I Can Actually Get PAID To Do This?

Posted by on May 24th, 2005 No comments

Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Great hackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they’re delighted to find people will pay them for.

- Paul Graham

I read a report on CNN’s website saying that the number of college graduates with computer degrees has been declining steadily for the last four years. I’ve personally seen evidence of this myself, since back in 1998 when I first enrolled in Murray State’s computer science program, it seemed like everyone was majoring in computer science. Now there are less than 100 – and that’s not an exaggeration.

The difference can also be seen in people’s reactions. In 1999, if you told someone your major was computer science, their response was, “Wow, that’s a hot field. You’ll be set with that degree.” Nowadays, you’ll hear, “Hmm. Are you actually going to be able to a get a job with that degree?”

It just seems to me that five years ago, computer science was the “cool” degree to go into because you could make a lot of money with it. For me, money was never my primary motivation for choosing CS as a major, thought I must say it will be a nice side-benefit. I chose CS because I absolutely cannot see myself doing anything else. I’ve heard it said that if you’re so passionate about what you’re doing that you’d do it for free, then you’ve made the right career choice.

You can hire just about anybody to write something in English, but if you’re a publisher, you hire people who have a masterful command over grammar, spelling, punctuation, and the ability to convey ideas clearly and efficiently. I feel the same can be applied to those who write software. There are a lot of people out there who can bang out code, but successful software companies seek out the exceptional developers who program because they love it, not because it makes them rich.

I believe that there are less CS graduates coming out of universities than years past because the “money seekers” have moved on to other fields. Programming just isn’t as “cool” a major as it used to be because a lot of people were downsized or had their jobs shipped off to India. Sure, there may be less graduates coming out each year, but you can rest assured that the majority of these graduates are passionate about programming, not money – which means less of a chance for an employer to hire an idiot straight out of college.

Check out Paul Graham’s essay, Great Hackers (from which the introductory quote was taken) and scroll down to “More than Money” for another take on what drives programmers and keeps them motivated.

Springing Into Summer

Posted by on May 24th, 2005 No comments

[Editor’s note: For purposes of contextual coherence, it may be useful to know that this post originally appeared on the discontinued Myers Family Journal before being folded into this blog. -KM]

It’s been quite a rough ride, but the Spring 2005 semester at Murray State is finally over! Spring semesters always seem harder because you spend most of the last month wondering when you can finally park your backpack and begin to actually enjoy the wonderful summer weather.

At any rate, I’ve only been out for a couple of weeks, and I think I’m already kinda missing it. What’s really awesome is that I somehow managed to make the Dean’s List this time around. Who would have thought that crossing your fingers before pulling your grades off the internet might actually work – I should have started doing that earlier.

So now that I’m on my summer break, I’ve been looking to line up a few projects to occupy my sudden influx of free time. There’s still some work left to do on our home, such as painting, rewiring, and cleaning up outside. I’m also mowing yards for a little extra cash and to hopefully get a nice tan while losing some weight. Additionally, I’ve been trying to keep my coding skills fresh, lest I forget them altogether. Coding is like most other acquired skills: If you don’t use them, you lose them.

Tabitha’s dad came down from Louisville for a 4-day visit right after finals. We all got our fishing licenses and had an awesome time fishing off the bank of a campground at Devil’s Elbow. We only pulled in a couple of sun perch and a tiny bass, but the most enjoyable part of the day was watching Kristopher have a blast with his brand new fishing pole.

Tabitha has been putting her sewing machine to good use lately, making purses and handbags that are of astounding quality. Her skills are improving with each new bag she finishes, and I’m very proud that she’s doing something she’s good at and enjoys.

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

Katamari Lottafunna

Posted by on May 9th, 2005 8 comments

[Editor’s note: For purposes of contextual coherence, it may be useful to know that this post originally appeared on the discontinued Myers Family Journal before being folded into this blog. -KM]

I mentioned on here before that I would probably be buying Katamari Damacy, and wouldn’t ya know, only about a week later, it was in my hands. I think it was that $20 price tag that made it so attractive, with the average Playstation 2 game going for about $50 anymore. I had already been looking for a good non-violent, easy-to-control game that I could teach Kristopher to play. I could have went with some type of edutainment game or something based off a children’s cartoon show, but bear in mind that in order for me to teach Kristopher to play, I needed to be able to stand the game for more than five minutes.

So far we’ve had a lot of fun with it. Who would have thought that a game whose core mechanic is to simply roll a ball around could be so addictive? Kristopher is still trying to develop the hand-eye coordination needed to control a video game, knowing how quickly he picks up on things, I know it won’t take much longer. Man I just can’t wait until ten years or so from now when he’s kicking my butt at StarCraft 5 or Unreal 2015 or whatever is out by then. Katamari Damacy is already such a hit that it looks like plans for a sequel are already in the works.

As of this writing, Spring 2005 classes are officially over, though I still have finals week to suffer through before summer can finally begin. It’s been an awesome semester and it feels great to finally be back on track to finishing my degree. This was definitely the morale boost that I needed.

Back in Effect

Posted by on March 31st, 2005 No comments

[Editor’s note: For purposes of contextual coherence, it may be useful to know that this post originally appeared on the discontinued Myers Family Journal before being folded into this blog. -KM]

Well it seems that the year is off to a wonderful start so far.

For starters, my job at Briggs & Stratton is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Admittedly, it is work, but I’ve gotten quite used to it and I could certainly think of worse jobs. The best thing about it is that I only work Saturday and Sunday, freeing up my weeknights to concentrate on my studies at Murray State. There are times when I sure do miss having my weekends free, though.

Since I don’t think I’ve announced it on here, I’ll just mention that we’re pregnant again! Tabitha had her first set of ultrasounds earlier this month and the baby is growing nicely. The due date is estimated sometime around October 4th. Sorry, it’s still too early to tell if it’s a boy or girl yet!

Easter was quite exciting for us this year. Kristopher seems to have more fun each year as he grows to understand more and more how much fun holidays can be. We attended services at Westside Baptist Church, since I managed to have it off work for the holiday, and we all really enjoyed it. Kristopher got to meet several other little boys and girls his age and had a great time doing activities. As we were getting ready to attend services earlier this evening, he was really excited to be going back to church, which is really awesome!

The most interesting part of Easter, though, was the flash flood that caused the water in the creeks around our house to rise to levels I had never seen before. It was quite a surreal experience as we sat and ate chocolate bunnies while watching entire trees float through our backyard.

Classes at Murray State have been going really well this semester. I don’t know if it’s due to my new work schedule, my reduced course load, a different attitude toward my studies, or a combination of several factors, but as long as I’m able to maintain this pace, I’ll make the dean’s list for sure.

And of course I can’t finish this post without something that any geek/gamer father should be proud of: a little gamer in the making.

The Genesis Effect

Posted by on March 29th, 2005 1 comment

This is a continuation of the rant Ode to a Console.

After giving it some more thought, I think it’s finally dawned upon me why I’ve been so turned off by consoles as of late… It’s all the bloody sports games. With the notable exception of the Final Fantasy series, when I think of console games anymore it’s nearly synonymous with sports and racing games. The Playstation 2 has fallen victim to what I have dubbed “The Genesis Effect.”

You see, before the Playstation hit, there were only two major consoles on the market to choose from: the Sega Genesis and the Super NES. Choosing one (if you were the type who was confined to choosing only one) was easy then. If you enjoyed sports games to the exclusion of most else, you chose the Genesis. If you didn’t really care for sports games, you chose the SNES. It was as simple as that, really. This is an overgeneralization, I know, but my mind views the world through strange eyes sometimes.

So not long ago, fighting an uphill battle against the rising popularity of the Playstation and Playstation 2, Sega pulled out of the console war. Who now would publish all the sports games? That’s night – Sony. The available Playstation library is now polluted by games featuring ATVs, bikes, race cars, monster trucks, deer hunting, wrestlers, skaters… and let’s not even mention all the garbage EA puts out. The Playstation 2 has become the Genesis of our time, and from me, that’s not a compliment. Yes, I know other consoles suffer from these same afflictions, but none currently like the PS2.

My distaste for sports games is probably rooted in my overall contempt for professional sports in general, but I digress. I’ll save that rant for another day. Even so, I admit that I still own NBA Jam and Gran Turismo 3, though I can’t say that I ever managed to extract any measurable amount of fun from either. Now I simply can’t see myself purchasing another sports or racing game ever again.

My penchant in games and literature is nearly parallel. I am of the opinion that games should be an escape from reality, not a mirror of reality. In the same way I tend more toward sci-fi and fantasy novels than fiction novels and non-fiction literature. Like I hinted at above, my allegiance to the Final Fantasy series weighed heavily in my decision to purchase a PS2 in the first place. The knowledge that Squaresoft would be publishing on the PS2, coupled with DVD functionality and backward compatibility with the already huge PS1 library, pretty well sealed the deal for me.

So here I sit with a gaming machine that still holds a great deal of prominence today, unable to love it as I feel I should. I’ve even considered selling it a couple of times, but as a gamer I just can’t see myself parting with it. I continue to hold on the hope that one day I’ll dust it off and find out just how much I’ve under-appreciated it all this time. Until then, I’ll stick with my PC games.