Entry tags:
job, etc
So I gotsa 5-week (probably) temp job after posting my resume on Dice. I didn't actually get contacted back about the jobs I attempted to apply to on there, I just sorta got called by two recruiters within 24 hours who thought that I might decent enough credentials for a couple of jobs. One of them just happened to actually be a short term assignment, which is most desirable at the moment, since I don't know how long I'll be in the country for.
So I'll be a microbiology lab tech for five weeks, at a company I've never heard of that designs devices for delivering medication. The job description seemed really pretty simple, which is sort of expected from a lab tech position, but I don't yet really have a great idea of what it;s actually going to involve. I 'll find out tomorrow.
I always think I'm going to look awkward in these circumstances, since I think it's practically the only time when I actually end up having a little bit of a complex about being vertically challenged- a little unsure about what other people are going to think about the tiny kid in the lab coat. I think I tend to make up for it in perceived hardworkingness, but still think that I look kinda awkward in some of these workplaces. We'll see about this.
And on a random note, I haven't really been keeping up with trends in Blu-Ray adoption or the evolution of the hardware and profiles and all of that, mostly because I don't have a TV or display device that would make it worth buying, and I don't really have the money for the discs at the moment (I'm also living on the side of the planet opposite the country that has all the discs I want). I do however check a site that lists deals and sales and such, and have been keeping an eye on the downward trend of Blu-Ray player cost. And now folks, we have come to the crucial point in the life of any media format- the Hundred-Dollar Generic Brand Playback Device. Okay, okay, it's actually a little bit more than $100, but it's damn close. I present you with the Insignia NS-2BRDVD, available from Best Buy for only $129.99. Of course that's on 'sale' right now, but still. Apparently the firmware is even upgradeable. Doesn't have the snazziness of the PS3 or handling of other media formats fed from network devices that you can find on other players, but it does what the majority of people want- it translates whats on the disc into stuff they can see. And probably hear. And in a post-analog-to-digital-over-the-air-signal-changeover world, that's going to be increasingly important, especially considering how much cheaper 30"+ LCDs are becoming.
I think it's fairly evident that each new format reaches this comodity point a little faster each time- Blu-Ray has actually grown a little faster than DVD did. It makes me wonder if that period will shrink further. Perhaps in 10 years we'll have cheap knockoff devices with duplicate functionality a couple of weeks after the next generation of something is released. It probably has to stop that acceleration somewhere, but the trend is somewhat interesting. I've been considering that fairly often lately, as Netbooks will soon be cheap enough to get as gifts when opening bank accounts, and as smartphones become more flexible and computer-like. The CPU in the new version of the iPhone is mostly faster because the CPU in the 3G is underclocked- probably for power use reasons- however the 3Gs CPU has already had a multicore version demonstrated. Within the next two years we may have an iPhone with a 1Ghz multicore CPU- effectively a quarter-inch thick LCD attached to a tiny-ass relatively beefy computing device, running a pretty reasonably decked out UNIX-based operating system. Netbooks to me signify the nearly-absolute end of what was left of 'non-comodity' computing for home users. Nearly anyone can buy a reasonable computer right now. What we currently call Smartphones will eventually take their place, and accomplish what the ill-fated PDA could not- ubiquitous full-featured computing. Not luggable, not portable, not just mobile, but ubiquitous. Everywhere, always. I wonder what Alan Kay, effectively the guy who came up the concept of the laptop computer while at Xerox PARC, thinks about all of this.
On one side I feel a little remorseful- I spent a very large portion of my time chasing the end of the IT revolution. Ten years earlier and I could have been quite successful as a PC technician, which is something I enjoy. It's also because I respect computers, I especially respect the people who brought their (at the time) crazy ideas to life. But we're not just standing on the shoulders of giants, we've taken advantage of the vantage point and built a giant platform up there, attached to an elevator which is always going up. It's become difficult to look down and see where we've come from. And we're moving upward fast enough that seeing where we've been just isn't as much of a concern. People are lazy of course, and simply aren't going to care how or why their computers work, and don't even think about who helped make it so. They can generally assume it was assembled from magic and glue by someone in China. If it breaks, or 'breaks', oh well, it only cost about the same as 50 lattes. I've only just gotten out of college, but being a computer historian, retro computing enthusiast, and general IT guy who scoffed at AOL and instead dialed into every BBS number available- it makes me feel old. Even though I know I have the skill and knowledge to adapt as quickly as the market does now, it still feels strange to step back and compare the way it was to the way it is in just the comparably small amount of time it took me to get through high school and college.
The real attitude to take here will not be that of sob sob oh whatever will I do, but really should be excitement about what can and will be accomplishable. It's a matter of being able to pull yourself out of where you are every once in a while to check the wind again, make sure you're headed where you want to be in relation to everything else. There's still plenty of room for new ideas, especially now in software. The underpinning of 'Web 2.0' is a horrific mish-mash of duct taped components screaming and wailing indicating of their terrible pain as they are ground through the wheels of a technology foundation that's hardly changed since Spry Mosaic became revolutionary for being able to render both text and images in the same window (1993). In that way, it's kind of a hack in the traditional sense- not an elegant one, but nevertheless one which has seemingly made things more accessible and less frustrating for everyday users.
I have ideas. Especially now that my thesis work actually made me want to try to do something real with all this semantic business. Hopefully before that boat gets too far out of the harbor this time.
But alas, I have to get up at 6 am everyday now to run and go to work, and then won't have all that much time after getting back before going to sleep so I don't end up horrfically sleep deprived like I usually do when I have a job. We'll have to squeeze as much as possible out of those three hours during the work week....
That ended up being a massive rant. Wow.
So I'll be a microbiology lab tech for five weeks, at a company I've never heard of that designs devices for delivering medication. The job description seemed really pretty simple, which is sort of expected from a lab tech position, but I don't yet really have a great idea of what it;s actually going to involve. I 'll find out tomorrow.
I always think I'm going to look awkward in these circumstances, since I think it's practically the only time when I actually end up having a little bit of a complex about being vertically challenged- a little unsure about what other people are going to think about the tiny kid in the lab coat. I think I tend to make up for it in perceived hardworkingness, but still think that I look kinda awkward in some of these workplaces. We'll see about this.
And on a random note, I haven't really been keeping up with trends in Blu-Ray adoption or the evolution of the hardware and profiles and all of that, mostly because I don't have a TV or display device that would make it worth buying, and I don't really have the money for the discs at the moment (I'm also living on the side of the planet opposite the country that has all the discs I want). I do however check a site that lists deals and sales and such, and have been keeping an eye on the downward trend of Blu-Ray player cost. And now folks, we have come to the crucial point in the life of any media format- the Hundred-Dollar Generic Brand Playback Device. Okay, okay, it's actually a little bit more than $100, but it's damn close. I present you with the Insignia NS-2BRDVD, available from Best Buy for only $129.99. Of course that's on 'sale' right now, but still. Apparently the firmware is even upgradeable. Doesn't have the snazziness of the PS3 or handling of other media formats fed from network devices that you can find on other players, but it does what the majority of people want- it translates whats on the disc into stuff they can see. And probably hear. And in a post-analog-to-digital-over-the-air-signal-changeover world, that's going to be increasingly important, especially considering how much cheaper 30"+ LCDs are becoming.
I think it's fairly evident that each new format reaches this comodity point a little faster each time- Blu-Ray has actually grown a little faster than DVD did. It makes me wonder if that period will shrink further. Perhaps in 10 years we'll have cheap knockoff devices with duplicate functionality a couple of weeks after the next generation of something is released. It probably has to stop that acceleration somewhere, but the trend is somewhat interesting. I've been considering that fairly often lately, as Netbooks will soon be cheap enough to get as gifts when opening bank accounts, and as smartphones become more flexible and computer-like. The CPU in the new version of the iPhone is mostly faster because the CPU in the 3G is underclocked- probably for power use reasons- however the 3Gs CPU has already had a multicore version demonstrated. Within the next two years we may have an iPhone with a 1Ghz multicore CPU- effectively a quarter-inch thick LCD attached to a tiny-ass relatively beefy computing device, running a pretty reasonably decked out UNIX-based operating system. Netbooks to me signify the nearly-absolute end of what was left of 'non-comodity' computing for home users. Nearly anyone can buy a reasonable computer right now. What we currently call Smartphones will eventually take their place, and accomplish what the ill-fated PDA could not- ubiquitous full-featured computing. Not luggable, not portable, not just mobile, but ubiquitous. Everywhere, always. I wonder what Alan Kay, effectively the guy who came up the concept of the laptop computer while at Xerox PARC, thinks about all of this.
On one side I feel a little remorseful- I spent a very large portion of my time chasing the end of the IT revolution. Ten years earlier and I could have been quite successful as a PC technician, which is something I enjoy. It's also because I respect computers, I especially respect the people who brought their (at the time) crazy ideas to life. But we're not just standing on the shoulders of giants, we've taken advantage of the vantage point and built a giant platform up there, attached to an elevator which is always going up. It's become difficult to look down and see where we've come from. And we're moving upward fast enough that seeing where we've been just isn't as much of a concern. People are lazy of course, and simply aren't going to care how or why their computers work, and don't even think about who helped make it so. They can generally assume it was assembled from magic and glue by someone in China. If it breaks, or 'breaks', oh well, it only cost about the same as 50 lattes. I've only just gotten out of college, but being a computer historian, retro computing enthusiast, and general IT guy who scoffed at AOL and instead dialed into every BBS number available- it makes me feel old. Even though I know I have the skill and knowledge to adapt as quickly as the market does now, it still feels strange to step back and compare the way it was to the way it is in just the comparably small amount of time it took me to get through high school and college.
The real attitude to take here will not be that of sob sob oh whatever will I do, but really should be excitement about what can and will be accomplishable. It's a matter of being able to pull yourself out of where you are every once in a while to check the wind again, make sure you're headed where you want to be in relation to everything else. There's still plenty of room for new ideas, especially now in software. The underpinning of 'Web 2.0' is a horrific mish-mash of duct taped components screaming and wailing indicating of their terrible pain as they are ground through the wheels of a technology foundation that's hardly changed since Spry Mosaic became revolutionary for being able to render both text and images in the same window (1993). In that way, it's kind of a hack in the traditional sense- not an elegant one, but nevertheless one which has seemingly made things more accessible and less frustrating for everyday users.
I have ideas. Especially now that my thesis work actually made me want to try to do something real with all this semantic business. Hopefully before that boat gets too far out of the harbor this time.
But alas, I have to get up at 6 am everyday now to run and go to work, and then won't have all that much time after getting back before going to sleep so I don't end up horrfically sleep deprived like I usually do when I have a job. We'll have to squeeze as much as possible out of those three hours during the work week....
That ended up being a massive rant. Wow.