pouët.net

I mean, I am still going for it, and studying again math is like the old days :P

ok cool. good luck

and yeah ecdl sucks

so what about the test dexiotitwn. Was that for working in an office in a bank or the nomarxeia ? Do they need something else too ? (degree). Seems quite easy then to get a place

You would be surprised how uncappable of doing anything more complicated than reading e-mail most people are. There must be some way for employers to assure that people they hire have at least basic computing skills.

Navis, it was too easy. So I'll probably agree with your hypothesis. About the ASEP thing. ASEP is an "independent" administrative organisation that is responsible for most of the recruiting in the public sector. There are two ways that one can get into the public sector. The first is by exams. For example if you want to get into the tax service, you need to be examined in, microeconomics, macroeconomics, basic law and 3 more I can't remember. The second is by a scheme called objective criteria. These are, how many children you have, where are you from, how many degrees you have and what's their grade, work experience, a few others, and interview which was a backdoor to hire their people. So in order to replace the interview with something more objective yesterday's test was devised. Oh the objective criteria apart from the interview, apply to the exams scheme as well.
Anyway, to what optimus was referring to. At 20 and 21st of December, another ASEP exam contest will be held for hiring teachers in primary and secondary education. I don't really know what mathematicians have, but us physicists will give, Physics (everything we learned at the uni), Chemistry (everything we would learn in the uni if we were chemists), Geology and Biology (same thing). Also, we will be examined in teaching physics and learning psychology.

what is a scam about ecdl is not the certificate itself but that you have to pay a fortune to get it (something like 300-400 E). On top of that, the state will not recognise competency in computing unless:

you have a degree in engineering, computer science or any other university certificate that shows that you did at least 2-3 relevant modules.

And there are no ifs and buts. You might have a degree in biology, for example, and hardcode in assembly for years, but for the state you are computer illiterate unless you get the ecdl.

He could always attach a copy of "Led blur" on a memory stick with his application form :)

my opinion about mathematics is that you have to know how the underlying things work to solve a problem.. its bloody impossible to solve a problem without knowing why things are the way they are. and if you memorize how to solve a problem do you really know how it works? or do you just know it just because you've read about it?. my personal problem (with math) is that i use too much time on the basic stuff, trying to understand everything.. but when solving a more advanced problem i get stuck, why so? maybe because i forgot some of the basic stuff or i didnt really know how it works in the first place. i think the key thing is to remember every good damn way to solve a simple-problem and when you do understand how it works, then well read about something better.. then when you know that, you can work on the other stuff. the Riemann Zeta function is a hell lot of underlying study to know how the whole thing works. everything in our world is somehow connected and so is math i guess. since i just have one of the ground courses in mathematics my brain can't handle it all..

The test dexiotitwn was exactly for that. But I didn't even know there was one until that day some girls in our class came and said they also had taken part in this one too.

I've heard that the test dexiotitwn gives the equivalent moria (molecules) of a phd diploma. In other words if you get a 100% score you get the same points as the phd guy who doesn't take the exams. Crazy..

all greeks have their pms at the same time or what? :D

so optimus any news ? The asep competition seems to be cancelled for now :-(

Yep. I am searching for a job now.

fuck the asep motherfuckers optimus

I tutored Calculus in school, then got into a job coding/optimizing algorithms for Digital Signal Processors....

Ahhhh the wonderfull world of DSP-coding....

Hey Optimus, I don't know if that helps you getting motivated, but the knots in this demo come from periodic orbits of some natural flow on the moduli space of 2D lattices. You can read about the underlying mathematics here

blala: super-cool!

Those things are cool, but not useful when all they ask you is to be able to pass exams.

To say it in another way, that link would be a wonderful motivator to make me start demo coding again and forget anything about exams :)

I'm certainly no math genius and like most I use what I need to get a job done. But I actually do enjoy _understanding_ what whatever matool I'm using, that's when I kinda find math fun.

i like what this guy says about Math http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CqzHIeB9D8&feature=channel_page

especially the bit where he describes how areas of math suddenly just "click", like "aha, how did i not get that before!" I think, like with any subject, it's a matter of persistence.

10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

Don't know if it can help or not:

When 18 i chose to go for a Maths cursus instead of CS, my motto was: "i love computing and want to keep it as a pleasure". Most of the people i knew then (i'm now 35) have stopped to code for their own pleasure while being in an IT company (or even CS teacher at uni), i still do (though no demos since 2000). And as a Maths teacher i do have enough spare time to do what i want.

As for being good at Maths i think the point is to be interested and motivated. Then all the training/skills/ideas will come naturally. Many demo coders are self-made programmers, due to motivation, i think.

so optimus, any news ? I've heard that the asep exams are now for end of january . Still going ?

I will go to the ASEP but I am not studying for it right now. Maybe I will do a bit later. Today I'd go to this new java pizza app job I had interviews before. He told me he would phone me today or tomorrow but he didn't atm. I was thiking to phone but since I have my birthday I will enjoy this day and phone him tomorrow. I'd like to start just to do something not lazy in my life again and collect some money (Although I may be part-time for 2-3 weeks or a month he said, till I can see whether I am capable on this or I like it or something. This could imply no payment for this little period but it's not sure). I have a different dream now, to go outside for a master, most probably in the same university Nuclear is right now. And hopefully I can find something more interesting there to go on. Even if I'd pass the Asep it would take some years maybe to get a job there. Till then I can search for other thing and find what I like best. But I hope I will find something good outside, I am not sure I'd like to live in Greece with the situation as it is and will be soon down here. Anyways I always liked to see what's outside and they say there are more jobs and opportunities for the things I am experienced in (most programming jobs here are about applications and databases, they think I am a hobbyist or low level programmer or something that belongs in another job :P)