From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: * X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.5 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50,INVALID_MSGID, PLING_QUERY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,844d6e9b6a6be881 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-93" Subject: Re: A New Low for NASA? (was HELP!!!!!!) Date: 1997/06/12 Message-ID: <97061213481517@psavax.pwfl.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 247978786 Sender: Ada programming language Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU X-Vms-To: SMTP%"INFO-ADA@VM1.NODAK.EDU" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada X-Vms-Cc: CONDIC Date: 1997-06-12T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: "Sam Harbaugh, Palm Bay, Florida" writes: >>It would be nice if you had a formal education but not required. The >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >Good God man! NASA wants to avoid hitting space debris and a formal >education would be *NICE*. Has NASA really hit a new low? > >What contractor will put uneducated programmers on such a project. I >*really* want to know. Please make it easy for me and post the answer. I >want to get the info to my congressman Dave Weldon who is on the space >committee I believe. > Why so shocked? I've seen "Ada Consultants" who's whole experience of the language was pretty much that they had read the name somewhere in some magazine article - or maybe on a box of Coco-Puffs - they can't remember which. I've seen the code they produce and it's a wonder that it ever got past a compiler (often not), much less actually runs or even less likely, produces the desired result. I've seen "Ada Consultants" who could be outsmarted/outprogrammed by a small soap dish and who had an I.Q. only slightly lower than that of a bag of hammers. The answer? You get what you pay for. Often, the interest in consultants is A) "I need a warm body here to round out the body quota I've got for the contract & the "real" programmers can make up for the damage done by the warm body." B) "Current corporate wisdom is that we need to outsource X% of our work and this inexpensive "box of rocks" with a contractor badge counts for my outsource percentage without destroying my budget." C) "Engineers are a commodity that we buy by the pallet-load down at Costco and one's pretty much the same as any other." D) Some combination of all of the above. It makes me wonder just exactly how much money I could get given the quality of my resume if I were to lean up against a lamp post saying "Hello sailor. New in town?" MDC Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer ATT: 561.796.8997 Pratt & Whitney GESP, M/S 731-96, P.O.B. 109600 Fax: 561.796.4669 West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600 Internet: CONDICMA@PWFL.COM =============================================================================== "You spend a billion here and a billion there. Sooner or later it adds up to real money." -- Everett Dirksen ===============================================================================