Looking back… that was right, hmm, 7 out of 8 times. The miss was a very chill place that gave out Dells, but I lost my job because the funding round didn’t come in.

I remember having a few of these for WordPerfect, MS Word for DOS and Lotus 1-2-3.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/03/03/the-forbidden-fruit#

Right?!? There was this whole “real men don’t eat quiche” thing that I remember from the 90s. What is unmanly about putting an omelette in a pie crust? It makes it easier to eat on the go and keeps better in the fridge.

Pull through parking. You know, where there are two spaces so you drive through one into the next so you can pull out of the one you park in without having to back up? I got told that was for “girls and gays”.

The two types of semiconductors. N-types have a slight excess of electrons, allowing them to move freely and P-types have a slight lack of electrons, effectively making freely moving electron “holes”. By sandwiching them next to each other, you can create diodes and bi-polar junction transistors.

And as we all know, bi-trans is an important part of queerdom.

Source: has a degree in electrical engineering. And is bi.
Edit: not cool enough to be trans though.

Oh man, I loved my OG Droid.

It’s never going to happen.

A compiler. I mean, yeah, I guess I could go back to writing asm, but I really don’t want to.

Then Diogenes comes rolling through in an RV.

I use the “short meetings” option in gcal, which shortens meetings by 5-10 minutes to give me a passing period between meetings. Twice this week people have had the audacity to try and schedule a meeting in that break. 😬

My career path has been pretty straightforward. I went to a state science and engineering university with a starting major in physics but switched to electrical engineering after two years. While there I had a few student jobs at the various campus labs, helping with research projects and doing some simple programming.

After I graduated I got a job at a small nearby observatory where several friends worked. I started by operating and maintaining the telescopes then did some software work to expand our capabilities.

Once my partner graduated, I found a job in the nearby city at a small engineering firm that mostly did subcontracted work for the big defense companies. I split my time there between electrical engineering and embedded software development.

After several years there, I realized that there was no real path forward due to living in one of the big square states so I started looking and found a job with an established Bay Area company through a friend. Since then I’ve worked at a few different companies, from tiny startups to the FAANGS. I’ve generally moved up every couple years and now manage a large team at a mid sized startup. Like most engineers, I’ll probably never be really rich, but always comfortably employed.

There are three things that really helped my career.

1. College - I know, it’s expensive and such. But even so, it is so worth it. Sure if you get a degree in underwater basket weaving at an expensive private university or it’s probably a financial waste, but STEM degrees are an excellent investment. It’s not just the paper, but the experience, contacts and friends that come from a traditional on-campus in-person university.

2. Friends - The majority of my jobs, and in particular the ones I’ve needed and enjoyed the most came from friends and colleagues. Make those connections, be a good friend, and good things will happen.

3. Hobby programming - I started writing code in elementary school in BASIC. Later in college I would experiment with small programs to scratch an itch, learning C++ and Python from books on my own. Those experiences were vital in my ability to learn how to tackle new problems and learn how to execute when I had to.

Bonus point 4) Reading “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Seriously, learn to plan and execute. Don’t be a flakey “ideas person”, get shit done.

With those requirements why bother with a laptop? Just build yourself a desktop and setup up ssh and/or Remote Desktop if you really need access on the go.

It’s below 60%? That’s a travesty!