I don't see this as lazyness. I see this as a different culture coming into IT over the last 5 years. 10 years ago CS degrees were few and far between. People fell into IT because they were good at it, or because they really loved it. Now IT is one of the most stable career paths available, every university has multiple IT tracks, and IT is mainstream (see NBC's Chuck)... People are now getting into IT for normal reasons. It has become more of a "normal" job. I work with a bunch of people who come to work, do their jobs, and go home. We have a couple of old schoolers who live their job, and live their geek life. Most IT people I know now are married, have children, hobbies, and live a pretty full life. This life does not always lend itself to building clusters in your basement to turn your dvr into a file share...
I don't really have a preference for one or the other. I generally agree that people today are more lazy than their parents, but there may not be any direct correlation between this and the lack of tinkerers... Oh, and if you don't want your kids to be lazy, don't give them anything other than the essentials. I think this tactic is coming sooner than later with the pending economic disaster.
Look back at the decisions you made. What was important 5 years ago when you were looking for your job? Was it benefits, work environment, SALARY, job security? All of a sudden what you get paid is less significant than "if" you get paid. There are pleanty of companies out there that have never been through job cuts. Sure, they are not paying 150K + free food + all the google perks, but wtf?
This is a microcosm of our society. People bought bigger houses because their perceived value was always increasing. People took higher paying jobs with startups and unproven companies. We have blown up the economy balloon so much that eventually it will contract. The longer we prop it up artifically, the harder the fall will be. Funny, people are now starting to spend less than they make, save money, and value stability.
I have played Assassins Creed (same developer) and did became frustrated whenever you have to walk accross the whole city just to retry a failed attempt. I put the game down after about 15 hours of play because the game is very repetitive and does not grow.
On the other hand, my son (5) and I have been playing all the lego series of games (Travelers Tales). When you die as a lego guy, you just fall apart, lose some collected money, and reappear. It is great for a beginner, and fun for me. Also the jump in/drop out aspect of these games in two player mode is awesome. If my son cannot complete a tough move, he can drop out, let the computer do it, and rejoin. Beats swapping controllers.
A game should not derive its worthiness simply by how long it takes you to complete it, rather how much entertainment value do you get out of it. I have played a bunch of games (PS2 mostly) that when I get done with them I consider the time I spent a waste of time.
I would pose another why? question. Why in today's society does one feel it necessary to illegally download music? In the past record industries failed to acknowledge the need for downloadable content. Once they did they wrapped DRM around it so tight that it was easier to go out and buy a CD, go home and bit torrent the same cd just to get a copy to play on your freaking mp3 player. I support drm free providers (Amazon seems to have a good policy, and the price of music has come down significantly in recent years). I applaud piracy for one reason. It forced the industry to address their antiquated products for a 21st century consumer. The biggest thing now isn't pirating music, it's movies. Why? Because the movie industry has been slow to provide a full array of online content in a portable (non drm) format. After years of lawsuits and tens of millions spent on litigators, maybe they will also figure it out.
Advertising does serve a purpose. I don't read gamer magazines, websites, etc. The only time I actually think about gaming is when I am sitting in front of my xbox... I could not think of a more logical place to see gaming ads. I never hear anyone complaining about the television studios advertising their own shows *gasp* while you are watching television.
Ask the exact same questions to both age groups. Simple. If the age group with more experience cannot use it adiquately in an interview, the experience does them no good. I consider people in two types, learners and those who I will not give a job.
The most overlooked group of people on forums like this are non internet users. About 20% of Ameericans are without the internet (60 Million), and I would guess that a significant # of internet users are internet illiterate (like they use IE, download malware, just look at the end users at your office).
If from earlier statements regarding intelligence, about 4% of people are dumb (IQ below 80), there are still millions of potential marks are out there, uninformed to these types of scams. Really, prior to this news article, when is the last time you saw this on the TV news, in your local paper, or on a magazine stand? Sure us./ readers all know about these scams because we have gotten numorus emails with similar offers. We ask questions and have a high level of cynicism. I would guess that out of the say 1% of people who follow up on these types of scams, all but about 1% are stopped by people in the know (family members, banks). The the numbers on scams have to equate probability X reward. A 400,000$ reward for 1,000,000 emails, is a payoff of.40$ an email. Not a bad days work, and who knows how many others have fallen victim on a similar or smaller level, and are embarrased to admit they are idiots.
Answer this question. Are you valuable to your company? If you are honest with yourself and still the answer is yes, please continue.
Suggest to your manager that going forward you would like to record your actions, tasks, projects in some form (ticketing system, excel, whatever). Then grade your work as routine maintenance, special project, emergency work, etc. After some period of time you should have a good idea about what you do every week. Solicit bids from contractors, maintenance providers, etc and do some simple math. Keep in mind that in the states, your salary is only about 60-80% of what it costs the company to employ you.
Also, refrain from getting into one of those "I've done so much for this company" BS. Most companies are forced to be future thinking, especially in an economic downturn. Talk instead of the future projects you would like to implement to save/earn the company revenue. A quantitative analysis can actually help you determine your worth, and would at least show your manager and the other leaders of your company that you are competent to solve problems and understand business objectives.
Oh, and if you find out that you are raping your company and can stomach it, lie through your teeth and hold on for an interesting ride!
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I don't see this as lazyness. I see this as a different culture coming into IT over the last 5 years. 10 years ago CS degrees were few and far between. People fell into IT because they were good at it, or because they really loved it. Now IT is one of the most stable career paths available, every university has multiple IT tracks, and IT is mainstream (see NBC's Chuck)... People are now getting into IT for normal reasons. It has become more of a "normal" job. I work with a bunch of people who come to work, do their jobs, and go home. We have a couple of old schoolers who live their job, and live their geek life. Most IT people I know now are married, have children, hobbies, and live a pretty full life. This life does not always lend itself to building clusters in your basement to turn your dvr into a file share...
I don't really have a preference for one or the other. I generally agree that people today are more lazy than their parents, but there may not be any direct correlation between this and the lack of tinkerers... Oh, and if you don't want your kids to be lazy, don't give them anything other than the essentials. I think this tactic is coming sooner than later with the pending economic disaster.
Look back at the decisions you made. What was important 5 years ago when you were looking for your job? Was it benefits, work environment, SALARY, job security? All of a sudden what you get paid is less significant than "if" you get paid. There are pleanty of companies out there that have never been through job cuts. Sure, they are not paying 150K + free food + all the google perks, but wtf?
This is a microcosm of our society. People bought bigger houses because their perceived value was always increasing. People took higher paying jobs with startups and unproven companies. We have blown up the economy balloon so much that eventually it will contract. The longer we prop it up artifically, the harder the fall will be. Funny, people are now starting to spend less than they make, save money, and value stability.
I have played Assassins Creed (same developer) and did became frustrated whenever you have to walk accross the whole city just to retry a failed attempt. I put the game down after about 15 hours of play because the game is very repetitive and does not grow.
On the other hand, my son (5) and I have been playing all the lego series of games (Travelers Tales). When you die as a lego guy, you just fall apart, lose some collected money, and reappear. It is great for a beginner, and fun for me. Also the jump in/drop out aspect of these games in two player mode is awesome. If my son cannot complete a tough move, he can drop out, let the computer do it, and rejoin. Beats swapping controllers.
A game should not derive its worthiness simply by how long it takes you to complete it, rather how much entertainment value do you get out of it. I have played a bunch of games (PS2 mostly) that when I get done with them I consider the time I spent a waste of time.
I would pose another why? question. Why in today's society does one feel it necessary to illegally download music? In the past record industries failed to acknowledge the need for downloadable content. Once they did they wrapped DRM around it so tight that it was easier to go out and buy a CD, go home and bit torrent the same cd just to get a copy to play on your freaking mp3 player. I support drm free providers (Amazon seems to have a good policy, and the price of music has come down significantly in recent years). I applaud piracy for one reason. It forced the industry to address their antiquated products for a 21st century consumer. The biggest thing now isn't pirating music, it's movies. Why? Because the movie industry has been slow to provide a full array of online content in a portable (non drm) format. After years of lawsuits and tens of millions spent on litigators, maybe they will also figure it out.
Funny, I read the caption and immediatley got my hopes up that someone shut down the left wing machine called acorn! http://www.acorn.org/
Advertising does serve a purpose. I don't read gamer magazines, websites, etc. The only time I actually think about gaming is when I am sitting in front of my xbox... I could not think of a more logical place to see gaming ads. I never hear anyone complaining about the television studios advertising their own shows *gasp* while you are watching television.
We are looking for some developers. .net, asp sharepoint!
Ask the exact same questions to both age groups. Simple. If the age group with more experience cannot use it adiquately in an interview, the experience does them no good. I consider people in two types, learners and those who I will not give a job.
I did, so send me 100$ and I can send you 10000$ so I don't have to hide it from the government.
The most overlooked group of people on forums like this are non internet users. About 20% of Ameericans are without the internet (60 Million), and I would guess that a significant # of internet users are internet illiterate (like they use IE, download malware, just look at the end users at your office). If from earlier statements regarding intelligence, about 4% of people are dumb (IQ below 80), there are still millions of potential marks are out there, uninformed to these types of scams. Really, prior to this news article, when is the last time you saw this on the TV news, in your local paper, or on a magazine stand? Sure us ./ readers all know about these scams because we have gotten numorus emails with similar offers. We ask questions and have a high level of cynicism. I would guess that out of the say 1% of people who follow up on these types of scams, all but about 1% are stopped by people in the know (family members, banks). The the numbers on scams have to equate probability X reward. A 400,000$ reward for 1,000,000 emails, is a payoff of .40$ an email. Not a bad days work, and who knows how many others have fallen victim on a similar or smaller level, and are embarrased to admit they are idiots.
Answer this question. Are you valuable to your company? If you are honest with yourself and still the answer is yes, please continue. Suggest to your manager that going forward you would like to record your actions, tasks, projects in some form (ticketing system, excel, whatever). Then grade your work as routine maintenance, special project, emergency work, etc. After some period of time you should have a good idea about what you do every week. Solicit bids from contractors, maintenance providers, etc and do some simple math. Keep in mind that in the states, your salary is only about 60-80% of what it costs the company to employ you. Also, refrain from getting into one of those "I've done so much for this company" BS. Most companies are forced to be future thinking, especially in an economic downturn. Talk instead of the future projects you would like to implement to save/earn the company revenue. A quantitative analysis can actually help you determine your worth, and would at least show your manager and the other leaders of your company that you are competent to solve problems and understand business objectives. Oh, and if you find out that you are raping your company and can stomach it, lie through your teeth and hold on for an interesting ride!