At a recent job interview, the interviewer asked about my PhD. He was in the process of getting one himself, so at least he wasn’t freaked out by it, but we had an amusing (to me) interaction when I told him I wasn’t planning on doing any more teaching. “So you’re not going to use [...]
Archive for September, 2011
Grading Obama’s Jobs/Education Speech
September 24, 2011A quick post here, because I just watched Obama’s speech. I’m glad he’s trying to do away with No Child Left Behind, but I’m not 100% on board with what he’s saying. In the first place, he’s still buying into the “more education = more jobs” equation, specifically in terms of the jobs of the [...]
Steve Jobs and Linear B
September 23, 2011I have a horrible confession to make: I once wrote a scholarly article on Linear B (the oldest form of Greek, written in cool-looking hieroglyphs). I never even put it on my CV because it’s an embarrassingly obscure topic, even in the world of dead languages. Michael Ventris is the genius who proved that Linear [...]
People Doing It Right: Codecademy (Also, Let’s Stop Saying “Talent” For A While)
September 16, 2011Last Friday I was chatting with a woman (not in tech) who had a great idea for an app. “It’s too bad you need to have a talent for that sort of thing,” she sighed. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I shrieked. Poor lady couldn’t know what a sore spot she’d hit We do not want code savants running [...]
Another Guest Post That I Forgot to Post
September 12, 2011The Professor is In invited me to guest post this Friday, but I forgot to link — ooops. At any rate, if you’d like to read my thoughts on defining success, they’re over there. Share this:EmailFacebookDiggRedditShareStumbleUpon
Guest Post at Sharp Skirts
September 6, 2011I’m posting over at Sharp Skirts today, about women in tech. Gender folks may be interested, and it’s not too tech-y. Share this:EmailFacebookDiggRedditShareStumbleUpon
Firing Clients (and Maybe Students)
September 2, 2011In the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard several freelance developers and designers talk about “firing clients.” At first I was confused; didn’t it go the opposite way? Nope, not in a high-demand industry. If a client is too high-maintenance, or unreasonable, or can’t deal with the professional guidelines you’ve established, you just let them [...]