Half Sigma

> do we have any professionals out there who quit their former professions (finance, marketing, etc) and pursued programming as their careers? Yep > What difficulties did you face and is it worth it or not? Probably no: http://www.halfsigma.com/2007/03/why_a_career_in.html

edit: before I get people bitching at me http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/high_iq_does_no.html this is a great link since we had this argument here before with about half HNers thinking that income somehow correlates to IQ. however this link doesn't explain why you think jews (as practitioners of judaism, not as a nationality) have higher IQs?

Accept of course those standardized tests are the gatekeepers to the best schools, best programs, best networks, and likely even confidence and motivation. A better way to show that standardized tests mean nothing is to have every student take them, but then store them away for the next 40 years. No one knows the results. And then in 40 years correlate the results of these tests with "life success". We've already seen with one similar measure "IQ test", which has little bearing on academic placement, that it turns out to have very little utility in predicting "life success". UPDATE: Link on IQ -- http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/high_iq_does_no.html

Also interesting, one of the links on the site leads to another discussion which claims that there is a correlation between higher intelligence and lower wages for those whose highest degree is a bachelors. The study partially attributes this to the bad advice that more intelligent students tend to get from their parents ("study what you love", as opposed to "study something practical"). (Referenced link is http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/07/higher_intellig.html )

When people tell me that I should "do projects in my own free time to keep my skills sharp", it throws me into a fit of rage and makes me want to tear them a new one. Do you see any other professions having to do that in order to stay employable? Can you imagine lawyers having to practice law in their free time to "keep their skills sharp"? Can you imagine civil engineers having to draft plans for bridges and buildings in order not to "destroy their ability to make a living"? Or doctors or any other high prestige professions doing anything like that? If the answer is no, then WHY THE FUCK should I have to spend my free time maintaining a bunch of projects on Github just so I could keep providing for myself? Is what I do in my day job not good enough anymore? Now I can't even apply for a new job listing "backbone.js" as a requirement unless I have it listed in my resume or have a Github project utilizing it? Whatever happened to the notion of smart people being able to pick up and learn new technologies on the job? You think it's okay to try to offload the risk and the time necessary to pick up a new technology to an employee and their free time, vs. providing the time and the resources for learning on the job? Tell you what OP, you can take that attitude elsewhere, I'm not buying it. I prefer spending my free time having great interactions with my friends and my girlfriend, enjoying traveling and getting new experiences and just making the most of this one life that I…

There were a few law cases that made it difficult for employers to test applicants. * http://www.chicagonow.com/chicagos-real-law-blog/2012/02/do-colleges-h… * http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/12/why_employers_d.html (just a few links from a Google search for "employers can't test IQ") It's deemed socially acceptable to use college degrees as a proxy for "smart enough for the job" or even "smart enough to be trained for the job." Alternatively, because primary education is so bad in the US (grades 1 through 12---roughly ages 5 to 18 for those outside the US) that a bachelors degree today is the equivalent of a high school diploma from the 1950s/1960s.

Relevant: http://www.halfsigma.com/2011/10/computers-education-and-hbd.html Quote: Probably it won't be too long before underperformance is blamed on the presence of computers, which are after all a big distraction. How true.

strong cultural norms that are education and success oriented along with high IQ's. edit: before I get people bitching at me http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/high_iq_does_no.html

From another article: "In the 1998 to 2004 data, each point higher on the Wordsum test causes a $1,200 decrease in income." [http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/07/higher_intellig.html] So where does "smartness" fit in? I hate to imply causation, but maybe: "Wordsat smartness" -> annoying person who uses big words other people don't understand all the time -> social isolation -> less money -> alcohol! Whew!

The author has stated that his account was disabled. Some info: http://www.halfsigma.com/2009/11/what-happened-to-mangans-blog.html http://www.halfsigma.com/2009/11/google-censorship-rears-its-ugly-head… http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/11/where-did-dennis-mangans-blog-go.ht…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/11/labor_and_commo.html

Personally I still find the breastfeeding-IQ link dubious. This blog is an interesting look at the study mentioned: http://www.halfsigma.com/2007/11/breastfeeding-d.html If a study that controls for maternal and paternal IQ and uses modern formula still finds a link then it would be more convincing. Having said that, breastfeeding seems to have a clear positive effect on the immune system of babies.

>> http://www.halfsigma.com/2007/03/why_a_career_in.html I read that article, and while i don't fully agree with it, there seems to be at least a grain of truth in there. He talks about how VB programmers are no longer wanted because VB.net is hot stuff now (the article was written in 2007.) He also talks about how one's professional knowledge counts for lesser and lesser as a programmer, and how a lack of any barrier to entry has resulted in a field flooded with cheap workers with no job security or general social prestige. I consoled myself thinking this won't apply to the more sophisticated programmer, who is well trained in algorithmic and mathematical thinking. For example, writing machine learning systems, advanced statistical analysis or kernel development etc. DO have at least some barrier to entry, and these are not things that a random script kiddie can learn in a "x for dummies" book. Can a more senior engineer comment?

Breast milk versus formula is an intensely studied issue, and despite all the study the proven advantages of breastfeeding are extremely tenuous. WHO recommendations to breastfeed have far more to do with poor water quality in developing countries than health benefits of breast milk over formula. See: http://www.ntnu.edu/news/breastfeeding, http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/are-the-benefits-of-brea… http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/32/4/595.full.pdf+html, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1200943/So-breast-NOT-best-E… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-02/breast-feeding-is-not-how-mot… http://www.halfsigma.com/2007/11/breastfeeding-d.html From the last article: "In one analysis of multiple studies, combining data from more than 5,000 children, the IQ differences associated with breast-feeding were eliminated when the mothers’ characteristics were taken into account. Among 332 pairs of siblings in which one was breast-fed and the other bottle-fed, researchers also found no difference in IQ." At the same time, breastfeeding is insanely expensive. It is insanely difficult for a working woman to breastfeed, and breastfeeding makes it extremely difficult to share the child-rearing burden between the mom and the dad. Like with most recommendations having to do with child-rearing, those involving breastfeeding are both unscientific and aren't…

Well for one thing, you shouldn't look at it as an issue of "32 million surplus men." The hurt is going to be distributed more broadly throughout the entire male population. It's not like things like serial monogamy don't exist in China. What will happen is that relationships will simply be fewer and more far between for the average man than the average woman. Interestingly, this is actually already the case in Western countries; in the US, there are roughly 55 single men for every 45 single women[0]. This is, of course, due to the younger average marital age of women than men. Naturally, there's a lot more slack in the system as regards non-marital relationships than marital relationships; in the latter case the gender imbalance will indeed be a fundamental difference between China and other countries. But by the time the dating market shifts conclusively towards marriage, a lot of men will have aged out of the key crime demographic (ie, males aged 15-30, who commit such a hugely disproportionate number of crimes that overall crime rates are mostly a reflection of trends within this group). I do expect that there will be a little more crime, as well as all kinds of other unpleasant effects that we can't even predict, but it won't be in anything resembling a linear fashion, and a lot will depend on other factors. >Porn and video games work for a very small percentage of the population that is anti-social anyway. What do you mean "work?" I'm not saying they can…