say, a sangria without ice and then asks why the glass is only half full.
Fair enough! So they are trying to get out of paying for a double! I understand now. Tell them the glass is actually half empty!!! lol
That less ice will mean more drink in the glass.
If the drink is filled to the same level on the glass, then less ice must mean more drink, right?
Unless you fill the drink first, and then add ice, in which case the drinks with ice would have higher water levels then those without ice.
For water and pop, sure.
For cocktails, not so much.
