For the past two years, I have been an independent contractor for Oracle Egypt, Xceed (the largest call center in the middle east) and some other firms.
Yes, these "professionals" *think* that they are worth what their contemporaries in the U.$ are getting, but the plain truth is that they are not.
They are not productive. By that I mean they lack consistency, attention to detail, and follow-through. This includes employees at all levels, from administration to management.
Process, an abused word in the American work-place is a "newer" term in many countries.
Many of us underestimate the cultural expectation of service and professionalism in the U.$. that we are assimilated into long before we begin professional work.
This attitude and perspective is MISSING in the "professional approach" among professional in developing markets. Most of them think that their technical skills/development merit their position and pay, which I have explained and demonstrated to them will not be enough to KEEP the job.
Sadly, 9 out of 10 professionals at Oracle Egypt want to be told what to do. They resent having to explain themselves, sell their solutions to customers (explain what they hell they propose and why the customer should implement their solution), and especially lack the communication skills to build customer rapport.
The unstructured and self-managed work environment is a challenge to them, and they wind-up in a corner asking each other what to do, and their managers form India offer/set no better examples and are usually in the corner with them.
I keep thinking, one day -a divorced, childless pre-menopausal white woman is gonna ride-down on y'alls asses.
European customers of Oracle are HAVING FITS about the level of service professionalism that they are receiving.
They complain about the "non-technical" work expectations, the (life-long) continuous learning expectations and especially having to do such on their own time.
Microsoft call centers are popping-up all over developing markets because it is a tool used by Microsoft to stem the use of non-Microsoft "solutions" in developing markets.
For example, here in Egypt Microsoft is the preferred vendor to the Egyptian government, Xceed (contact center) is owned by Telecom Egypt and the Egyptian Ministry of Information and Telecommunications. The work environment is what I can only imagine what a working in prison to be.
Egypt is a low-risk environment, and most of these professionals refuse to even learn about open source tools and technologies. For now, there is no threat of an Egyptian solution-provider in this market competing AGAINST Orace, M$, etc.
From what I have observed, all this 'outsourcing' is doing is helping to build a middle-class in developing markets so that there are customers with the income to consume western goods/services.
It's working, too. These markets have bodies, but not necessarily brains.
Oracle Egypt has pretty much aggregated all of the professionals in the region who are not working for their business partners and customers and is WAREHOUSING them to keep them form Microsoft -who incidentally was only doing product activation for Europe and is now recruiting for DB professionals -most of whom already work for Oracle.
Now, M$ is poaching and driving the cost of "labor" up. These "professionals" will jump ship for more undeserved money, IMNSHO.
BTW: Oracle-Egypt's pay scale as far as I can be nebby enough to find out ranges from $500 p/mo for "Customer Care" to $1000-$2,000 p/mo. for Oracle Analysts. Xceed pays from $150-200 p/mo. for "call center" employees. Administrative staff make from $300-500 p/mo.
Until they start using the magic word -"FIRRREEEE-DUH," no change is gonna come. They just don't have to.
EnterpriseDB goes mission critical at Sony Online Entertainment By Jack Loftus, News Writer
Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online games giant responsible for popular games like Everquest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies, will migrate to open source EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.1.
[...] "There is certainly demand picking up for open source databases, and we are going to be seeing more and more of these larger companies adopting an open source database strategy," Yuhanna said. "With Sony -- it was dealing with lots of data -- online gaming data -- and paying $40,000 a processor to a company like Oracle, and that certainly was adding up."
Uhm,
Semantically, that "would" include gambling, no?
Slippery slope... Next thing you know the online gamblers are screaming "equal pretection," a GAME is a GAME is a GAME.
"Pimpin' 'aint easy, but somebody's got to do it"
Well,
I have heard of and written many. Now if there is some *trick* other than hitting *enter* to space between "paragraphs" on this site then I'd appreciate the recipe to the secret sauce.
I read many articles on this site before I decided to register and post. I work to keep it civil, but have no reservations about going there.
Uhm,
The United $tates, as a Political-Capitalist State has historically invested in basic research and scientific inquiry as a subsidy to industry -particularly because to do so advances all producers in the society and (at one time) as a means to provide a national competitive advantage to manufacturers, blah, blah, blah. It is one of the reasons why the U.$. accounted for so much technological innovation and discovery in the 20th Century.
The rationale that supports this is that basic scientific research, from with no marketable products will emerge for years, if ever is too burdensome and risky for the private sector to "handle" alone.
Incidentally, all Federal agencies are required to be self-supporting, which is why each agency has fees and such. It is a LIE that Federal tax dollars support the Federal Gov't. Enough $$ from various fees, duties and excise taxes are collected to fully fund the Federal gov't. States and the Federal Gov't. keep two sets of books, the one we are privy to, which is a "budget," from which the deficit and surplus numbers come from -surpluses and deficits are stated against the so-called "budget" and then there is the
There is a correlation between manufacturing and R&D as well as employment demand. In this case it would be in the computer sciences and technology industries.
The de-industrialization of the U.$ was not by accident, and raising tariffs will not stem the flow of foreign goods or balance our trade because we basically only (still) make farm & machine goods (some) steel, airplanes and weapons for export. The conventional wisdom on services exports (performed in the U.$.) balancing out the shift of manufacturing jobs has been debunked, as U.$ based companies are now hiring foreigners (where they have shifted manufacturing) to perform the service-based tasks (R&D, marketing, etc.) which is contributing to the problem.
The glory days of computer science and technology jobs, and employment demand will not return until and unless the manufacture of those goods returns to the United States. Supply-chain innovation (component and supplier innovation and improvements) has been and will continue to be impacted by this as well.
Developing countries are encouraged to develop a strong manufacturing base to grow their economies, and somehow the U.$ is exempt. Please.
"Free trade" is a ruse by globalists to re-import their goods (from where they shifted manufacturing) back into the U.$. as cost-free as possible.
The Law of Diminishing Returns is impacting 'student' interest in the Computing Sciences. There is a perception that the job demand will not be there, and so people are going into other fields where they can expect to be offered gainful employment.
In summary, a well-educated population is the TRUEST enemy of governments, and at this time in world/U.$. history, a DECISION was made a put into effect to economically downsize the U.$. to be malleable to the globalists' ambitions, the effects of which we are discussing.
Tuition is increasing because of inflation = expansion of the money supply, along with the lessening of State funding for Universities nation-wide, they are going to a self-support model(tuition and fee-based) which is why Congress legalized Universities licensing tech. discoveries at their institutions as well as fee-based access to research papers -which is a PUBLIC GOOD (taxpayer funded). How 'bout That for "justice?"
"You pays yo' money and you takes ya' choice"
Slashdot Mirror
Inside joke, they get it done!
For the past two years, I have been an independent contractor for Oracle Egypt, Xceed (the largest call center in the middle east) and some other firms.
Yes, these "professionals" *think* that they are worth what their contemporaries in the U.$ are getting, but the plain truth is that they are not.
They are not productive. By that I mean they lack consistency, attention to detail, and follow-through. This includes employees at all levels, from administration to management.
Process, an abused word in the American work-place is a "newer" term in many countries.
Many of us underestimate the cultural expectation of service and professionalism in the U.$. that we are assimilated into long before we begin professional work.
This attitude and perspective is MISSING in the "professional approach" among professional in developing markets. Most of them think that their technical skills/development merit their position and pay, which I have explained and demonstrated to them will not be enough to KEEP the job.
Sadly, 9 out of 10 professionals at Oracle Egypt want to be told what to do. They resent having to explain themselves, sell their solutions to customers (explain what they hell they propose and why the customer should implement their solution), and especially lack the communication skills to build customer rapport.
The unstructured and self-managed work environment is a challenge to them, and they wind-up in a corner asking each other what to do, and their managers form India offer/set no better examples and are usually in the corner with them.
I keep thinking, one day -a divorced, childless pre-menopausal white woman is gonna ride-down on y'alls asses.
European customers of Oracle are HAVING FITS about the level of service professionalism that they are receiving.
They complain about the "non-technical" work expectations, the (life-long) continuous learning expectations and especially having to do such on their own time.
Microsoft call centers are popping-up all over developing markets because it is a tool used by Microsoft to stem the use of non-Microsoft "solutions" in developing markets.
For example, here in Egypt Microsoft is the preferred vendor to the Egyptian government, Xceed (contact center) is owned by Telecom Egypt and the Egyptian Ministry of Information and Telecommunications. The work environment is what I can only imagine what a working in prison to be.
Egypt is a low-risk environment, and most of these professionals refuse to even learn about open source tools and technologies. For now, there is no threat of an Egyptian solution-provider in this market competing AGAINST Orace, M$, etc.
From what I have observed, all this 'outsourcing' is doing is helping to build a middle-class in developing markets so that there are customers with the income to consume western goods/services.
It's working, too. These markets have bodies, but not necessarily brains.
Oracle Egypt has pretty much aggregated all of the professionals in the region who are not working for their business partners and customers and is WAREHOUSING them to keep them form Microsoft -who incidentally was only doing product activation for Europe and is now recruiting for DB professionals -most of whom already work for Oracle.
Now, M$ is poaching and driving the cost of "labor" up. These "professionals" will jump ship for more undeserved money, IMNSHO.
BTW: Oracle-Egypt's pay scale as far as I can be nebby enough to find out ranges from $500 p/mo for "Customer Care" to $1000-$2,000 p/mo. for Oracle Analysts. Xceed pays from $150-200 p/mo. for "call center" employees. Administrative staff make from $300-500 p/mo.
Until they start using the magic word -"FIRRREEEE-DUH," no change is gonna come. They just don't have to.
EnterpriseDB goes mission critical at Sony Online Entertainment
By Jack Loftus, News Writer
Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online games giant responsible for popular games like Everquest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies, will migrate to open source EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.1.
[...] "There is certainly demand picking up for open source databases, and we are going to be seeing more and more of these larger companies adopting an open source database strategy," Yuhanna said. "With Sony -- it was dealing with lots of data -- online gaming data -- and paying $40,000 a processor to a company like Oracle, and that certainly was adding up."
http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/originalCo
Uhm, Semantically, that "would" include gambling, no? Slippery slope... Next thing you know the online gamblers are screaming "equal pretection," a GAME is a GAME is a GAME. "Pimpin' 'aint easy, but somebody's got to do it"
Roger That!
"A fool and his money are soon parted" -W.C. Fields
Obviously Capitalism is NOT working for you!
Hopefully they just use those transparent "sponsored by" splashes as the video plays, or something.
It appears that the business model of TV production is not going to be re-factored with the advent of web-based content delivery.
The internet "itself" has turned into one big "commercial." Filtering all the online ads is a test of endurance, however 'there's no free lunch'.
KEEP CONTENT FREE!! -Attention is expensive.
"I'm a honest hoe, and all my hoes is honest."
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:3:./tem p/~c1091d9OrP::
Well, I have heard of and written many. Now if there is some *trick* other than hitting *enter* to space between "paragraphs" on this site then I'd appreciate the recipe to the secret sauce. I read many articles on this site before I decided to register and post. I work to keep it civil, but have no reservations about going there.
Uhm, The United $tates, as a Political-Capitalist State has historically invested in basic research and scientific inquiry as a subsidy to industry -particularly because to do so advances all producers in the society and (at one time) as a means to provide a national competitive advantage to manufacturers, blah, blah, blah. It is one of the reasons why the U.$. accounted for so much technological innovation and discovery in the 20th Century. The rationale that supports this is that basic scientific research, from with no marketable products will emerge for years, if ever is too burdensome and risky for the private sector to "handle" alone. Incidentally, all Federal agencies are required to be self-supporting, which is why each agency has fees and such. It is a LIE that Federal tax dollars support the Federal Gov't. Enough $$ from various fees, duties and excise taxes are collected to fully fund the Federal gov't. States and the Federal Gov't. keep two sets of books, the one we are privy to, which is a "budget," from which the deficit and surplus numbers come from -surpluses and deficits are stated against the so-called "budget" and then there is the There is a correlation between manufacturing and R&D as well as employment demand. In this case it would be in the computer sciences and technology industries. The de-industrialization of the U.$ was not by accident, and raising tariffs will not stem the flow of foreign goods or balance our trade because we basically only (still) make farm & machine goods (some) steel, airplanes and weapons for export. The conventional wisdom on services exports (performed in the U.$.) balancing out the shift of manufacturing jobs has been debunked, as U.$ based companies are now hiring foreigners (where they have shifted manufacturing) to perform the service-based tasks (R&D, marketing, etc.) which is contributing to the problem. The glory days of computer science and technology jobs, and employment demand will not return until and unless the manufacture of those goods returns to the United States. Supply-chain innovation (component and supplier innovation and improvements) has been and will continue to be impacted by this as well. Developing countries are encouraged to develop a strong manufacturing base to grow their economies, and somehow the U.$ is exempt. Please. "Free trade" is a ruse by globalists to re-import their goods (from where they shifted manufacturing) back into the U.$. as cost-free as possible. The Law of Diminishing Returns is impacting 'student' interest in the Computing Sciences. There is a perception that the job demand will not be there, and so people are going into other fields where they can expect to be offered gainful employment. In summary, a well-educated population is the TRUEST enemy of governments, and at this time in world/U.$. history, a DECISION was made a put into effect to economically downsize the U.$. to be malleable to the globalists' ambitions, the effects of which we are discussing. Tuition is increasing because of inflation = expansion of the money supply, along with the lessening of State funding for Universities nation-wide, they are going to a self-support model(tuition and fee-based) which is why Congress legalized Universities licensing tech. discoveries at their institutions as well as fee-based access to research papers -which is a PUBLIC GOOD (taxpayer funded). How 'bout That for "justice?" "You pays yo' money and you takes ya' choice"