Back around 2000, I worked for a company doing power distribution software. One of the EE-type guys there told us that, in Britain, the electrician is supposed to go by what he's told as to whether a line is hot or not....
Britain is a conqured country owned by invading generals, and has been since 1066 AD ! 8-) Get yourself a set of padlocks and tags!
I have never understood that. Some people seem to reach a point in their professional lives where they stop bothering to learn new stuff and just expect to allowed to vegetate away...
That's not just programmers and tech people...
But it is also true that the younger people don't understand the old stuff. Which is the stuff that works. The new stuff doesn't work yet! 8-)
There is an instinctive tendency to try to destroy anything that was there before you came in. To make yourself be on an even level with the "old" people, that know how it is working now. We all see this in new managers, that want to change everything when they arrive.
But it happens in other people, too.
It is the reason that people say that it is better to trash the old stuff and write new. It is not necessarily true, it just seems easier when you don't know the old stuff. In fact, I have seen more disasters due to trashing the "old" stuff, than any other cause. Because functionality is -always- lost, the specs are out of date and the only real record of what is needed is the old tech (source / hardware / knowledge).
Tech is not changing as fast as the salesmen say, it is just the new people that want that to be true, so they can be first!
It may seem easier to make something from scratch, but then you never learn how much you -don't- know! Of course it is frustrating to study someone elses stuff, but learning -anything- starts out as frustrating. Lookup "learning frustration". 8-)
Stop teaching trade skills and start teaching fundamentals which haven't changed since the 1960s. Nearly every "new" technology is a rehash of something that was solved 50 years ago. The implementations may be quite different, but the concepts are nearly identical.
True, most of what is changing now is the "technish". Every new vendor wants a new set of words so they can say they are "new". But he actual operations are old, although the older implementations might not have worked well. If they can make it work well and reliably, thats good. But it doesn't mean they really need new words, that's just hype.
Of course, if you want to talk to the "natives" you have to talk in their dialect. Like saying "Harddrive" for desktop computer, when in administrative offices! 8-)
Forgive me if I have misunderstood, but how does your proposed model differ from hiring consultants through an agency/consulting firm. This is an already-entrenched and very common model.
The difference is: Agencies compete with each other, but Unions are a monopoly. Thats why existing unions have tended to go bad after a while. But running as a limited monopoly such as the local electric companies might work. Of course, no one likes the electric company... 8-)
>...will soon learn a painful, and very expensive lesson in the dollar value of organizational memory. Citation? My experience is that they haven't yet and I would not expect them to start now.
It's simple enough. If they are successful, then it was not needed. If the company disappears and most employees lose everything, then they were wrong.
But there is a delay effect, and the bigger the company the longer the delay. Beware of joining a company where the delay has already started.
The "gig" economy is not about replacing in-house workers or saving money. Organizations are doing this to bring in specific skills and domain knowledge they could never hope to hire as a normal employee. I'm brought in as an addition to the team, not a replacement. I also usually provide training to the normal employees as well.
Good point.
The problems mentioned are often because the person has no unusual skills, so they are competing with many hungry others.
Hint: Study the hard stuff, that others don't want to bother with. Find a field where this seems to you to be fun. When people (who do not have your welfare at hart) tell you this is a waste of time, smile and nod and ignore them. 8-)
The "common knowledge", about this, is based on calculations originally done on mechanical calculators or even by people called "computers", back before electronics.
When electronic computers came out the calculations were written in code, but it was the -same- calculations.
Talk about "over simplified" and "over averaged"!
Most of these ideas about business and economy could use some modern Engineering Analysis... 8-)
... They don't learn to think for themselves or do anything fun. The teachers just "teach to the test"... they are just learning to regurgitate what is shoved down their throat and not learning any kind of critical thinking.
I had problems with that when I was in school. Except, there were no standardized tests back then! In fact, some of the testing was supposed to -cure- that problem... 8-)
... It's frustrating when you get to the pinch point at a low speed and then accelerate because that pretty much proves it lack of planning and anticipation...
The act of accellerating should be what opens the gap behind you for the car in the next lane to merge into. And vice-versa. That means that the accelleration should be moderate and even, so the gaps open as needed.
Unfortunatly, many local authoraties -lower- the speed limit at the merge instead of increasing it, thinking that they are for "safety". What it actually does is, lowering the spead limit as the cars merge causes accidents and reduces safety!
In that case drivers have to reduce speed -before- the merge so that they can open gaps -at- the merge. So there is a traffic backup.
That's why I used the phrase "Local technical jargon". Jargon is not necessarily more detailed, just specialized to the local needs.
But if you are talking to the antique collector and you say you want an "icebox", you may very well get a wooden box that needs a hundred pound block of ice to work! That's what I mean by problems when talking to a non-local person.
I spend half my work time translating jargon of various types from one state or company to another. It's a headache! 8-)
... If the shipping companies really want to have deeper channels, they should pay for them and increase the ship costs to the true unsubsidized cost...
The ships go where they can get in. If you don't deepen the channel they will go somewhere else. As long as there are other ports to go to, they have no reason to pay for the channel work.
It's partly because of the subsidizing of truck transport. Trains have to pay for rails, but trucks don't and can use regular hiways. They pay taxes but that is less, so it amounts to a "subsidy". So, getting a truck to take the goods from the ship back to the other city is less cost than paying for a deeper channel in the other city.
If all the port cities got together that might change. But might also be "conspiracy in restraint of trade" and illegal!
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Back around 2000, I worked for a company doing power distribution software. One of the EE-type guys there told us that, in Britain, the electrician is supposed to go by what he's told as to whether a line is hot or not. ...
Britain is a conqured country owned by invading generals, and has been since 1066 AD ! 8-)
Get yourself a set of padlocks and tags!
To management people hiring tech, who want to get rid of the old expensive talent and hire new cheaper:
Be aware that "YoungAndStupid" is all one word... 8-)
Sadly, it often depends on the vendor salesmen, and how big of a kickback they offered the pointy-haired manager... 8-}
(Oh, it wasn't a kickback. It was a free vacation, or a leather bound binder...)
...old talent doesn't understand the new stuff."
I have never understood that. Some people seem to reach a point in their professional lives where they stop bothering to learn new stuff and just expect to allowed to vegetate away ...
That's not just programmers and tech people...
But it is also true that the younger people don't understand the old stuff. Which is the stuff that works. The new stuff doesn't work yet! 8-)
There is an instinctive tendency to try to destroy anything that was there before you came in. To make yourself be on an even level with the "old" people, that know how it is working now. We all see this in new managers, that want to change everything when they arrive.
But it happens in other people, too.
It is the reason that people say that it is better to trash the old stuff and write new. It is not necessarily true, it just seems easier when you don't know the old stuff. In fact, I have seen more disasters due to trashing the "old" stuff, than any other cause. Because functionality is -always- lost, the specs are out of date and the only real record of what is needed is the old tech (source / hardware / knowledge).
Tech is not changing as fast as the salesmen say, it is just the new people that want that to be true, so they can be first!
It may seem easier to make something from scratch, but then you never learn how much you -don't- know! Of course it is frustrating to study someone elses stuff, but learning -anything- starts out as frustrating. Lookup "learning frustration". 8-)
Stop teaching trade skills and start teaching fundamentals which haven't changed since the 1960s. Nearly every "new" technology is a rehash of something that was solved 50 years ago. The implementations may be quite different, but the concepts are nearly identical.
True, most of what is changing now is the "technish". Every new vendor wants a new set of words so they can say they are "new". But he actual operations are old, although the older implementations might not have worked well. If they can make it work well and reliably, thats good. But it doesn't mean they really need new words, that's just hype.
Of course, if you want to talk to the "natives" you have to talk in their dialect. Like saying "Harddrive" for desktop computer, when in administrative offices! 8-)
With all this talk about "Cloud" this and that I guess that's the future...
Probably about as accurate as most people that talk about "the cloud"! 8-)
Forgive me if I have misunderstood, but how does your proposed model differ from hiring consultants through an agency/consulting firm. This is an already-entrenched and very common model.
The difference is: Agencies compete with each other, but Unions are a monopoly. Thats why existing unions have tended to go bad after a while.
But running as a limited monopoly such as the local electric companies might work. Of course, no one likes the electric company... 8-)
>...will soon learn a painful, and very expensive lesson in the dollar value of organizational memory.
Citation? My experience is that they haven't yet and I would not expect them to start now.
It's simple enough. If they are successful, then it was not needed. If the company disappears and most employees lose everything, then they were wrong.
But there is a delay effect, and the bigger the company the longer the delay. Beware of joining a company where the delay has already started.
The question is: What does the company actually sell? Could it be those specific processes, that require special knowledge?
If so, then outsourcing will destroy the company, because it will, in effect, have nothing to sell... 8-(
The "gig" economy is not about replacing in-house workers or saving money. Organizations are doing this to bring in specific skills and domain knowledge they could never hope to hire as a normal employee. I'm brought in as an addition to the team, not a replacement. I also usually provide training to the normal employees as well.
Good point.
The problems mentioned are often because the person has no unusual skills, so they are competing with many hungry others.
Hint: Study the hard stuff, that others don't want to bother with. Find a field where this seems to you to be fun. When people (who do not have your welfare at hart) tell you this is a waste of time, smile and nod and ignore them. 8-)
That is not long, someone must be used to "tweeter". 8-)
Good description, some good ideas, thanks
And I didn't see any tax fraud there, it is legal to deduct expenses. And most businesses have more expenses than they realize.
The "common knowledge", about this, is based on calculations originally done on mechanical calculators or even by people called "computers", back before electronics.
When electronic computers came out the calculations were written in code, but it was the -same- calculations.
Talk about "over simplified" and "over averaged"!
Most of these ideas about business and economy could use some modern Engineering Analysis... 8-)
Craftsmen tend to work more for appreciation than for paycheck...
However, -money- is the sincerest form of appreciation! 8-)
... They don't learn to think for themselves or do anything fun. The teachers just "teach to the test" ... they are just learning to regurgitate what is shoved down their throat and not learning any kind of critical thinking.
I had problems with that when I was in school. Except, there were no standardized tests back then!
In fact, some of the testing was supposed to -cure- that problem... 8-)
... 1) if your problems are restricted to a subspace with special properties that your algorithm takes advantage of ....
Any Engineer knows that -all- problems are of form 1. Solving things for all possible cases is a Mathematician's fantasy! 8-)
Math is hard.
Or, more accurately, math is believed to be hard.
Or, more completely, math is believed to be hard by humans, a species known to be shy on intelligence.
The Universe is hard! Things only seem easy when we are accustomed to them, and have forgotten how hard it was when we started... 8-)
... It's frustrating when you get to the pinch point at a low speed and then accelerate because that pretty much proves it lack of planning and anticipation...
The act of accellerating should be what opens the gap behind you for the car in the next lane to merge into. And vice-versa.
That means that the accelleration should be moderate and even, so the gaps open as needed.
Unfortunatly, many local authoraties -lower- the speed limit at the merge instead of increasing it, thinking that they are for "safety". What it actually does is, lowering the spead limit as the cars merge causes accidents and reduces safety!
In that case drivers have to reduce speed -before- the merge so that they can open gaps -at- the merge. So there is a traffic backup.
If you meet a bear when walking in the woods, which one do you -really- Not want to run into?
Answer: A female with cubs!
And regardless of "civilizing influences", it's true of humans, too. 8-)
Considering that too many kids get their science knowledge from Hollywood Horror movies, MythBusters was -way- better than that! 8-)
Could it be that the "one third" live in big cities and don't use a car much?
another survey revealed that even engineers continue to be wary of fully autonomous vehicles
... Particularly Engineers continue to be wary of fully autonomous vehicles.
Fixed that for them. 8-)
If other -people- can't understand what you say, a lot of the time, what makes you think a dumb computer will understand?? 8-)
That's why I used the phrase "Local technical jargon". Jargon is not necessarily more detailed, just specialized to the local needs.
But if you are talking to the antique collector and you say you want an "icebox", you may very well get a wooden box that needs a hundred pound block of ice to work! That's what I mean by problems when talking to a non-local person.
I spend half my work time translating jargon of various types from one state or company to another. It's a headache! 8-)
... If the shipping companies really want to have deeper channels, they should pay for them and increase the ship costs to the true unsubsidized cost. ..
The ships go where they can get in. If you don't deepen the channel they will go somewhere else. As long as there are other ports to go to, they have no reason to pay for the channel work.
It's partly because of the subsidizing of truck transport. Trains have to pay for rails, but trucks don't and can use regular hiways. They pay taxes but that is less, so it amounts to a "subsidy". So, getting a truck to take the goods from the ship back to the other city is less cost than paying for a deeper channel in the other city.
If all the port cities got together that might change. But might also be "conspiracy in restraint of trade" and illegal!
There are plenty of factories in the west. It's just the old ones near the big cities that closed. The cities priced themselves out of business!
It isn't socialized medicine Americans fear, it is socialized medicine run by the same government that runs the VA.
Hey! Somebody mod this one up! 8-)