Search found 2337 matches

by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:45 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Salary (>$500,000) careers
Replies: 244
Views: 28578

Re: High Salary (>$500,000) careers

Software engineering also likely has the biggest career risk - make money while you can, and the money has been good for a long time now - but you never know when your days are numbered. Advances in AI make this particularly risky. The bimodal distribution may become even more skewed as a result, but the "average people" seemingly getting these highly paid jobs may lessen dramatically as they become unnecessary. I also somewhat wonder if the "Twitter model" of laying off 80% of the staff and not having major repercussions to the business will eventually take hold. Once these platforms are built and there's little growth coming in, it can't be difficult to sustain. That only works if we consider "major repercussions...
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 25, 2024 11:20 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Salary (>$500,000) careers
Replies: 244
Views: 28578

Re: High Salary (>$500,000) careers

I am a software engineer and I do not make anywhere near $500K. I think these higher salary are only true if you work for one of the FAANG type firms or you have some sort of highly desired specialization. I am not saying this type of salary is not possible, but that you should temper your expectation. I don't want someone to go into software engineering thinking that $500K is common place compare to say someone in the medical profession. There are a lot of tech companies beyond FAANG paying these sort of salaries. Hundreds of them. Agree. The BLS 90% percentile wage for software developers is $198k which is what I see at a normal company for senior people. The one person I know working at a FAANG is in the $300k's after they completed gra...
by HawkeyePierce
Fri Feb 23, 2024 12:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Salary (>$500,000) careers
Replies: 244
Views: 28578

Re: High Salary (>$500,000) careers

Is it hard being a Software Engineer? I tried coding but it was frustrating not able to solve it. Yes, Software Engineering is hard. Not saying other high paying careers aren't but the low bar to entry and abundance of training (boot camps, You Tube videos etc.) create an illusion of ease and empowers otherwise normally risk averse people to give it a shot. Not to mention it requires the brain to be wired in a certain way to become an exceptional Software Engineer. The age of crazy high salaries for mediocre Software Engineers is done. Only the exceptional ones that are truly committed to their art will continue seeing 0.5MM+ BTW I'm not talking about the Colorado guy above who calls himself a Software Engineer but is more of a Solutions A...
by HawkeyePierce
Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:59 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Salary (>$500,000) careers
Replies: 244
Views: 28578

Re: High Salary (>$500,000) careers

Software engineers can make that much at the staff level at large tech companies. I'm at about $450k as a staff engineer and hope to get there in the next year or two. I only work about 35 hours a week and it's low stress. I'm at a third-tier tech company and work out of one of our Colorado offices. This is wild to me. What are you doing that's low stress that still makes $300/hour? Just writing code? I'm a professional civil engineer that's not yet 40 and feel very lucky to be making $70/hour. I should have expanded from my menial C++ class early in college :) I don’t write much code anymore. I spend maybe half a day a week actually coding. My job is much more focused on making sure we’re building the right things, from both a business an...
by HawkeyePierce
Thu Feb 22, 2024 10:49 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: High Salary (>$500,000) careers
Replies: 244
Views: 28578

Re: High Salary (>$500,000) careers

Software engineers can make that much at the staff level at large tech companies. I'm at about $450k as a staff engineer and hope to get there in the next year or two.

I only work about 35 hours a week and it's low stress. I'm at a third-tier tech company and work out of one of our Colorado offices.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Feb 19, 2024 7:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Denver car theft and crime issues - how bad is it?
Replies: 15
Views: 2794

Re: Denver car theft and crime issues - how bad is it?

TallBoy29er wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2024 6:34 pm The other topic of conversation for those who have to drive to Denver and park at the airport is catalytic converter theft. Seems to have been a good deal of that recently in airport owned and nearby lots. The hotel I stayed at in Central Park just had a few stolen over night.

I go to Denver a decent bit. I don't worry about auto theft, nor even think of it when we go.

Enjoy your trip!
The catalytic converter theft ring at the airport was arrested and the city has beefed up preventative measures at the on-airport lots.
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 18, 2024 1:21 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Job title advice
Replies: 31
Views: 3118

Re: Job title advice

Some possibilities I've considered: Principal Architect Lead Architectural Engineer Technology Research and Development Lead Would appreciate suggestions from other tech folks thank you! As a licensed architect, as in the art and practice of designing buildings, I would suggest not using a title with this term. It takes years of education and training to earn the title. An analogous title for myself would be "Doctor of Design." Kind of dumb, right? I am not sure when the terms "architect" and "architecture" got wrapped up with the tech industry. It would be interesting to know. That ship sailed a long time ago. "Architect" is a well-established title in the tech industry (though one mostly found at o...
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 18, 2024 1:19 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why own bond funds with corporate holdings?
Replies: 54
Views: 4574

Re: Why own bond funds with corporate holdings?

Jack Bogle actually went the other direction from OP and suggested that the portion of the total bond fund in corporates was too low. He recommended the Vanguard Intermediated Bond fund instead, which is roughly 50/50.
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Feb 17, 2024 9:36 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Job title advice
Replies: 31
Views: 3118

Re: Job title advice

Some possibilities I've considered: Principal Architect Lead Architectural Engineer Technology Research and Development Lead Would appreciate suggestions from other tech folks thank you! As a licensed architect, as in the art and practice of designing buildings, I would suggest not using a title with this term. It takes years of education and training to earn the title. An analogous title for myself would be "Doctor of Design." Kind of dumb, right? I am not sure when the terms "architect" and "architecture" got wrapped up with the tech industry. It would be interesting to know. That ship sailed a long time ago. "Architect" is a well-established title in the tech industry (though one mostly found at o...
by HawkeyePierce
Fri Feb 16, 2024 6:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Seeking advice: CU Boulder vs. Mines
Replies: 32
Views: 2189

Re: Seeking advice: CU Boulder vs. Mines

stan1 wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 3:09 pm
HawkeyePierce wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2024 1:33 pm I will say that the average Mines alum I work with is better than the average CU alum, but I think that's more due to the size of CU vs Mines.
What does better mean? More technically adept? Better at communication and people skills? More entrepreneurial?
Mines seems to instill a very diligent attention to detail in its students.
by HawkeyePierce
Fri Feb 16, 2024 1:33 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Seeking advice: CU Boulder vs. Mines
Replies: 32
Views: 2189

Re: Seeking advice: CU Boulder vs. Mines

I'm a software engineer in Boulder/Denver and have been on dozens of hiring committees for both Mines and CU students. Both are excellent. I don't think you can really go wrong.

I will say that the average Mines alum I work with is better than the average CU alum, but I think that's more due to the size of CU vs Mines.
by HawkeyePierce
Tue Feb 13, 2024 7:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: A 50/50 all-in-one fund that's not VTMFX??
Replies: 17
Views: 1951

Re: A 50/50 all-in-one fund that's not VTMFX??

There's not really a lot of difference historically between 60/40 and 50/50.

Image

I would go with the Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth (60/40) fund and call it a day.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Feb 12, 2024 10:28 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: When did the 2/15 Consolidated 1099 deadline become a "suggestion"
Replies: 9
Views: 1491

Re: When did the 2/15 Consolidated 1099 deadline become a "suggestion"

Last year my (former) employer didn't even get all W2 forms out by 4/15. I don't know that those deadlines have any teeth to them.
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Feb 10, 2024 12:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: [Don't use Google Voice for two-factor authentication]
Replies: 81
Views: 6206

Re: Google Voice for 2FA verification can be easily hacked

The OP says if you are using Google Voice for 2FA, don't. It can be compromised via cookie hijacking. We can debate if this is something to worry about or not. Or, we can investigate other ways of securing logins, such as authenticators. The problem with authenticators is that not all the sites we want to login support them. So, what other choices do we have to avoid using Google Voice 2FA? That article is pure FUD. Can a Google account be compromised via cookie hijacking? Yes. Is this a threat you need to worry about? No, not really. If a site only supports SMS 2FA, Google Voice is strictly superior to a regular cell phone. End of story. Also, Forbes will let anyone write under their brand. Seeing something on Forbes.com does not mean it'...
by HawkeyePierce
Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Calling All Bicycle Tourists
Replies: 21
Views: 2115

Re: Calling All Bicycle Tourists

I'd consider Eurovelo 6 across France from Basel to Nantes, though I would start a bit further north in Strasbourg and cycle the Alsatian Wine Route down through Colmar, picking up EV6 in Mulhouse.

Also look at New Zealand. You can connect the various Great Rides with the Heartland Connector routes.

https://www.nzcycletrail.com/find-your- ... cling-map/
by HawkeyePierce
Tue Feb 06, 2024 6:32 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very concerned about security!
Replies: 34
Views: 5816

Re: Very concerned about security!

It wasn't Vanguard or your ISP.

This is definitely an issue with your computer.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Feb 05, 2024 10:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]

The system the cruise agents will use at checkin to determine your boarding eligibility is called TIMATIC. You'll want to familiarize yourself with the TWOV entries so you can direct their attention to those specific sections. https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/US-USA-passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm# Note that for your purposes you are NOT entering China. You are entering the United States with a transit in China. The relevant section reads: Nationals of USA with a confirmed onward air, cruise or train ticket to a third country within 144 hours, starting from 00:01 on the day following the day of entry. They must: - arrive at and depart from one of the following locations: Beijing (PEK), Daxing (PKX), Tianjin (TSN), Shij...
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Feb 05, 2024 7:39 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Very concerned about security!
Replies: 34
Views: 5816

Re: Very concerned about security!

I seriously doubt that came from Vanguard's side. Much much much much much more likely your own computer is compromised.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Feb 05, 2024 7:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]

Cruise wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2024 5:50 pm
hoops777 wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2024 12:46 pm After all of this Royal Caribbean is telling me I have to have a visa,even for HK.
What is the country of your passport? What is your country of residence?
+1

I think we all assumed you have a US passport. Pretty much all rich countries get visa-free entry to Hong Kong.
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 04, 2024 6:34 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What to do when mail is stolen?
Replies: 37
Views: 3392

Re: What to do when mail is stolen?

This isn’t a matter for local police. Contact the Postal Inspectors. Someone was stealing my mail and the USPIS tracked them down and were able to return my stolen mail to me. https://www.uspis.gov/ Yeah, call the USPS. They will just wring their incompetent hands and then laugh atvyour situation over the 4th coffee break of the day. Seriously, the USPS will be of no help whatsoever. The US Postal Inspectors are one of the most respected and effective law enforcement agencies in the country. Someone stole items of *no monetary value* from my mailbox and the USPIS tracked them down and prosecuted the individual. They take mail theft very seriously. Your reply is the first I've ever heard of the USPIs being respected by anyone, inside or out...
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 04, 2024 1:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]

In airline terminology, "direct" and "nonstop" are not the same thing.

A nonstop flight from Beijing to the US would qualify in this situation, but Asiana doesn't have any.

If you arrived on a cruise ship from S. Korea then fly out on a nonstop flight to the US, you would qualify, assuming you meet the other requirements of the TWOV program.
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:25 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: RSUs vested in 2023, did not sell; anything needed besides W-2?
Replies: 17
Views: 2204

Re: RSUs vested in 2023, did not sell; anything needed besides W-2?

Did your company sold RSU's for taxes? You still need to report those transactions. Typically, the vesting and selling would happen the same day so your cost basis and proceed will be close enough with a few dollars difference. But those need to be reported as capital gain/loss (even if gain/loss was zero) I do not believe this is correct at least from my experience. The proof will be if you receive a 1099-B from the broker. I believe the shares withheld for taxes is some sort of bookkeeping magic where the shares from the RSUs are not released to you so they are never sold. I could be wrong, but I have never had to report those transactions because they do not show up on my 1099-Bs. You only need to report when you sell. You will then get...
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 04, 2024 11:55 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]

Then you're SOL, go get a visa.
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Feb 04, 2024 11:36 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]

You could change your return flight to go through Japan, or nonstop back to the US, instead.

All that matters for the purpose of TWOV is that country from which your vessel directly arrived and the country to which it immediately departs. Wherever you were before that, or your plans after, do not matter.
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Feb 03, 2024 10:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]

Your itinerary does not qualify for TWOV as you are arriving in China on a vessel bound from South Korea and departing on a flight to South Korea.
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Feb 03, 2024 6:48 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China 144 hour visa requirement rules question

talzara wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 5:11 pm
HawkeyePierce wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:45 pm Better off taking this to the never-ending China TWOV thread over on Flyertalk.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/2 ... wards.html
They're talking about FlyerTalk things like hidden city ticketing.

The OP is taking a cruise ship to Tianjin, not a flight. It is the cruise ship's itinerary that determines what the first country is. The first country is not the United States since this isn't a transpacific cruise, but what is it?
The thread I linked is probably the best source on TWOV you'll find and has nothing to do with hidden city ticketing.
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:45 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: China trip paranoia [visa requirements]
Replies: 68
Views: 6433

Re: China 144 hour visa requirement rules question

Better off taking this to the never-ending China TWOV thread over on Flyertalk.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/2 ... wards.html
by HawkeyePierce
Thu Feb 01, 2024 8:31 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What to do when mail is stolen?
Replies: 37
Views: 3392

Re: What to do when mail is stolen?

Jeepergeo wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 8:21 pm
HawkeyePierce wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 4:57 pm This isn’t a matter for local police. Contact the Postal Inspectors. Someone was stealing my mail and the USPIS tracked them down and were able to return my stolen mail to me.

https://www.uspis.gov/
Yeah, call the USPS. They will just wring their incompetent hands and then laugh atvyour situation over the 4th coffee break of the day.

Seriously, the USPS will be of no help whatsoever.
The US Postal Inspectors are one of the most respected and effective law enforcement agencies in the country. Someone stole items of *no monetary value* from my mailbox and the USPIS tracked them down and prosecuted the individual.

They take mail theft very seriously.
by HawkeyePierce
Thu Feb 01, 2024 4:57 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: What to do when mail is stolen?
Replies: 37
Views: 3392

Re: What to do when mail is stolen?

This isn’t a matter for local police. Contact the Postal Inspectors. Someone was stealing my mail and the USPIS tracked them down and were able to return my stolen mail to me.

https://www.uspis.gov/
by HawkeyePierce
Thu Feb 01, 2024 9:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Thinking of moving to Denver
Replies: 59
Views: 6672

Re: Thinking of moving to Denver

I live in central Denver. You can't throw a rock without hitting a crunchy grocery store here, so that's not a problem. Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Lucky's plus some local boutique grocers. And we have a zillion CSA options for produce and meat and eggs and dairy plus excellent farmers markets in the summer. If you want excellent access to hiking, I would suggest living closer to the mountains. Golden is a nice place, as is Boulder, but neither are going to have the diversity you're looking for. Yes, traffic on 70 is awful, but there are other ways to get into the mountains. Go northwest and you've got access to the eastern Indian Peaks. Go southwest and you've got 285 towards the Arkansas River Valley with Browns Canyon NM and t...
by HawkeyePierce
Thu Feb 01, 2024 9:49 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best towns with great schools, weather, outdoor activities
Replies: 74
Views: 6936

Re: Best towns with great schools, weather, outdoor activities

If you can do a sunny winter that opens up a lot of communities in Colorado like Fort Collins, Boulder, Loveland and others.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 15, 2024 5:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Any audiophiles on this forum?
Replies: 321
Views: 40827

Re: Any audiophiles on this forum?

I currently use a pair of Cambridge Model Six speakers and they're fine, but they seem a bit undersized for the Mac amp — but it's been a long time since I gave audio equipment much thought, so I'm kind of a noob (or at least relearning this stuff). One key bit of info is that I don't really have a space that's great for a big "altar to hifi" setup. Something small is probably best for now. TIA for any suggestions! I'd consider the Ascend Acoustics Sierra-LX ($1548 / pair, https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/sierra-series/products/sierra-lx-pair?variant=40080757260342 ) or Sierra-1 V2 ($998 / pair, https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/sierra-series/products/sierra-1-v2-pair?variant=41419225038902 ). Both are two-way monito...
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 15, 2024 3:57 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Index Universal Life product
Replies: 57
Views: 6167

Re: Index Universal Life product

That's still a 15% return which I'm sure this product goes not, in fact, guarantee.

If a reliable counterparty was willing to contractually guarantee such a return we'd all be piling every penny we have into it.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:37 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best secure email to use instead of gmail?
Replies: 140
Views: 33215

Re: Best secure email to use instead of gmail?

CFM300 wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:26 am
anagram wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2024 11:34 pm Incoming email from businesses are not an issue as they do not come from nefarious systems like Gmail or Outlook.
Most companies and organizations use Gmail or Outlook, you just don't realize it because they're using their own domain name. Anecdotally, the list includes Harvard, Peoria Public Schools, my local public library, McDonalds, Home Depot, Airbnb, Netflix, LinkedIn, United Healthcare, Dell, Goodwill... perhaps even bogleheads.org.
Yep. Hosting your own email is a fool's errand these days.
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:07 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone have Fidelity or Vanguard hacked?
Replies: 34
Views: 5357

Re: Anyone have Fidelity or Vanguard hacked?

Charles Joseph wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 1:29 pm
PaddyMac wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 10:51 am I don't save my password in any place except on a piece of paper in my office
I have a secret sentence and use the first letter from each word of that sentence, plus four secret numbers that change quarterly (never on the first of the month and never on the same day of the month). Easy to remember so I don't write it down.
Rotating passwords like this only makes your life more difficult. There's no security benefit. NIST now recommends against credential rotation unless a password is known to be compromised.
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Jan 14, 2024 2:06 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best secure email to use instead of gmail?
Replies: 140
Views: 33215

Re: Best secure email to use instead of gmail?

When your private and/or secure Email reaches the intended recipient, what happens then? How do you control what they do with it or who they forward it to? Ding ding ding! This is why encrypted email is not worth the trouble for the vast majority of people. Additionally, business Gmail accounts are encrypted at rest. This isn't meant to protect the contents of your emails when you send them but does guard against unauthorized access through any backdoors. Google has literally hundreds of security engineers working on their cloud products. You're not going to get safer than that. I'm not inclined to change from Gmail, as I consider email be just inherently insecure. Yes, this is a simplistic mental model, but it's close enough IMO. When tal...
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Jan 13, 2024 5:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best secure email to use instead of gmail?
Replies: 140
Views: 33215

Re: Best secure email to use instead of gmail?

All these companies have full access to the plain text of the email and parse them for personal information that they can use to build user profiles. These profiles can be used for whatever they want, including sale to advertisers or whomever pays for it, I believe the above has been incorrect for many years Google no longer scans emails for advertising, but still does auto scans for various other purposes. The latest thing though is the potential for third-party human scans. If you deliberately or inadvertantly give permission to certain apps, acutal humans can read your gmail. See the link below. As a non gmail-user I wonder if emails that I send that get quoted by a gmail recipient are subject to these human scans. Third-parties may rea...
by HawkeyePierce
Wed Jan 10, 2024 8:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone consider taking investment accounts offline?
Replies: 95
Views: 15437

Re: Anyone consider taking investment accounts offline?

I'm getting nervous about the potential for local hacking especially now we've moved into a condo and all my devices are wifi because the cable modem is too far away to connect by Ethernet. Sometimes I think I wouldn't mind if I could revert to the old days of paper statements and phone calls. What good is voice verification security if transactions are done online? But is it even possible to be an offline customer? Or id there a way to super duper lock down account access? You can increase security a bit by turning off “broadcast SSID” on your router. That way, your wifi network is not easily discoverable by others. Also, it’s obvious, but make sure you have changed the router and wifi passwords to complicated, lengthy, random passwords o...
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: If you are able to accomplish these, please tell me how
Replies: 112
Views: 24850

Re: If you are able to accomplish these, please tell me how

Cut your work to 40 hours and find a way to get rid of the commute.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

I'm a Software Engineer and I went to a ~150th ranked school according to US News. I work at and have worked for other top tech companies. You do not need a fancy degree to work at these companies, you just need to know how to pass the interview. This NYT article explains why I ignore the US News rankings. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/us/college-rankings-us-news.html With US News selling to the institutions the rights for use of the rankings in marketing materials, opportunities for conflicts of interest abound. This is a big money-maker for US News, and the customers to whom they are selling a product would seem to be the colleges and universities, not prospective students and their families. Thanks for this. It drives me nuts that ...
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:55 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

valleyrock wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 7:56 pm I'll beat the drum again on factoring in continuing education. Do well at the state school, then go for a master's degree at a high end U, where it's often possible to get into some master's research that will pay tuition and a stipend.
Masters in CS usually don't get stipends, they're on your own dime. Only PhDs get tuition and stipend. MSCS is also not viewed kindly in the industry. One company I worked at (household name Silicon Valley company) literally gave it zero weight above a BSCS.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:31 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bottled water at airport lounges
Replies: 36
Views: 6800

Re: Bottle water at airport lounges

TravelforFun wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:16 pm
lakpr wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2024 3:09 pm
lazydavid wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2024 2:35 pm I always carry an empty contigo bottle in my backpack, which I sometimes fill at the lounge if I want to carry water onboard.
I don't visit any lounges -- very infrequent traveler -- but this is what I do as well. Bottle will be empty through the TSA checking, and once inside the secure area of the airport, look for water fountains and fill up the bottle.
What kind of bottles do you use? I'm looking for a no-spill, durable, slim and tall bottle that would fit in the side pocket of my backpack.

TravelforFun
I've been happy with the 24oz Thermos bottle recommended by Wirecutter. Only problem is it isn't super durable so if it gets dropped it often won't seal correctly again.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:24 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

My take is that all of this should be reassuring for the OP. Find a school that is a good fit for the student and meets the necessary budget. Plenty of schools have been thrown out in the thread. Visit, apply, and then make a decision. Exactly, all of the places mentioned in this thread offer a quality CS degree. Visit a couple preliminarily to get a sense of big vs small, public vs private, apply broadly to places where you have a realistic chance of admission (many places OOS offer free apps if you apply early) and if you want and it is not to much extra work a few that are reaches, for example, the most competitive UC's, CalPoly. On paper at least , all of the schools you should be willing to attend, and that will have a likely cost of ...
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:29 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

KlangFool wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 10:11 am OP,

I think CS is the wrong way to go. It does not get you a better foundation than BSEE. And, it is too popular. What if we transition into quantum computer or something else over the next 10 years?

KlangFool
I can count on one hand the number of people I've met in software with a BSEE. They're fundamentally _very_ different educations with little overlap.
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 08, 2024 9:53 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

UCB as an undergraduate CS would be both the best undergrad education you could get outside of a private school like MIT/ Caltech/ CMU, and a nightmare. U of Waterloo in Canada would be similar - *everyone* would have been writing programmes since grade 8. At least that's my read (I have friends who went on to be professors in CS and that's the reputation of UCB). You'd have to go abroad (ETH in Zurich for example) to get a better education in CS (not sure about Tsinghua, but you might blow your security clearance for all of time studying in PRC). I say "the best" because of your classmates. I doubt the instruction is anything amazing. But your classmates would be - but you'd have to be able to keep up. People who can work with 3...
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:52 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

I rarely see Trinity mentioned but it has an excellent though small CS department. I'm biased because it's where I studied. It's one of the oldest CS departments in the country and focuses strongly on fundamentals. It also has a high drop out rate. My year had about 200 students in the intro CS courses and four years later only 12 of us graduated. I also think the combination of CS and liberal arts is very powerful. Expensive however, unless you get a ton of merit aid. Trinity U offers a ton of merit aid, which is one of the reasons I mentioned it. Trinity is a liberal arts college with an ABET-accredited engineering program. They don't have many breadth requirements, so students (even in STEM) can double major or have multiple minors if t...
by HawkeyePierce
Sun Jan 07, 2024 10:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

2 years at community college to get their 100 and 200 level and general education courses out of the way on the cheap. Then transfer to a 4-year school to finish the bachelor's degree. This is the best way to graduate with little to no debt. Also, in my experience, the quality of the professors at community college tends to be outstanding because they are professionals who work in the field rather than full-time academics. This means you get real-world career advice and a better understanding of the day-to-day grind of people working the job you're aspiring to. It has been my understanding that this path doesn't work for majors which are in high demand (like computer science). Care to elaborate? You get to put your bachelor's degree on you...
by HawkeyePierce
Sat Jan 06, 2024 5:56 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)
Replies: 164
Views: 25502

Re: Finding cost effective mid-tier colleges (Computer Science)

Some suggestions to look into: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Oregon State University (Honors College + merit scholarships) Trinity University (merit scholarships) I rarely see Trinity mentioned but it has an excellent though small CS department. I'm biased because it's where I studied. It's one of the oldest CS departments in the country and focuses strongly on fundamentals. It also has a high drop out rate. My year had about 200 students in the intro CS courses and four years later only 12 of us graduated. I also think the combination of CS and liberal arts is very powerful. Expensive however, unless you get a ton of merit aid. I've interviewed well over a hundred software engineering candidates who had degrees from Ivies, from state schools o...
by HawkeyePierce
Mon Jan 01, 2024 6:01 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Understanding Morningstar ratings -- VTI three stars?
Replies: 10
Views: 2264

Re: Understanding Morningstar ratings -- VTI three stars?

Even Morningstar admits that their star ratings predict success less than half the time compared to simply picking the cheapest fund in a category.

https://www.morningstar.com/articles/34 ... ct-success

From the link:
Investors should make expense ratios a primary test in fund selection. They are still the most dependable predictor of performance.
by HawkeyePierce
Wed Dec 27, 2023 1:30 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Is Switching to A Vanguard Brokerage Account Absolutely Necessary?
Replies: 104
Views: 31982

Re: Is Switching to A Vanguard Brokerage Account Absolutely Necessary?

An overdue update. I thought that I could create a useful year-end statement for each of my mutual funds, but NO. It's not the same at all. I cannot get a separate page for each fund that contains columns for date, transaction, amount, share price, shares transacted, total shares owned, and total value. It just doesn't happen. So I'm one of those who resents being prodded, even insulted, by phrases like "just suck up and do it". Is it unreasonable for me to request that in return for switching to a brokerage account Vanguard should continue to provide me with the same type quarterly statements that I'm used to getting for my individual mutual funds? They don't need to mail them to me. Continuing to provide downloadable pdfs would...