I'm a 42 year-old code monkey,and while I've always been the type to look at a company in long term planning rather than the "here today-gone tomorrow" mindset, it's more of a problem finding a company that wants someone long term. Most companies look at employees as being long term if they stay 4-5 years. After that, they then have to think of them as near full vestment in the retirement account and start looking for ways to dump them.
Over the last 16 years, I've noticed that of the companies myself and my friends have worked for, when you hit the 5 year mark, they start to weed you out for a younger and cheaper programmer. Since many of the retirement accounts require a 6 or 7 year mark for "full vestment" the amount you don't get gets rolled into the company account and used to pay the "Company percentage" of your 401(k).
I have yet to find a large number of employees that have been at the same company for more than 4 or 5 years. The longest I've ever been at the same job was 8 years before they started "reorganizing."
At my former job, they tried to do something like this only they suggested that we focus the project to improve the company or make the work flow better. There was never any support for the idea once it was mentioned and they quickly forgot about it.
However, my co-workers and I didn't forget and we used a "research" billing number for the time we spent on the projects and used free time between real projects and lunch tiem to work on them. The result was a job ticketing system, the company intranet, and a digital archive of previous work.
After putting the job ticket system into production, management quickly stopped using it when they realized that a "paper trail" was now in place to document their screw-ups. It died a quick death.
The intranet is still being used, but the new company President felt that many of the fun things we added to it were "Not job related" had us remove them and killed the reason most employees would visit it. She also ended the "Fun Committee" whos job was to try to plan one fun activity each month.
The digital archive died when I left the company. They never asked me where the database was or the numbering system I used to mark the drawer full of CD's and DVD's of past projects. I was in the process of transfering old projects from old DAT tapes to CD or DVD since the one Tape drive we have is no longer made and could crap out at any time.
On the plus side, many of the things we created was a practical test of new code and became a testing ground for doing many things which could then be used for client projects.
I watched the "wonka" trailer and I am disgusted. The warm, cheerful, beloved movie I grew up with is now some sort of dark, brooding, piece of crap. I hate seeing my childhood memories distroyed. I'll have to make sure my son see's the Gene Wilder version several dozen times before he see's this mess.
Granted I have to pay for my own insurance now and take care of my own 401k but making three times what I was making I can afford to cover the costs. While at my old job it cost me $500 a month to cover my family. Working for myself, I got insurance that has better coverage for $800. I can easily cover the extra $300 a month with my new earnings.
So even with my new expences, I'm still taking home more than when I was working for someone else.
As a web developer, I got canned in July and have been trying to locate work since then. While looking for a regular corporate gig, I started working on doing the freelance thing. Business is good and I'm making three times what my old corporate job paid. I also have the benefit of being my own boss, and I don't have to put up with any of the brown-nosed back-stabbing office trolls or gossips.
In short, I've kissed goodbye to the regular 9-5 bullshit and now work the hours I choose. I also get a good chuckle now and then when I see the crap sites my old job cranks out. And for an added benefit, I get to steal a possible new client from the old job site now and then.
Take a buggy insecure OS and replace my stable, fast, easy to use OS? Sure!
And while you're at it why not replace my regular coffee with decafe.
Oh hell, why not kick me in the balls too. Because if I were stupid enough to do such a moronic thing I shouldn't enjoy my morning coffee or ever have kids.
A sudden rash of Mexican officials having their arms cut off and the "secret" database being accessed and hacked. Nice business model folks!
1. Implant security chip in arm, tell world about it
2. Be found anywhere
3. Access Secure database via chip
4. Rebels cut off arm
5. ???
6. No Profit! Country in disrepair..
Oh wait...
NT has detected you're in the middle of a mine field. would you like to:
( ) Install detected mine(s)
( ) Find a safe path out
( ) Re-start Windows
( ) Kiss your butt goodbye
At work I'm on a G4 Mac but at home I have several boxen running most every flavor of the Win OS's. For the most part, I don't have too many troubles with my WIN boxes as long as they are patched, and well behind a firewall. I also run my antiviral nightly, and have turned off or blocked most every port except what's needed for web browsing.
My wife's XP laptop is another story.
A hard drive failure, happened at the same time that it was hit with the sasser worm. Lucky for us, the worm did no damage but we spent a few hundred on getting the data pulled from the drive. Then found out it wasn't the drive that failed but a memory stick that caused errors, and an early version of sasser that only prevented us from booting.
Sorry to say it took this to get my wife to allow me to place her laptop behind the firewall and not outside of it.
For the most part I don't have problems, but you have to stay on top of the patches and baby the boxen sometimes.
One Laptop is 802.11b the other 802.11g. My son's box (furthest from AP) is 802.11g. My guess is that it's the building and not the hardware. There was a story yesterday about building a home cooked wifi antenna (Link) that might offer you a possible solution. Then you can position your antenna where reception is better and not have to relocate the box.
I have the DLink DI-624 router at home. It offers both Hard wired access and 54G wireless access. I don't have any problem with it going through walls or around corners.
The router is in my basement, just under the floors between the joists. My sons room is more than 50 feet away and doesn't have a problem, nor do my two laptops with one in the livingroom and one in the den.
The only troubles I've had is that my G4 Mac failed to connect using the airport and I was forced to hardwire the connection. (Darn, 100Mb instead of 56Mb speeds)
Perhaps you should look to the cards used to connect to the router. Then look to see if the router is placed where it makes the most sense with the fewest walls etc.
Frankly, the city has a wifi network set-up in the Huber facility across the street and a block away from me. Sometimes I get their network showing up in my possible zones. A quick phone call to their IT guys gets them to turn off Broadcasting their ID. I don't have any of the home cooked antennas, and from what I've been told by the city, they're only running regular store bought equipment as well. So from my standpoint, wifi is both powerful and has great range.
The long answer depends on how good your lawyer is. But the judge can order you to turn over anything. It's up to your lawyer to narrow things down to specifics.
Ignore it, refuse to comply, or not deliver everything that is stated in the document, you can simply go to jail.
Very easy!
But seriously, IANAL, but I've wanted to play one on TV...
You can however get your lawyers to get a judge to redefine the scope of what they are asking for. In this case, it might be possible to refuse sending them emails or letters between their lawyers based on client confidentuality.
On the Discovery channel, the TV show Mythbusters did a show on this. They proved it wasn't the cell phone, but more likely it was static electricity built up in the car while moving and built up in the person due to the fabric of the clothes worn.
Since many people have already posted or wanted to post the usual "imagine a beowolf cluster of these", I have to wonder if that might be redundant. Wouldn't one of these BE a beowolf cluster?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a 42 year-old code monkey,and while I've always been the type to look at a company in long term planning rather than the "here today-gone tomorrow" mindset, it's more of a problem finding a company that wants someone long term. Most companies look at employees as being long term if they stay 4-5 years. After that, they then have to think of them as near full vestment in the retirement account and start looking for ways to dump them.
Over the last 16 years, I've noticed that of the companies myself and my friends have worked for, when you hit the 5 year mark, they start to weed you out for a younger and cheaper programmer. Since many of the retirement accounts require a 6 or 7 year mark for "full vestment" the amount you don't get gets rolled into the company account and used to pay the "Company percentage" of your 401(k).
I have yet to find a large number of employees that have been at the same company for more than 4 or 5 years. The longest I've ever been at the same job was 8 years before they started "reorganizing."
-Goran
At my former job, they tried to do something like this only they suggested that we focus the project to improve the company or make the work flow better. There was never any support for the idea once it was mentioned and they quickly forgot about it.
However, my co-workers and I didn't forget and we used a "research" billing number for the time we spent on the projects and used free time between real projects and lunch tiem to work on them. The result was a job ticketing system, the company intranet, and a digital archive of previous work.
After putting the job ticket system into production, management quickly stopped using it when they realized that a "paper trail" was now in place to document their screw-ups. It died a quick death.
The intranet is still being used, but the new company President felt that many of the fun things we added to it were "Not job related" had us remove them and killed the reason most employees would visit it. She also ended the "Fun Committee" whos job was to try to plan one fun activity each month.
The digital archive died when I left the company. They never asked me where the database was or the numbering system I used to mark the drawer full of CD's and DVD's of past projects. I was in the process of transfering old projects from old DAT tapes to CD or DVD since the one Tape drive we have is no longer made and could crap out at any time.
On the plus side, many of the things we created was a practical test of new code and became a testing ground for doing many things which could then be used for client projects.
-Goran
I watched the "wonka" trailer and I am disgusted. The warm, cheerful, beloved movie I grew up with is now some sort of dark, brooding, piece of crap. I hate seeing my childhood memories distroyed. I'll have to make sure my son see's the Gene Wilder version several dozen times before he see's this mess.
-Goran
Granted I have to pay for my own insurance now and take care of my own 401k but making three times what I was making I can afford to cover the costs. While at my old job it cost me $500 a month to cover my family. Working for myself, I got insurance that has better coverage for $800. I can easily cover the extra $300 a month with my new earnings.
So even with my new expences, I'm still taking home more than when I was working for someone else.
-Goran
As a web developer, I got canned in July and have been trying to locate work since then. While looking for a regular corporate gig, I started working on doing the freelance thing. Business is good and I'm making three times what my old corporate job paid. I also have the benefit of being my own boss, and I don't have to put up with any of the brown-nosed back-stabbing office trolls or gossips.
In short, I've kissed goodbye to the regular 9-5 bullshit and now work the hours I choose. I also get a good chuckle now and then when I see the crap sites my old job cranks out. And for an added benefit, I get to steal a possible new client from the old job site now and then.
-Goran
Take a buggy insecure OS and replace my stable, fast, easy to use OS? Sure!
And while you're at it why not replace my regular coffee with decafe.
Oh hell, why not kick me in the balls too. Because if I were stupid enough to do such a moronic thing I shouldn't enjoy my morning coffee or ever have kids.
Goran
A sudden rash of Mexican officials having their arms cut off and the "secret" database being accessed and hacked. Nice business model folks!
1. Implant security chip in arm, tell world about it
2. Be found anywhere
3. Access Secure database via chip
4. Rebels cut off arm
5. ???
6. No Profit! Country in disrepair..
Oh wait...
-Goran
Right before the election Dubya will announce that he's found the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction.
They're sitting in boxes at the Bagdad CompUSA store marked "Intel inside"!
Nice work!
-Goran
NT has detected you're in the middle of a mine field. would you like to:
( ) Install detected mine(s)
( ) Find a safe path out
( ) Re-start Windows
( ) Kiss your butt goodbye
Why they would choose a Win OS is beyond me.
-Goran
At work I'm on a G4 Mac but at home I have several boxen running most every flavor of the Win OS's. For the most part, I don't have too many troubles with my WIN boxes as long as they are patched, and well behind a firewall. I also run my antiviral nightly, and have turned off or blocked most every port except what's needed for web browsing.
My wife's XP laptop is another story.
A hard drive failure, happened at the same time that it was hit with the sasser worm. Lucky for us, the worm did no damage but we spent a few hundred on getting the data pulled from the drive. Then found out it wasn't the drive that failed but a memory stick that caused errors, and an early version of sasser that only prevented us from booting.
Sorry to say it took this to get my wife to allow me to place her laptop behind the firewall and not outside of it.
For the most part I don't have problems, but you have to stay on top of the patches and baby the boxen sometimes.
-Goran
Or is anyone else having Heraldo and the vaults of Capone flashbacks?
(we found it! we found it! Oh, crap...)
-Goran
I'll take a guess at that...
;)
Their not spending billions on two wars in two countries.
That and perhaps having a better business model
-Goran
One Laptop is 802.11b the other 802.11g. My son's box (furthest from AP) is 802.11g. My guess is that it's the building and not the hardware. There was a story yesterday about building a home cooked wifi antenna (Link) that might offer you a possible solution. Then you can position your antenna where reception is better and not have to relocate the box.
-Goran
I have the DLink DI-624 router at home. It offers both Hard wired access and 54G wireless access. I don't have any problem with it going through walls or around corners.
The router is in my basement, just under the floors between the joists. My sons room is more than 50 feet away and doesn't have a problem, nor do my two laptops with one in the livingroom and one in the den.
The only troubles I've had is that my G4 Mac failed to connect using the airport and I was forced to hardwire the connection. (Darn, 100Mb instead of 56Mb speeds)
Perhaps you should look to the cards used to connect to the router. Then look to see if the router is placed where it makes the most sense with the fewest walls etc.
Frankly, the city has a wifi network set-up in the Huber facility across the street and a block away from me. Sometimes I get their network showing up in my possible zones. A quick phone call to their IT guys gets them to turn off Broadcasting their ID. I don't have any of the home cooked antennas, and from what I've been told by the city, they're only running regular store bought equipment as well. So from my standpoint, wifi is both powerful and has great range.
-Goran
The short answer: Yes for both questions.
The long answer depends on how good your lawyer is. But the judge can order you to turn over anything. It's up to your lawyer to narrow things down to specifics.
-Goran
Sure.
Ignore it, refuse to comply, or not deliver everything that is stated in the document, you can simply go to jail.
Very easy!
But seriously, IANAL, but I've wanted to play one on TV...
You can however get your lawyers to get a judge to redefine the scope of what they are asking for. In this case, it might be possible to refuse sending them emails or letters between their lawyers based on client confidentuality.
Even then it can get sticky.
(lessons learned from a former employer)
-Goran
Doesn't PETA stand for People Eating Tasty Animals?
(just wondering)
-Goran
On the Discovery channel, the TV show Mythbusters did a show on this. They proved it wasn't the cell phone, but more likely it was static electricity built up in the car while moving and built up in the person due to the fabric of the clothes worn.
-Goran
It isn't the smell of the consumer getting burned, it's the smell from the Bull$hit that SCO's been shoveling.
My guess is they saw the "evidence" and realize if they stick with SCO, the $hit will stick to them.
-Goran
...Was the bit at the end of the licensing statement, that you may only install one copy on a single processor server.
Didn't Oracle try something like this and it blew up in their face?
Why not price it in the realm of sanity, More then one author and/or three blogs you owe us $50.00US.
If you only use it for yourself, one author and/or 3 blogs then it's still free.
Simple, fair, and a lot more people would be willing to pay. As it is you're chasing your customer base away.
My grandfather asways said it's easier selling 100 items for a buck than 1 item for 100 bucks.
-Goran
Ummm...
They have a website (www.optinbig.com).
Are we forgetting the slashdot effect?
Shouldn't we all look to see if his servers can handle the load?
-Goran
Since many people have already posted or wanted to post the usual "imagine a beowolf cluster of these", I have to wonder if that might be redundant. Wouldn't one of these BE a beowolf cluster?
If so, then we can all imagine no more!
-Goran
That the government flunkies don't get out enough.
Don't they know that "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy"?
Perhaps we need to coin a new acronym.
How about "DSFR".
Do Some Freaking Reasearch.
-Goran
That will get you chicks.
Wear that for a night (or knight) on the town and how could they resist?
-Goran
Give me some of that sweet sweet justice!
How am I going to spend my windfall?
Should I buy a new CD, some sort of geek toy?
What?
I have to declare this money on my taxes?
That'll put me into a new tax bracket!
I'll end up getting $40 less next year in my refund!
Damn you music industry!
Damn you class action suit!
-Goran