scott dawson

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since Jun 30, 2003
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Recent posts by scott dawson

A Masters Degree is always a big plus.BUT.....I'd really think about your motivations and what area's are you interested in. This may help align what advanced degree to go after...Do you want to do applications development, software tools, or what. There are many emerging technologies that you could focus on. GIS (Geographic Info Systems), Bio-informatics, Data Mining (read Google) are all unique areas which have differing requirements. I'd really look at what interests you and what specializations are available at the school you want to attend. A vanilla MS in CS or Software Engineering might be the ticket. But this is a committment of time and money, so I would not start an MS program without goal more refined than "I want a job writing software".

Hope this makes since and I haven't offended anyone.
19 years ago
I think you can have 1&2 or 3&4. I doubt you can have both groups. I'm only half kidding. It takes work and drive for 1&2. 3&4 generally occur in a more laid back, keep things going environment. High Salary generally means high pressure.

Sorry, this is just my experience.
19 years ago
I'll be happy if they do create some jobs. However, if you read the article it says that "buybacks" are one of the methods that corporations can use the money. Stock buybacks fatten the wallets of CEO's and worthless Boards of Directors. They make each share/option worth more.BOD compensation is generally in stock/options....Call me cynical, I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be holding my breath for these guys to start returning big amounts into IT jobs here in the US. Somehow Enron, Adelphia, MCI/Worldcom just sort of come to mind.
19 years ago
I agree with the points made by Warren. In my case I have 2 yrs jsp/java. I would not think I should be paid more than someone with more/better experience than I with regard to the jsp/java realm.... I think if you can live with that, AND have realistic expectations about what your worth is to an employer, things you'll be ok if you are in the above 35 crowd. I am now in perm position.

I don't see age discrimination directly, but what I do see is education overloading....I mean I see jobs posted that desire an MSCS for something that should take a BS. I mean you shouldn't need an MS to be an applications programmer.

I know when I just got out of school 40 seemed ancient, I've kept in pretty good shape and now 45 just sort of seem like no big deal...except I a bunch of kids who rely on my income.
As an FYI, there's a guy where I work who is 75!!! He still does Cobol on a mainframe, but he knows his stuff.
19 years ago
Are you really sure that's what you want to do? Are you talking about adding an 80k variable to the session object?
I obviously don't know your application, but it seems like having every session object carrying around a potential 80k is a real good way to kill the server or at least degrade performance.
I'm no expert, but I'd really look to see if there is another way of doing this.
19 years ago
I agree with most of what Homer is saying, but not all. Anyone getting into any technical field today had better realize that if they want to stay in a technical capacity they will have to constantly be updating their job skills. This can include college coursework and possibly an advanced degree, or accumulating certifications and working open source, etc... The alternative to this is as Homer describes....become an expert in a product or field and hope to hell the maintenance will keep you employed.
A lot of senior technical people get comfy in their lifestyle and expect their experience is enough to carry them till retirement. I know I was fed that line in college. "Once you get your BSCS, you'll be set for life".
I believed it until I experienced a few rounds of downsizing, it's amazing how sobering it is to watch a good % of your co-workers get the boot.
I'm old enough to have used a slide rule in college, I'm in the finishing up stages for studying for the SCJP. Over the past few years I've taken college classes in OOAD, Web Design, and even Geographic Info Systems (Grad course). After writing C and using Oracle SQL for the past 10+ years
I now write JSPs, servlets,etc...So it's not all doom and gloom,but I have spent alot of time (often between 4-7AM)studying.

Of course the alternative is going into management, but thats a topic for another post.

Anyhow, I think age is a factor, but remember an employer is looking for the best candidate for them. If you can show your not living on past accomplishments and can bring something to the table being over 35 shouldn't be a problem...

Hope this helps.
19 years ago
I know salaries are down, and there is alot of competition, but are things that bad?? I mean Jim does not sound like a rookie. I know I've had to lower my expecations of my career quite a bit (compared with the "key to the future") mentality when I got my BSCS in '81.
If you have this much programming experience, plus a degree in Chem I'd look at BioTech. Might not be what you want to hear, but that field appears where programming was 20yrs ago.
Good Luck,
Scott
19 years ago
You may be right. When I was younger 60 seemed ancient. Now at 45, I figure between my trashed pension (I work at United Airlines), Social Security funding shortages, 5 college bound kids, etc...I'll be working till I'm about 90!!!
I guess it beats the alternative of not making it til 90, and since I don't like golf I might as well work. If I make it till 100, I'll still get some retirement time.
Hope you get one of the 100yr cards in good health!!

Scott
19 years ago
Ok. thanks. I guess I can stop trying every combination of CSS style that might have worked.

Scott
I am building a select list in a JSP page. It all works ok but I would like to add more white space between lines. I'm using CSS for font-size definition.

Any suggestions ???

Thanks.

Scott
How long do most people prepare for this exam. I do some Java at work but mainly pretty straight-forward JSP's and servlets. Maintainability rather than demonstrating knowledge of all Java features is key...

I'm guessing a couple of months at 2hrs a day...does this sound in the ballpark?
Thx,
Scott
I'm not sure if this should be in this forum or the JSP or Servlet forum...but here goes.

I want to convert a type object to a String array.
We're adding a String array to the request object in the servlet code, but in the JSP code when I get the attribute (which is working), it comes back as a type Object. But where do I go from there?

Thanks
19 years ago
Is there a way that I can set a timer that will submit a form when it expires? The closest way I have now is to set the .href property of the location object, but this isn't really the same as if I could simulate an onClick event. Is this possible from Javascript.
Another alternative is to set a timer in the controller servlet (using an MVC2 arch), and if the timer goes off simulate a submit.. I'd really like to control this from the client end though.
Thanks , and hope this makes sense.
Scott
This line
ok = Ok Suspend = Suspend
should be
ok = Ok Ignore = Ignore
The problem & result are the same, but I was a bit careless in my entering
data on the forum, I cut from the wrong test.
I have a form with several buttons..I am using the button tag rather than the input tag so I can play around with fonts. the problem is the results I get from the request object are not what I would expect.
Here's the form
<form name="oiscr" id = "oiscr" method="post" action="nxpresult.jsp">
<table width="85%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td><button name="OK" type="submit" value=""> <b>Ok</b> </button></td>
<td><button name="Ignore" type="submit" value=""><b>Ignore</b></button></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
The target jsp has the following code:
<%! String buttonpushed = new String(); %>
<% buttonpushed = request.getParameter("OK"); %>
ok = <%=buttonpushed%>

<% buttonpushed = request.getParameter("Ignore"); %>
ignore = <%=buttonpushed %>
In the Receiving JSP I would expect the value of the Ignore button to be null if I click on the OK...however the result I get is:
ok = Ok Suspend = Suspend
When I define the buttons as input type="submit".... the buttons not pushed are return a null from the request object (as I would expect)
but then I can't change the font unless use the button tag.
Hope someone can see some glaring error, or give me a way to use multiple button tags on a form....
thanks,
Scott