we seem to be getting more visitors lately.... (1 Viewer)

vba_php

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back 10 years ago when I vanished from here, I remember it being very busy and there a lot of questions being asked like every day. Then when I came back like 4 months ago, I remember watching who was online everyday and there didn't seem to be that many people, nor were there a lot of questions being asked. But lately that seems to be changing. There are a lot of people introducing themselves here, telling us that they've found us via a google search, etc...

Could it be that we are just kicking that much ass around here? Regardless if lately it has been getting busy, I remember the time before I first vanished, and it seemed like it was way busier back in those days than it is now. True anyone?
 

scott-atkinson

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Iv'e been a member since 2006, and when I first joined there was lots of Watercooler activity, lots of banter, some serious, some not so...

Over time I have seen that drastically fall away, along with the quality, quite often now the watercooler is just just to hurl insults as each other, usually across the Pond insults..

I liked the good ole days, it was funnier, and a little less hostile..
 

vba_php

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I liked the good ole days, it was funnier, and a little less hostile..
is that to say scott, that the stuff I start in the watercooler applies to today or yesterday? I would hope it's the latter!

Personally, when it comes to software ANYTHING, I dont need any of this shit. I would be perfectly happy without any of it. And I actually don't use much of any of it anyway, outside of work. I remember reading an article literally a long time ago now whereby a white collar business professional stated to a news agency:
This is becoming very pointless. We are at a point now where we are trying to solve problems with software that are being created by software
really!? :rolleyes:

on a side note, i just sent an email to a recruiter commenting on the test I was required to take. A few questions were actually written incorrectly and led the test taker to believe that were no right answers. Not only that, but the english was bad enuf in some of the writing that it reminded me of my days at Rockwell Collins working with the "professionals" from India. It was obviously written by an Indian, so what these idiots are doing is hiring extremely cheap labor to keep the cost down in hopes that the test writers know what they're doing. They would get much more value for their money by asking an actual University professor here in the states to create a simple, short number question test that is actually written correctly!
 

AccessBlaster

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Iv'e been a member since 2006, and when I first joined there was lots of Watercooler activity, lots of banter, some serious, some not so...

Over time I have seen that drastically fall away, along with the quality, quite often now the watercooler is just just to hurl insults as each other, usually across the Pond insults..

I liked the good ole days, it was funnier, and a little less hostile..

Unless of course your constantly on the receiving end of the "good ole days". Back then if you complained you were told "you have thin skin". Now when people fight back it's called hostile.

So either your thinned skinned or your hostile.

I liked the good ole days
I like your quote it sound familiar, it just needs a red hat don't you think? ;)
 

vba_php

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vba_php

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the test I was required to take. A few questions were actually written incorrectly and led the test taker to believe that were no right answers.
for anyone interested, according to the testing software, I am totally incompetent and ineligible for hire...

what's even funnier about this graph is that for the 2 areas I scored highest in, I know absolutely nothing about! :rolleyes:

<edit>
I've added a screenshot and a description of one of the mistakes the test writer made, which is kind of laughable actually....if anyone here is also a PHP developer, you'll recognize it.
 

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The_Doc_Man

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Adam, testing software cuts both ways. For employment exams that were set up by the company, it tells you as much about whether YOU wanted to work with a bunch of incompetent stumble-bums as whether they wanted you to work with them.
 

vba_php

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Adam, testing software cuts both ways. For employment exams that were set up by the company, it tells you as much about whether YOU wanted to work with a bunch of incompetent stumble-bums as whether they wanted you to work with them.
so does this mean that you think I have the skills to do the job Richard? that would be nice to hear from a cohort, even though I've never met you.
 

Gasman

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Years ago, when I was trying to join our Merchant Navy, I attended an interview where I had a questionnaire to complete. I answered it honestly, despite realising that it was biased in one particular direction.

The company, Shell, turned me down as my 'engineering' bias was not enough for them.

The actual company that took me on, relied on my first tem exam results, else I was out.

The rest is history. :D
 

The_Doc_Man

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vba_php said:
does this mean that you think I have the skills

Adam, I have no idea because that is an open-ended question. Do you have the skills to do the job? I don't know because I don't know which job you were seeking. And there are a LOT of different jobs out there.

We had a lot of people apply to work for us when I was working for the pipeline control systems company. There were a LOT of competent business programmers and a few of them were actually hired by our business staff. But I was doing real-time data monitoring and control systems and also I was doing device drivers for a Digital Equipment Corp. computer running the RSX-11M operating system. That wasn't for everyone.

For the job of designing a system that could run interstate or international pipelines, you had to have the mind-set and you needed a rare skill - alternation of scope. In simple terms, you had to be able to see both the forest AND the trees when necessary. When I worked for them, I had to be able to see hardware-level events as well as software events. I had to see how all those things fit together at high and low levels.

Then, when I was into navigation software I had to be able to program complex formulas for spherical trigonometry. There, the issue was optimizing the formulas so that the computer could do its work quickly and accurately because we had a tape to process with a LOT of "shoot" information. (We were doing underwater echo surveys.) The longer it took to do the navigation computations, the longer it would take us to process the tape and deliver our deliverable product - the "shoot" map.

For the Navy job, I had to understand the implications of certain security rules and had to know how to implement them on the O/S assigned to me. That included cryptography and network protocol analysis. And I had to do some database design and normalization for the action tracking software I built for them.

Each job was different. Do you have the skills? I don't know. Not saying you do, not saying you don't. Saying I have no opinion on the question you asked because its vagueness makes it unanswerable.

My point was that if you have to take a test with a company and the test makes absolutely no sense, that should tell YOU that there is a disconnect somewhere. If you want to flounder around with a company that gives crappy tests, that speaks of either desperation and/or lack of self-esteem, or it points to lack of ability to recognize bullsnot when you see it. That was my point.
 

vba_php

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My point was that if you have to take a test with a company and the test makes absolutely no sense, that should tell YOU that there is a disconnect somewhere. If you want to flounder around with a company that gives crappy tests, that speaks of either desperation and/or lack of self-esteem, or it points to lack of ability to recognize bullsnot when you see it. That was my point.
well I don't know if I agree with you on that one Richard. Some recruiting agencies require people to take exams as a part of their process. I don't really think it has any weight on the actual submittal. Most of the positions I apply for are directly through a company website, although I do work with recruiters somewhat. I constantly get people asking if I want to make a move, and these idiots contact me from all over the USA. IMO, testing is a complete waste of time and doesn't say anything about what someone can really do serving as an asset to a company. But if that's part of the process, I comply cuz it doesn't take up much of my time anyway.

and if you've ever developed PHP richard, or used the "!" symbol in your day for boolean purposes, check out the mistake I captured from the test writer (or maybe I AM wrong...it's possible!). I just uploaded it for enjoyment....https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=1655493&postcount=6
 
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deletedT

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Not only that, but the english was bad enuf in some of the writing that it reminded me of my days at Rockwell Collins working with the "professionals" from India.

.....English was bad enough in some of the writings......
 

The_Doc_Man

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Adam, the issue is different if the headhunter company gives you a crappy test and if the actual employer gives you a crappy test. You can tell the headhunter that their test contains errors. They might ask questions and improve matters. If the company has errors? If you are really gutsy, tell the company that their test contains errors. Who knows? The REAL test MIGHT have been to see if you would catch the errors.

As to Tera calling down your message skills, Adam, I'm going to ask because Tera didn't. Are you frequently posting from a cell phone on this forum? That would explain using common cell-phone shorthand. It also would give you the excuse that from a phone, a long message isn't so often an easy thing to do. On a regular keyboard from a real PC, shorthand is an annoyance to those of us who have to read it.

I'll answer your earlier question about qualifications a different way. And remember the old rule: Never ask a question if you weren't willing to hear any of the reasonably likely answers to it. Well, I'm not trying to trash you, but you DID ask a loaded question.

Since a very large part of what we used to do with the pipeline company, the navigational software company, and the Navy was to write software documents, our English language skills WERE significant. If you had submitted paperwork in the style you are using here, you would have failed our standard for "can write useful, clear, documents that are a good reflection of the company's intended professional image."

Remember this, Adam. When you ask a question in the category of "Does this outfit make me look fat?" you will have two major possible answers - from the folks who are trying to be polite and from the ones who are trying to be honest. That class of questions often makes it impossible for folks to do both. I'm enough of a friend to you to be honest with you.
 

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As to Tera calling down your message skills, Adam, I'm going to ask because Tera didn't. Are you frequently posting from a cell phone on this forum? That would explain using common cell-phone shorthand.

Doc, I just wanted to say if somebody is criticizing others for poor or mistakes in writing or usage of words, at least he himself should use correct words in criticizing. Even if it's sent from a phone. He had a lot of mistakes telling others' English is not proper.

It reminded me to 12 Angry men movie when one of the jurors said:
He don't even speak good English. and someone corrected him.

Adam, I'm sorry. I didn't meant to be rude :(
 
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vba_php

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Are you frequently posting from a cell phone on this forum? That would explain using common cell-phone shorthand. It also would give you the excuse that from a phone, a long message isn't so often an easy thing to do. On a regular keyboard from a real PC, shorthand is an annoyance to those of us who have to read it.
i appreciate your comments richard. the answer is NO, I rarely, if ever, post anything on this forum or any other forum I'm part of, from a cell phone. It's always from a laptop. I guess I've never heard anyone, over 10 years now, other than you, say that shorthand stuff like "ur", "prolly" and the like was annoying to read. Although I think isladogs said something about my use of "prolly". To me, it's just a way of writing a quicker message, and most people understand what it means anyway, don't they?

Is this a generational gap argument between you and I perhaps?
Doc, I just wanted to say if somebody is criticizing others for poor or mistakes in writing or usage of words, at least he himself should use correct words in criticizing. Even if it's sent from a phone. He had a lot of mistakes telling others' English is not proper.
Adam, I'm sorry. I didn't meant to be rude :(
it's no big deal Tera. All I was saying to the recruiter was that it was blatantly obvious that the test writer was from India or China. and it's still well known that idiotic America is taking advantage of those heavily populated countries by employing people who have high level skills for just pennies, which of course is BS. And this is just another case of that crap happening. and of course, they always get what they pay for, just like in this case!
 

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Whether its a generation gap or not, I also find your continual use of shorthand both irritating and a distraction to the point you are trying to convey. Whether its 'prolly' or 'cuz' or 'u r' or 'enuf' or any of the other shortened words you employ regularly, using text speak is off putting for me to read and I suspect for many others.

Tera was right to pick you up in this particular example. You criticized a non-native English speaker for their use of English yet your own grammar and spelling was dreadful.
 

vba_php

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ok then. i'll stop. it doesn't matter to me either way, but I sure don't wanna be ousted again from here just because of this marginal issue.
 

AccessBlaster

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ok then. i'll stop. it doesn't matter to me either way, but I sure don't wanna be ousted again from here just because of this marginal issue.

Pretty sure you just did it again, they tend to scrutinize the grammar first.
 

Micron

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I guess I've never heard anyone, over 10 years now, other than you, say that shorthand stuff like "ur", "prolly" and the like was annoying to read.
Really? Then I guess I wasted my time pointing that out about a week ago. I don't think I called it annoying but that was the message I was politely trying to get across.
 

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