The good thing about learning C/C++ first is that it will help you understand how the internals work and you will (should) learn how to program efficiently and understand basic algo's and methodologies. For that matter, assembly might be a good start! :-) If you understand HOW things work, it will not matter what language you elect to use down the road (for example, you might want to use Rails because it makes developing web apps a pleasure, or whatever). Ultimately, your choice.
This seems a little short-sighted to me. It's noted that the company doesn't make the offer until they've had the candidate go through on-site interviews. It's not like they are making an offer on initial meeting. If both parties are interested, this should be acceptable.
Look at it from another perspective. The hiring manager has an open position to fill. They want to fill it with someone who wants to work with them. They can't leave a job offer on the table for a long period of time, just to have the candidate say no. Having that offer outstanding prevents them from making an offer to other potentially qualified (and more eager) candidates. An interested candidate should have no problem with a decision at this point in the interview process.
If the job offer is pulled because it is expired, and the candidate is really interested in the job, they should be able to get another offer if the position hasn't been filled by the time they got off the fence.
I started my professional career in QA, then "downgraded" to a support role in a different company because (a) it was a mile from my house instead of a 2hr commute each way every day and (b) it actually paid more! Now for the interesting part: In support, you have an opportunity to SHOW and CREATE tremendous value! Value drives recognition. Value drives increases in salary. Value drives opportunity - within or outside your current employer.
Let me back up my assertions:
I worked for a large software company that had acquired a smaller niche company. Niche company had some bugs that caused some problems for its customers.
I helped said customers resolve those issues. Those customers wrote really nice letters and sent them to my employer. Regularly. It was actually a little embarrassing after a while. It's almost as though I was asking for them, and I wasn't. It just wasn't "normal" -- enter "Wonder Boy" nickname. That's all good - I got raises and recognition.
Next, I developed a utility to help correct this problem. I didn't actually understand much about programming, and it was a fairly complicated issue for me to solve. Had to do with bitwise operators and all that good stuff. I sought out answers to an equation I wasn't smart enough to solve, but for a problem I knew existed. Once I had the bits (funny, huh?) of info I needed, I wrote a very simple program/utility to save companies from experiencing this problem. Guess what happened then? Development manager tried to recruit me (lucky for him, I didn't accept).
Then...I started working closer and closer with partners. I was becoming somewhat of a subject matter expert. I then get invited to present in partner training. So I go do this. What do you know? Sales Consulting people see me and say - Wow - this guy is confident, knows his stuff, and can communicate to an audience. Now, I get recruited to sales consulting. Sweet - that works! Not smart enough to figure out complicated bit shifts, but smart enough to solve real world problems and communicate those solutions to high level business people and lower level techies. That works.
Create value! Have passion. Seek solutions to problems to problems that only you have visibility to! You are in a unique position - you are the front-line! You are seeing things that escape everyone else. Use it as an opportunity to make people happy. You make them happy and you solve your own situation. You will have customers trying to recruit you when you solve major problems. You'll have internal people fighting for you. You'll have your HR department spinning their heads not knowing what to do when your boss is trying to give you a raise out of cycle, and two or more people from other departments in the same company are asking them for salary advice when trying to negotiate your role in their department.
Hope this helps! (no time to proof and hope it makes sense - forgive any typos or strange sentences/fragments - hopefully you get the concepts)
I'm not certain a soldier deserves more respect than a doctor, teacher, fireman, policeman or engineer. I'm not even certain a soldier gets more respect than many of those occupations listed. Soldiers do not ask for respect. It is given to them. I don't know why, but let me throw out a few possibilities:
1. It's a national holiday. This draws national attention to the sacrifices made - even in post WWII invasions. Perhaps, more than any other career, more lives have been lost, or negatively mentally/physically altered, by military members. I don't know the stats here - so it's an assumption.
2. Maybe it's related to the sacrifices made by soldiers. I'm not limiting this to just the soldiers that get killed or seriously wounded either. Are you aware that lower ranking enlisted members (the majority that will do 3 to 5 years and then get out) are at, or very near, poverty level? They don't do it for the money.
3. People admire/respect bravery. This goes for police officers and firemen too. This, I think, is why a lot of women like a "man in uniform."
4. Many American families have lost loved ones in wars dating back a long way. They recognize the sacrifices their ancestors made for the country. These memories and feelings carry forward generations.
I was writing this response before jboydyhacker chimed in.
So to address your latest comments:
1. Soldiers don't always agree with the battle they are fighting.
2. You shouldn't respect anyone unless you respect them. If your choice is to not respect a soldier, that's your right!
3. It's quite likely if an Afghani hacker who joined the Taliban wrote the article mentioned that it would get great press - somewhere. Maybe not here, but somewhere. Had I written this particular article, it would not have made front page. In fact, it would not have received 3 upvotes. People respect the GOOG as much as they respect the soldier. Combine the two, and...this is what happens. There - your engineer just got some respect! ;-) I will bet my next paycheck that if an Afghani hacker joined the Taliban and then came to America, worked for GOOG and published the article referenced - yes, it will make it to the front page of HN.
4. I am at war against my company's competition every time I try to convince someone our software solution is better than the alternative. I believe in what I try to sell. If I went to one of my competitors tomorrow, I'm sure I would fight just as hard for them. Does that translate to an answer for your Viet Cong argument?
Mostly good points (except one see below). Thank you.
fwiw it was a genuine question. I am not trying to be anti American, anti US army etc. I am very pro American in real life and get flak for that attitude hereabouts.
I was just puzzled to wake up in the morning and find a fairly content-lite article on the front page of HN. It does happen occasionally, but this one felt really weird to me.It doesn't say anything particularly interesting (imo). Other cultures are different and working with a diverse set of people teaches you tolerance? Well duh.
Fwiw I suspect what Dan really learned from the war will be discussed only over drinks with his fellow soldiers and not on any public forum.
"I am at war against my company's competition every time I try to convince someone our software solution is better than the alternative."
I suspect using the word "war" as a substitute for "competition" obscures the point. Reductio ad absurdum that means every investment banker (say) is a soldier and so worthy of respect.
"If I went to one of my competitors tomorrow, I'm sure I would fight just as hard for them. Does that translate to an answer for your Viet Cong argument?"
No :). Because my point was not on whether the Vietnamese soldier fought for his country as hard as the American soldier would do for his. That is a given (or close enough).
I am not sure if a Vietnamese (or Afghan or whoever) wrote such a content free article, it would get upvoted so heavily. It seemed to me ( I freely admit I could be wrong) that the upvotes for this article stemmed from some kind of patriotic impulse than because its content was intellectually stimulating, or even relevant to the community.
I am (or was) surprised at this (imo very content lite) article being on the front page of HN and getting so many upvotes and (perhaps unjustifiably) attributed it to the (imo) excess respect Americans have for their military.
I would hardly describe the article as "content-lite." I think that maybe you are not getting the same lessons from this article that others are.
To me, one of the big take-aways that is relevant to HN is that military service, especially in wartime, gives you experiences that you cannot get anywhere else, and that these experiences prove extremely valuable to veterans in the civilian workplace. The first part (unique experiences) is not surprising, but the second part (military experience translates well to civilian work) is surprising or even counterintuitive to some people.
Another reason why this might seem content-lite to you is actually something you got almost right:
>I suspect what Dan really learned from the war will be discussed only over drinks with his fellow soldiers and not on any public forum.
I get the impression that he would be more than happy to share his most valuable lessons with anyone who asks, but the problem is that anyone who hasn't had military experience will not be able to truly understand the full extent of what he's trying to say. Your statement would be more correct if rephrased as:
"I suspect what Dan learned from the war will only be really discussed over drinks with his fellow soldiers and not on any public forum."
The reason being that those are the only people who can really understand what he's saying.
You actually demonstrate this effect in action:
>It doesn't say anything particularly interesting (imo). Other cultures are different and working with a diverse set of people teaches you tolerance? Well duh.
He learned, from the Afghans, a level of patience that most Americans (westerners in general, really) are simply incapable of comprehending. He tried to express this, but to you it just came across as a minimally interesting anecdote about differences in cultures. You can't really understand what he was trying to say unless you have been through a similar experience. Similarly, the military has a level of racial integration that just doesn't exist in most of the rest of American culture. He probably thought of himself as being comfortable in diverse crowds before he joined the military, and then he found out what it's like to work with a truly diverse group of people. He tried to explain this, but to you it just came across as an obvious point about diversity and tolerance. Again, you can't really understand what he was saying until you've been in immersed that kind of environment.
I spent four years in the U.S.M.C in the enlisted ranks. This article is an interesting read, but only really scratches the surface of what one learns in the military. I didn't spend a single day in a war zone, and still learned patience and acceptance. I also learned much, much more - and they are skills that have helped me in my civilian life - personally and professionally.
I won't enumerate everything here; if I tried, I would fail. But I will attempt to highlight many of those that repeatedly surface:
1. Attention to detail. I don't think it matters what your military occupation is, you will certainly be subjected to this, at least in the Marines. It starts with boot camp, and continues through your career. The little things make a big difference. While some of the military training tactics leave you, this one seems to stay - at least that's been my experience.
2. Initiative. If something doesn't look right, can be done better, needs to be done - do it! I don't even think I recognized this was instilled in me until I was back in the civilian sector. It does wonders for a career!
3. Respect. Respect for everyone - above, beside and below you. This was especially difficult for me during my first two years of enlistment. I thought I knew it all. The promotion structure in the military has a huge time factor built into it. For me, I thought many of those of higher rank were ignorant. Guess what? It doesn't matter! You learn to respect them. You learn to understand you're ignorant too. You learn how to work with all different types of personalities, levels of intelligence, ethnicity, etc... - and you learn how to respect each of them for what they bring to the table. You never know what a person has been through to get to where they are now or why they make the decisions they make. There is almost always a reason. Respect them enough to try to understand. This has allowed me to work with and for all types of people in the civilian sector and I somehow manage to get along with almost everyone. In the rare event that I don't get along with someone, I'm able to deal with it without trashing them. It's usually representative of some flaw of my own anyway.
4. Camaraderie. Especially true during times of war, but also true in times of peace. The "bond" Dan spoke about comes from a lot of factors, but they all boil down to difficult, common experiences and trust. Civilians don't always understand some of the methods in which these bonds are created. By the time I got my blood stripes pinned on, it was not an accepted practice because of media exposure. But I wanted to earn them and my unit allowed it. It's a hazing ritual that is very painful to go through. My wife thought I was nuts. I feel that I earned those stripes and I know my unit had my back during the process. You've seen stories in the media where some of these events have gone bad. Examples include: Blood/Wing Pinning and Shellback Ceremony. I would suggest boot camp is largely a hazing ritual in and of itself. Controversial as it may be, I believe these rituals play an important part in the life of a soldier. It may not look good on TV, but neither does some of the stuff that happens while fighting for your life in the middle of a battle (things I know nothing about).
5. Tenacity. Everything isn't always easy. You don't quit at something just because it is hard or because you can't figure it out or because someone pissed you off. Keep pressing forward.
6. Integrity. Integrity is more than just telling the truth. It's being the truth. It's being true to you and to your (fill in the blank). It's being professional. It's standing up for people when they aren't there to stand up for themselves. It's not gossiping. It's not trying to cheat to get ahead of the next person. It's about doing your best and when success comes, you know you earned it honestly.
7. Adapt and overcome. Speaks for itself.
Some of the comments here speculate about why the military doesn't have a larger tech representation. Other comments question the intellectual capacity of some of the soldiers. Let me say this: I worked with some of the smartest people of my life while in the Marines. I worked with some of the more challenged too. I worked with some of the smartest people in my life while in the civilian sector. I worked with some of the more challenged too.
I didn't reenlist for two primary reasons: (1) I wanted to make more money as a provider for my family and (2) I didn't want to relocate my family every two or three years. Yesterday represented 16 years since my last day of active duty service, and I can reflect back and say it was one of the best experiences of my life.
Happy Veteran's Day to all past and present military members.
Thank you for your words and your service. I too was in the enlisted ranks spending 6 1/2 years in the Army in Combat Arms (Scout) and Special Operations (PSYOP) and then was granted early discharge to start fall semester at UNC in 1997.
The article does a great job with the mention of accepting diversity. Understanding ethnocentrism was one of the fundamental teachings from PSYOP and enlightened me in ways like nothing else.
Codeslush's words ring true and reflect what I would say regarding another poster's comments about capitalizing on skills. The Army allowed me to capitalize on life. My sacrifices were miniscule for what I think I gained with my service.
We are fortunate that military service today in the U.S. is voluntary and as such is a very personal choice that is often misunderstood by many (even friends and family).
Be a generalist and open to any opportunity. If you are good at what you do and are dependable you'll make great connections with all ranks whether their enlisted or officer(commissioned/non-commissioned or warrant). And if you really excel there will be plenty of opportunities to work directly for (and yes with) O-6s and higher and see an entirely different military. If you're able and willing, the world by way of the military can be simply amazing.
I have always been a techie and still remember being playfully bashed for carrying around my Sharp 286 laptop after rotation back to staging at Hohenfels in Germany. The next hot startup, the successor to Geocities -> Friendster -> Myspace -> Facebook and the next bubble will be waiting for you to provide your date of birth and phone number whenever you're ready. Social media will still be around and solutions will still need to be solved. What won't wait for you is your youth and the opportunities that are tied to it.
I would choose the same path all over again today if I was 18 (or even 30) and wondering about what life might have in store for me. Toujours Pret!
In my mind, a hacker has a deep desire to understand
Extremely simple analogy: Most people are happy that when they flip a switch, a light comes on. They might even know how to install a switch and change a bulb. But a hacker isn't happy/content with this surface knowledge. Instead, s/he wants to know what's happening in the background to create the outcome. Once this background knowledge is gained, the hacker has a lot of tools available to solve/invent that the majority of others will not - this makes the hacker extremely efficient. S/he may also take this knowledge and apply it to other domains.
Apply this to telephony, networking, hardware, low-level programming, .... and you should be able to easily come up with similar analogies for any discipline.
I wish this question would have received more love. I can't imagine why it did not, especially here on HN where you could get some really great feedback. I'm interested in hearing what other people might say. I like the response kstenerud provided. I'm commenting in hopes some others will see it in the new comments and bring some life to it.
You say "particularly in moderately-differentiated tumors" -- I have a few questions.
1. Why did you specifically point out "moderately-differentiated?" I ask because my wife has a tumor classified as poorly-differentiated. I'm wondering if the middle ground is unique/harder to diagnose in some way.
2. Would something like this come into play during the initial biopsy or after the tumor is removed? I ask because she has a mastectomy next week. I kind of assumed the nature of the cancer was already figured out with the estrogen+ and her2/neu tests. We never really received a "score" - just a breakdown of the good and the bad characteristics and the suggested treatment plan post surgery - which includes both anti-estrogen drugs AND herceptin.
3. Does it make sense, at this point, to try to get her into Stanford for this C-Path test?
First, my sympathies for your wife, I wish the best outcome for you both. Second, please do not take any of the following for medical advice, I intend to speak generally.
I mostly said moderately differentiated, because for a lot of pathologists, if you give us a three tiered system for grading some type of cancer (and there are systems for almost every type of cancer) that we'll put most things in the middle. I personally believe two tiered systems work better for most everything. Most studies have shown that breast cancer scoring (in the US, most use the Nottingham modification of the Bloom-Richardson system) is only moderately reproducible anyways [1][2]
I tend to only fully grade the tumor after it has been resected, because there is not much point in grading it on the biopsy (ie. it won't change management, most patients are still going to have surgery) since sampling error may influence the final grade if you are discrepant from the biopsy.
I always tell friends and family that if they have any medical procedures, and most especially those for cancer, to always get copies of the operation note and the final pathology interpretation. The operation note will be written by the surgeon and will detail everything she did during the operation, what was removed, what was placed, etc. The final pathology will be the best place to get detailed information about what the tumor, where it is, the pathologic stage, etc. Your discussions with all of the other doctors will all basically be dictated by this report. There may be multiple of them, one for each procedure. So get the biopsy pathology report, the pathology report from the mastectomy, etc. They should also report out the results of the ancillary testing to (ER/PR/Her2) since they are the ones who did them. Most of the cancer reports (in the US anyways) should be written in accordance with the protocols from our professional organization and can be found online [3]. You'll probably find them somewhat tedious, but there is a wealth of information in there [4]. You are entitled to those reports and you really owe it to yourself to get a copy. If your doctor/doctor's staff won't get you one, then you could contact the pathology group directly to obtain one, don't hesitate.
In general, the grade of the tumor is far, far less important than stage of the tumor at diagnosis (most importantly the status of the axillary lymph nodes) and also the ER/PR/Her2 status of the tumor.
I think that C-Path is interesting, but it is not well validated at present. It is also not clear how to use the results to plan treatment.
HER2 status is your ideal marker of risk because it gives information about prognosis AND how to treat (give herceptin). A bad stroma score or whatever you want to call it on C-Path doesn't necessarily tell you what to do about it. I would say that C-Path would add little to your wife's care if the cancer is HER2 positive, as treatment in this case is usually indicated.
