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!
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.
Like a granny that “feels the baby” and knows what it wants, making the baby calm immediately.
And even then, it just meant that whatever solution they thought up worked first try.
With experience you get better at finding good, working solutions quicker, but there will always be times when things take a bit of iteration.
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 :)
(IT support) I actually don’t know where that random setting in your application is, I’m just really fast and good at guessing from doing it a million times in applications I’ve never heard of before.
Similar to that, just because someone works in IT, doesn’t mean they can fix your computer problem. I’ve worked with a lot of developers who were great coders but couldn’t resolve networking or random OS issues.
Oh yes. I support a lot of developers, and being a good programmer is not the same as understanding networking in a corporate environment or even knowing anything about printers. That’s why I’m needed 😃
I’m a developer. Most of the time when I contact IT it’s because they broke something I rely on, like our vCenter appliance or network communications between some Linux appliances with static IPs.
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.
That’s why bugs can be labeled “in shipped version.”
They know. It’s just they balanced it against everything else and it wasn’t worth spending time on or delaying the game for.
I won’t say that it’s purely a AAA problem, but it’s harder to excuse there.
Also, by the time the game has been released for 1 hour, the players have already racked up more playtime than the full QA team could reasonably achieve throughout several years of development (and for most of that time QA were playing an older version…). So, if your game has a lot of player choice, randomization, simulation, complex systems, chances are the players are seeing things that QA never did. And then the players wonder how QA could miss such an obvious bug.
I’ve mothballed multiple RCs from finding P0 issues by pure chance. In my experience, 90% of bugs are already caught by QA, 8% were isolated bugs that would realistically never get caught in QA, and 2% just slip through.
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 grass is better than wild growth. Wait…
That I will ignore 30 years of accumulated knowledge and experience - and all the relevant laws - just because they really really really want me to build something their way, and that they tell me it’ll be fine. If an experienced professional says “no” there is a good reason for that… we’re not just being obstinate.
Not so much a professional field as a field of human experience, but being homeless.
People think the main things homeless people lack are:
- food and drink
- shelter
- money
In actuality, most homeless people have at least some of that stuff. What they tend to totally lack, creating the difficulty in living a civilized life of dignity, are:
- bathrooms/hygiene facilities
- security
- storage space
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
Some folks have noticed the service you get in the States is shit, unless the wait staff identify you as someone who will give a good tip. If you’re from an ethnic group notorious for bad tipping, you’re never going to get good service, and so you’re never going to tip well… Continuing the cycle. 🤷🏻♀️
It’s not that it’ll clean better, but an additional rinse can’t hurt - especially if a utensil might have been crowded or rushed through the wash. Or maybe the waitstaffs hands are a bit suspect.
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.
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 IT people can pretty much fix anything like TVs, HVACs, stoves, water heaters, fridges, toasters, rice cookers, and many more.
Just because we work in tech, doesn’t mean we can deal with every technology known to mankind.
And no, we’re not certified electricians.
I had a lady I was helping with tech support ask me about her lightbulbs. I just told her I didn’t know the answer. She said “well you should know, it’s electronic.”
Sounds about right.
I think that comes from the fact that a lot of people got into computers by learning to take apart and fix things like that.
That, and the general populace has fuck all for troubleshooting skills.
The error on the screen tells you exactly what is wrong in plain English… But you got impatient and clicked past it.
(Unless the dev happened to not write the error messages, then you’re fucked or pay money for support)
error 0x5ac
contact customer support
TVs, HVACs, stoves, water heaters, fridges, toasters, rice cookers,
Lol, rocket scientists wept
I mean… they’re not rocket science…
…not exactly brain surgery!
IT is actually a vast field with many many specialties similar to medicine. Asking the copier guy why your server is down is kinda like asking a podiatrist why you’re sad all the time.
Ive always compared it to trades. Like, asking a plumber to fix your light switch or something.
I’m going with beekeeping as my “field” because it’s my main hobby now I’m retired. So. Many. Misconceptions. The Bee Movie was not a documentary, people! The mating process for honeybees is horrifying and you don’t want to know. Male bees have one job, and then they die. If they don’t do that job, they still die; their sisters kick them out at the end of summer. Plus, I was talking to someone the other day who didn’t realise we let the bees just roam around.
You let the bees roam around? So they’re not inside bees?
Nope, the bees are never in one place. They roam from town to town
I wonder how many of us instantly wrote bee-versions of the lyrics?
The saxophone solo is definitely now done by bees.
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.
People who think the earth is flat. I work in geographic information systems.
