The Academics Thread

[Ternaugh]

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

I still have a ZIP Drive with a parallel port connection.

 

Ours was SCSI.

[Bazza]

Small computer systems interface (from memory). 

[Old Man]

I have to say I kind of liked the old school SCSI-1 connector.  The massive four-inch-wide chunk of hardware that made it seem like you were plugging in a hydroelectric power plant.

 

Probably no standard has caused me more grief than serial port connections, though.  Mostly just two connectors (DB-9 and RJ-45) but the internal wiring is what changes from "standard" to "standard".  Used to have to carry a pile of literally a dozen gender changers, null modem connectors, and adapters to try and get the right pinout for whatever I was connecting to, plus the USB-to-serial adapter for the laptop, plus the driver for the USB-to-serial adapter, and then I'd have to figure out the baudrate and duplex and parity settings.  Good times.

[Bazza]

This is why it is HARDware. If it was easy it would be SOFTware. 

[Ternaugh]

6 hours ago, Old Man said:

I have to say I kind of liked the old school SCSI-1 connector.  The massive four-inch-wide chunk of hardware that made it seem like you were plugging in a hydroelectric power plant.

 

Probably no standard has caused me more grief than serial port connections, though.  Mostly just two connectors (DB-9 and RJ-45) but the internal wiring is what changes from "standard" to "standard".  Used to have to carry a pile of literally a dozen gender changers, null modem connectors, and adapters to try and get the right pinout for whatever I was connecting to, plus the USB-to-serial adapter for the laptop, plus the driver for the USB-to-serial adapter, and then I'd have to figure out the baudrate and duplex and parity settings.  Good times.

 

I'd use the question, "Could you tell me about your experience configuring serial connections?" in interviews for property IT techs. One person challenged me that it's a dead connection method, and isn't in use, at which point, my boss would quietly mention that we had a lot of legacy equipment*. A few tried to bluff, which usually went badly, with the follow-up question, "Tell me what 8-N-1 means". A few would recount horror stories about fiddly configuration of equipment (they were usually over 35). And the vast majority would develop a look of horror on their face as they tried to formulate a response.

 

 

 

*Some stuff still uses the serial connection, like bar guns and pole displays on registers. Some equipment connects using USB, but is actually using a virtualized COM port driver, like some signature pads and key encoders.

[Cancer]

* Cancer applauds killer interview questions *

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

How's this? I was interviewing for a youth librarian position in Kansas City. They brought in some of the youth group to sit in for part of it and they got to ask questions, too. The one I'll never forget is: 

 

On a scale of 1 - 100, how decisive are you? 

 

I think I actually laughed.

 

I didn't get the job. 

[L. Marcus]

... A decisive librarian?

 

My God! They could rule the Universe!

[Cancer]

Naaah.  They'd get derailed bickering over the details of the new library annex, what goes in it, and what doesn't.  Trust me on this one.

 

(I have had a couple of librarians in my extended family.)

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

When it comes to planning, we bicker like no other. I've never been in so many baffling meetings as when I worked in a public library. 

[Cancer]

Meanwhile, had another idea for a satanic question.

 

Making (and stating) appropriate assumptions, compute where you would need to be so that when the events occur, you would see Betelgeuse and eta Carinae explode as supernovae simultaneously.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Sounds messy. 

[Cancer]

I think the calculation could actually be done, though in the end I also think you'd have to be at nearest out in the fringes of the Local Group.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

 

This could be very effective in an English lit class. "We need to talk about Hester!"

[Pariah]

We don't talk about Hester, no, no, no.

[Old Man]

3 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

I'd use the question, "Could you tell me about your experience configuring serial connections?" in interviews for property IT techs. One person challenged me that it's a dead connection method, and isn't in use, at which point, my boss would quietly mention that we had a lot of legacy equipment*. A few tried to bluff, which usually went badly, with the follow-up question, "Tell me what 8-N-1 means". A few would recount horror stories about fiddly configuration of equipment (they were usually over 35). And the vast majority would develop a look of horror on their face as they tried to formulate a response.

 

 

 

*Some stuff still uses the serial connection, like bar guns and pole displays on registers. Some equipment connects using USB, but is actually using a virtualized COM port driver, like some signature pads and key encoders.

 

Oh god, don't trigger my PTSD on point of sale systems.  Two jobs ago I had to support fifty stores and it was abundantly clear that nearly all point of sale equipment was designed in the eighties and just band-aid upgraded to remain barely compatible with modern technology ever since.  We had an ongoing crisis where our handheld barcode scanners were finally aging out because Windows CE hadn't been supported for over a decade, and handheld barcode scanners are incredibly expensive (and my boss was an incredible tightwad).  I had to resort to scrounging for gently-used barcode scanners on ebay.

 

The only POS systems that aren't based on museum technology seem to be the ones from relative startups like Square, but I'm not sure if they're any easier to deal with on the software side.

 

As for job interviews, I was recently asked several questions about IPv6 in a technical interview ("What's a AAAA record?"  "How many bits are in an IPv6 address?")  I asked if they were actually using IPv6 in their environment, and they admitted they weren't.  I'm still not sure what the point of that little excursion was.

[Old Man]

2 hours ago, Cancer said:

Meanwhile, had another idea for a satanic question.

 

Making (and stating) appropriate assumptions, compute where you would need to be so that when the events occur, you would see Betelgeuse and eta Carinae explode as supernovae simultaneously.

 

We'll have to verify the result through experimentation, of course.

[Cancer]

Oh, certainly.  I just don't feel like pursuing the grant app to get that funded at this point in my career, that's all.

[Pariah]

11 minutes ago, Old Man said:

Oh god, don't trigger my PTSD on point of sale systems.  Two jobs ago I had to support fifty stores and it was abundantly clear that nearly all point of sale equipment was designed in the eighties and just band-aid upgraded to remain barely compatible with modern technology ever since.  We had an ongoing crisis where our handheld barcode scanners were finally aging out because Windows CE hadn't been supported for over a decade, and handheld barcode scanners are incredibly expensive (and my boss was an incredible tightwad).  I had to resort to scrounging for gently-used barcode scanners on ebay.

 

The only POS systems that aren't based on museum technology seem to be the ones from relative startups like Square, but I'm not sure if they're any easier to deal with on the software side.

 

As for job interviews, I was recently asked several questions about IPv6 in a technical interview ("What's a AAAA record?"  "How many bits are in an IPv6 address?")  I asked if they were actually using IPv6 in their environment, and they admitted they weren't.  I'm still not sure what the point of that little excursion was.

 

"POS" can stand for both "Point Of Sale" and Piece Of $#!+".

 

That can't be a coincidence.

[Bazza]

9 hours ago, Cancer said:

Naaah.  They'd get derailed bickering over the details of the new library annex, what goes in it, and what doesn't.  Trust me on this one.

 

(I have had a couple of librarians in my extended family.)

 

9 hours ago, Cancer said:

Meanwhile, had another idea for a satanic question.

 

Making (and stating) appropriate assumptions, compute where you would need to be so that when the events occur, you would see Betelgeuse and eta Carinae explode as supernovae simultaneously.

What about this suggestion from me:

 

When cataloguing in DCC, what decimal point do you round up too?

 

(I imagine the sheer look of horror on the candidates’ face would make the question worthwhile.)

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

[Bazza]

I do STEM & PATH (Philosophy, Arts, Theology, & Humanities)

[Old Man]

"MATH PEST", "THE STAMP", "TEMP HATS", "HEMP STAT".

[Cancer]

I believe that last option is correctly spelled, "HEMP!  STAT!!"

[Pariah]

4 hours ago, Bazza said:

I do STEM & PATH (Philosophy, Arts, Theology, & Humanities)

 

I like the acronym PTAH better.