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Interesting Articles / Quick Thoughts

I like this article on working hours and flexibility by Jeff Haden.  I think a lot of it is true.


I just read a different article, this one on Big Data (which I won't link); it was discussing how 2014 is the year for enterprise investment in Big Data.  Basically it was an article about nothing.  It's easy to talk about Big Data.  It's easy to collect lots of data.  It's easy to store lots of data.  Actually doing something useful with it is a challenge that eludes most companies... 70% of organizations plan to deploy big data projects in blah blah blah buzzword buzzword blah blah... honestly it doesn't really matter unless you figure out some way to use it.

Is it bad that my favorite parts of when my wife watches "The Bachelor" are the complete and total mental breakdowns?  Does that make me a bad person?

Here's another article, this one about starting your career at a big company.  I'd actually give the complete opposite advice to a software engineer / CS grad starting a career for a few reasons: I think the opportunities are limited in a lot of (not all, but many) big companies for entry-level; one thing I've observed about big companies is that it's easy to "disappear" - I've seen a higher concentration of low-impact people in big companies - because in small companies you can't blend in as easily; I think there are more opportunities to *do* more as a software engineer in a small company vs a large company; and I think there's no less credit in working for a start-up or a small company than there is for a large company.  I'm guessing this one is targeted to more of a business audience, but I don't think much of it applies to the typical Computer Science grad.  Big companies might provide more room for advancement (which is a common complaint in small companies), but in my experience small companies provide more room for learning (which is pretty important in those first few years out of school).

Mobile advertising is where it's at in 2014 (in other breaking news, this newfangled Internet thing is really taking off):

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