Slashdot Mirror
Linuxgruven Deorbits
An Anonymous Coward writes: "There's a story at Newsforge about some of the weirdness happening at Linuxgruven. Several ex-employees and students are telling what happened to them. It's not pretty." Considering the skeptical reports for months from readers about Linuxgruven's employment practices (and that we had a short story about those as well as one about the recent layoffs), this doesn't come as a complete surprise -- it's still a shame that employees are stuck with empty bank accounts because of management, though.
Linuxgruven's business failure means:
Well, there goes another warning about Linux certification. I've always Linux certifications were overrated.
The way I figure, if you want to learn Linux and networking, you can set up a 2 node network for under $200, if you look through the classifieds and garage sales. Another $100 for documentation and $20 for network cards and $50 for a printer, and you can learn more hands on with your small home network than you ever could in a classroom.
If I were a hiring manager, any wannabee Linux administrator that did not have a network at home would get a big strike against them. If you can't spend a few hundred and some time at home to polish your skills, how are you going to stay current in the office?
People have to take some blame for this. Not every employer can be trusted; not every business model is sound. Did anyone signing on with them ask about their funding? Stability? Did anyone check otu the qualifications of the managemetn? CFO?
It strikes nobody as odd that you should have to pay thousands of dollars to qualify to apply for the job?
And if it were me, I'd be out the door the second a single check bounced, based on past experience. With proper accounting, a company will NEVER, EVER bounce checks. I'd rather they didn't pay me on time than bounce a check.
For me, this sentence neatly sums up all of the inspired entertainment the entire ".com" phenomenon has provided over the past two years. Honestly: Linuxgruven comes up with a business model straight out of "The Carpetbaggers", innocent 20-somethings fall for it in droves, then the wounded themselves feel sorry for the con artists who started the whole thing because the poor babies had to suffer the consequences of their own decisions and actions. The indignity of it all! Friends, geeks, fellow cynics: this is an innocence to be cherished! This is a naievete to be wrapped in silk and put away for special occasions down the road! This is a Kodak moment! :)
If you received Federally-backed financial assistance funds to pay for private career school training, you also can call the Department of Education to report your problem. The toll-free number is (800) MIS-USED, or in the Washington, D.C. area, call 202-205-5770.
(from the FTC website)
That would be so great! I could live on 60% of my income for 6 months, no problem. Plus a "3 salaries" severance check -- I could go to Jamaica, hang out on the beach for a couple of months, smoke pot every day, get a great tan, then go back to work.
In fact, I could set up a company, hire my buddies, work for six months, go bankrupt, then six months later, one of them could set up a contracting company, hire me for six months, go bankrupt, then one of my other budz could set up the company... Man! we could do that for ages!
Where can I sign up? Oh, do we have to speak German?
I have a friend that is doing quite well now, without one, but he went through a pretty nasty legal battle with the company he worked for to get where he was today. They had him work for them for 2 years, building their network, and then fired him and hired the person he was training into the same position he was filling.
Apparently, he was too expensive. At any rate, this is how the business world works. They chew you up and spit you out, if you let them.. Today they will pay you 100k/year to code in Delphi, tomorrow, you are unemployed. The only defense to this is to have a broad knowledge base, which may be possible to get without going to college, but it sure helps.
I knew nothing about Linuxgruven until the recent /. story about SAIR's disapproval of their training practices. At that time I posted that I thought that the people who thought that they could get a $45K job for just passing a test were setting themselves up, because a company that does that will never make it, and unfortunately, I was right. And you never do want to be right about something like that.
In my opinion, there needs to be a SWIFT and immediate criminal investigation of Linuxgruven's CEO Matthew Porter and their management. I believe that they were running a ponsi scheme, paying employees out of the money they were getting for "training" new people. Linuxgruven obviously never legitimately did the business they claimed to be doing. If it's not a ponsi scheme, it's close... The article suggests that new employees who jsut passed the tests were then given the job of training new victims... Which is why this smells of a ponsi scheme.
Now people who forked over a considerable amount of money for questionable education are left holding an empty bag. And employees are screwed amd left with bounced checks and bills.
Bouncing paychecks is a serious crime in some locales. I say that Linuxgruven's CEO and management need to see the inside of a jail cell.
In the Newsforge article, these bozos are planning to start a "competing" business. I'd advice everyone to stay the hell away from whatever business that is.
Unethical business practice should not go unpunished.
=== The price of freedom is eternal vigilance