just a little grumble

Tue, 4 Dec 2001 20:23:53 -0700

I would say -- it is better to work for pizza(food) than to work for yet another company that doesn't pay for your work.

I was laid off last September then got a Unix/Veritas project, which after a couple of  weeks the company ran out of money without paying me a single penny.

Any way, I think. I am lucky to get couple of offers in this bad economy and starting my work next Monday. actually with a pay real close to my .com pay and better benefits.

There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Sundar

On Tue, 4 Dec 2001 19:30:41 -0700
"Linux" <linux@ultrasw.com> wrote:

> Hi Matt,
> 
> I've been saying the same thing.  If the government could control
> the economy we would all be over taxed and very rich.
> 
> I've been threatening to go sell cars for years.  Maybe I
> will........
> 
> However we are rich by comparison.
> 
> Keith
> 
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Message: 10
> Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 17:32:32 -0800 (PST)
> From: Matt Alexander <m@netpro.to>
> To: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
> Subject: Re: just a little grumble
> Reply-To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> 
> My impression is that the economy grew extremely fast due almost
> entirely
> to the computer hardware/software industry.  Obviously, many
> non-tech
> companies also benefit from the tech industry doing well since
> there's a
> lot of services and goods needed to support the growth of the
> tech
> industry.  There were several factors that I see that led to such
> a huge
> expansion of tech jobs and high salaries, and all of these
> factors
> coincided at about the same time.
> 
> Y2K:  There was a lot of money spent upgrading hardware and
> software.
> There was also a lot of money spent on consultants and other
> support
> companies to facilitate the upgrade.  Many systems were upgraded
> even
> though they were already Y2K compliant, just to bring everything
> up to the
> same performance level.
> 
> The Internet:  Every commercial a couple years back had a URL
> splashed on
> the screen.  Nearly everyone thought that the Internet was going
> to be
> this amazing thing that revolutionized the world.  Everyone
> thought they
> could make a ton of money by simply selling their product over
> the web.
> Everyone that didn't already have a computer thought that they
> needed to
> get a computer so they too could do whatever it was that everyone
> else was
> doing on the Internet.  So what does Joe User do with his fancy
> computer
> and Internet access?  He reads and writes email.  Maybe if he's
> really
> advanced then he checks movie times or the latest sport scores on
> the Web.
> Woopteedoo.  Before you try to flame me on this point, realize
> that you
> are not "Joe User." You're on a Linux mailing list and that puts
> you far,
> far outside the average.
> Probably the most useful feature of the web to me is that I can
> easily
> make plane reservations (not that I can afford to travel anymore
> like I
> did during the dotcom days, but that's beside the point).  So
> there have
> been some nice benefits, but hardly anything earth-shattering.
> 
> Hardware performance:  Several years ago you could go into a
> computer
> store, take a computer home and actually notice some difference
> in the
> performance compared your old system.  So let's say Joe User buys
> the
> latest and greatest Pentium 933 THz computer.  Does he notice any
> big
> difference in how his apps run from his old 350MHz system?  Nope.
> Not
> unless he plays a lot of games.  So for almost every software
> category
> except games, the hardware has vastly exceeded the demands of the
> software.  Computer hardware is now become a commodity and the
> profit
> margins are next to nothing.  The server market is somewhat
> different, but
> it's quickly being marginalized as well as the performance from
> relatively
> cheap Intel chips continues to increase and push the more
> expensive
> players, such as Sun, into an ultra high-end niche market.
> 
> There are a lot of other minor contributors as well, such as
> money being
> invested in companies with no good business plan.  There was also
> an
> extreme waste of money during the dotcom days of a year or two
> ago.  I
> worked for two companies that would spend exorbitant amounts of
> money
> on all sorts of unnecessary purchases, all because they thought
> that their
> pot of gold would never run out.
> 
> I'm going to really exaggerate and overgeneralize things here and
> say that
> no one buys software anymore (except games).  Have you been to an
> Office
> Depot lately to see the software choices?  Almost nothing of
> interest.  MS
> Office, while a fine product, is horrendously expensive if you
> didn't
> already get it for free with your computer (or swiped a copy from
> work).
> So the software industry is pretty much dead, in my opinion.
> Microsoft will probably be one of a handful of software companies
> still
> standing in the next several years.  Not because they make good
> software,
> but because they're big enough and wealthy enough to survive
> longer than
> the rest.  But they too will have to soon make dramatic cuts in
> their
> workforce to survive.  They're losing money on X-box and
> customers aren't
> interested in upgrading their MS software (and probably couldn't
> afford it
> anyway) anymore.  Microsoft is sort of a macro-example of what
> we're going
> through.  They too were in the right place at the right time and
> made
> several business choices that brought them to this point.  But
> they can't
> keep up the same levels of financial growth any longer.  And
> there will
> never be another Microsoft because the factors that brought them
> where
> they are now won't happen again as far as I can tell.
> 
> So where'd all those computer jobs go?  They were never really
> there.
> It's not the fault of our government or anyone else for running
> the
> economy into the ground.  We're in a recession.  And we'll
> continue to be
> in a recession until things return to the levels they were before
> Y2K, The
> Internet, and Hardware blew things way out of proportion.  It was
> a bubble
> of extreme wealth where a lot of things happened together at the
> right
> time, but it's over now.
> 
> In any case, I wish everyone that's been laid-off (including
> myself) the
> best of luck finding a new job.  You might seriously look at
> going back to
> school to try your hand at a different profession.  Right now
> there are
> too many people looking for tech jobs and there will most likely
> never be
> enough jobs to satisfy them all.
> ~M
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 4 Dec 2001, Nancy Sollars wrote:
> 
> > Hi Guys,
> >
> > Well looks like this down turn in economy has bitten once more
> ... Ive just had a nice chat with my wife and it seems the only
> choice ive got is to go and get a job at a fast food restuarant
> ..
> >
> >
> > not being funny but i could have dont this back in Bristol..
> Since the economy in the US at the moment sucks so bad im
> seriously considering going back to the UK,  I think someone up
> top should get a reality check and start reading their book on
> how to run a country cause im sure im not the only one being
> driven to such extremes.
> >
> > With all my experiance and stuff in IT there is no way in hell
> im going to flip burgers it would make no sense of the money and
> effort spent on training and courses by myself back in the UK.
> >
> > How do you all feel about the current situation?
> >
> > Nige
> >
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> ________________________________________________
> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> 
> PLUG-discuss mailing list  -  PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss