Thread: My first programming job

  1. #1

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1,042

    My first programming job

    It's kind of ironic that after leaving University in a Computer Science program to instead become a professional mariner at a tradeschool I'm finding my first opportunity for real programming work.

    Here's the details on the first assignment, I start Monday the 21st.

    [quote removed]

    I'm signed on as an intern. This is a small consulting company that is funded by Government contracts. I'm going to be getting paid $18 an hour.

    I'd like to use my hands-on knowledge of operating a large ship to write software training tools to help engineers learn what to expect in terms of the piping layouts of such a vessel. The reason I want this is that I've seen other such simulations and I've always thought that I could do much better (and get paid for it).
    Last edited by VirtualAce; 07-17-2008 at 08:04 PM.
    I'm not immature, I'm refined in the opposite direction.

  2. #2
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,195
    USCG you say? have to see if we can take that contract from you

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    890
    Should you really be posting email correspondence on a public forum? Especially if it involves discussion of proprietary nature about a possible contract?
    Last edited by medievalelks; 07-17-2008 at 07:32 AM.

  4. #4
    Registered /usr
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Newport, South Wales, UK
    Posts
    1,273
    Sounds cushy, well done.

    This reminds me of something that occured to me the other day: I think people would find it easier to become professional programmers if they went and did something else for a year or so first, rather than coming out of university green as lettuce.

  5. #5
    Ethernal Noob
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Posts
    1,901
    Quote Originally Posted by medievalelks View Post
    Should you really be posting email correspondence on a public forum? Especially if it involves discussion of proprietary nature about a possible contract?
    Shortest job EVER!

  6. #6

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1,042
    Quote Originally Posted by medievalelks View Post
    Should you really be posting email correspondence on a public forum? Especially if it involves discussion of proprietary nature about a possible contract?
    Ha, the ISO standard isn't private and I have not divulged any trade secrets or released any proprietary code. So, to answer your question, yes I should! [/bragging rights]
    I'm not immature, I'm refined in the opposite direction.

  7. #7
    (?<!re)tired Mario F.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Ireland
    Posts
    8,446
    Quote Originally Posted by BobMcGee123 View Post
    So, to answer your question, yes I should!
    Think again.
    Originally Posted by brewbuck:
    Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.

  8. #8
    Ethernal Noob
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Posts
    1,901
    *Anonymous Tip*

  9. #9
    Officially An Architect brewbuck's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    7,396
    There is no law against divulging private correspondence, but it might be considered rude depending on the circumstances. In this particular case I wouldn't worry about it. Of course if the email has one of those legalese trailers specifically stating not to forward or reproduce it, you should honor that.

    For future reference, it's better to paraphrase. In fact it's better in general not to talk about your work on the Internet, at least on a public forum such as this. Things can flip around and bite you in ways that are hard to imagine.
    Code:
    //try
    //{
    	if (a) do { f( b); } while(1);
    	else   do { f(!b); } while(1);
    //}

  10. #10
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    I agree with Brewbuck - unless you are specifically and officially representing your company/employer/etc, you should not talk (in specifics) about what you do at your work.

    That aside, congratulations, and good luck. I have done the "install a lot of softwar" a few times as the first task I get on with on a new job.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  11. #11
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,195
    Personally, I prefer the red ball blue ball analogy.

    Like this week Im working on an application to detect when red balls are moving the blue balls when they arent supposed to. I hate this application. It is doomed to partial success, but my employer thinks it will work despite having previously spent a year in development, so I guess get to waste more time on it, oh well, I dont care anymore as long as the checks dont bounce. Next week it will be just another application detecting red balls bumping into blue balls, or red balls turnign into blue balls, or r3ed balls moving away from blue balls etc. Never thought AI would get boring.

  12. #12

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1,042
    Well I thank you guys for the compliments and the advice about information divulging practices. I can't edit my original post so I think I'd be better to get it deleted so I can paraphrase (mod?).

    Abalacher: what is your balls program for?
    Last edited by BobMcGee123; 07-17-2008 at 05:35 PM.
    I'm not immature, I'm refined in the opposite direction.

  13. #13
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    9,607
    Congrats Bob. I'll fix the post for you. Just paraphrase where the quote removed is.

    In the future you can report your own post to a mod and ask them to remove a portion of it. I feel this is a proper use of the reporting system. You can also PM one of us if you want us to remove a portion of your post or the complete post. That is as long as it does not become an everyday thing.
    Last edited by VirtualAce; 07-17-2008 at 08:08 PM.

  14. #14

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1,042
    I thought I'd come back with some updates, because this job is really, really sweet. As per the confidentiality rules, I brought this issue up to my employer and he said that anything I've been told over e-mail was okay unless said otherwise. I've since had to sign non-disclosure agreements, but I can tell you that I'm not working on a design for a Coast Guard patrol boat, it's actually a Navy Seal patrol boat. We haven't won the bid for it yet, we were allocated money by the Government but it has since been held up in legal battles.

    My current job is to take results from my employer's ship simulation software and evaluate the predicted effects of the lumbar spine. This is done by taking the calculated accelerations at the particular seat, run it through a filter and calculate the spine's response. The model for the spine response, described in the ISO, is a recurrent neural network (the paper provides the weights). There are other models for predicting the spine's response, but this one is basically 'good enough' (plus, it's in the standard, and that's what the SOCOM guys want).

    Evidently the research for the spine response was done by taking people and dropping them until their spines broke.

    The hours are flexibile: I can come in and leave when I want, I'm not being over-pressured and the man I'm working for spends a lot of time answering any questions I have about basically anything math/science/programming related (he's easily the best programmer I've met, very smart in general).

    So, yeah, this is basically a dream job. And I'm getting paid! Holy crap!
    Last edited by BobMcGee123; 07-25-2008 at 11:30 AM.
    I'm not immature, I'm refined in the opposite direction.

  15. #15
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    166
    Quote Originally Posted by BobMcGee123 View Post
    Evidently the research for the spine response was done by taking people and dropping them until their spines broke.
    What kind of people was that... bums, slackers, lawyers? Nobody important I hope...

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. crazy pipe/fork
    By fortune2k in forum C Programming
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 03-13-2009, 11:28 AM
  2. Totally confused on assigment using linked lists
    By Uchihanokonoha in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 01-05-2008, 04:49 PM
  3. a VB.NET job
    By Brain Cell in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 05-09-2005, 06:41 PM
  4. I can't find a job.
    By Cheeze-It in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 42
    Last Post: 06-29-2003, 08:35 PM