Well, management have their bosses to satisfy. They often have theirs (or the publisher or shareholders). Most people like the think they're decent people and typically managers I know have worked late with us.
Sociopaths, possibly, but I think calling them sadists is being a little too harsh.
Ultimately it's a gamble. They can just get rid of you, but it costs them money as well. It takes time to find a replacement. It takes time for them to ramp up. They'll never understand the code you wrote as well as you do.
But yes, the UK is better. There's a safety net and while jobseeker's allowance isn't great it does mean savings stretch that little bit further.
My company has already sacked a few software engineers - it only takes an argument with the boss.
On what grounds? You can claim unfair dismissal. The UK is certainly not an "at will" state.
Ultimately what you need to do is work well enough that they're not willing to get rid of you. If you just leave one day after a 10 hour day, what can they do? If they sack you they need to replace you. It's more hassle that it's worth.
And I realise it's a lot easier for me to say this since I'm not in your position. If it helps, I was in your position. And yes, my insistence on working my contracted hours did upset them but not enough for them to get rid of me. I left when I was able to get a better job. And you should try to do the same. Even for the games industry you're being mistreated.
But look who's complaining. It isn't the programmers! It's the wives! And years ago when EA_Spouse made the public complaint it wasn't the programmer, it was his (or her) spouse!
The developers are being exploited, but they don't seem to realise!
They don't even need to quit! Just refuse to work the overtime!
Most places require some reason to fire people. Not working overtime for free isn't a valid reason. Nor will most managers be willing to have to go to the effort of finding a replacement and dealing with ramp up time.
I worked in games for years before I finally managed to get out and get a job as a freelance contractor. The last company I worked for was the worst - not through malice; just incompetence.
Now, one particular time we were overloaded with projects. I put in my hours. I put in extra time when I decided it was needed. The result was that I got criticised at appraisal for not putting in stupid amounts of overtime.
They did apologise for the heavy workload and promised they'd do somethign about it for futiure projects. Next project there were demands to work every weekend and work late every night.
They gave lip service to work-life balance, but if anyone actually wants to apply this policy, they get nervous.
Well, it was more being sued for a day's coffee takings for selling coffee at a temperature that was dangerously hot, undrinkably so, and much higher than any other establishment, and still continuing to serve it at that temperature despite full knowledge of the danger, and then as a direct result of them ignoring this, someone injuring themselves, and then refusing to pay for the medical costs.
The space shuttle orbiter is made by Rockwell and Boeing. The external tank is made by Lockheed. Boeing also made parts of the Saturn V and Delta rockets. Lockheed Martin are already designing and developing Orion.
I think a few private companies are reasonably experienced.
Well, you might be able to squeeze a laser projector down to size. And there are projection based keyboards, so it's just the power issue to deal with.
Do you think people might be persuaded to lug a car battery around on a trolley?
The calculation assumes that the works were created by a corporate entity (which seems ludicrous on the face of it) and that the expiration of copyright for the character expires copyright on the last story expires rather than the first (also seems like a bizarre interpretation of the law unless a considerable portion of what make Sherlock Holmes who he is was written in 1927).
International treaties limit this to a 50 year minimum. For practicality it might make sense to have all copyrights expire at the end of a calendar year. Slight issue as to whether this is after publication or creation (should I get an effectively shorter copyright simply because I spent 30 years making sure it was perfect, or an effectively longer copyright because nobody bothered to publish it until I'd been dead for 90 years? Should my personal diary never be published even if it of considerably historical interest in 2510?)
How much would people complain if search became a pay-per-search model?
I'd be willing to pay a small amount as a subscription to a search engine that was competitive with Google in terms of search result quality and I was certain respected privacy. They'd probably need to throw in a bunch of other services to make it worth my while to actually sort out payment though. No idea if there are enough others wit this opinion to make it worthwhile.
A few of the short stories are still under copyright because they weren't originally published in the US. Nobody owns the characters because they're in the public domain but the person/group who claims to own them (possibly wilfully) doesn't understand this. Guy Ritchie realised it was cheaper to pay them off than to win in court. The journalist doesn't have a clue but figures he can be vague enough and still get a good story.
Fair enough, but then we have the anti-war demonstrators putting flowers in gun barrels, and the Yugoslav army not willing to fight Slovenians during the breakup of Yugosavia. You even have that iconic Tiannaman square scene where the tank driver could have crushed the student. Any of these would likely have been a lot more violent if those going against the army were resisting an invasion.
There are examples of both but on the whole I'd argue that relying on the army to side with the government over the people is not something I'd bet my country on.
Well, I guess for a revolution to start, you not only need a very corrupt government, but you need everyone to know about it, which either means a corrupt, ineffectual government (such as Pre-soviet Russia had) or a completely out of control government - which I'm not sure whether History does provide any examples.
I think the military would know if most of the people knew. I'm guessing in the example you gave, everyone - not just the military - was told that these were brutal oppressive insurgents, and most people believed it.
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Well, management have their bosses to satisfy. They often have theirs (or the publisher or shareholders). Most people like the think they're decent people and typically managers I know have worked late with us.
Sociopaths, possibly, but I think calling them sadists is being a little too harsh.
Fair enough. It's a perfectly valid datum. Just not an exact measure.
Yes. I've learned a little about US worker rights (or lack thereof) today.
Ultimately it's a gamble. They can just get rid of you, but it costs them money as well. It takes time to find a replacement. It takes time for them to ramp up. They'll never understand the code you wrote as well as you do.
But yes, the UK is better. There's a safety net and while jobseeker's allowance isn't great it does mean savings stretch that little bit further.
My company has already sacked a few software engineers - it only takes an argument with the boss.
On what grounds? You can claim unfair dismissal. The UK is certainly not an "at will" state.
Ultimately what you need to do is work well enough that they're not willing to get rid of you. If you just leave one day after a 10 hour day, what can they do? If they sack you they need to replace you. It's more hassle that it's worth.
And I realise it's a lot easier for me to say this since I'm not in your position. If it helps, I was in your position. And yes, my insistence on working my contracted hours did upset them but not enough for them to get rid of me. I left when I was able to get a better job. And you should try to do the same. Even for the games industry you're being mistreated.
True. But I know of exactly one company that seems to have read that memo.
And while it's only anecdotal evidence, they don't seem to have suffered as a result.
You're clearly not American.
But look who's complaining. It isn't the programmers! It's the wives! And years ago when EA_Spouse made the public complaint it wasn't the programmer, it was his (or her) spouse!
The developers are being exploited, but they don't seem to realise!
They don't even need to quit! Just refuse to work the overtime!
Most places require some reason to fire people. Not working overtime for free isn't a valid reason. Nor will most managers be willing to have to go to the effort of finding a replacement and dealing with ramp up time.
It's not just Rockstar. They're all the same.
I worked in games for years before I finally managed to get out and get a job as a freelance contractor. The last company I worked for was the worst - not through malice; just incompetence.
Now, one particular time we were overloaded with projects. I put in my hours. I put in extra time when I decided it was needed. The result was that I got criticised at appraisal for not putting in stupid amounts of overtime.
They did apologise for the heavy workload and promised they'd do somethign about it for futiure projects. Next project there were demands to work every weekend and work late every night.
They gave lip service to work-life balance, but if anyone actually wants to apply this policy, they get nervous.
Depends on the game. Some games don't lend themselves to replays.
This means that a generally amusing game that takes 30 hours to complete is better value than the best game ever that takes 29 hours to complete.
It's like judging the quality of a book by the number of pages.
I think this is a great idea.
Unfortunately Microsoft might have issues about allowing it on their platform.
Well, it was more being sued for a day's coffee takings for selling coffee at a temperature that was dangerously hot, undrinkably so, and much higher than any other establishment, and still continuing to serve it at that temperature despite full knowledge of the danger, and then as a direct result of them ignoring this, someone injuring themselves, and then refusing to pay for the medical costs.
Apparently there are 0.001mm^2 engines already!
Well, more with substantial detailed design and specification requirements from NASA, with design and engineering from the private companies.
The space shuttle orbiter is made by Rockwell and Boeing. The external tank is made by Lockheed. Boeing also made parts of the Saturn V and Delta rockets. Lockheed Martin are already designing and developing Orion.
I think a few private companies are reasonably experienced.
Well, you might be able to squeeze a laser projector down to size. And there are projection based keyboards, so it's just the power issue to deal with.
Do you think people might be persuaded to lug a car battery around on a trolley?
Yes, you're right and I'm completely wrong.
The calculation assumes that the works were created by a corporate entity (which seems ludicrous on the face of it) and that the expiration of copyright for the character expires copyright on the last story expires rather than the first (also seems like a bizarre interpretation of the law unless a considerable portion of what make Sherlock Holmes who he is was written in 1927).
I think there's some cheat where you can reset by publishing in those 120 years.
International treaties limit this to a 50 year minimum. For practicality it might make sense to have all copyrights expire at the end of a calendar year. Slight issue as to whether this is after publication or creation (should I get an effectively shorter copyright simply because I spent 30 years making sure it was perfect, or an effectively longer copyright because nobody bothered to publish it until I'd been dead for 90 years? Should my personal diary never be published even if it of considerably historical interest in 2510?)
Aside from that I agree.
How much would people complain if search became a pay-per-search model?
I'd be willing to pay a small amount as a subscription to a search engine that was competitive with Google in terms of search result quality and I was certain respected privacy. They'd probably need to throw in a bunch of other services to make it worth my while to actually sort out payment though. No idea if there are enough others wit this opinion to make it worthwhile.
My guess is:
A few of the short stories are still under copyright because they weren't originally published in the US. Nobody owns the characters because they're in the public domain but the person/group who claims to own them (possibly wilfully) doesn't understand this. Guy Ritchie realised it was cheaper to pay them off than to win in court. The journalist doesn't have a clue but figures he can be vague enough and still get a good story.
Fair enough, but then we have the anti-war demonstrators putting flowers in gun barrels, and the Yugoslav army not willing to fight Slovenians during the breakup of Yugosavia. You even have that iconic Tiannaman square scene where the tank driver could have crushed the student. Any of these would likely have been a lot more violent if those going against the army were resisting an invasion.
There are examples of both but on the whole I'd argue that relying on the army to side with the government over the people is not something I'd bet my country on.
Well, I guess for a revolution to start, you not only need a very corrupt government, but you need everyone to know about it, which either means a corrupt, ineffectual government (such as Pre-soviet Russia had) or a completely out of control government - which I'm not sure whether History does provide any examples.
I think the military would know if most of the people knew. I'm guessing in the example you gave, everyone - not just the military - was told that these were brutal oppressive insurgents, and most people believed it.