The Lockdown Browser is not very good at locking down

I’m taking my second semester of classes at Inver Hills, and in my Chemistry class, we have this awful piece of software called the “Respondus Lockdown Browser.” It’s job is to lockdown the computer so you can’t use other programs, prevents copy-paste, and in theory prevents cheating. I understand the motivation. Cheating is a scourge …

Trying out AngelList’s new Assessments

I’m a 19-year-old entirely self-taught programmer, and I’ve documented by experiences with Triplebyte’s Quizzes to get a good estimate at my skill. On Triplebyte, I scored 60th-80th percentile for a Generalist Engineer and 80th-100th Percentile among Entry-Level Generalist Engineers. Pretty good for having absolutely no academic training in Computer Science or programming! Some time after …

Another Certification: Arduino Fundamentals

I was bored this Wednesday when I remembered that Arduino launched their first certification, called the “Arduino Fundamentals Certificate.” With my recent bid to become Co-President of the Inver Hills Engineering Club and my experience using Arduino since Christmas 2011, I didn’t think I would have much difficulty passing. Also, it was only $30 and …

The Parent Portal project: Part One

First, some backstory: For this summer, I tried to get a certain Triplebyte Externship, but it fell through, and I was left with either working for my dad’s masonry restoration and fireplace business, or to find my own job. It started with my dad deciding to sell his scaffolding, and lots of it, because of …

Triplebyte Entry Level Quiz [Part 2 in series]. 80th-100th percentile, no externship

On June 3, 2020, Triplebyte announced their new Externship Program for students who lost their internships from the COVID-19 problem. These Externships aren’t as well paid as actual internships, but their remote, about ~6 weeks or so in length, and not a bad way at all to gain experience. In the last article, I passed …

I passed the Triplebyte Quiz, but failed the automated review

A few months ago, I was browsing the internet and saw one of those many adds on Reddit for a service called Triplebyte. You’ve probably seen them all the time on programming websites (they are fairly aggressive in advertising everywhere it seems), and their pitch is fairly simple. “Just take the quiz, pass the interview, …

Trad Catholic Media Analysis: Part Two

My first post on the decline of various Catholic media outlets got a little bit of attention, as well as some good criticism. Namely: What about some more niche but still popular websites, like Rorate Caeli, or Barnhardt, or Gloria.tv? Could you balance out the data from Alexa (known to be egregiously inaccurate on occasion) …

Trad Catholic Media Analysis: The decline, analyzed

Before I start – I am not a theologian, a book writer, a YouTube commentator, or anyone special within the Catholic media sphere. However, if you have been following traditional Catholic media for a while, you will almost certainly seen arguments about the SSPX, their legitimacy, and its various (supposed) scandals. The disagreement has divided …