I do sysadmin part time for a small company that would not hire me for $60K/yr because that would be too expensive, but the occasional $1200 invoice is ok.
They started little, with one server doing everything.
3 years later, they have cisco and nortel, all dell servers with raid5 and nas devices. And the backups still don't work right.
Trust me, you want to spend the money on a good architect.
My credit score is 800. I used to work in real-estate banking. Credit cards count against you if you don't have the cash to cover them, or if you're planning on using _that_ cash to use as a down payment. Credit extended and not used counts against you more.
I have complete cash availability, and I didn't say that was the only monies I had invested.
I'll leave the trollish comment about feeling smart alone.
On the investment for solar panels: you're right, taking out a loan is probably best. Also, it will increase property value, so it will pay for itself when the house is sold.
Except if there's a war. The governemnt with the base with the TIE fighters and the dreadnoughs will win, WalMart or no WalMart.
Here's another question: How large a structure could be held there? A small object (like a probe), a space station, or an small moon (except it would not be called a moon, since it would revolve around the sun, so a small planet)?
Anyhoo, looks like a great place to put a huge solar array.
I work to accomplish things, not to get paid. Now, that I get paid is a derivative of supply and demand.
When I see something that needs doing, and I can do it, of facilitate it, I get right on it. If not, then I 'goof off' and enjoy my life.
The 40 hours per week pay is management's best approximation of that phenomenon. They figure you're going to do enough "work" in that 40 hours to make the paycheck worthwhile. That they keep paying you means you're meeting that expectation.
I would rather have 1 guy spend 1 day per week making flawless software than have 10 guys typing 5 days straight to make something that will repeatedly crash the testing servers.
The point is to get the code working in production, and not anything else. If that means slashdotting for 8 hours straight on Wednesday, so be it.
Besides, allowing slashdot/etc at work allows you to retain great geeks.
I'm working on my boss to get us to convert one of the conference room into a gaming room.. Wish me luck.
At my company (fortune 500 in healthcare), in my group, we could not care less about certs. I know, because I am one of the people that reviews resumes.
I tell you what's more important: the actual experience.
If I see a resume that says:
EXPERIENCE 2003-2005 Some Medium Company, Software engineer. Explored, Designed, and Implemented system with Oracle and MSSQL back-ends, data import from csv, excel, access, and xml from EDI and FTP drop-offs, data processing with informatica and dts, tomcat with hibernate and spring, to browser-neutral xhtml1.1, with support for handhelds and pdf generators, with export to excel and automated rule-based email alerts.
I tell you, I read no further. I say: bring the guy in. And somebody with the above experience: we'll bring in at no less than $90K
I'm French, and I found it funny... Although I would add that the French would have been about 6 months late and would had scaled back to just 1 small bomb.
On another note:
The Preambule of the US Constitution states:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I'm sick and tired of "My os is cheaper than your os because yadda yadda yadda"
It's all about opportunity cost: What do you give up by running this OS?
The business might save $120M a year by switching to Linux from IBM, but if that translates into $1B loss of profits in three years, then Linux was not the right choice.
Likewise if a business spends $10M/year on windows systems and nets $100M/year in profits, and they could spend $12M/year on Linux (better admins, yadda^3) but generate $400M in net earnings, Linux would be the better solution, even though it would cost 2 million dollars more per year than windows.
How I sell management on linux: The business will make more money, and have a higher profit margin. Once the numbers make sense, they'll go borrow the cash to transition if they have to, but it will happen, guaranteed.
And Japanese businessmen didn't build the second largest economy in the world by forgetting the bottom line.
Except that those were not prisoners of war, of course, but dangerous enemy combatants.
And they weren't shackled, they were restrained, for their safety.
And these allegations are anectotal, and in no way represent the situation on the ground, and this does not reflect on the outstanding job our men and women in uniform are doing...
I'll stop now before I spew my food all over the monitor and keyboard in a fit of government-induced laughter.
I'm going to Amen this comment, because frankly, it's leadership ability that makes of breaks large transitions like Lutz's.
And I'm not talking about just the CIO, I'm also talking VPs, directors and managers. If only 30% of your management understands the way open-source software are written, don't jump to linux.
Of course, if the Almighty Board does not retain a top notch CIO, the transition will never take place. Also, the company will not be in the top 10% performers in their industry.
This is why hiring a good CIO should be paramount at process-heavy companies. What makes a good CIO?
--Good understanding of modern technology. --Good relationship with vendors --Good mentoring and motivational skills --Excellent ability to recognize and promote proactive managers --Guts --Excellent ability to explain the above to other C** and finally: --Execution.
Because vision without the ability to execute remains a pie-in-the-sky dream.
And a good CIO should really be earning the equivalent of the CEO's salary, because he can make or break the company.
You mean to tell me that multibillioned microsoft could not write a competent TCP stack? If that's the case, what makes you think they can build a secure and reliable OS?
Oh wait...
And besides, Microsoft know how to get GPL software non-GPL'ed: They contact the author of the software and offer him $150K/yr job to work on their "innovative solution".
Which they've done with some of the firefox people I think, and the guy who wrote ironPython.
I say that's great: Be a hacker, forgo the corporate ladder, write some bitchin software on your PIII, and get a great salary for a few years... Can't argue the GPL does help some people financially.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, but buring a CDR for a 40K Word/OO.org document seems such a waste.
Oh, just want to add, the drive to read/write that DLT tape will cost you $3600.
If you want cheap, get a DLT tape (http://www.tapeandmedia.com/Super_DLT_Tape_II_Qua ntum.asp)
you can store 600gig (encrypted) for $89.95.
that comes to 0.015 cents per meg, or $0.00015 per meg. Cheaper than hard drives.
What his point is that you can just hand someone a floppy and say: "enjoy", and not care about getting the floppy back.
I'm going to echo that.
I do sysadmin part time for a small company that would not hire me for $60K/yr because that would be too expensive, but the occasional $1200 invoice is ok.
They started little, with one server doing everything.
3 years later, they have cisco and nortel, all dell servers with raid5 and nas devices. And the backups still don't work right.
Trust me, you want to spend the money on a good architect.
My credit score is 800. I used to work in real-estate banking. Credit cards count against you if you don't have the cash to cover them, or if you're planning on using _that_ cash to use as a down payment. Credit extended and not used counts against you more.
I have complete cash availability, and I didn't say that was the only monies I had invested.
I'll leave the trollish comment about feeling smart alone.
On the investment for solar panels: you're right, taking out a loan is probably best. Also, it will increase property value, so it will pay for itself when the house is sold.
Except if there's a war. The governemnt with the base with the TIE fighters and the dreadnoughs will win, WalMart or no WalMart.
Here's another question: How large a structure could be held there? A small object (like a probe), a space station, or an small moon (except it would not be called a moon, since it would revolve around the sun, so a small planet)?
Anyhoo, looks like a great place to put a huge solar array.
Who said anything about taking out a loan? They asked about spending the cash now.
I would take it out on 0% no annual fees credit cards.
All my credit cards are on that. 0% interest, no annual fee, no transfer fee. What? Your credit is not that great?
Then keep rolling them onto new introductory offers. I've not paid 1 cent on interest on $20,000 in 3 years.
Now, yes, I have the money in the bank, but that's earning 3 and change (ING savings), so I can pay off the credit cards anytime.
Amen!
I work to accomplish things, not to get paid. Now, that I get paid is a derivative of supply and demand.
When I see something that needs doing, and I can do it, of facilitate it, I get right on it. If not, then I 'goof off' and enjoy my life.
The 40 hours per week pay is management's best approximation of that phenomenon. They figure you're going to do enough "work" in that 40 hours to make the paycheck worthwhile. That they keep paying you means you're meeting that expectation.
I would rather have 1 guy spend 1 day per week making flawless software than have 10 guys typing 5 days straight to make something that will repeatedly crash the testing servers.
The point is to get the code working in production, and not anything else. If that means slashdotting for 8 hours straight on Wednesday, so be it.
Besides, allowing slashdot/etc at work allows you to retain great geeks.
I'm working on my boss to get us to convert one of the conference room into a gaming room.. Wish me luck.
Stop buying computers made in china. Sheesh!
At my company (fortune 500 in healthcare), in my group, we could not care less about certs. I know, because I am one of the people that reviews resumes.
I tell you what's more important: the actual experience.
If I see a resume that says:
EXPERIENCE
2003-2005 Some Medium Company,
Software engineer.
Explored, Designed, and Implemented system with Oracle and MSSQL back-ends, data import from csv, excel, access, and xml from EDI and FTP drop-offs, data processing with informatica and dts, tomcat with hibernate and spring, to browser-neutral xhtml1.1, with support for handhelds and pdf generators, with export to excel and automated rule-based email alerts.
I tell you, I read no further. I say: bring the guy in.
And somebody with the above experience: we'll bring in at no less than $90K
Except that if you put 12 grand in a money market account at 3% return, you'll have more than 12 grand in 12 years.
You have to think of the future value of money.
In fact, if you invest wisely, you may never catch up.
Someone once said that linux/unix is the ultimate text-based adventure. I suppose Zen would be its religion.
/me rolls 4d3.
I guess the game could be called: "KISS, the Zen"
I would also say that playing this game will actually increase you intelligence, attention to detail, and ability to earn a respectable income.
Finally, playing "KISS, the Zen" would be frowned upon by parents (from the name alone), making it highly popular among smart rebellious kids.
#
I'm French, and I found it funny... Although I would add that the French would have been about 6 months late and would had scaled back to just 1 small bomb.
i ted_States_of_America
On another note:
The Preambule of the US Constitution states:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
From wikisource: http://wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Un
Notice the last word? America.
Seriously: my condolences to those who were hurt, lost loved ones, and cheers to Londoners who need to get on with it.
In Soviet Ru... What's Ruby on Rails?
Oh, in Japan!!!
hehe
Wife:
Look Honey, I know I much you hate to come to my mother's house with me, so I brought your laptop so you can entertain yourself!
Husband:
Oh crap, the lo-jack must have cut groves in the mobo by now...
Wife:
Is everything ok sweetie?
Husband: (curls into fetal position wimpering softly...)
Yes honey, i'll be fine, go talk to your mom...
Wife walks away.
Husband muttering:
All my game saves! Gone! Damn LoJack!
what do you mean cheap?
Debian costs pennies to download the 2 floppy images ans windows XP pro is $199 (the average yearly income in Banglasedh)
And they will conveniently have a full and complete list of "nice people" for whatever re-education program the UN comes up with...
No thanks. I barely trust my government, and I vote for the suckers.
I'm sick and tired of "My os is cheaper than your os because yadda yadda yadda"
It's all about opportunity cost: What do you give up by running this OS?
The business might save $120M a year by switching to Linux from IBM, but if that translates into $1B loss of profits in three years, then Linux was not the right choice.
Likewise if a business spends $10M/year on windows systems and nets $100M/year in profits, and they could spend $12M/year on Linux (better admins, yadda^3) but generate $400M in net earnings, Linux would be the better solution, even though it would cost 2 million dollars more per year than windows.
How I sell management on linux: The business will make more money, and have a higher profit margin. Once the numbers make sense, they'll go borrow the cash to transition if they have to, but it will happen, guaranteed.
And Japanese businessmen didn't build the second largest economy in the world by forgetting the bottom line.
Thanks for the laugh...
That would be:
:)
In So...
(don't forget capitalization...
Except that those were not prisoners of war, of course, but dangerous enemy combatants.
And they weren't shackled, they were restrained, for their safety.
And these allegations are anectotal, and in no way represent the situation on the ground, and this does not reflect on the outstanding job our men and women in uniform are doing...
I'll stop now before I spew my food all over the monitor and keyboard in a fit of government-induced laughter.
Oh, happy 4th! Fly the Flag!
With apology to Heinlein's Mistress and her moons.
TANSTAAFB
I'm going to Amen this comment, because frankly, it's leadership ability that makes of breaks large transitions like Lutz's.
And I'm not talking about just the CIO, I'm also talking VPs, directors and managers. If only 30% of your management understands the way open-source software are written, don't jump to linux.
Of course, if the Almighty Board does not retain a top notch CIO, the transition will never take place. Also, the company will not be in the top 10% performers in their industry.
This is why hiring a good CIO should be paramount at process-heavy companies. What makes a good CIO?
--Good understanding of modern technology.
--Good relationship with vendors
--Good mentoring and motivational skills
--Excellent ability to recognize and promote proactive managers
--Guts
--Excellent ability to explain the above to other C** and finally:
--Execution.
Because vision without the ability to execute remains a pie-in-the-sky dream.
And a good CIO should really be earning the equivalent of the CEO's salary, because he can make or break the company.
You mean to tell me that multibillioned microsoft could not write a competent TCP stack? If that's the case, what makes you think they can build a secure and reliable OS?
Oh wait...
And besides, Microsoft know how to get GPL software non-GPL'ed: They contact the author of the software and offer him $150K/yr job to work on their "innovative solution".
Which they've done with some of the firefox people I think, and the guy who wrote ironPython.
I say that's great: Be a hacker, forgo the corporate ladder, write some bitchin software on your PIII, and get a great salary for a few years... Can't argue the GPL does help some people financially.
It *could* happen that all future versions of PERL will fail to install on Health Market Science servers.
Purely coincitentally, of course...