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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>>> You could have phoned :-)
>>>> I would have made time to meet you
>>>
>>> I don't have your number...
>>>
>> Ah, that explains it :-)
>> Ask Stephen and he'll give it to you; I'm not going to post it here
>
> I don't have Stephen's number either. Actually, the only number I have
> is for Phil...
>
> OOC, would you actually have been around between noon and 2?
>
Strangely, yes. I was probably no more than a couple of hundred yards
from you.
Whatever, let me know next time you're in Sin City and I'll do my best
to meet up (can't promise, but I'll try)
John
--
"Eppur si muove" - Galileo Galilei
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And lo on Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:21:21 +0100, Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null>
did spake, saying:
> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>> Andrew are you reading this? It's
>> http://www.paragonsimulation.com/live/news/news8.asp based in
>> Halesowen. I know it's a distance, but you're already doing the
>> MK-Coventry run and this isn't much more; I'm gotta say I'm vaguely
>> looking at this myself.
>
> "You will have a good numerate degree [...]"
>
> WTF does that even *mean*??
One assumes some type of degree in mathematics or a subject in which maths
plays a substantial part.
--
Phil Cook
--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com
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>> "You will have a good numerate degree [...]"
>>
>> WTF does that even *mean*??
>
> One assumes some type of degree in mathematics or a subject in which maths
> plays a substantial part.
Where I come from, you don't use any numbers in a maths degree :-)
Seriously though, I think that wording means that they don't require any
specific subject, just that it's vaguely technical (maths, engineering,
physics, computer science, etc). And the longer since you graduated, the
more interested I suspect they will be about what you have done recently.
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scott wrote:
> Where I come from, you don't use any numbers in a maths degree :-)
Heh. It wasn't until I left school that I realised that maths isn't just
arithmetic.
But then, at my school, maths lessions consisted of working through
those huge double-sided sheets of long division problems. I mean, sure,
you need to know how to calculate stuff. But practising the same kind of
calculation, over and over again, for hours on end, for an entire 6
years of my life... seems... like overkill.
Needless to say, it was extremely boring. It wasn't until I reached
college that I discovered the far more interesting concept of "algebra". ;-)
> Seriously though, I think that wording means that they don't require any
> specific subject, just that it's vaguely technical (maths, engineering,
> physics, computer science, etc).
I was hoping that's what it meant.
> And the longer since you graduated,
> the more interested I suspect they will be about what you have done
> recently.
...so they won't be remotely interested in me then?
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> And the longer since you graduated,
>> the more interested I suspect they will be about what you have done
>> recently.
>
> ...so they won't be remotely interested in me then?
I would think that Haskell would be quite suited to some of their problems.
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scott wrote:
>> ...so they won't be remotely interested in me then?
>
> I would think that Haskell would be quite suited to some of their problems.
Hmm. Interesting. The careers advisor I was speaking to when Phil posted
this actually suggested that I look at "financial abstraction" as a
potential target area. He said that large financial companies often
employ people for developing complex financial models, and although it's
not "programming" as such, it involves those kinds of skills.
But then, this same guy also suggested I look into programming computer
games - especially since those jobs aren't all in London.
Because, you know, it's not as if every computer nerd on Earth wants to
go into games programming or anything like that, is it? ._.
Anyway, looking at the actual vacancies at Paragon, it seems all of them
want "demonstratable experience" with C#, which I obviously don't have.
(I can see one job who's wording is sufficiently ambiguous that it might
be construed as meaning you only need experience with Excel or SQL -
which obviously I have.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Invisible wrote:
> Hmm. Interesting. The careers advisor I was speaking to when Phil posted
> this actually suggested that I look at "financial abstraction" as a
> potential target area. He said that large financial companies often
> employ people for developing complex financial models, and although it's
> not "programming" as such, it involves those kinds of skills.
>
> But then, this same guy also suggested I look into programming computer
> games - especially since those jobs aren't all in London.
Don't dismiss his comment. I don't know if I ever told you this, but
about 4-5 months ago I was talking to someone interviewing at financial
firms (he's an engineer), and they told him they were really interested
in people who knew Haskell (my friend had never heard of it).
And some of those folks at those companies actually do quite a bit of
programming when developing those models.
And a number of those who hire for that purpose don't care if you know
anything about finance or stochastic calculus or whatever. You'll learn
on the job or they'll throw some books at you. That was the case two
years ago - they may be a bit more picky now because of the economy.
Seriously, in the last 6 years or so, I've seen many people get hired
for this purpose. None was a trained programmer, all were either
engineers or physicists. Some didn't know a thing about finance. They
just are looking for bright people.
--
This shepherd asks his dog to please go and round up the sheep and see
how many there are...
The dog obediently rounds up the sheep and tells the boss, "there are 40
sheep out there."
The shepherd says, "Are you sure? I thought there were only 37"
The dog sheepishly says, "But I rounded them up."
/\ /\ /\ /
/ \/ \ u e e n / \/ a w a z
>>>>>>mue### [at] nawaz org<<<<<<
anl
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On 26-Aug-08 16:04, Invisible wrote:
> scott wrote:
>
>>> ...so they won't be remotely interested in me then?
>>
>> I would think that Haskell would be quite suited to some of their
>> problems.
>
> Hmm. Interesting. The careers advisor I was speaking to when Phil posted
> this actually suggested that I look at "financial abstraction" as a
> potential target area. He said that large financial companies often
> employ people for developing complex financial models, and although it's
> not "programming" as such, it involves those kinds of skills.
>
> But then, this same guy also suggested I look into programming computer
> games - especially since those jobs aren't all in London.
>
> Because, you know, it's not as if every computer nerd on Earth wants to
> go into games programming or anything like that, is it? ._.
>
> Anyway, looking at the actual vacancies at Paragon, it seems all of them
> want "demonstratable experience" with C#, which I obviously don't have.
> (I can see one job who's wording is sufficiently ambiguous that it might
> be construed as meaning you only need experience with Excel or SQL -
> which obviously I have.)
>
Did I tell you that we are trying to get a new project funded where we
possibly could use an Android PhD student? (One of the reasons I am a
bit quite lately). That project has the obvious drawbacks for the real
Andrew that it would be in Amsterdam (or possibly also more in the
eastern part of the Netherlands) in a group with about 50% or more
women. Reasons to assume that you might fit in is that when creating a
team (4-5 people) we need someone to keep me and another post-doc
focussed. We will be handling large amounts of data and biological
samples that will have to be processed acording to standard procedures
(not my strongest point). Not afraid of maths is a good point, and
graphics related problems will be a large part of it. It may result in a
startup, so experience outside the university would be positive. Also
needed will be programming experience and anatomical knowledge. Not sure
how you score on that, but as I said we need to create a team with
complementary skills. Don't count on it yet, we still have to write
large parts of the grant application(s), but we need at least something
granted next june or so, to continue my status as a perpetual post-doc.
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>> I would think that Haskell would be quite suited to some of their
>> problems.
>
> Hmm. Interesting. The careers advisor I was speaking to when Phil posted
> this actually suggested that I look at "financial abstraction" as a
> potential target area. He said that large financial companies often employ
> people for developing complex financial models, and although it's not
> "programming" as such, it involves those kinds of skills.
Exactly, any industry where dealing with numerical models is their core
business will be crying out for people like you. Like insurance companies
too. From the degree I did (Engineering), the single sector that most
people went on to work in was finance! Banks and insurance companies don't
make any physical products, they make their money by simply making clever
decisions, which are based on models designed by clever people.
As an example, imagine you have the records of millions of people (including
address, age, etc) and a list of every single insurance claim they have ever
made. Now write a program to decide how much each person's insurance
premium should be to make the maximum profit. That program is absolutely
critical to the success or failure of an insurance company. They are not
going to get some idiot to just think up some numbers that look about right.
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scott wrote:
> Exactly, any industry where dealing with numerical models is their core
> business will be crying out for people like you. Like insurance
> companies too. From the degree I did (Engineering), the single sector
> that most people went on to work in was finance! Banks and insurance
> companies don't make any physical products, they make their money by
> simply making clever decisions, which are based on models designed by
> clever people.
>
> As an example, imagine you have the records of millions of people
> (including address, age, etc) and a list of every single insurance claim
> they have ever made. Now write a program to decide how much each
> person's insurance premium should be to make the maximum profit. That
> program is absolutely critical to the success or failure of an insurance
> company. They are not going to get some idiot to just think up some
> numbers that look about right.
The obvious problem with _finance_ is that almost all of it is done in
London. But perhaps I can find something similar in a more acceptable
location...
I think I might send an open letter to Paragon just for giggles. You
know, a while back, I emailed Ryan Giess. (As in, *the* Ryan Giess.)
That was a few years ago now. But yesterday, I got an email from him
saying he's released a software update! Who'd have thought...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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