Because one of my eyes is completely blind. Anyway, since the 2D version of Avatar was shown at an inconvenient time I went to a 3D viewing with my friend. The goggles help keep the picture sane, but the image was still pretty blurry which was annoying. I know I'll go to movies less often if they insist on doing 3D versions for everything.

That's pretty harsh critique based on a short post, I'd say. At no point I ever smooched up to anyone. I hung out with people, had fun times and made friends, simple as that. It's true that they are useful when you're trying to get a job, but you're pretty fucking cynical if you assume that's the reason I spent my time with other people. Please try to remember the context of the posting (ie. how to get your first job).

As for slacking. I work as a programmer, get good reviews from my boss (who I didn't know before I got the job) and enjoy my work. I guess I would have been fired for incompetence before trial period was over if I was just slacking off, right? Grades aren't everything.

Of course not. But it helps to get your foot in for the first references for real world. It's not nepotism, because I wasn't getting hired because I knew those who hired me, as I didn't. I still had to show my grades and I still had to learn the prerequisite skills for the job and convince the HR people of my competence. The edge I got for these jobs against rivals who had no real work references either was I had many people vouching for me. This evens the odds helluva lot. Typically good employees vouch for good employees they can stand to be around, right?

if you don't have any previous work history in a field. I'll freely admit I got both of my IT jobs by referrals from friends and acquaintances already working in the companies.

University/College studies are as much about networking as they are about learning. I spent most of my years in University in our student relaxing room playing boardgames and arguing with fellow students and faculty members. Now people who graduated years before me and have achieved higher positions in companies know me or are my friends and have a good understanding on how I fit in teams/groups. And since we mostly argued about our studies at hand they know that even though my grades weren't top notch I knew my stuff.

Of course this doesn't work at all if you're an asshole. You have to stand out somehow, but red flagging yourself for good by suing your school for your own failures is about the worst thing you could possibly do.

I find it more than a little amusing that summary mentions waterfall method being a time honed, excellent example of how all software should be made. Here's the history of the none existent waterfall method has to say about it.. Waterfall Method does not exist!

Just get a fucking hobby. I went from 97kg to 107kg in my first year of IT work. Got fed up with being a fat ass last year, started eating low carb food and added exercise to my hobby list. Now I'm 85kg and spend a few nights at our gym doing bjj. Don't make excuses, I've got a 7 month old kid and I still manage to get some training time without any inhuman efforts or harming my relationship with my family. Just do it, you lazy bum.