d_r

Thanks for posting this link! I've always wondered who designed the beautiful icons on their pages, and it's even more remarkable to see them in high-res.

Is anyone else irked by Forbes' need to use a "revenge of the nerds" picture there? I feel like the SOPA argument is inherently skewed for most Americans, and it is bitterly unfair.

Pro side: "we're stopping evil foreign counterfeiters, we're helping save American jobs, we're looking out for your safety."

Con side: "complicated sounding tech mumbo jumbo, this will break the internet, and some references to Libya"

Which side would you support if you didn't know any better?

SOPA affects more than just the "nerds." How can the messaging be improved? How can it be made more compelling to resonate more with laypeople?

Why aren't the "influential" people focusing on the message?

I see. In that case, your heart is in the right place. But it doesn't have to be all or nothing. The sweet spot is really the "formal" university education, combined with independent/group projects.

Of course, it's absolutely instrumental to spend a lot of time coding on your own "for fun." Just learning the proofs and such does not prepare one for the real world at all.

This was somewhat harder maybe 10 years ago. Fortunately in modern days, there are many APIs to play with, open source technologies, and so on. Communities like GitHub used to be much harder to find in the past. HN rocks.

But you'd have to know the theory too, to understand the concepts on a deeper level. Yes, some people are entirely self-taught, but it requires the person to already have the "drive" and to already know what they want.

Finally, a good university (like UofT is) can bring life-long friends and experiences and expose one's mind to more ideas. It's great for opening doors, and generally establishing a foundation for learning. Can't miss that!

I'm not sure if you're trolling or not, but it sounds like terrible advice.

Yes, most of coding knowledge comes from real world experience. But a university is essential in building the foundation. Those theory and math topics do matter. CS isn't just about gluing PHP code together.

Also, most non-startup jobs out there do tend to require a bachelors' degree.

Perhaps off-topic, but after reading GoDaddy's letter, I am surprised that our discussions against SOPA don't focus on the root -- the fact that the legislation is presented in an incredibly misleading and vague manner.

At face value, its purpose is to stop the foreign counterfeit drug/goods sellers -- you know, the same guys who spam us with "enlarge your..." and such offers. The same guys who pollute Google search results with "buy handbags" trash. Now suppose someone had asked you: "do you want legislation against these foreign illegal drug sellers?" Surely you'd say yes. Heck, I'd say yes. What reasonable person would oppose this?

But the problem is that the legislation is presented as this, but is actually likely going to be used for other things (censoring online content, special interests of the movie industry, etc.)

So when we write to our congresspeople and explain our concerns with SOPA, I wonder: do they think "Hmm, I am just protecting the internet from so-and-so baddies selling drugs. Why are all these tech people suddenly up in arms about this? Do they somehow not want to stop those baddies?"

When we write, we say that we oppose SOPA. Would we be more effective if we asserted that we do hate those sellers and oppose SOPA because of its specific implications? Unless of course, the bad "side effects" are actually the main purpose and the "good" cause is just a very clever gimmick.

You should also mention which state you live in, as options can be different. For example, MA has a single-payer system and you're eligible for group coverage even without an employer. In some states like NY even alone you can join a "freelancers union" of sorts that may help with getting group coverage. In CA, you can apply for individual coverage with something like Kaiser.

Some of these exemplify "premature optimization" and will clutter code with no discernible benefit. I remember some days ago, in the days of PHP, there were heated debates about whether or not using single or double quotes for strings makes code faster.

As with most development, use good practices. But then at the end of the day, profile your application to find the actual bottlenecks.