[cynicalheretic]

All kidding aside, stop worrying about the damn future. You could die tomorrow and what would you have done today. It just drives me nuts everyone on here talking about how they have to stock and prepare for a possible scenario.

Give you guys a hint. You can't prepare for tomorrow and even if you could I would not bother. My goal in life is not survival, it is thriving or dying. I will never waste my life hauled up in some fucking hole somewhere wasting out the rest of my days.

Carpe Deim as they say !

This more than a rant, this is a statement of intent. If you waste your life worried about tomorrow or the next day, you never lived to begin with. The best thing for you all to do, is to take a plane trip right now to a place you have always wanted to visit and party your ass off. Get high, Get Laid, and have fun. Relax and enjoy life. If you can't do this, then I feel sorry for you and I hope you like living out the rest of your life like a damn hermit.

PEACE

[Jack]

It's interesting to see the views about computers and programming.

First of all...I question whether the internet is viable. True, it's pretty robust. But the server farms take a lot of electricity. 99.9999% reliable electricity. I question whether they can get it.

As to computers - remember, spare parts (replacement hard drives, for example) may be a problem. In principle, one could create a small community network with wireless Linux boxes - but I deeply question how long it will work.

OK, so let's suppose we've got a box, running Vista and Office 2007, all nicely configured. How long will it run without an internet connection? Recall that MicroSoft has software call home frequently. And sloppy electricity plays havoc with hardware.

So, we back up. We get the Linux box I mentioned earlier. So, what exactly do we program for? What numbers do we crunch if communicating them over wide areas is problematic? We certainly won't do much printing - printers use large quantities of consumables, whether ink or toner.

Embedded systems are fine...but which systems are we really going to be using?

If we have a slow, graceful decline, perhaps programming will remain viable....but...I question that assumption.

Look at your hard drive. It is the key to modern computers. Now, how long exactly will it go? And from whence will the replacement come?

[I_Like_Plants]

Right on Jack, as usual a ray of illuminating rationality.

Yes, the computers are almost just a symptom of the Big Machine.

We'll be lucky if we even get to keep simple radio or telegraph technology, long term.

I'd prepare for the future keeping in mind that in 10 years it's going to be VERY plain the Empire is falling or has fallen. VERY obvious to Americans will mean obvious indeed - blackouts, etc. All the nastiness Dmitry Orlov writes about happeing in the ex-USSR but it will be worse in the US because our society is that much meaner and more backstabbing.

[lateralus]

If things go south badly then there will be a new internet which will require different skills.




If you wish to respond to this post I'll be down at the beach waiting.

[strider3700]

I'm a programmer currently employed for a good wage in my hometown which I like. Like someone above posted if I could go back to 95 and start over I wouldn't have become a programmer either.

The internet is a wonderfull thing but as jack pointed out it's not really robust for the majority of users. Power outages on a local level I believe will be the end of it. Yes the main backbones may stay up and will be maintained but I seriously doubt my local cable company will have the funds to keep all of it's lines maintained. Just this past winter we had major outages due to tree's taking out lines.

Even if the computers do stay up and running there aren't that many programming jobs that are critical. In the future will the world really care that logs are correctly being scaled and the government taxing accordingly or will people think that getting lumber to use is more important? Without the diesel to keep the trucks running I can't see any of the forest industry continuing like it does. That will wipe out thousands of progammers in my specific industry alone. How many industries won't be affected in the same way?

The Original question specifically asks about programming skills which I consider there to be 2 of.

Coding ability - actual writing of the code from design. You need to know syntax and and code monkey can do this. Totally useless skill in the future.

Problem solving - Figuring out what needs to be written in the first place. Good problem solving skills are transferable and I think they will be useful in the future.

I find that there is little difference between building a house and building a program on the conceptual lelvel. Having done both I found that a lot of the skills involved worked well on both projects. The hard part is getting experience either writing syntax in languages that change every few years or developing the motor skills to be effective at using your hands.

If you are a programmer try your best to get beyond code monkey and into the design stage or projects. It makes you far more employable.

[eXpat]

strider3700 wrote
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ike someone above posted if I could go back to 95 and start over I wouldn't have become a programmer either.

[128shot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eXpat', '[')b]strider3700 wrote
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ike someone above posted if I could go back to 95 and start over I wouldn't have become a programmer either.

[128shot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'A')ll kidding aside, stop worrying about the damn future. You could die tomorrow and what would you have done today. It just drives me nuts everyone on here talking about how they have to stock and prepare for a possible scenario.

Give you guys a hint. You can't prepare for tomorrow and even if you could I would not bother. My goal in life is not survival, it is thriving or dying. I will never waste my life hauled up in some fucking hole somewhere wasting out the rest of my days.

Carpe Deim as they say !

This more than a rant, this is a statement of intent. If you waste your life worried about tomorrow or the next day, you never lived to begin with. The best thing for you all to do, is to take a plane trip right now to a place you have always wanted to visit and party your ass off. Get high, Get Laid, and have fun. Relax and enjoy life. If you can't do this, then I feel sorry for you and I hope you like living out the rest of your life like a damn hermit.

PEACE

[frankthetank]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his more than a rant, this is a statement of intent. If you waste your life worried about tomorrow or the next day, you never lived to begin with. The best thing for you all to do, is to take a plane trip right now to a place you have always wanted to visit

[lateStarter]

From a different POV, I'd advise anyone still in the industry to get out now. Even though it is still possible to makes very decent money now ($160-200k/year if you are VERY good and in high demand area) they will suck you dry... The very fact that you are so good will result in 'the Man' working you 24x7.

How will you have time to develop that off-grid property when you are flying all over the world, fixing shit... Sure it is gratifying work - short-term and in the meantime you will be able to maintain your 'life-style', but when TSHTF, you will come up short.

Seriously, find another line of work (that you enjoy) now! You might find that you actually enjoy it more.

[cynicalheretic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'F')rom a different POV, I'd advise anyone still in the industry to get out now. Even though it is still possible to makes very decent money now ($160-200k/year if you are VERY good and in high demand area) they will suck you dry... The very fact that you are so good will result in 'the Man' working you 24x7.

How will you have time to develop that off-grid property when you are flying all over the world, fixing shit... Sure it is gratifying work - short-term and in the meantime you will be able to maintain your 'life-style', but when TSHTF, you will come up short.

Seriously, find another line of work (that you enjoy) now! You might find that you actually enjoy it more.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'F')rom a different POV, I'd advise anyone still in the industry to get out now. Even though it is still possible to makes very decent money now ($160-200k/year if you are VERY good and in high demand area) they will suck you dry... The very fact that you are so good will result in 'the Man' working you 24x7.

How will you have time to develop that off-grid property when you are flying all over the world, fixing shit... Sure it is gratifying work - short-term and in the meantime you will be able to maintain your 'life-style', but when TSHTF, you will come up short.

Seriously, find another line of work (that you enjoy) now! You might find that you actually enjoy it more.

[I_Like_Plants]

Exactly - the US culture is soul-sucking, and it's very good at it. I swear there are some kind of fucking mind-rays being used, if you're poor you can actually save money. If you're less poor, you spend about what you make, and if you're anything above poor, well, the US savings rate is negative right now.

This is one reason I'm looking at going back to a $5-an-hour income and lifestyle, because it would be nice to have some security and save up money for a change.

[Baldwin]

What about architecture? Even on a small scale, we constantly build (I would think that this would be a premier skill post-peak, when things need to last as long as possible).

[128shot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Baldwin', 'W')hat about architecture? Even on a small scale, we constantly build (I would think that this would be a premier skill post-peak, when things need to last as long as possible).

[cynicalheretic]

If you can't save money and you have a job that pays 200,000.00 then you deserve to be in the gutter. I would never offer anyone who can't save money with that kind of income, any advice.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'I')f you can't save money and you have a job that pays 200,000.00 then you deserve to be in the gutter. I would never offer anyone who can't save money with that kind of income, any advice.

[128shot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', '.')


But not as it's presently done, you want to study it in terms of how to build energy-effecient dwellings using scrap/recycled materials, natural materials, etc. You want to learn how to build real dwellings for real people.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'A')ll kidding aside, stop worrying about the damn future. You could die tomorrow and what would you have done today. It just drives me nuts everyone on here talking about how they have to stock and prepare for a possible scenario.

Give you guys a hint. You can't prepare for tomorrow and even if you could I would not bother. My goal in life is not survival, it is thriving or dying. I will never waste my life hauled up in some fucking hole somewhere wasting out the rest of my days.

Carpe Deim as they say !

This more than a rant, this is a statement of intent. If you waste your life worried about tomorrow or the next day, you never lived to begin with. The best thing for you all to do, is to take a plane trip right now to a place you have always wanted to visit and party your ass off. Get high, Get Laid, and have fun. Relax and enjoy life. If you can't do this, then I feel sorry for you and I hope you like living out the rest of your life like a damn hermit.

PEACE