I've been sitting on this item all day. Technically, it's about patents and the like, and even I understand I've been beating this dead horse so often it almost looks like it's alive. However, this is an interesting opinion piece by Craig Hockenberry, long-time employee at The Iconfactory, one of my favourite software development houses - these guys breath software and beautiful design, and employ one of my favourite artists, David Lanham. The gist of his story? Software patents are killing the independent developer scene.
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Member since:2005-07-06
I don't know where you live but in Silicon Valley there are definitely more jobs than qualified candidates for software engineering positions. But beware, most Silicon Valley software companies file for patents.
Member since:2011-01-28
rhavyn,
Someone I know used to live near there and said there were empty buildings everywhere and that it looked like a deserted ghost town. I don't know how true it is, but on employment boards SV has a reputation for being much less viable than it once was:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6987699n
Then again it could all be bias. All I know is that it has been extremely frustrating for me. I have exceptional skill in some areas, but getting a job which fits is a never-ending struggle. I resort to doing low end webdev work, mostly through connections, but the pay is terrible and the work is boring - I'm an algorithm guy. I'm quite depressed about it, I don't know what to do any more.
...enough with the personal sob story though, on to better topics!
Member since:
2011-01-28
rhavyn,
"You think we have less choice and innovation in software than in the 50's? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, this is the kind of factually incorrect emotional kind of post that I was talking about?"
Beware, the following is an "emotional kind of post".
The 50s were obviously way to early to consider consumer gear. However I do think that innovation is in decline today compared to all previous decades in my lifetime.
There are too many leaches in the economy, from frivolous lawsuits, patent trolls, wallstreet, bank bailouts, political corruption, monopolies, education prices, and inflation, we are paralyzed. More and more of the economy is driven by cheap goods which gets built with offshore workers. Corporations consolidate into conglomerates and lay off scores of skilled workers. In the mean time largest MNCs can use complex loopholes to pay zero taxes. The small businesses, who are collectively the biggest employers, are left carrying the burden and cannot compete.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/study-tallies-corporations-n...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-electric-paid-federal-taxes-...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-callahan/googles-tax-avoidance-...
Big business influence on the US government is astounding. They've been the primary beneficiary of trillions of dollars in tax cuts and hand outs over the past decade. I suppose it may not matter to all of you, but I personally had to watch my tax dollars pay for these big business entitlements, who did nothing to deserve them.
No, this is not innovation, it's profiteering. I'd gladly take the 50s over today. This way, I might live to see man go to the moon instead of the dismantling of the space program.
Edit: Also, they probably could have used a good computer programmer like me. Today there are more of us than jobs.
Edited 2011-07-15 05:21 UTC