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by Pulzar (#48543547) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Can a Felon Work In IT?

Aside from the fact that it's fundamentally incompatible with democracy, wasn't a huge part of the American revolution the idea that there should be no taxation without representation? Those felons are taxpayers, aren't they?

All of non-citizens that work in US and pay taxes are also getting taxed without representation... and there are likely way more of them than felons.

Comment: Re:10x Productivity (Score 1) 215

by Pulzar (#48408387) Attached to: Do Good Programmers Need Agents?

The ones who actually make the team better dont consider themselves to be rockstars. There is a correlation between humility and talent (otherwise known as the Dunning-Kruger effect). ... This is how they like to imagine they are, but not what they're like in reality. In reality they are childish and petulant. If their authority and awesomeness is not recognised they will make everyone else's life hell until it is.

Like I said, I don't think you've worked with them before. What you describe is most definitely not what people consider a "rock star developer". And, they don't go around calling themselves that, either. Other people do.

The two I've had a pleasure to work with were both very humble, and incredibly good at what they did. Everybody who worked with them got better for it... I know I did.

Largest organisation I worked for in that capacity was 80 staff with 20 developers (most in a consulting capacity). In fact that's why I ended up managing the dev teams, we didn't have enough of them to justify their own manager so it fell under my jurisdiction as IT manager.... I had a pair of senior devs who could keep the team together and moving and were great at it, I considered it my job to keep things out of their way so they could do their jobs.

Ok, not a big company, but still very bottom-heavy. One senior dev per 10 developers, and one manager for a group of 20... it explains why you do have values of a manager in a big company -- since your team works like one.

If you had 4 senior devs that could "bang out" high quality code, each could do that and still lead 2 more junior developers, and your team would be almost half the size and finish in the same amount of time. And, with that smaller team, you might actually be able to dedicate some real time to individuals you manage.

Comment: Re:10x Productivity (Score 3, Insightful) 215

by Pulzar (#48408187) Attached to: Do Good Programmers Need Agents?

I hate managing with "rockstar" developers because they're always too arrogant and full of themselves. They detract from the team, argue and refuse to listen to others.

Those aren't rock-star developers. As another poster said, you likely have never worked with a rock-star developer. They are great at what they do, *and* they make the team better. They are rare, but it's awesome when you see somebody that inspires others around them by what they can do.

They help the junior devs and often their time is better spent doing this than banging out code even though their code is a lot better than the juniors. Someone who can manage a team is valued for more than just their coding skills, if they've got people skills they are definitely a force multiplier.

You sound like you work in a big company, on big teams. This is certainly true there, and in order to have a large team productive, you need a lot of good people keeping those juniors productive.

Several times, though, I've seen those similar good people bang out their much superior code and finish the project in the same amount of time, while have a team that's 6 or 7 times smaller, with no juniors.

Comment: Re:10x Productivity (Score 1) 215

by Pulzar (#48408163) Attached to: Do Good Programmers Need Agents?

If you can fix everything wrong process-wise with your 100-dev organization so that everyone can work twice as fast, well, you're 10x as productive as the guy who sits in a corner and bangs out 10x the code, aren't you? If you can invent a product that solves a problem that everyone has, but no one else thought there was a solution to, well, the guy banging out code isn't even on the same scale.

Those don't come even close to being described as "programmer" jobs. We're talking about "rock star programmers", and whether they can be 10x productive compared to a normal programmer. We're not talking about rock-star senior managers driving a 100-dev organization.

Comment: Re:Automation and jobs (Score 1) 720

by Pulzar (#48221137) Attached to: Automation Coming To Restaurants, But Not Because of Minimum Wage Hikes

And why, exactly, do you think any of those rich individuals and corporations would remain in America, when you're forcing them to work just so you can steal their money and give it to the people who don't?

Oh, you're planning to build a wall along the border to keep your slaves in the Gulag, right? And require exit visas to leave on a plane?

Canada taxes rich individuals at much higher rates than US, and I don't see any walls and exit visas needed to keep them from leaving.

Comment: Re:the app that increases battery life (Score 1) 471

by Pulzar (#47875035) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Smartwatch Apps Could You See Yourself Using?

until smart watches battery life are measured in years, I wont buy one.

Ok. Can you elaborate? Why is that a requirement for a watch? You plan on being away from electrical outlets for years at a time?

I'm sure there are some out there than go on wilderness expeditions or whatnot, but for most of us posting on slashdot regularly, we sleep somewhere where you already plug your phone into a charger every night anyway... so why is it a problem to put your phone onto something like this on your night stand?

Comment: Re:They always told me I was so smart... (Score 4, Insightful) 243

by Pulzar (#47738001) Attached to: It's Dumb To Tell Kids They're Smart

I've figured I was smart when I was sent to a special school that only accepted people with high IQ. It was arguably the worse year of my life.

I had the opposite experience. For the first time in my schooling years, I felt like I fit in, and I developed my social skills and found new confidence in myself. I was very happy to be there.

Like they say, every kid is different, there's no universal formula to explain what will work and what won't.

Comment: Why not patent compression algorithm? (Score 1, Insightful) 263

by Pulzar (#47284995) Attached to: The Supreme Court Doesn't Understand Software

If somebody comes up with a novel patent compression algorithm, why shouldn't they be able to patent it? I read the argument about math not being patentable, but I don't really understand why. A new data compression algorithm that is truly novel seems like it should deserve some protection so that the inventor can get rewarded for her work. No?

Comment: Re:Annoying. (Score 2) 347

If you are correct that taxes collect themselves, then why couldn't billing use the same technology?

I think the point is that there is a tax collection system in place already. Adding a line item on the form to cover water is not going to increase the cost and complexity of the system.

Comment: Re:So when will the taxi drivers start protesting? (Score 1) 583

by Pulzar (#47143291) Attached to: Google Unveils Self-Driving Car With No Steering Wheel

Or a road has a new road layout. The lanes have moved around. Perhaps a two way street has become a one way street. This is clearly signposted. Can your car read these signs? Will it just dumbly drive up the street the wrong way until someone thinks to update the map?

Why do you have the impression that computers these days can still only do the same things they did in the 90s?

Yes, the car can read the signs, easily. It's trivial for it to see the sign that says "one way, do not enter" and to recalculate its route. It's also easy for the first car that spots the sign that doesn't match its map to update other cars and let them know what's going on.

And, why wouldn't it have a special bus queue length algorithm, if that was important to know? How hard of an algorithm would it be? It could even query the average wait time for a particular bus stop and adjust to be even more precise. I bet it could predict the waiting time better than you would.
