I worked in finance, where incentive pay is substantial, and it has benefits as well as problems. Salaries in finance are low-average by NYC/Chicago standards, while bonuses are high-- starting at 25-75% for junior positions, and rising to 1000+% at a senior level.

Good bonuses have a positive effect on morale, but the real kick finance gets out of the system is in recruiting. The possibility to take home a $1 million bonus check as a fifth-year employee, brings in a lot of bright, young people who don't know what else to do with their lives but are willing to work very hard. Finance's rather unique compensation system certainly stokes people to put out a lot of effort.

The downside is that, since everyone is after the same things, politics come more into play-- if someone feels shortchanged in project selection, like he's not being groomed to be a future rock star, he's going to do shitty work. In tech, people are after interesting work, and everyone has a different opinion about what's interesting, so the game is not zero-sum; in finance, they're mostly looking to advance their careers and make money... which approaches zero-sum as the size of the company increases.

I'm in New York, where dress is a bit more formal due to the Wall Street sphere of influence. However, the position I have in mind has nothing to do with finance.

What defines a good and bad cover letter, in your opinion? What mistakes do the writers of the 99 bad cover letters make?

Although I can't say for sure (never hired anyone), I think the notes above about "Relevant experience" really hits it on the nail. Resume's have a lot of info on them, and are often short on details. You should explain to them what you've done that makes you ideal for that specific role. Don't talk about your life dreams, just keep it simple and direct.

On what to wear: Dress smart. If it seems like a fun place, dress a bit fun. In NYC, a nice pair of jeans, with a sharp shirt and jacket would probably be a really appropriate attire. I don't think i'd ever show up for an interview with just a t-shirt on, but i guess it depends.

Generally, I don't, and my last job was at a hedge fund. (Sailors, I hear, have a reputation for "cursing like a trader".) I get nervous enough about other people reading my code as it is; no need to make the process (imperceptibly) more volatile. In any case, swear words aren't descriptive enough to make for thoughtful comments... usually.

The problem is that drawing energy out of crops is very inefficient. Plants are very good at generating the complex organic molecules we need to ingest in order to survive, but pretty inefficient when we just want lots of energy.

We need safer/cleaner nukes, in my opinion, and electric cars/planes + maglev trains for mid-distance transport. Nukes provide bridge energy during this probably permanent oil problem; better solar should be the ultimate destination.

Hmf. My bugs have created seg-faults, memory leaks, etc., but never oil. I suck.

Answering others' phones, with unknown callers, is one of those responsibilities that low-ranking workers always prefer to pass on to someone else. Answering phones sucks. The downside is that one might inadvertently offend an important person. ("[Y] speaking." "Hi, this is [X]." "Who are you?" "Your new boss, as of Monday, actually." "Oh.") There's no upside to answering, since responsibility for non-answering is diffused. So the phone is not answered.

There's also conditioning at play. Remember the Grey Phone of Death, in high school? The one that usually carried calls to and from the principal's office, which you could get an in-school suspension for using without permission? Yeah, that phone.