skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Do I need a CS degree for a startup job if I already have skills?
To start with, I know you don't need to go through a CS program to learn how to code. I'm a journalism student debating whether or not to get a minor in CS for the purposes of getting a job at a startup after college.

I've been working as a web developer for about 4 years, both freelance and full time with an advertising agency. I know PHP, HTML5, CSS3, JS + jQuery, all of them really well. I know how to use the command line, version control, and all that kind of stuff.

I have a Github profile (not on this screen name), open source projects, and a bunch of other skills like server administration that have gotten me plenty of work in the past, but never at a consumer web product company (except on a small-time freelance basis).

I'm also learning Python/Django and Ruby/Rails, working on projects in both at the moment.

So basically, I'm wondering if that's enough. My school's CS curriculum is based on Java and ASP.NET, which sounds to me like a big fast waste of time, and it would add one to two semesters to my time in school.

On the other hand, I would come away with good CS fundamentals that are language-independent. But on the other-other hand, I could pick up the same skills from MIT Open Courseware.

I'd REALLY like to hear from you if you're running a startup and doing hiring, not because I'm looking for a job but because I want to know whether a candidate without a CS degree faces a significant disadvantage.

Thanks!
It's 2011, this publishing model is not only obsolete, it's irrelevant.
Here is our 10/s crawl stats too. Thought I'd share to get a contrast.
Though about half the page crawls per day. Note the page load times :)
Oops, recent regression due to building an internal cloud.
So you're right, not out of the ordinary.

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/6365090/
For a weird, distorting effect, press control to zoom all the way out and pan around. It seems that it tries to put you're view point "behind" the actual camera location. Not sure if it's a "bug" or not, but it looks neat nonetheless.
On lisp style:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/newstyle.html
Incidentally, they also have an optional but suggested charge for papers containing color diagrams and over-length papers.

These are wonderful holdovers from when people read papers in actual printed copies. When's the last time you read a paper from a printed copy from the publisher? That's why they're "optional" (and roundly ignored, AFAIK). It's another example of their completely outdated monetization methods.
Paul Graham wrote an essay related to this: http://www.paulgraham.com/discover.html
I wrote a blog post you might find interesting that talks specifically about quoting web design projects: http://devgrow.com/how-to-properly-quote-a-client/

That's how I go about it and have found it to be the best/only way to ensure I don't overwork myself.
Life as a Microsoft SDET, from one years worth of data
Does this also mean that the online edition has been completed and there will be no future chapters?
Tying you to the browser is only slightly better than tying you to a single client; textareas are not the kind of place you want to spend much time. I'd be game if there were an Emacs client.
>I would argue that there's a HUGE financial incentive. The company/person that comes up with the "next big thing" in fuel sources is going to be incomprehensibly wealthy - I think that much is clear.

the economical analysis shows that nuclear fusion energy wouldn't be cheaper than the price of coal's energy [4c/kwt], thus without government intervention like carbon emissions pricing and explicit forcing of phasing out of fossil fuels this type of energy is out of question. The arithmetic is similar for other alternative sources as well.
We built the API to be more like Twitter's API - so geolocation and status updates are built right in and gives raw sensor data more context. My house is completely connected and my things send me status updates. Dig in to the open source API and you can see the differences.
I actually am an information graphics guy - classically trained in the hard-scrabble world of print journalism, but I'm now refining my interaction design skills at an enterprise UX organization. I just sent you an E-mail via Hacker News Users :)
CloudDrive Trademark Problem?
Wouldn't it be more interesting to know $/hour?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/quicklube-shop-masters-elec...
Well, what would Amazon be doing with their 5 gig free? People will be uploading their files, are they going to check if they're all legit?

Dropbox could provide audio player for private files.
Our site, Kongoroo, (http://kongoroo.com) is meant to be something like Reddit for kids sites, but we're noticing that the English language learning sites are popular for visitors from Spanish-speaking countries and China. Teaching kids English is great and we'll extend that usage, but we really didn't expect it.
Thats great, now if they added some of the other lisp features (macros, etc.) I'd consider using python.
How TDD and Pairing Increase Production
We hear you, and that's why we just launched our iPhone app. It's a bit buried in this article, but it's mentioned about halfway through. The app makes a great complement to our website, allowing you to view a shopping list created on the web on your phone, but it's also useful by itself, without using our website or email.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anyleaf/id424688443?mt=8&...

Also, the deals that we show you in our email are the very best deals (we compare to historical prices to identify them) and are personalized for you (you can hide categories and individual products). We hated thumbing through the traditional circulars, so we're trying to eliminate that pain by showing you directly relevant deals.
Firstly, I would like to point out that I am anti mass-p2p lawsuits. They abuse the law, the courts and the system. It is a shakedown scheme, pure and simple. Due process is abused to such an absurd extent. Never mind the strain these lawsuits are putting on ISP's for ip lookups, -so much so that multiple ISP have come out and sided against these frivolous lawsuits.

All that being said, the issue here is not what the right decision is, but rather how Howel a former RIAA lobbyist and lawmaker could possibly make an unbiased decision.

Frankly, regardless of your stance on the p2p subject, her even being appointed to such a position leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. If I were in her shoes, I would recognize the ethical dilemma and sit that one out. But to add insult to injury she has chosen to ignore the hand full of precedents set by multiple judges around the country to disallow such abuses inherent in these mass joint filings.

Ironically, numerous people have argues that her past knowledge of law would make her a better judge. So she knows the laws, many of which she helped write; when and where did she learn a damn thing about technology, -I don't know like the fact these law firms are paying for cheap inaccurate methods for infringement detection so they can pad their lawsuits with still more innocent person to shake down. Guilty until proven innocent because the plaintiff told me so.
Rachel Sequoia and “Share the Air”: From 30 to 100,000 YouTube Views in 5 days
I'd say 85%+ of the better paying gigs I've gotten have been through existing connections and people I've known. For instance, a college friend started a new business and needed a site - he contacted and ended up hiring me. His partner then referred me to his friend, who also hired me for a project. Word of mouth can be pivotal in building a business so my first suggestion would be to explore your own social circle. (give your friends business cards!)
How Microsoft lost its mojo: thoughts from an insider
Closing down? I'd say significantly rebranding. We'll see, most likely, the week of June 6th.
http://andreidraganescu.info/blog/1

I use this system for about 4 years and am still delighted on how easy it comes to me. In brief:

- Split up your style sheet according to rule types.

- There are three main rule types that help when split: grid, decorations and fonts.
This is much better stealth - http://dabble.in/
Oh god, I can't tell if you are being sarcastic. head explode
Anyone in Michigan -- Steve Blank will be speaking in Ann Arbor this evening at Blau auditorium on the University of Michigan campus.

http://www.a2newtech.org/events/16094578/?eventId=16094578&#...
My Dad is an engraver, he's good at it, he was complaining to me that he had more work than he could handle. I suggested he raise his price then. He responded with the typical "I couldn't in good conscience charge that for something that takes me only a few hours to do!" And then we had a long discussion about how the market sets the rate, not you, and if you hold your rate under market it will overwhelm you because you're leaving money on the table, if you don't have enough work to keep you busy then you're over market. The key here is the market sets the rate, you don't.

Once we established that it was pretty easy to see how letting his rate float up would help with his workload, he would not only be less overloaded but he would be collecting more of the market value of his work. Since in his case (he's nominally retired) not working at all was just fine, he had a lot of freedom in over shooting the market and then coming back.

I recognize that its not as useful for someone who is wondering where rent money will come from.
I view this as a disturbing assault on individual liberty and freedom. Automobiles and the mobility they offer communities have played a monumentally positive role in the shaping of modern society. In many ways they serve as a form of checks and balances. With automobiles, we can put our kids in better schools, even if they are further away, we can learn about different communities that offer benefits relative to our own (for example lower taxation, more open-minded, etc) and move to them. They give us the ability to fulfill the innate human desire to explore. You may think this is silly but i know with 100% certainty i am far less inclined to take a road trip to new places if it entails connecting on 4 different forms of public transportation. I own a car in the city now, but if i'm not allowed to drive it, where do i put it?

The reality of how this will play out is that it will only further increase the perceived and actual separation of wealth with no descernable improvement in environmental conditions. Property prices are going to sky-rocket since this is essentially government mandated urbanization. Poor people are going to have to live further, commute longer and now wont have access to simple "luxuries". Their employment options will be more limited as will their leisurly activity. Owning a second home, something many people in europe do, becomes that much more difficult. All because the government wants to control how you get to from point A to B.

I hope they fail.
that brings up a question for me. when you say $15K/2weeks, is that for a task that can be accomplished by a single person (2x40h), or do you have to break the job up amongst other people?
I think you mean `correlation is not causation'. Where there is causation, there certainly _is_ correlation.

In any case, are their any methodological problems with this study that you can point to? Any other studies you can point to that give a different result?

I'm also curious about your anecdotal evidence, which you seem to give more weight than this study. Do you routinely ask people you meet whether they were home schooled? Do the ``intelligent, thoughtful'' people you meet routinely come out and tell you that they are not home schooled?

Almost three percent of the current US student population is home schooled[1]. You've probably met a lot more home schoolers than you realize...

[1] Study (pdf) as of 2007 at

http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf
because a gallon of fuel/oil is the real unit of value in the economy, convertible across the world, and compare to gold it isn't confined to narrow segments of economy/population. The paper/electronic money is just reflection of it.
Porn Star Developer AKA Bad Parents
How to Rip a CD Like a Pro – Part 2
Welcome back to Part 2 of my ongoing series on ripping those old CD’s like a professional, you can view Part 1 here. You may think this process may seem way too long to get to the end product, and really I don’t blame you, because it is
This is totally in line with my experience (own a web design/dev shop). We talk about the "warm fuzzy feeling" in terms of making other people look good.

- make your clients look good to their stakeholders

- make someone look good to their manager

- make an exec look good to their board

- make the firm subcontracting to you look good to the end-client

- make your teammates/collaborators look good (and help them save face when they screw up)
Firefox For Android Released
I'm not sure how to answer that - I do my work hourly, usually. For that, I'm usually at $85/hour, although I discount it for projects that will take several months where I don't have to look around for the next job. I probably would have started increasing that rate, except now I've got a fulltime job and aren't contracting after this month.
Why Your App Name is Dumb
Is there going to be oil left in 2050? Serious question.
That sounds interesting. Can I email you?
Also, ask someone else how much they'd pay for your work. I found that since I make websites myself, I tend to value the work a lot less because it seems easier to me. In reality, the work is very valuable to people who are not capable of doing it themselves, so they're usually willing to pay more for it than you are. And as usual patio11 is spot on in regards to those qualities, having strength in those areas can give you a powerful edge in winning over clients.
AOL: Hand Over Crunchbase and Nobody Gets Hurt
How and why did Twitter choose to acquire your company?
Build a Fully Working Hackintosh Along With Windows 7 Part I Hardware Selection
This guide will be a series of guides on How to Build a Successful Snow Leopard Hackintosh Dual Boot With Windows 7.
Yeah, those buttons always bugged me... the design could have been a lot cleaner.

I'm not sure if Firefox Mobile has the same support for theming that the desktop does, but if so I imagine they'll be some nice themes for it eventually. :)
Link to TechStars:
http://www.techstars.org/

The front page says: "Do more faster by joining forces with the #1 startup accelerator in the world."
<i>I would argue that there's a HUGE financial incentive.</i>
<i>I think supply and demand almost guarantees that it will not always been cheaper.</i>

And these two contradictory statements show that the free market cannot save the planet on its own.
I can now confidently recommend a book to Haskell-aspiring friends that is easy to read and incredibly fun at the same time. It will be on my bookshelf next to Land of Lisp.
Digital DUMBO Spring Forward (March 31st)
I think this is a pretty good case for not getting too deep into Lisp.
Ecolibertarianism. Green minarchism. Okay, someone get started on this ideology, I wanna see how this plays out.
Affordable Website Designing Services
Web Design and development by a2zdesignneeds, a Hyderabad based company offering affordable website design and development services with professionalism.a2zdesinneeds providing web design services in a creative way to various clients around the world.
I don't really see why it's hilarious. It's good-natured, and a direct and fairly clean job ad for a junior/intern position at a startup. And it's got some sensible interview questions, too, that will very quickly tell the geeks apart from the non-geeks.

If every startup job ad followed this model, the world would probably be a better place!
I was trying to look up an error[1] regarding Padrino the other day and someone had asked about the same problem I was having. The exact question I typed in had been asked on SO 6 hours before I encountered it and then deleted from SO, but Google had cached it.

I was sad the top result led to a deleted question without an answer, but was impressed an exact match to my question was cached 2 minutes after it was asked and was the top result (hopefully it will be dropped from results soon since it leads to SO's 404 page now).

[1] http://www.google.com/search?q=getting-nomethoderror-for-pad...
Maybe it is people who only read the headlines before choosing to vote and/or read the article.
My goodness, why is this being downvoted? It's a rational presentation of an unpopular position, with some thought-provoking assertions of unintended side-effects: who here is punishing such comments?
Generally, at Google or other large companies, yes.

Generally, at a startup, no.
It loads just fine for me, but just in case here is the cache link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3A...
Congrats! I also get a lot of traffic from the Chrome store. Just one quick suggestion - Make the example book prominent in your app, so that a new user can quickly see what your app's all about. I'd say put it on top before the upload option.

Also, can you preload the example book somehow so that there's no waiting time at all? Right now, it took about 5 seconds before the book opened. From what I've seen, Chrome visitors are quite impatient and bounce very easily.
My first major paid freelance project was worth about $6K of development time. I charged $400 because it was for a friend of a friend, and mostly because I just didn't know any better.

I learned a hell of a lot though, not just about coding but also what I could do different in the future not to land myself in such a crap situation.

Eventually, though, that $400 paid dividends: the project was noticed by a company that offered me a full-time position, which I love and meets all my needs and wants financially.

Moral of my story: sometime crap pays off.
The phrase "Google is in a unique position to quickly correct a lot of bad [...] behaviors" sends chills down my spine.
How Saying “No” Can Be Good for an Early Startup
huh. I was just looking through No Starch Press's catalog last week after someone here mentioned the Manga Guide to Databases, and I saw this, but didn't realize it was only online before.
Amazon’s cloud drive pricier than Google but cheaper than others
Ok so it took me a couple minutes to understand what this is. Do you have examples of how this is used, what kind of hardware provides networked sensor data? Is there a compatibility list somewhere?
If you look at KSA, UAE production in 2009. They are down 10%+ on 2008.

To me, it seems very likely that the diminishing Energy Return on Energy Invested will not support [cheap] oil prices at a level that will allow Western Countries such as the United States to remain out of recession.

Much of the current 'proved reserves' include tar sands and heavy and inaccessible oils that are expensive and polluting to process, that are not economic to produce at a bbl cost of less than say $80.

As China and India grow, they will continue to account for a larger and larger share of oil imports, pushing up prices, and reducing the quantity of oil available to the United States to import.

This chart shows unleaded gasoline delivered to gas retailers in the US. We are roughly 20% off the highs, with very little spare oil, judging by the rising prices. The corresponding Chinese chart on the other hand...
http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&...

If anyone wants to look further, www.theoildrum.com presents varied commentary on some of these issues.
(Highly) profitable, funded YC company looking for technical lead. 
We're a small company with an early product that's exploding in popularity. We had the highest revenue of any pre-demo day YC company and have investment from SV Angel, Paul Buchheit (the inventor of gmail), and others.

If you're a great hacker who understands the amount of work involved in creating a successful startup and are ready for that commitment, we want to hear from you.

Requirements:

- Web development experience

- Great programmer

- Capable of making technology and architectural choices.

- Willing to be accountable for large portions of our service.

- Management experience isn't necessary, but you should believe you can build and manage a technical team.

We are impressed by:

- Contributions to open source projects

- Links to things you've built

- Experience at a small company

Perks:

- Large equity stake.

- Market Salary.

- A chance to grow a company into a national (then international) success.

To Apply:
Please send a resume to throwaway1222@gmail.com and tell us why you're interested.
It makes more sense to ask about the hourly average per freelancing gig. After all, the duration of freelance gigs may vary widely depending on the size of the gig.
Yes. So, this is why you should never trashcan your projects. Keep them alive and keep iterating on them (track them with analytics). Also, keep trying new things. If over time the number of people using them is > 0 (and growing, albeit slowly), then they are probably assets.

If you are less aimless and want to get strategic, make sure all of the projects center around some addressable market for which you can eventually take a shot at building a genuine product.
This is so true and the funny thing about it is that it makes sense logically yet it runs so contrary to our natural inclinations or at least mine and I'm sure many others.

Economics you so crazy.
That's the basic thesis of Earn1K - the "I will teach you to be rich" course. I won't link here, as it's commercial, but the blog is worth a look even if you're not a paying customer.
I think it could even be appropriate for an analytically minded non-programmer. I'm going to try it on my sister, who is a mathematician.
USENIX LEET '11: Attacking and Defending the Tor Network
Very interesting.

One question: Could this in any way (at some time in the future, clearly not yet) provide a mechanism for PHP's lack of threads? I don't mean actual threads, but perhaps exploiting node.js's callback mechanism to sync the running of multiple simultaneous triggered PHP scripts.
I have seen some 5D stuff that was pretty good and House used one for an episode. I think the Epic is going to be a big hit (size, 5K raw) and I expect the same of Scarlet.
Doh! I did not know that.
s/report/reboot/ err
And it's got some sensible interview questions, too, that will very quickly tell the geeks apart from the non-geeks.

I'm actually concerned that the screening questions aren't splitting geeks vs non-geeks. They seem like personality questions more than technical ability questions (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

I'd be curious to see responses to them that were above the bar and just below the bar. I suspect it may have to do with personality fit more than technical ability.
You could get started by watching MIT physics and mathematics opencourseware courses (including video lectures) to see if it suits you.
Go on...

So, did he set his prices? What happened? What did he charge prior and how much did he change... and most importantly, is he happier?
Thanks JonnieCache! It was tripping up a little for me too.
$0 - $500 is for the elance/odesk people I guess?
As supply of carbon based fuels dwindles, their price will go up. The fact that carbon based fuels are currently cheaper than any alternative backs my argument. As soon as they aren't cheaper - the market will shift.
I think Microsoft's biggest problem is that it is beholden to stock holders who expect it to continue to return insane profits on billion dollar businesses segments. If an idea can't generate Billions next year they don't appear interested.
Acer Liquid MT Smartphone-Now with you
A great leap in the technology is done by Acer smartphone in Canada via Rogers called the Rogers Ace Liquid mt. It has an Android Froyo 2.2 base combined with Acer UI 4.0 Breeze. It comes in two beautiful colors and they are silver and brown.