From: r. 'bear' stricklin <red(a)bears.org>
>I have to add my two cents to this. Yes, some companies will demand
>degrees and expect to see a candidate with 100% conventional
>background. In the tech sector, at least, these companies don't seem to
be
>in the norm and where they do exist, are the LEAST interesting companies
>to work for.
Over an extended period I encounterd a lot of old guard companies that
fit
that mold or worse have sterotypes on the brain.
>Today I am 23 years old and have hit the top of my profession (UNIX
>systems administration). In terms of technical knowledge, I outrank
nearly
It will make difference when your 47 and looking.
>Not once has my lack of a degree affected my ability to find a job. In
>fact, I am very up-front about my short-lived and extremely unglamourous
>engagement at uni.
With 30 years behind me and 6 major companies I can say at one time
It didn't either for me. Then as athey say, I got old.
>Yes, I am tooting my own horn here (quite loudly) but if I don't toot
it,
>I'm afraid the fact that a successful career can be built on things
other
>than advanced degrees may slip by unnoticed.
Much truth to that, but some day it will come to you or someone with
same expereince and he'll have the degree...
>Will I go back to school? Yes. Will it be to get a technical degree?
>Probably not. Divinity or theology are looking like likely candidates.
Same here. I've visited from time to time for various courses but if I
go
for the degree electronics or computer will not be the focus either.
Allison
Does anyone have any documentation for the Minivac 601? Is there anything
on-line? I bought one via eBay (I thought $41 was a pretty reasonable
price,) but it didn't come with any of the jumpers or books.
When I was in high school, we had one, but it didn't work. It didn't have
any documentation either.
>What do you do? How do you manage your "quality" time with your
machines?
>Do you feel guilty for neglecting that old (insert machine name here)?
>
>Francois
Good point! I've generally stopped adding as I've reached space
saturation
and run out of possible time to operate the machines I dearly wanted.
Yes, My old NS* is not getting enough time these days.
Allison
On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:48:53 -0700 Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org> writes:
> Isn't it also odd how the people with these "deep pockets" also seem
> to get
> a lot accomplished? You might want to look at that correlation and
> see what
> it means.
Okay, if you want to take that tack on the subject, let's go:
So you're saying that only the rich and powerful are *worthy* of
a such as noble endeavor such as ours?
So your saying: "Sorry, if you can't pay, you don't deserve to play".
What a crock of shit. Accomplish what!?! All it means to me is,
is that some guys can delude themselves into thinking that if they
pour money into something, they can call it a hobby. They haven't
go it. The only way to really appreciate what we do here (well,
what *I* do anyway) is to get your "hands dirty" with this stuff.
Maybe you can pay someone to do the work for you, but you're
kidding yourself.
> See comment #1. Those "priviledged few" are generally the people
> that get
> things done and manage their resources wisely. Personally, I would
> not want
> someone without the ability to manage having any control over my
> collection.
Oh, okay, so you're saying that if we can't pay the increasing
cost of admission, we're deadbeats, is that it?!?! Try to tell
that to the retired folks who have fixed incomes. Try to tell
that to schoolkids who now equate computer=Wintel, and don't
know that something existed before. Yeah, we're going to pass
this all on, right? Yeah, when we're all dead, and there no
one around to tell the story . . .
Now as a matter of fact, I don't give a rat's ass about your
collection. What you do with it is *your* business. What I *do*
care about though, are the poor stiffs who would like to pursue
computing as a hobby, but will instead have to find something
else to do, because the prices are out of sight.
Jeff
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I'll be first in line to say college is a good thing, and
worth the time, money, and effort expended to obtain a
degree. Doing so right after high school is the path of
least resistance--it _is_ harder when you're older (from
experience).
That said, any employer who ignores you because the time
between your high school and college graduations is not
the "standard interval" without so much as asking about
it is doing him or herself (and his or her company) a
disservice.
There are pursuits other than rehab or prison that could
have filled that time--such as having served in the Peace
Corps, the military, or a real-world job--that might just
have made a person who waited to go to college appreciate
the opportunity laid before them. A person who did such a
thing may well be a better candidate for it.
While there is no shortage of the kind of people
who will not take a second look at those whose resumes
don't fit the mold, there are also plenty of others less
closed minded who would likely be more satisfying to
work for.
--Mike
> It's true the DEC racks don't grow on trees, but their scrap value doesn't
> pay for shipping and storage. Ask anybody who's got them. Likewise, the
> PSU's cost a lot to move and store, but seldom bring benefit proportional
to
> the effort.
>
> What's wrong with letting this guy have what he wants?
See, I'm not a DEC guy, so I really don't know how rare a
MicroPDP-11/73 is (and how different they are or aren't
>from a regular PDP-11). On the assumption that they don't
make them anymore and thus are kinda rare, I thought it
worthwhile to preserve/restore a nearly complete and
almost operational system. And let me tell you how clean
this thing was. Since the guy didn't want anything heavy,
I picked up the TS05 tape drive out of the rack last night.
The plexiglass tape door had not a scratch on it, nor did
the rest of the unit. And no discoloration anywhere either.
It had been used at the University of Louisville Medical
School, and they took awesome care of it. I just thought
it an ideal machine to save.
After I looked at it even more carefully at home, I
almost couldn't bring myself to remove the plexiglass
door to replace the broken one on my Cipher F880. My
Cipher isn't in nearly as good a shape. The two units
aren't identical; while the TS05 is a Cipher F880, it
doesn't support the 3200bpi density mine does. But I'll
bet dollars to donuts that the mechanical assemblies
are the same, so now I've got an excellent source of
spares to keep my drive working.
Now if i can just find a Prime 2301 Tape Controller...
-doug q
> You do realize that PDP-11's are more than just cool toys don't you?
There
> are people/companies whose livelyhood depends on these systems and their
> continueing to run.
Nah, running a CAT scanner is just child's play.
And AFAIC, I don't really want to play with a PDP-11; I just
didn't want to see an otherwise complete system that was two
components away from total restoration ripped to shreds!
> The only thing I can see that the buyer did wrong was leaving the
> powersupply! At least from what you've said I assume he left
> it. If he went so far as to get the backplane he really should have
> taken that.
He's taking about a third, and leaving two thirds.
The rack is staying behind too. But I guess DEC racks
grow on trees.
-dq
I find that I don't spend enough time playing with
the machines, but, then, I don't spend enough time
searching, either :>.
Seriously, I am in a similar situation, with every
shelf available to me covered with computers and
peripherals. I think from time to time about
"thinning the herd" and choosing machines to
specialize in--right about then, I come across
something I know nothing about and get it! And
thinning would require me to choose machines with
which to part, which isn't easy. I _should_ start
offering some items to the list soon!
I do feel guilty for not firing up a variety of
machines more often!
--Mike
How can you find your computer without having had coffee?
Francois
>I apologize--that reply was meant to go off list. I
>will remember not to reply to messages before having
>had coffee in the future!
>
Just wondering, how rare is a model 12? I don't care about monetary value,
this is a curiosity thing.
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