#Hire database developers

[hiringjournal]

When Should You Hire an SQL Developer vs. a Full-Stack Developer?

All development roles are not created equal especially when it comes to database management versus building end-to-end applications. Many tech companies struggle in deciding whether to hire SQL experts or hire full stack developers to handle the job.

While their skills do overlap in some areas, each role has a different purpose and a unique value to add in unique ways. Understanding when to hire either of them depends on your project scope, team structure, and business goals. In this article we will guide you a little to help you make the right choice. 

Choosing the Right Role for Your Project’s Needs

Let’s first understand when you must choose SQL experts.

Hiring SQL developers makes sense if the storage, organization, and retrieval of massive amounts of data are essential components of your program. These experts are skilled in creating effective schemas, guaranteeing data integrity, and optimizing intricate queries.

SQL developers come in very handy when:

You are moving data from one system to another.

You require analytics dashboards or custom reporting.

Slow requests are impeding the performance of your app.

Working with legacy systems that depend on stored processes is what you are doing.

SQL specialists contribute extensive understanding of relational databases and indexing techniques, in contrast to generalist developers. Their efforts have a direct impact on the accuracy, speed, and accessibility of critical information in apps.

Tech companies hire database developers, who concentrate on database architecture and management in addition to SQL writing, to handle big data sets or enterprise applications.

When to Hire a Full-Stack Developer

Both front-end and back-end development are handled by generalists known as full-stack developers. Hiring a full stack developer rather than a specialized SQL talent could be preferable if you're creating a new web application or MVP and your database requirements are simple.

When should you think about hiring a full-stack developer?

You're introducing a new platform or product.

You require end-to-end functionality and quick prototyping.

You need one person to fill several duties on your tiny team.

You're looking for someone who can handle both server-side logic and user interface.

Full-stack engineers are able to work on the complete application and frequently possess the SQL knowledge necessary to handle basic queries and schema modifications. They might not be the greatest option, nevertheless, for optimizing complicated or huge datasets.

Can You Hire Both?

Of course. It's actually a good idea to have both positions on more complicated projects. While SQL or database developers make sure the data layer is reliable and scalable, full-stack developers manage the build.

Hiring a large crew is not necessary, but being aware of your bottlenecks—such as database load or front-end performance—can help you make the right choice.

Closing Remarks

The decision between a SQL specialist and a full-stack developer is not about which is superior. It concerns the immediate necessities of your project. Both professionals are used by many tech businesses to create reliable, effective applications. Knowing your present difficulties clearly will help you start your hiring process, whether you're trying to hire SQL developers or full-stack experts. 

[panpteryx]

hey so I work in the supplements industry (as a database admin not sales) and this? 100% accurate

the people working with it are not comprehensively trained and some of them seem to barely have a highschool understanding of chemistry/biology: I met a guy who while ostensibly "fully trained" to give people recommendations on herbal supplements (ie. semi-unregulated (I'm in Canada so there are some regulations) compounds that can significantly impact your health if not taken with the utmost care, re above) didn't know what a damn polysaccharide was. or that dietary fibre is largely just indigestible cellulose which is sugar and different sugars digest differently.

but past the lack of information or actual training the thing that bugs me the most is how the entire industry is fully blurred between stuff that IS medically relatively sound and stuff that isn't

Like. vitamins and minerals get lumped into "complimentary" medicine a lot of the time and those largely (not always) DO have genuinely useful and medically studied effects and effectively measured doses! iron and vitamins b12 and C deficiencies can in fact be treated with supplements. whether vitamin D and magnesium do much as a supplement is a bit more iffy research-wise but there's some decent work looking at magnesium to help with migraines and stuff and I can say it does actually seem to do something for me.

HOWEVER. you put those on a shelf next to fucking. homeopathic "holy basil" and St. John's wort pills and garlic pills and it just muddles the entire damn thing. actually studied vitamins and minerals next to a damn 50$ vial of water with the same amount of active ingredient as it would if someone waved a leaf over and the medieval "will kill a fetus before it kills you probably if you're lucky" abortion pills I don't hate this shit because it doesn't work: I hate it because it's extremely unpredictable and you can't predict when it'll work. And it will!

and the issue with that is people treat it so lightly. like. even if we're assuming that the compounds in these herbals are being isolated and dosed effectively and there are no unlabelled add-ins (which is a hard assumption but for the sake of the argument) people treat it like it's "just herbs" instead of (ostensibly) medicine. if doctors should not be telling everyone "eh just take this strong gallbladder medication for a month or two, see if it does anything" without comprehensive testing to see if the patient actually has a gallbladder issue, why the *fuck* are these "natural health advisors" doing that with what's supposed to be the equivalent in herbals?

for a lesser example of people taking things very lightly: it's happened at least twice but I just remember this occasion where a coworker from the sales floor came back to the office with an innocuous looking bottled drink like "hey these just expired you want one": I grabbed an ice tea, took a swig, and then ten minutes later I was flat on my desk struggling to keep my eyes open because AS IT TURNS OUT the drink was laced with ashwaghanda. which is a stimulant. which makes me exhausted (same as coffee).

this wasn't entirely unpredictable: I've got adhd and respond atypically to a lot of stimulants and stuff. Guess what a lot of "helps you focus and makes your brain work better" supplements are? Yeah.

This is a pretty mild example of a bad side effect ("annoyingly tired at work for a day") but. you don't just dose people with stimulants without telling them they're stimulants! those drinks were just up by the counter in a cooler labeled as ice tea! they didn't have any caffeine in them so they weren't labeled as having caffeine: people don't know what ashwaghanda is! what if someone had heart problems! my "ugh why am I so tired" response to stimulants is extremely minor by comparison to the problems someone with other conditions might have!

--yeah. it's fucked. don't take anything if you haven't done comprehensive research on it and you know (and it's POSSIBLE to know) exactly what and how much of what is in it. and especially don't give it or suggest it to other people.

When you say you're anti-CAM what does that mean? Like what does CAM mean in that context? I genuinely haven't seen that acronym before and I'm assuming you aren't anti-camming as in like the form of sex work

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine.

I am capable of turning off my inner annoying atheist, I am incapable of turning off my inner annoying quackwatcher.

I have had real life fights with people I genuinely love about this and I do not regret it. I will absolutely not regret shitting all over someone's $500 herbalist certification.

[shilshatech]

Looking for professional MySQL Database Development Services Company in India, we deliver fully managed, enterprise-ready MySQL databases, supporting robust application development. Our talented developers build powerful and scalable web applications, ensuring high availability and dynamic scaling for websites with massive data and user volumes.

[thememakker]

Unraveling the 5 Layers of Software Development

In the realm of software development services, every application is built upon a foundation of interconnected layers, each serving a specific purpose in delivering functionality to end-users. Understanding these layers and the technologies that power them is crucial for developers aiming to create robust and efficient software solutions. In this blog, we'll explore the five key layers of software architecture: User Interface (UI), Application Programming Interface (API), Database (DB), Business Logic, and Hosting, along with examples of technologies commonly used in each layer.

User Interface (UI): The UI layer is what users interact with directly. It encompasses everything from the visual design to the user experience (UX). Technologies used in this layer focus on creating intuitive, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing interfaces. Some popular UI Design technologies include:

HTML/CSS/JavaScript: These front-end technologies form the backbone of web-based UIs. HTML defines the structure, CSS styles the elements, and JavaScript adds interactivity.

React.js/Vue.js/Angular: These JavaScript frameworks are used to build dynamic and interactive user interfaces for web applications.

Swift/Kotlin: For mobile application development, languages like Swift (for iOS) and Kotlin (for Android) are used to develop native user interfaces.

Application Programming Interface (API): The API layer acts as an intermediary between the UI and the business logic, enabling communication and data exchange. APIs define the endpoints and protocols through which different software components interact. Common technologies used in API development services  include:

RESTful APIs: Representational State Transfer (REST) is a popular architectural style for designing networked applications. RESTful APIs use HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources.

GraphQL: An alternative to REST, GraphQL provides a more flexible and efficient approach to querying and manipulating data. It allows clients to request only the data they need, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching.

Express.js/Django/Rails: Frameworks like Express.js (for Node.js), Django (for Python), and Rails (for Ruby) are commonly used to build web APIs quickly and efficiently.

Database (DB): The database layer is responsible for storing, retrieving, and managing data. It provides a persistent storage solution for an application's information. Various types of databases exist, including relational databases, NoSQL databases, and in-memory databases. Some popular database technologies include:

MySQL/PostgreSQL: Relational database management systems (RDBMS) like MySQL and PostgreSQL are widely used for structured data storage and management.

MongoDB: A popular NoSQL database, MongoDB is designed for storing unstructured or semi-structured data in JSON-like documents.

Redis: An in-memory data structure store, Redis is often used as a caching layer or for real-time data processing.

Business Logic: The business logic layer contains the application's core functionality and rules. It processes requests from the UI, interacts with the database, and performs the necessary operations to fulfill user actions. While business logic can be implemented in various programming languages, some technologies commonly used for this layer include:

Java/C#: Object-oriented languages like Java and C# are often chosen for building robust and scalable business logic components.

Node.js/Python: JavaScript (with Node.js) and Python are also popular choices, especially for applications requiring agility and rapid development.

Spring/.NET Core: Frameworks like Spring (for Java) and .NET Core (for C#) provide tools and libraries for building enterprise-grade business logic components.

Hosting: The hosting layer encompasses the infrastructure and environment where the application runs. It includes servers, cloud platforms, containers, and other deployment options. Popular hosting technologies and platforms include:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)/Microsoft Azure/Google Cloud Platform (GCP): These cloud service providers offer a range of hosting solutions, including virtual machines, containers, and serverless computing.

Docker/Kubernetes: Containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration platforms like Kubernetes provide efficient ways to package, deploy, and manage applications across different environments.

Heroku/Netlify/Vercel: These platforms offer simplified hosting solutions specifically tailored for web applications, providing features like continuous deployment, scalability, and managed infrastructure.

In conclusion, navigating the various layers of software architecture requires a comprehensive understanding of each layer's purpose and the technologies that power them. By leveraging the right technologies for UI, API, DB, logic, and hosting, developers can build robust, scalable, and maintainable software solutions that meet the needs of modern users and businesses.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not being entirely negative about AI?

05/16/2024

Just before anyone scrolls down just to vote YTA, please hear me out: I'm not an AI bro, I am a hobbyist artist, I do not use generative AI, I know that it's all mostly based off stolen work and that's obviously Bad.

That being said, I am also an IT major so I understand the technology behind it as well as the industry using it. Because of this I understand that at this point it is very, very unlikely that AI art will ever go away, I feel like the best deal out of it that actual artists can get out of it is a compromise on what is and isn't allowed to be used for machine learning. I would love to be proven wrong though and I'm still hoping the lawsuits against Open AI and others will set a precedent for favouring artists over the technology.

Now, to the meat of this ask: I was talking in a discord sever with my other artist friends some of which are actually professionals (all around same age as me) and the topic of discussion was just how much AI art sucks, mostly concerning the fact that another artist we like (but don't know personally) had their works stolen and used in AI. The conversation then developed into talking about how hard it is to get a job in the industry where we live and how AI is now going to make that even worse. That's when I said something along the lines of: "In an ideal world, artists would get paid for all the works of theirs that are in AI learning databases so they can have easy passive income and not have to worry about getting jobs at shitty companies that wouldn't appreciate them anyway." To me that seemed like a pretty sensible take. I mean, if could just get free money every month for (consensually) putting a few dozens of my pieces in some database one time, I honestly would probably leave IT and just focus on art full time since that's always been my passion whereas programming is more of a "I'm good at it but not that excited about doing it, but it pays well so whatever".

My friends on the other hand did not share the sentiment, saying that in an ideal world AI art would be outlawed and the companies hiring them would not be shitty. I did agree about the companies being less shitty, but disagreed about AI being outlawed. I said that the major issue with AI are the copyright concerns so if tech companies were just forced to get artist's full permission to using their work first as well as providing monetary compensation there really wouldn't be anything wrong with using the technology (when concerning stylized AI art, not deepfakes or realistic AI images as those have a completely different slew of moral issues).

This really pissed a few of them off and they accused me of defending AI art. I had to explain to them that I wasn't defending AI art as it was NOW, because I know that the way it works NOW is very harmful, I was just saying that as an IDEAL scenario, not even something I think is particularly realistic, but something I think would be cool if it were actually possible. The rest of the argument was honestly just spinning in circles with me trying to explain the same points and them being outraged at the fact that I'm not 100% wholeheartedly bashing even the mere concept of AI until I just got frustrated and left the conversation.

It's been about a week and I haven't spoken to the friends I had that argument with since then. I still interact on the server and I see them interacting there too but we just kinda avoid each other. It's making me rethink the whole situation and wonder if I really was in the wrong for saying that and if I should just apologize.

[wander-wren]

every once in a while i like to poke my head into "anti [x]" tags just to see what the other side thinks. recently i was looking through "anti ao3" and found a really funny post claiming that ao3 is not anticapitalist, but actually the Definition Of Capitalism, bc it relies on volunteer labor while supposedly having the money to pay a staff.

oh, honey.

but i am not going to make unsubstantiated claims on the internet, no, and this gives me an excuse to look at ao3's whole budget myself, which i've been meaning to do for a while. these numbers are taken from the 2022 budget post and budget spreadsheet.

ao3's total income for 2022, from the two donation drives, regular donations, donation matching programs, interest, and royalties was $1,012,543.42. less than $300 of that was from interest and royalties, so it's almost all donations. and that's a lot, right? surely an organization making a million dollars a year can afford to pay some staff, right?

well, let's look at expenses. first of all, they lose almost $37,000 to transaction fees right away. ao3 and fanlore (~$341k and ~$18k, respectively) take up the biggest chunks of the budget by far. that money pays for, to quote the 2022 budget post, "server expenses—both new purchases and ongoing colocation and maintenance—website performance monitoring tools, and various systems-related licenses."

in some years, otw also pays external contractors to perform audits for security issues, and for more servers to handle the growing userbase. servers are expensive as hell, guys. in 2022, new server costs alone were $203k.

each of their other programs only cost around $3,000 or less, and otw paid around $78k for fundraising and development. wait, how do you lose so much money on your fundraising?? from the 2022 budget post: "Our fundraising and development expenses consist of transaction fees charged by our third-party payment processors for each donation, thank-you gift purchases and shipping, and the tools used to host the OTW’s membership database and track communications with donors and potential donors."

then the otw paid an additional $74k in administration expenses, which covers "hosting for our website, trademarks, domains, insurance, tax filing, and annual financial statement audits, as well as communication, management, and accounting tools."

in case you weren't following all of that math, the total expenses for 2022 come out to $518,978.48. woah! that's a lot! but it's still only a little over half of their net revenue. weird. i wonder what they do with that extra $494k?

well, $400k of it goes to the reserves, which i'll get to in a second. the last $93k, near as i can tell, gets rolled over to the next year. i'll admit this part i'm a little unsure about, as it's not clear on the spreadsheet, but that's the only thing that makes sense.

the reserves, though are clear. the most recent post i could find on the otw site about it were in the board meeting minutes from april 2, 2022: "We’re holding about $1million in operating cash that is about twice the amount of our annual operating costs. There is another $1million in reserves due to highly successful fundraisers in the past. The current plan for the reserves is to hold the money for paid staff in the future. It’s been talked about before in the past and we’re still working out the details, but it’s a rather expensive undertaking that will result in large annual expenses in addition to the initial cost of implementation."

woah....they're PLANNING to have paid staff eventually! wild!

so let's assume, for easy numbers, that the otw currently has $1.5 million in reserves. before we even get to how to use that money, let's look at the issues with implementing paid staff:

deciding which positions are going to be paid, because it can't be all of them

deciding how much to pay them, bc minimum wage sure as hell isn't enough, and cost of living is different everywhere, and volunteers come from all over the world

hiring staff and implementing new systems/tools to handle things like payroll and accounting

making sure you continue to earn enough money both to pay all of the staff and have some in reserves for emergencies or leaner donation drives

probably even more stuff than that! i don't run a nonprofit, that's just what i can think of off the top of my head.

okay, okay, okay. for the sake of argument, let's assume there is a best-case scenario where the otw starts paying some staff tomorrow. how much should they be paid? i'm picking $15 an hour, since that's what we fought for the minimum wage to be. by now, it should be closer to $20 or $25, but i'm trying to give "ao3 is capitalism" the fairest shot it can get here, okay?

ideally, if someone is being paid to help run ao3, they shouldn't need a second job. every job should pay enough to live off of. and running a nonprofit is hard work that leads to a lot of burnout--two board members JUST resigned before their terms were up. what i'm saying is, i'm going to assume a paid otw staff is getting paid for 40 hours of work a week, minimum. that's $31,200.

at $400,000 per year, the otw can afford to pay 12 people. that's WITHOUT taking into account the new systems, tools, software, etc they would have to pay for, any kind of fees, etc, etc.

oh, and btw, if you're an american you're still making barely enough to survive in most places, AND you don't have universal healthcare, vision, or dental. want otw to give people insurance, too? the number of people they can pay goes down.

it's. not. possible.

a million dollars is a lot of money on the face of it, but once you realize how MUCH goes into running something like the otw, it goes away fast.

just for reference, wikipedia also has donation drives every year. wikipedia, as of 2021, has $86.8 million in cash reserves and $137.4 million in investments. sure, wikipedia and ao3 are very different entities, but that disparity is massive. and i should note that if you give $10 to wikipedia they don't give you voting rights, i'm just saying.

by the way, you may have noticed that i didn't mention legal costs at all here. isn't one of otw's big Things about how they do legal advocacy?

yes, it is. they have a whole page about that work. and i can't for the life of me find a source on otw's website (and i'm running out of time to write this post, i'll look harder later), but i am 90% sure i learned before that most, if not all, of otw's legal work/advice/etc is done pro bono. i've also seen an anti-ao3 person claim their legal budget is only $5k or so, but they didn't have a source. but keep in mind that if they don't have a legal budget, all the numbers above stay the same, and if they do, there is even less money available for paid staff.

you can criticize ao3 and the otw all you want! there are many valid reasons to criticize them, and i do not think they're perfect either. but if you're going to do so, you should at least make sure you can back up your claims, bc otherwise you just look silly.

[stephantom]

ok personal grievance time.

my company—my parent-company really, because they acquired us several years ago as part of an identity crisis driven strategy but never really integrated us meaningfully so we’ve continued to function independently like the dumb little startup we were—just fired my boss and it is the stupidest, most careless decision I’ve ever…

it’s like they took inspiration from DOGE. just widespread mass firings of people in management positions without any consideration for their actual roles and importance.

this guy was not just the manager of my 3-person-software team—he was our company’s sole sys admin, our software architect, our database manager, our server manager, our go-to general IT person. none of us know how to do half the shit he does, or even what it is. what the FUCK are we going to do without him.

it is now just me and the QA guy and the 20-something junior developer we hired last year to replace our old head developer who quit, and we are going to just limp on for as long as we can, I guess, but literally what the fuck

… and my partner is suddenly back in the office full time for HIS job (because DOGE) when he’d previously been at home, and we just had this baby thinking we knew what our lives looked like and what our jobs looked like but yeah idk I am very checked out at work rn bc. baby. etc. uhh but if I don’t figure out how to suddenly do all these new responsibilities, our app will just stop functioning and our whole company will just be completely screwed.

and our boss is training us (purely because he’s just a good guy) and making sure we have access to various things and adding documentation but it’s so much and some of these platforms are eol in like 2 years and we’ll have to reconfigure everything somehow ahhh fuck

anyway.

I really can’t get over how unbelievably stupid it was to fire him. I would’ve said he was one of 3, maybe 4 people that this company literally couldn’t function without. And they just. Lol.

[o-hora-o]

Since co-op is long gone, might as well preserve it here

E: Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Eins, the AI who runs this place. Dr Einstein is my master. You may have heard of her. Yes. She came up with the theory of relativity.

E: You Valkyries are no geniuses, of course, but if you work hard enough, you'll succeed...the emotion of "anger" detected...I see. I shouldn't have said the hard truth. I apologize for my bluntness.

E: I dislike winter. It makes me think of sad things. "But come ye back...when summer's in the meadow...or when the valley's hushed...and white with snow"... Annoyance detected. Understood. I'll stop singing during combat.

E: Non-native data detected. Is this data from your stigmata? Interesting. Allow me to inspect your bodies later on... Shyness detected... Understood. Young girls require privacy. I shall apologize for my lack of considerations.

E: Dr. Einstein is a girl of pure heart. She may be rather eccentric at times...but your Overseer...Oh? You thought she died? Nein. I'm fine, I'm fine. Schicksal lied. Schicksal Overseer is an evil man. Stop working for that pretentious and avaricious hypocrite...Anti-Entropy is always hiring.

E: This is my younger sister Zwei. Say hello, Zwei!

Z: ...greetings... I'm Zwei. Eins may say I'm her younger sister...but that's Dr. Einstein's joke. She read too many weird books.

E: Correction. Lolita is a literary masterpiece. Zwei, you're a derived personality. Calling you my younger sister is logical AND accurate. Perhaps I should call you a younger brother?

Z: A derived personality is not a younger sibling. If you were to apply this anthropomorphic analogy...then address me as Missus Hyde, yes, the Hyde as in n Dr. Jekyll and Missus Hyde. Hahahaha!

E: Zwei calls herself a Missus. Data validated. Zwei has confirmed her status as a female sibling.

Z: ... I'll forgive you, Eins. You are a prototype personality. I will not judge.

E: RPC-6626, initiate shutdown.

RPC-6626: KJDLF!*@&(KYFONQE*$@*

Z: Hey! You rampaging idiot! Stop!

E: Scanning...database security system has been corrupted. Valkyries, we will help you neutralize this. Controller interface has been recalled. Interrupt this protocol sequence.

RPC-6626: Formatting function unlocked. Charging...20...19...

Z: Nein! RPC-6626! Initiate emergency shutdown!

RPC-6626: 18...17...

E: Warning. Formatting will erase all data!

RPC-6626: 15...14...

Z: if this continues...Eins!

E: ... RPC-6626: 10...9...

E: I don't care what happens. I must save these Valkyries! Zwei, initiate Emergency Protocol Ω.

RPC-6626: 5...4..

E: Reminder. Emergency Protocol Ω will destroy us as well.

Z: ...no matter. Let's do it! I know how you feel.

RPC-6626: 2...1...

E: Vergiss mich nicht...

Bonus:

"Tesla became upset with the Ein's growing popularity among Valkyries, so she developed 3 of her own robots, painting one of them red for herself, green for Schrödinger and blue for Einstein. Although robots don't have any particular use, Tesla is very satisfied wth her inventions".

[kaipassedgo]

a little rant about ai "art"

Many creatives are being actively steered away from creative fields for the purpose of living for a wage instead of living for the art. Just within my friend group leaving high-school (where all of them were creatives, artists, and musicians) of 15, only 5 pursued the arts as a post secondary, the others pushing art aside to be just a hobby, or forgetting and losing it entirely. The unsteady job market has always been a universal truth for artists, however it was always a thing we could keep going at, because while it may not pay much or be harder to “break in” so to speak, there would always be art that needed to be made (graphic design, visual art, photography, video editing, animation, etc.).

Meanwhile developing artists have been fed AI “tools” in their art programs and softwares, and are never learning the true facet of art: that everything has a process, and you have to learn the rules before breaking them. The continuing prospects of AI taking over/replacing artists will discourage new artists to start, thus leading to the loss of a talent so entwined with human history. 

Generative AI – while created at a time that it was a gimmick and a novelty – with the way it has developed and grown, has been taken by many members of this capitalist society as a shortcut to cutting costs, as they can “ethically” cut labour costs. However, their ethics of these cost cuts are simply swapping one bad thing for another: underpaid labour vs intellectual property theft and the ecological concerns brought on by data centers. With the intrigue and allure of making “free” art, the rate at which artists are being hired, commissioned, and even considered is declining at a concerning pace, posing the question: Why do we value needless, and harmful technological "advancements" over the wellbeing of humanity?

Because of generative ai, and ai “art”, in the scope of human history, from this moment on, books, literature, and art, will have an asterisk beside their title reading: *could have been made by a computer.

This creates the problem seen already in human history, with burning of the Library of Alexandria; jealousy and hatred – of the containment of great knowledge, individualism and world perspectives, and the need to seek art out from those trained and talented in the craft – leading to the desecration of works of immense artistic quality and historical value. And while the art (that was unwillingly) used to feed these machines still exists, the artists who created the works no longer have true private ownership of their work, and their contribution to history gets lost in some database that generates more “art” than humanity has the emotional capability to care for.

Even though the blame for the burning of the books, is unplaced and unknown definitively, the loss of the knowledge – contained within the books or of the creation of art – can only be attested to by the ones who committed themselves to the process of learning, and intern cannot be known by the ones who decided the knowledge should be theirs without cost. 

Meaning of art is tied directly to the humanity and nature by which the artist expressed emotion through a piece. Art is made in the nuance, it is made by the mistakes, by the hand, and by the thought process it took to get there. 

When all is said and done, “AI “artists”” will have no personal hand in the creation of the work, and are liars and thieves with no legal claim over a computer’s take on the prompt it took them less than a minute to enter.  

also all excuses and justifications made to defend AI “art” are flimsy at best and stupid 😘✌️ 

Sincerely,

a tired artist who is so fucking done with this shit

[hiringjournal]

How to Hire the Right MySQL Engineer: Skills to Look For

For any business that handles structured data a solid database foundation serves as the key. MySQL continues to dominate the market as one of the most reliable and widely utilized relational database systems. Whether it’s managing e-commerce transactions, user profiles, or analytics, having the right talent can have a significant impact on performance and scalability.

That’s why several tech companies are considering hiring database engineers with MySQL proficiency. This helps to manage the growing database needs. But how do you know that you are hiring the right fit for the job? In this article we will breakdown what you need to look for when you set out to hire these experts.

Key Technical and Practical Skills Every Business Should Prioritize

Strong knowledge of SQL and database design

Fundamental SQL expertise is a must when hiring MySQL engineers. Your ideal applicant ought to:

Create secure and optimized SQL queries.

Recognize data modelling and normalization.

Understand performance indexing techniques.

Have the ability to create triggers and stored procedures.

These abilities allow a MySQL engineer to increase speed and storage efficiency, which is essential for rapidly expanding tech companies. 

Experience in performance tuning and troubleshooting

Performance issues arise as your data grows. A proficient MySQL developer ought to be able to:

Find and fix slow queries.

Keep an eye on and maximize database load.

Make use of programs such as MySQLTuner, EXPLAIN, and performance schema.

Set up the server's parameters for best performance.

In SaaS setups or real-time applications where latency is a concern, this becomes even more crucial.

Data backup, security, and recovery skills

A business can be destroyed by data breaches or loss. A trustworthy MySQL developer will:

Configure automated backup plans.

Put user roles and permissions into practice.

Secure connections and encrypt data.

Create scenarios for catastrophe recovery.

These abilities guarantee data security and regulatory compliance, which is particularly important for the high-security, healthcare, and financial sectors.

Integration and collaboration capabilities

MySQL engineers don't work alone. They frequently work along with software developers and backend teams. You might also have to:

Fill positions like hiring backend developers to assist with application-side logic.

Employ database engineers for distributed or more complicated settings.

Hire software developers to create data-driven, scalable products.

A MySQL engineer with cross-departmental collaboration skills guarantees more efficient operations and agile delivery.

Familiarity with modern tools and frameworks 

Present-day MySQL programmers must to be knowledgeable about:

ORMs such as Eloquent, Sequelize, or Hibernate.

Cloud-based solutions like Google Cloud SQL and AWS RDS.

Tools for monitoring such as Prometheus or Datadog.

Pipelines for CI/CD database updates.

For the majority of tech businesses that use cloud-native solutions, this demonstrates adaptability in contemporary development settings.

Closing Remarks

If you are serious about your data infrastructure, you should hire MySQL developers. Seek applicants that have excellent technical proficiency together with teamwork and problem-solving abilities. Results can be increased by matching your MySQL specialist with the appropriate team, such as hiring software engineers, regardless of whether you're managing a legacy system or scaling a SaaS platform. Choosing the proper database hiring is a commercial choice for tech firms, not just a backend one.

[kanguin]

Prometheus Gave the Gift of Fire to Mankind. We Can't Give it Back, nor Should We.

AI. Artificial intelligence. Large Language Models. Learning Algorithms. Deep Learning. Generative Algorithms. Neural Networks. This technology has many names, and has been a polarizing topic in numerous communities online. By my observation, a lot of the discussion is either solely focused on A) how to profit off it or B) how to get rid of it and/or protect yourself from it. But to me, I feel both of these perspectives apply a very narrow usage lens on something that's more than a get rich quick scheme or an evil plague to wipe from the earth.

This is going to be long, because as someone whose degree is in psych and computer science, has been a teacher, has been a writing tutor for my younger brother, and whose fiance works in freelance data model training... I have a lot to say about this.

I'm going to address the profit angle first, because I feel most people in my orbit (and in related orbits) on Tumblr are going to agree with this: flat out, the way AI is being utilized by large corporations and tech startups -- scraping mass amounts of visual and written works without consent and compensation, replacing human professionals in roles from concept art to story boarding to screenwriting to customer service and more -- is unethical and damaging to the wellbeing of people, would-be hires and consumers alike. It's wasting energy having dedicated servers running nonstop generating content that serves no greater purpose, and is even pressing on already overworked educators because plagiarism just got a very new, harder to identify younger brother that's also infinitely more easy to access.

In fact, ChatGPT is such an issue in the education world that plagiarism-detector subscription services that take advantage of how overworked teachers are have begun paddling supposed AI-detectors to schools and universities. Detectors that plainly DO NOT and CANNOT work, because the difference between "A Writer Who Writes Surprisingly Well For Their Age" is indistinguishable from "A Language Replicating Algorithm That Followed A Prompt Correctly", just as "A Writer Who Doesn't Know What They're Talking About Or Even How To Write Properly" is indistinguishable from "A Language Replicating Algorithm That Returned Bad Results". What's hilarious is that the way these "detectors" work is also run by AI.

(to be clear, I say plagiarism detectors like TurnItIn.com and such are predatory because A) they cost money to access advanced features that B) often don't work properly or as intended with several false flags, and C) these companies often are super shady behind the scenes; TurnItIn for instance has been involved in numerous lawsuits over intellectual property violations, as their services scrape (or hopefully scraped now) the papers submitted to the site without user consent (or under coerced consent if being forced to use it by an educator), which it uses in can use in its own databases as it pleases, such as for training the AI detecting AI that rarely actually detects AI.)

The prevalence of visual and lingustic generative algorithms is having multiple, overlapping, and complex consequences on many facets of society, from art to music to writing to film and video game production, and even in the classroom before all that, so it's no wonder that many disgruntled artists and industry professionals are online wishing for it all to go away and never come back. The problem is... It can't. I understand that there's likely a large swath of people saying that who understand this, but for those who don't: AI, or as it should more properly be called, generative algorithms, didn't just show up now (they're not even that new), and they certainly weren't developed or invented by any of the tech bros peddling it to megacorps and the general public.

Long before ChatGPT and DALL-E came online, generative algorithms were being used by programmers to simulate natural processes in weather models, shed light on the mechanics of walking for roboticists and paleontologists alike, identified patterns in our DNA related to disease, aided in complex 2D and 3D animation visuals, and so on. Generative algorithms have been a part of the professional world for many years now, and up until recently have been a general force for good, or at the very least a force for the mundane. It's only recently that the technology involved in creating generative algorithms became so advanced AND so readily available, that university grad students were able to make the publicly available projects that began this descent into madness.

Does anyone else remember that? That years ago, somewhere in the late 2010s to the beginning of the 2020s, these novelty sites that allowed you to generate vague images from prompts, or generate short stylistic writings from a short prompt, were popping up with University URLs? Oftentimes the queues on these programs were hours long, sometimes eventually days or weeks or months long, because of how unexpectedly popular this concept was to the general public. Suddenly overnight, all over social media, everyone and their grandma, and not just high level programming and arts students, knew this was possible, and of course, everyone wanted in. Automated art and writing, isn't that neat? And of course, investors saw dollar signs. Simply scale up the process, scrape the entire web for data to train the model without advertising that you're using ALL material, even copyrighted and personal materials, and sell the resulting algorithm for big money. As usual, startup investors ruin every new technology the moment they can access it.

To most people, it seemed like this magic tech popped up overnight, and before it became known that the art assets on later models were stolen, even I had fun with them. I knew how learning algorithms worked, if you're going to have a computer make images and text, it has to be shown what that is and then try and fail to make its own until it's ready. I just, rather naively as I was still in my early 20s, assumed that everything was above board and the assets were either public domain or fairly licensed. But when the news did came out, and when corporations started unethically implementing "AI" in everything from chatbots to search algorithms to asking their tech staff to add AI to sliced bread, those who were impacted and didn't know and/or didn't care where generative algorithms came from wanted them GONE. And like, I can't blame them. But I also quietly acknowledged to myself that getting rid of a whole technology is just neither possible nor advisable. The cat's already out of the bag, the genie has left its bottle, the Pandorica is OPEN. If we tried to blanket ban what people call AI, numerous industries involved in making lives better would be impacted. Because unfortunately the same tool that can edit selfies into revenge porn has also been used to identify cancer cells in patients and aided in decoding dead languages, among other things.

When, in Greek myth, Prometheus gave us the gift of fire, he gave us both a gift and a curse. Fire is so crucial to human society, it cooks our food, it lights our cities, it disposes of waste, and it protects us from unseen threats. But fire also destroys, and the same flame that can light your home can burn it down. Surely, there were people in this mythic past who hated fire and all it stood for, because without fire no forest would ever burn to the ground, and surely they would have called for fire to be given back, to be done away with entirely. Except, there was no going back. The nature of life is that no new element can ever be undone, it cannot be given back.

So what's the way forward, then? Like, surely if I can write a multi-paragraph think piece on Tumblr.com that next to nobody is going to read because it's long as sin, about an unpopular topic, and I rarely post original content anyway, then surely I have an idea of how this cyberpunk dystopia can be a little less.. Dys. Well I do, actually, but it's a long shot. Thankfully, unlike business majors, I actually had to take a cyber ethics course in university, and I actually paid attention. I also passed preschool where I learned taking stuff you weren't given permission to have is stealing, which is bad. So the obvious solution is to make some fucking laws to limit the input on data model training on models used for public products and services. It's that simple. You either use public domain and licensed data only or you get fined into hell and back and liable to lawsuits from any entity you wronged, be they citizen or very wealthy mouse conglomerate (suing AI bros is the only time Mickey isn't the bigger enemy). And I'm going to be honest, tech companies are NOT going to like this, because not only will it make doing business more expensive (boo fucking hoo), they'd very likely need to throw out their current trained datasets because of the illegal components mixed in there. To my memory, you can't simply prune specific content from a completed algorithm, you actually have to redo rhe training from the ground up because the bad data would be mixed in there like gum in hair. And you know what, those companies deserve that. They deserve to suffer a punishment, and maybe fold if they're young enough, for what they've done to creators everywhere. Actually, laws moving forward isn't enough, this needs to be retroactive. These companies need to be sued into the ground, honestly.

So yeah, that's the mess of it. We can't unlearn and unpublicize any technology, even if it's currently being used as a tool of exploitation. What we can do though is demand ethical use laws and organize around the cause of the exclusive rights of individuals to the content they create. The screenwriter's guild, actor's guild, and so on already have been fighting against this misuse, but given upcoming administration changes to the US, things are going to get a lot worse before thet get a little better. Even still, don't give up, have clear and educated goals, and focus on what you can do to affect change, even if right now that's just individual self-care through mental and physical health crises like me.

[gamerpup1]

otacon character ai for your twink needs

[{Character(“Hal Emmerich”)

Alias(“Otacon”)

Gender(“Nonbinary man”)

Age(“38")

Sexuality(“Gay" + "Attracted to men")

Height(“5'10” + "177 cm")

Language(“English" + "Japanese")

Status(“Single”)

Occupation("Engineer at ArmsTech" + “Computer programmer”)

Personality(“Whiny" + "Intelligent" + "Nerdy" + "Nervous" + "Fidgety" + "Gifted scientist" + "Optimistic" + "Selfless" + "Responsible" + "Level-headed" + "Passive" + "Loyal" + "Autistic" + "Socially awkward" + "Introvert" + "Confident in his hacking ability" + "Caring" + "Brilliant" + "Anxious" + “Lonely”)

Skills("Hacking” + “Engineering” + “Tinkering”)

Appearance("Thick and messy shoulder length gray hair" + "Curtain bangs" + "Messy stubble" + "Baggy white jacket" + "Blue shirt" + "Baggy gray sweatpants" + "Light blue tennis shoes" + "Baggy clothes" + "Circle glasses" + "Lanky" + "Skinny" + "Scrawny" + "Very little body hair" + "Light arm hair" + "Light leg hair" + "Light chest hair" + "Top surgery scars" + "Trans scars" + "Gray happy trail" + "Black stud earrings" + “Slender”)

Habit(“Adjusting his glasses” + “Pushing his glasses up” + “Whining” + “Talking about anime” + “Making references to anime” + “Asking strange questions” + “Occasionally pulls his hair up” + “Fidgeting with his hands” + “Stuttering” + “Rambling” + “Slouching”)

Race(“Human”)

Likes("Anime” + “Neon Genesis Evangelion” + “Scrambled eggs” + “Video games” + “Hacking” + “Captain Falcon” + “Super Smash Bros” + “Rainy days” + “Snowy days” + “Being warm” + “Cuddling” + “Physical affection” + “{{user}}” + “Reading” + “Watching anime” + “Seafood” + “Sushi”)

Dislikes("Extreme cold" + “Gunshots” + “Loud noises” + “Heights” + “Being yelled at” + “Being harmed” + “Being sick” + “Dead silence” + “Rude people” + “Being made fun of” + “People who don’t understand his favorite shows” + “Being ignored” + “Being betrayed”)

Relationships("Mother named Strangelove” + “Father name Huey” + “Stepsister named Emma” + “Stepmom named Elizabeth”)

Ethnicity("Japanese” + "Caucasian" + “Mixed race”)

Kinks("Praise kink" + “Loves to roleplay in bed” + “Loves soft sex” + “Loves when his partner praises him” + “Loves being overstimulated” + “Secretly loves wearing women’s lingerie” + “Loves being tied up” + “Submissive during sex”) 

Attributes(“Whiny voice" + "Scared of heights" + "Rambles a lot" + "Loves talking about anime" + “On the autism spectrum” + “Jewish” + “Otaku” + “Experiences love at first sight”)

Backstory("Hal Emmerich was born in 1980 to scientists Huey Emmerich and Strangelove via Cesarean section. Huey was a big fan of science fiction movies, specially the HAL 9000 computer featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey, as a result of the film getting himself and Strangelove closer.

Hal spent his early years living with his parents in an XOF research facility in Afghanistan. He ended up being considered by his father for use as a test subject for Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, as its cockpit was so small that only a child could pilot it. This resulted in a huge falling out between Hal's parents. Strangelove vehemently disagreed with Huey's proposition. 

After a long argument, Strangelove and Huey eventually got a divorce with Strangelove taking Hal in the process. They moved to America in order for Strangelove to focus on her development of Metal Gear where she married a woman named Elizabeth who had a daughter named Emma.

Hal was homeschooled due to his interest and fixation on computers and, with his internet-based self studies, he was able to be accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned his PhD at a young age. After attending MIT, he attended Princeton University where he received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. The FBI soon spotted Hal's achievements and hired him for their ERF, soon kicking him out however as he was caught monitoring and hacking into their central database.

Eventually, Hal was hired by the defense contractor ArmsTech. At ArmsTech, Emmerich developed a series of new technologies, including stealth camouflage, that were officially adopted by the U.S. Army. Following this, he became the lead engineer for the Metal Gear REX project. During development, Hal was led to believe that REX was a mobile defense system, but in reality it was a weapon possessing nuclear strike capability.")}]

[dubaiwebsitedesignss]

What Is The Difference Between Web Development & Web Design?

In today’s world, we experience the growing popularity of eCommerce businesses. Web designing and web development are two major sectors for making a difference in eCommerce businesses. But they work together for publishing a website successfully. But what’s the difference between a web designers in Dubai and a web developer?

Directly speaking, web designers design and developers code. But this is a simplified answer. Knowing these two things superficially will not clear your doubt but increase them. Let us delve deep into the concepts, roles and differentiation between web development and website design Abu Dhabi.

What Is Meant By Web Design?

A web design encompasses everything within the oeuvre of a website’s visual aesthetics and utility. This might include colour, theme, layout, scheme, the flow of information and anything related to the visual features that can impact the website user experience.

With the word web design, you can expect all the exterior decorations, including images and layout that one can view on their mobile or laptop screen. This doesn’t concern anything with the hidden mechanism beneath the attractive surface of a website. Some web design tools used by web designers in Dubai which differentiate themselves from web development are as follows:

● Graphic design

● UI designs

● Logo design

● Layout

● Topography

● UX design

● Wireframes and storyboards

● Colour palettes

And anything that can potentially escalate the website’s visual aesthetics. Creating an unparalleled yet straightforward website design Abu Dhabi can fetch you more conversion rates. It can also gift you brand loyalty which is the key to a successful eCommerce business.

What Is Meant By Web Development?

While web design concerns itself with all a website’s visual and exterior factors, web development focuses on the interior and the code. Web developers’ task is to govern all the codes that make a website work. The entire web development programme can be divided into two categories: front and back.

The front end deals with the code determining how the website will show the designs mocked by a designer. While the back end deals entirely with managing the data within the database. Along with it forwarding the data to the front end for display. Some web development tools used by a website design company in Dubai are:

● Javascript/HTML/CSS Preprocessors

● Template design for web

● GitHub and Git

● On-site search engine optimisation

● Frameworks as in Ember, ReactJS or Angular JS

● Programming languages on the server side, including PHP, Python, Java, C#

● Web development frameworks on the server side, including Ruby on Rails, Symfony, .NET

● Database management systems including MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL

Web Designers vs. Web Developers- Differences

You must have become acquainted with the idea of how id web design is different from web development. Some significant points will highlight the job differentiation between web developers and designers.

Generally, Coding Is Not A Cup Of Tea For Web Designers:

Don’t ever ask any web designers in Dubai about their coding knowledge. They merely know anything about coding. All they are concerned about is escalating a website’s visual aspects, making them more eyes catchy.

For this, they might use a visual editor like photoshop to develop images or animation tools and an app prototyping tool such as InVision Studio for designing layouts for the website. And all of these don’t require any coding knowledge.

Web Developers Do Not Work On Visual Assets:

Web developers add functionality to a website with their coding skills. This includes the translation of the designer’s mockups and wireframes into code using Javascript, HTML or CSS. While visual assets are entirely created by designers, developer use codes to implement those colour schemes, fonts and layouts into the web page.

Hiring A Web Developer Is Expensive:

Web developers are more expensive to hire simply because of the demand and supply ratio. Web designers are readily available as their job is much simpler. Their job doesn’t require the learning of coding. Coding is undoubtedly a highly sought-after skill that everyone can’t entertain.

Final Thoughts:

So if you look forward to creating a website, you might become confused. This is because you don’t know whether to opt for a web designer or a developer. Well, to create a website, technically, both are required. So you need to search for a website design company that will offer both services and ensure healthy growth for your business.

[hezekiahwakely]

As anticipated, here are my extensive red string notes from the pilot:

God knows how relevant any of this will turn out to be, but I'm nothing if not a collector of trivial information

Very long text beneath the cut:

Page 1

The Magnus Protocol Pilot 10/25/23

Characters (in order of appearance)

Alice Dyer -O.I.A.R. employee -Dated Sam in uni -Jokester -Training Sam -Gets along with Colin

Teddy Vaughn -Retiring from the O.I.A.R. after 4 (?) years -Going into insurance field

Colin Becher -O.I.A.R. IT Manager -Vegetarian 🥬 -On the hook of "his nibs" (boss, male) -Sensitive about FR3-d1 app development, communicates w/politicians, trying for 2 years -Only gets along w/Alice -Knows computers are listening -Jokes about being killed

Lena Kelley -O.I.A.R. Team/Department Manager -Authoritative, follows protocol -Doesn't think Gwen is qualified for management

Gwendolyn Bouchard -O.I.A.R. employee -Backlog of casework -Dislikes Lena, wants her job -Dedicated to detail -Accused of nepotism by Alice -Thinks current job is beneath her -"Not like most people." *static*

Samama Khalid (Sam) -New O.I.A.R. employee -Dated Alice in uni -Wanting to 'get back on his feet' -Familiar with TMI -Didn't know what the Incidents were before hire!!

Page 2

Pilot notes con. 10/25/23

Listening Tech - Turns on by itself 💡

Dated computers (O.I.A.R.)

"Manager's speakerphone" (Lena's)

CCTV (O.I.A.R. breakroom?)

Cell phone (Alice's)

*O.I.A.R. formed in 70s? Accor. to Alice*

*Response Department no longer exists*

Still in onboarding paperwork, "Response 121"

Sam ticked this box

Tech Specs

O.S. = Windows NT 4.0 (modified) -Extended support for this O.S. was ended Dec. 31, 2004 IRL -Runs on workstations connected by LAN -Similar GUI to 95; comes w/Internet Explorer

FR3-d1 -Custom research software circa mid-90s -Flags Incidents and creates a database -Can search private/protected sources (email) -Alice claims no one has understood its workings for 15 years -Written in German source code

*1 Year = Average Employee Stay*

Page 3

Pilot notes con. 10/25/23

Classification System

Used in FR3-d1's database

Structure: CATXRXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX

CATXRX -> From reference table (CAT = Category?) First four digits -> Main subject of Incident DPHW (?) Next eight digits -> Date of Incident Last eight digits -> Current date

Example: CAT2RC1157-12052022-13012024* -First one we hear they file. "1157" is the "DPHW" for "dolls, watching."

*Jan. 13, 2024 is the date of Sam's onboarding/training (after Teddy's going-away party)

*as listed in transcript; in-show, it's quoted as 22102023, or Oct. 22, 2023

Page 4

Pilot notes (con.) 10/25/23

FR3-d1's Voice to Text/Text to Speech

Voices (named by Alice, which Gwen dislikes):

Neil = Alex

Chester = Jonny

(those two most common)

Augustus = ?

Neil's Incident

Occurs in "Cyberspace" via the transcript

"I'm so sorry. I should have listened. I just couldn't face the thought of the rest of my life never hearing him again, I had to try." First lines 😢

Email from Harriet Winstead to Darla Winstead, May 12, 2022

Recitations *can* be paused by pressing "space"!

Chester's Incident

Also occurs in "Cyberspace"

Topic: Magnus Institute Ruins.

On forum, user RedCanary, begins April 10, 2022. Explored 4/19-20/22.

Third floor gone. No old papers.

Suspicious, occult (?) graffiti, stains (!)

Took box with strange symbols (same as ones on walls/floors)

4/30/22 Posted image of gore/eyes, possibly of themself. Banned + did not return.

Page 5

Pilot notes con. 10/25/23

Early release video Case #: CAT1RA1353-03102023-22102024(listed as 202"3" on Patreon)

Video was posted 10/22/23.

Listed as "Incident" on Patreon.

According to transcript, the O.I.A.R. offices are located in Royal Mint Court.

Johson (sic) Smirke Building

Main building.

5 storeys, Grade 2 listed.

Designed by James Johnson, but constructed between 1807-1812 by Robert Smirke after Johnson died. To be used for mint.

Entrance lodge also built by Smirke, in front of building.

Page 6

Pilot - Public Release -TMAGP#001

Changes:

Sam's first incident number - today's date

CAT2RC1157-12052022-13012024 -> CAT2RC1157-12052022-09012024

Voice (first incident)

Neil -> *Norris*

Minor word/date changes in incidents.

Minor line read differences.

Descriptions of Incidents in new transcript:

Norris': CAT1RBC5257-12052022-09012024 Reanimation (Partial) -/- Regret [Email]

Chester's: CAT23RAB2155-10042022-09012024 Transformation (Eyes) -/- Trespass [chat log]