Dang I am late for the party...

For me it was the assembly implementation of a program (I don't remember the book, sorry) and the slow, painful process to understand it. And when things clicked, it was brilliant.

(sorry for the short reply, circumstances and all are keeping things... interesting here)

OK, I wrote my thoughts here:

https://devrant.com/rants/2809157/...

@aviophile @molaram and the OP:

Cheating in the tech industry will get you your just rewards; you must keep lying in a perpetual politics struggle and at any point you can lose everything, if you don't have the required skill to back up your words.

For the OP: don't lose your focus. Keep working on yourself. Cheating, at the end of the day, gets you only temporary benefits (if you are not caught), in the tech industry (or most STEM field jobs for that matter). Keep working on your skills; if you can produce more value than you are paid, this is your job security guarantee. You can see how the cheaters don't have this...

In fact, I think it's time I made another Navy rant, after so long...

@heyheni @COD4 Well, to my defense, security is an advanced skill; understanding WHY something is secure (or not) requires deep understanding of the code, the language and the platform. Still, some general guidelines are readily available, just as there are guidelines for writing clean code.

When security problems arise, it is a nasty affair; more often than not, trying to patch software that is insecure by design is a nightmare. One patch can break something else (if you draw parallels to certain software companies, my disclaimer is that I mention or imply nothing).

Nevermind the true horror, if said software is popular, and then they realize that it is full'o'holes. This can escalate to full (kernel) panic, lawsuits etc...

To be short, yes, security is a thankless and boring sector, but it has become an essential one. I think I'll write a rant about it later; I haven't posted since forever.

@C0D4 Well, on the bright side, that's how we security peeps earn our pay :P

Seriously though, security is an afterthought for many devs. Especially those who are sucked in the "patch it later" mentality.

I could try to reach you if I'd read this during the latest meeting. Now the sound and sight of spilled/sprayed/spat coffee over my PC will be my memory alone.... :(

But hey, look at the bright side, everyone gets to know each other better!

Better than most would agree....

Fear of the duck.....

Fear of me QUACK!

And I'll show myself out.....

Fear of the Duck......

Fear of me QUACK!

I thought that school grades actually don't accurately represent intelligence...

Then again, it is the school grades that can decide a lot of things, subjective as they can become.

A successful idiot is, unfortunately, not a joke any more. It is reality.

@Wisecrack @sbiewald

White hat companies deal with much more than just employee training. The usual tendency is to restrict the users to just their work-related tasks, and just that. I did so when I set up the domain in my ship. It surely wasn't popular, but it worked.

Targeting the admins and the higher-ups is more efficient, as they tend to have better access (or be able to demand so).

Anyway, the ITSec is there just to find things. How to deal with them is the company's responsibility. So, if the company practices such disciplinary actions, blame the HR, or whatever/whoever is responsible for that.

To paraphrase a saying: shoot the sniper, not the spotter.

The hachathon postponed due to a virus...

oh the irony :)

And still no antivirus for that one?

OK, I'll show myself out...

(My apologies, I couldn't resist the urge)

@sbiewald @C0D4 @SortOfTested

So, in conclusion, a good user is the best antivirus there can be?

@C0D4 My apologies, but here I will raise an objection.

Linux is not used by home users too much, sure, but over half the internet infrastructure runs on *nix systems. It isn't like nobody tries to hit those; a successful exploit on those systems can net millions to the attackers.

The thing is, Microsoft's systems have different, *virus friendly* organization. You have the user accounts, the system account and the network account. If you get system account, it's game over. And, because most exploits actually elevate to system account...

*nix systems, on the other hand, have multiple system accounts that severely limit a virus' spread. Firefox got hit? Too bad it's chroot-jailed. Unless the user does something stupid (like running as root) even an 0-day will have a hard time spreading (if the system is configured correctly). Windows has this monolithic approach, that can simplify configuration a bit, but...

Oh, end of 1k char limit.

Kind of ironic that Microsoft announces this and, days before, we have this:

https://thehackernews.com/2020/01/...

You'd think they would first fix their own stuff before trying to move on to other areas.

@bittersweet The things you learn at devRant...

@PublicByte It is true that most skilled people wouldn't pass the HR barrier without something that says "computers". I took a MS, "Specialisation in Information Systems", that was actually shit. Like, REALLY shit. Yet, it sounded gaudy enough to get me past the first barrier.

Taking such a course (which any technical person can complete with relative ease) can be a nice countermeasure for the HR Hell. It didn't help me in the least when the IT department guy started going all Inquisition on me, though - only my own studies and hours hunched over a PC, trying to make Arch work.

The good news is, companies are learning to better assess the quality of their hires - it can be EXPENSIVE to replace a bad hire, and that is what interests them the most. Oh well, we can always hope for the best :)

Holy mother of code...

Just... wow...

I am constantly feeling anxious if my classes need 4 parameters, but this...

But I guess the intention was to never use this. Imagine that you have to make a call to this function. And you mess the parameters.

D E B U G G I N G H E L L

@terriblecoder Amen, brother. F-ing amen.

As someone on a career change (and a radical change at that) I can only say this:

- Some certifications, in order to be reputable, are quite intense, but dipshits have found a way around them (question banks etc)

- Most serious companies have at least 2 interviews, one with HR and one with the technical department (your would-be future boss). If the tech interview asks for certifications, RUN. There is something seriously wrong with it.

I applied and got hired by a company, and my CV and certs are shit. Like, totally shit. However, I have been studying on my own and APPLYING what I learned (and learned from my mistakes) for quite some time. We were all noob techs once (I consider myself to still be one). What should count is attitude and effort invested. Thankfully, in my case, it counted a lot. People who rest on past laurels are quickly left behind in a field that evolves every second.

@monkeyboy Assuming you refer to my post:

"a person performing a task that will provide for me and my family at reasonable market based wages"

That is you, for your own family. Unless you expect another to solve that for you - please clarify.

"Do the societal good crap on your own time"

I am. I am answering a question at devrant, for free, in my own free time.

Devs are not a uniform, homogenized group. As in every group, there are multiple levels.

- The code monkeys: those with bare knowledge of the code & project, coding exactly as they are told

- The coders, that implement small-scale innovations that optimize the task at hand

- The programmers, those that can alter the procedure/logic to better solve the problems.

- The gods (or programmers++) that can alter both procedure and nature of approach to the problem.

The list is not complete, but it begins from blue and goes to white. The nice about that, is that you can move up (and down) the intellectual ladder. More or less, everyone is needed to develop a solution. For example, Linus Tovalds said in an interview, that he can't program a UI to save his life... even if he is (by my estimate) god-tier.

@specialCardinal @Lor-inc You are welcome :)

Ahh, this is why I LOVE devrant... someone posts a joke, we take it seriously (because it is programming-related) and a great debate follows, resulting in full-blown war.

Gotta love this place :P

@aviophile Ooops....

I got ahead of myself.

OK, I'll try.

I assume both variables are numbers, say a and b

So, here goes:

b = b XOR a

a = b XOR a

b = b XOR a

1st line makes b a product of b XOR a

2nd line makes a = a XOR (b XOR a) = b

3rd line makes b = b XOR (b XOR a) = a

Hope this helps (and is correct, feedback anyone?)

@NeatNerdPrime Hah! Not US Navy, and not launching torpedoes... more like crashing PCs that will corrupt the payroll files, connections to navigation systems that will point the ship South West of Africa (0, 0 coordinates) and other cute stuff. All because an idiot popped the RS232 jack and forgot to run a script, plus he doesn't keep backups of our WindowsXP (YES, XP) computers.

@lxmcf Keep your code close, and your coffee closer :P

And also keep a scream box nearby.

https://youtube.com/watch/...

@lxmcf My unfriendly advice would be to stay away, but we need fresh meat for grinding...

So, you are welcome to come aboard. Pick up a few copies of OS programming and Windows Internals, along with kernel design and a few others.

I had to move my books recently (I keep some hard copies - it can help in some cases) and my back hurt for a couple of days after...

Heh...heheheheh.... buahahahhahahaaaa.....

You want to REALLY hate something?

Try malware analysis... and welcome yourself to the endless abyss that is assembly... (none will welcome you there, we all have gone bonkers)

THEN we can talk about hate....

@hash-table To reply to both your comments:

- Yes, life on a military vessel is unbearable, even for officers. I resigned as a Lieutenant (I am 3rd in command on the ship) and things were too much, even for me. It seemed that however higher I got, there always seemed to be another lunatic higher up. And not of the nice kind.

- IT is quite popular choice for people preparing to leave the navy, because it usually doesn't require labs, or physical presence in labs. You can study it and apply it on the job (the Navy squeezes dry those kind of people), and it can pay very well (for navy standards anyway).

- I could write about our "contract" (we don't have such a thing here, but from what I perceive to be the terms) and you could freak out. But you can only do so much with a 1k char limit :)

@AleCx04 My plan was to gather skills/experience beforehand. I tend to be very nervous/insecure when I am not prepared. Anyway, I waited too long, but better late than never. You wouldn't believe the number of talented people that are in the Navy, that haven't prepared beforehand and now are stuck with it.

Oh well, at least I'm out :)

@ScriptCoded Me too... I won't have any fresh tech navy stories any more (I think) but still, each and every one of them was a painful experience for me, so maybe that is for the best :P