For some time now all my storage needs are satisfied in their entirety by SSDs and I have no HDDs now. Certainly much better than my previous 10,000 RPM hard disks, so I think they are ready for the prime time.
If I write a paper, I'm going to try to get it in the best journal I can so it looks better on my resume.
If I write a paper, I'm going to just put it on my webpage, or maybe at arXiv as public domain or under a licence that allows other people to copy it, and in this way any journal that wants to print it can do so. I see no reason why I should submit my writings to anyone since now with the Internet we all can publish our papers on our servers/websites. People who search for papers will find them, whether they are on personal sites or journals, just as they already find whatever they look for now.
As for the CV factor, I think it's bad for science to try to make ourselves look better based on how prestigious a journals that accepted our writings is (and what is prestige anyway?). I prefer people to judge me from the quality of my work, rather than from shortcuts like which journal published me or such things.
Of course I am well-aware that there are many people who either don't have the time or don't have the ability to judge the quality of a paper from what it writes alone, and instead use shortcuts like where it was published and who wrote it in order to judge it. But I don't want this kind of people to judge me, so I don't care to find ways to impress them. If I write something good or discover something new in science I can feel happiness that people who really love science understood what I had to say and put it into good use. I don't think that people who make quick judgements based on external factors like where something was published are good for science.
That said, of course, I can understand people who are forced by societal customs to take the prestige of a journal into account because they need to give a good impression to people who are accustomed to think in this way. In that way, it's really not different than clothing. But if someone has no real need to do so, I think it's better to stay away from a rat race trying to find who can give the greatest meaningless impression to people who make quick judgements without realising the essence of a paper (or person).
I use Dvorak and I love it, I certainly see it as superior to QWERTY for typing English (but not other languages), because of its ergonomics, speed, and accuracy. I don't care what some journalist says, I trust my personal experience. You should, too: buy a Dvorak keyboard and try it. The one I use is the Typematrix, which is both Dvorak and QWERTY (useful if you are just now learning Dvorak, or if you change the keyboard between computers, or if you want to use Dvorak for English and QWERTY for another language as I do).
information from applications will be retained for 12 years, and eventually up to 75 years.
The perils of cheap storage...
Mediterranean isn't just at threat from ships cutting cables with their anchors, politics, wars, earthquakes, and volcanoes, but also from asteroids as powerful as two Little Boys. I guess there is no good cable defence against a big asteroid, is there?
The best strategy when evaluating work regimes is always to ask yourself: "will this help me to eventually set up my own business?".
If you believe the extra Friday off will enable you to pursue a self-employed career, then do it. If not, then you need to find another solution that would enable you to set up as self-employed, or do it immediatelly if you can.
Stop thinking about jobs and start considering becoming an entrepreneur with your own business (and in the field of IT, particularly in software, there is really little or no need for startup capital). It is generally much better to create your own success rather than wait for someone else to feed you. You might be afraid of the risk, but with the lay-offs now the risk of being an employee is about the same as the risk of being an entrepreneur, plus you must know that life belongs to those who know how to take risks.
it would be ideal for me when visiting clients for work.
Even better is a virtualised server accessible through the internet or vpn. In this way you can access your work and show it to your clients everywhere there is an internet connection.
"If you lived today as if it were your last, you'd buy up a box of rockets and fire them all off, wouldn't you?" -- Garrison Keillor