• lectricleopard@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    4 days ago

    I remember for my senior project in college having done so much work that documenting it at the end resulted in like 30 pages. That was without stetching it. I didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary at that point. Kids these days…

    • protist@retrofed.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      4 days ago

      The hardest papers were the ones where the professor gave you content expectations and then a page limit. I def learned to be concise and how to avoid fluff

      • vrek@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        4 days ago

        Honestly if you’re not going into academia that’s a useful skill. If I’m your boss and ask you something like “if we change part 15 to be np35 instead of the current Pl-Ir we could save 40 dollars per part, what are your thoughts of the implications?” I’m not reading 30 pages of rambling. You should be able to research and give me a summary in less than a page.

        • OwOarchist@pawb.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          4 days ago

          No point these days. Your boss is going to ask ChatGPT to summarize your answer, even if your answer is one word long. And then if your boss doesn’t like your answer, he’ll ask ChatGPT for an answer instead. And if he doesn’t like ChatGPT’s answer, he’ll ask it again for a different answer. And when it finally tells him “Sure, you can save $40 per part and have no problems at all!” then he’ll implement that change, brag to upper management about how much money he saved, and then when the parts no longer work, he’ll blame it on you.

          • vrek@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            4 days ago

            If that’s your boss… Holy shit you need a new job. Actually your boss needs a new job as he is contributing nothing. In reality the change may be worth while(change in conductivity will require high power but most systems are plugged into wall so shouldn’t be a concern), or maybe be a disaster(np35 is not bio-compatible for humans as approved by fda so we would not be able to sell our products). Yes Ai is bad and should not trusted. If your boss is that into the hype, I’m sorry. Effectively you’re saying your job is useless, it may be beneficial but is not being used. Hell at that point why is your boss even asking you anything?

      • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        4 days ago

        I had the opposite problem: I felt a steep constitutional objection to fluff, and writing with a length requirement was hell. Not because I was being lazy but because I was already kind of terrible (raised near-exclusively on the infamous 5-paragraph, 3-point plus thesis and conclusion, template) and then on top of that could not morally write garbage filler unless it was the very last minute.

        … And that’s how I ended up editing on Wikipedia for 10 years where concision is the point and the real work is overwhelmingly in the research.

      • Eat_Your_Paisley@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        4 days ago

        The bain of my early college years was writing a paper on a subject only for prof to go now cut it half, then he did it twice more.