Am 21. Dec, 2004 schwätzte Victor Odhner so: > Thanks, Hans. > > Ahh, the life of a corporate geek! It's been crazy and > interesting and rough and rewarding. If I had it to > do over again, I'd do it over again. Oh wait, I AM > doing it over again. The career within a career after a career track, eh? :) ciao, der.hans > der.hans wrote: > > just in time for the holidays... > > It's a good reminder to take time to enjoy friends and family. > > > > > > Right. The fact is that, if you let "them" do it to you, > then you're just doing it to yourself. You have choices. > Have fun with the technology. Work your buns off. > And after your 45-60 hours, GO HOME and have a life. > > I worked some strange hours over the past 35 years, but > enjoyed the flexibility to run home and deal with a > family emergency, or put in some of those crazy hours > at home, cat-napping on the floor near my own computer and > refrigerator instead of taking a sleeping bag to work. > It balanced out pretty well. > > We raised five kids, all comfortable with technology > including one successful ubergeek, and I was there to > sing to them, go to church with them, take them camping, > attend their school activities, fix their broken toys, > listen in on their role playing games and watch them > build their Magic decks. (In fact, during my laid-off > stage I even got to help build the event registration > system for The Best Four Days in Gaming, that was an > interesting geek family connection!) > > My wife and I put the family first, and the IT business > paid me well enough that she could stay home when they > were small. She was brilliant with money, and we have > lived within our means. She got a new job just before > I was laid off, and we survived. > > Today we all have to work to pay for a tax-hungry government, > feeding retiring boomers and trying to keep up with exploding > medical costs because everybody insists on having every booboo > kissed and made better instead of just kicking the bucket like > any self-respecting sick person. Ah, the good old days. > But the mortgage for our five-bedroom lower-middle-class home > is way less than our kids are paying now for their lousy > apartments, and it's almost paid off (gloat!). These are > the *real* economic problems of our age. The way companies > treat their IT employees hasn't changed all that much. > > "... and we are the ones who had to stand by and listen > to your 'voice of experience' while we watched you make > fatal decisions." > > That remains the toughest part for me. The MBAs reduce > everything to numbers, and then forget what the numbers > represent. While I long for a computer without hardware, > they actually seem to think they can have a company > with "virtual people". But we knew that 40 years ago. > How did those wall posters go ... "We, the unwilling, > led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the > ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so > little, we are now qualified to do anything with > nothing, indefinitely ...". > > Management has gotten worse in some ways, better in others, > but in our business it was the geeks who were disloyal > first. They found out they could abandon a job every two > years and get a 25% increase, while the companies were > still doing the cradle-to-grave thing. I just needed to > point that out for the record ... it wasn't the MBAs who > invented the throw-away relationship. (Other industries > were harder on their workers of course; one locomotive > shop in Baltimore routinely laid everyone off before the > holidays so they wouldn't need to pay for time off.) > > "We sat in the sales presentations with you, horrified as > we listened to you sell a customer on a technology you did > not understand, and we knew could not be delivered at the > price you promised." Yup, that still goes on. I see > grandiose future plans that depend on a complex, > sophisticated software base, but those who created it and > many of the people who know that software have been laid > off or have quit in disgust, so who will do the development? > But the pedulum swings, sometimes with a syncopated rythm, > and every once in a while you see them do something right. > I know a sysadmin who was hired by a technology company to > work for *marketing*, to *test* the product with different > vendors' equipment, to sit in with the partners, to tell the > marketeers what they could actually deliver! So there is > some sanity out there. Sanity is a choice, and occasionally > we do choose it. > > "... change us from employees to contractors - ... giving > you the freedom to drop us the instant you felt we weren?t > needed. No one was laid off - contractors were just 'not > renewed'." > > OK, I had a funny experience in that regard. I was working > as a contractor, and they hired a bunch of contractors > as direct employees. Three months later, in early December, > they marched these guys out the door on a moment's notice ... > those who had cast their lots with the company. Me? I was > a contractor, so I got a 30-day notice. My consulting > company found a new gig for me, through January, while I > continued to put in some evening hours for the client, and > then they negotiated me back in without missing a beat, > the client never even changed my password. The "permanent" > employees were still gone. Consulting has its benefits. > > "We send out resumes ... unemployment runs out ... we apply > everywhere, to do anything, but to no avail. We are > overqualified for anything else, and we are unable to work > in the field we love. Hard-working professionals with > college degrees and decades of experience are stocking > shelves and serving drinks." > > Well, yes. That's a contradiction, neh? We are overqualified > for anything else, BUT we stock shelves and serving drinks. > Well, that's something else, and we're qualified, right? > I was a great materials handler in 2002 -- the oldest guy > in the shop, and they're saying hey Vic, slow down you'll > kill yourself. It was fun. Of course the part about getting > $8 an hour wasn't fun. The only thing that hurts is that we > got used to being paid to play with cool stuff, and now we > have to work for a living!!!! Actually, I learned a lot > while I was working as a receptionist, dragging boxes around > a warehouse, driving a truck, processing deeds, and doing > data entry. I shoulda done all that stuff first, but I went > from college right into the desk jobs. > > I went back to the company that laid me off, and did data > entry partly using software I'd helped to develop. Oh, so > *that's* what it's for. I worked my way back up on the > business side, which gave me a lot better perspective on > what it was all about. I helped find solutions to problems, > and they started to recognize my efforts. Now I'm being > taken care of pretty well, back to my old job title, and I > have a more realistic idea of how to serve the company, > the customer and society in general. Oh, and I'm back to > the flexible hours. ;-) But I'm preparing some other > options, in case things should get crazy again. > > Like my drill instructor Tito Labra used to say in army > basic (1965), "hang in there soldier, it's good training." > Life sucks, but that's part of the curriculum. We're here > to learn, so we should pity those poor MBAs who never do. > Like the Man said, "pray for those who spitefully use > you and persecute you." > > I'm so wordy, but of course Hans already said it all: > > It's a good reminder to take time to enjoy friends and family. > > Merry Christmas to all, or your choice of Happy Holidays ... > > Vic > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > -- # https://www.LuftHans.com/ http://www.AZOTO.org/ # Motorraeder toeten nicht. Motorraeder werden getoetet. --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss