Subj : Re: CV, work-history, 91C, CompSci?, Applet? (was: Software Job Ma...) To : comp.programming,comp.software-eng From : Chris Hills Date : Thu Sep 08 2005 07:40 pm In article <2vg0i1tv05mulkr47u58357al21coe0a6m@4ax.com>, JXStern writes >On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 09:19:39 +0100, Chris Hills >wrote: > >>In article , Robert Maas, see >>http://tinyurl.com/uh3t writes >>>(Regarding MicroSoft Word and documents of its format:) >>>> From: Chris Hills >> >>BTW I did once come across some one who wrote a program in word as a doc >>file. renamed it to *.c and wondered why the compiler did not like it. > >Place I work would probably go the other way, rename a .cpp file to >.doc and say the documentation was finished. :-) It happens. There is a system called Literate Programming where the documentation and the source are the same thing. Weaving a program: Literate programming in web by Wayne Sewell ISBN 0-442-31946-0 pub 1989. It never caught on. Started out using Pascal and TeX >>>I have never claimed expertise with MicroSoft Word. I am not seeking a >>>job using MicroSoft Word, such as word-processing, or >>>receptionist/secretary, or advertising copy, etc. Accordingly what you >>>said, that MicroSoft Word instead of plain text is a tool of my >>>profession, seems to be completely wrong. >> >>Word is the de-facto standard (for the majority of the world) word >>processor for documentation, CV's resumes reports, srequiremtns and >>specification etc >> >>Doing documentation in plain ascii went out over a decade ago. It >>appears you are at least a decade out of date in the tools of your >>profession. > >Yes, but he does seem willing to do documentation in HTML, which is >roughly what they do do in my current shop. Yes I agree HTML or more often XML I think is becoming the norm as it can do more in on-line documentation. However this includes fancy colours, fonts, links and diagrams not plain ASCII >>As I have run, in the past a small specialist job agency I can tell you >>without references there is no way I would put you forward for anything, > >And I suggest he take note of this. > >I've never run an agency. Thought I might like to work in one, just >to observe. I know what you mean. Most are a cattle market. > Could probably do it, too, I've done pure sales jobs from >time to time, mostly back in the day, I can be suitably glib. Many, >really most, hiring in the industry these days involves recruiters, >who must be satisfied as gatekeepers before you get "put forward". The problem is the recruiters are usually not experts in the field and don't care as long as the word search gets some matches. >I have, however, hired developers, both directly and through agencies. >Would I grant an interview or offer a job to Robert Maas, if I had >some legacy code he might be qualified on, or some light web work he >could probably help out with? Well, all I can say is, "maybe". So you give a qualified "maybe" two specific areas only. >Mr. Maas may be making things hard on himself, It is also the way he is doing it. >and may be out of sync >with some of the industry's current practices, A long way on a lot of them I think. > but I recognize him as >a "type" which is common enough in the field, just a little grey >around the edges Well I am nearly 50. > and at the end of a particularly bad run. 10 years? My worry is that he is not gainfully employed doing "something". I can't see why he has been unemployed for a decade. I have done many jobs as times and conditions dictate. However not to work for a decade because no one offers you one type of job. Ie programming is not a good sign. I note that when I suggested a change of career the response was "I have" from bespoke Sw to commercial SW. To my that is not a career change. That is just a slightly different type of project. > I don't >doubt there are dozens like him lurking this group, but then, not so >many developers ever touch a newsgroup, and it's something in his >favor (IMHO) that he's even here. Not really. There are housewives, kids and retired people, my dad, on the net. IT would be an unusual programmer who was not on the Internet. OK maybe not this NG but then this is not the only forum. >For all this talk about >requirements, he's very expressive online, in writing, even as he >denigrates its importance Yes but unfortunately much of it does highlight some of the reasons why he is not working. The answer is to get out there and do something. With a job you will be better off and can get somewhere. May be not the job you want (Ferrari turned me down as a test driver too :-) but it gets you back in to circulation in the work place. Whilst luck just happens much of it only happens because you got out there in the first place. -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ /\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ .