[Baypiggies] Participation and improvement [Was: Re: Python Job posting- still allowed ?]

Danny Yoo dyoo at hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu
Thu May 11 00:29:26 CEST 2006


> Think about how much easier it would have been to post this initially, 
> rather than begging the question:

[job posting policy content cut]

Hi Mike,

True; that probably would have been the better approach.  It's sometimes 
difficult to know if a response to a question is insufficiently 
informative;  we don't know enough about the questioner to realize that 
"look at the web site" might be too abrupt.


> Bottom line: I'd like to see MANY more job ads on this list, 
> interspersed with the general list chatter (by people who almost never 
> come to the meetings, I might add... Maybe we should make a policy that 
> you can't post to the list unless you attend at least half the meetings 
> in a given 12-month period?  Just a thought...).

I just wanted to comment on the last parenthetical comment.  Rather than 
encourage a policy of exclusion, I'd rather see a policy of participation.

(Of course, I'm one of those people who haven't come to a Baypiggies 
meeting in a while, so of course I'm obligated to object to being 
silenced.  *grin*)

That is, I think one could spend energy to discourage a group of people 
from dominating discussion.  But that energy could be also directed to 
start a new thread of conversation that allows others to participate 
freely.


Let's go meta on this.  Here's a question for folks here: as a 
professional programmer, what other community resources do you use to 
become better at what you do?  Are there local workshops or classes in the 
area that have been particularly effective and successful?

Do subscriptions to organizations like the ACM or IEEE (or BayPIGgies) 
help at all?  If not, what can such organizations do to help improve its 
participants?


Best of wishes!


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