Many of the big IT companies like IBM, Deloitte, etc. won't even talk to you unless you have a degree. Screw them. I have found that smaller companies are more willing to give someone a try if they don't have the degree but they have a good attitude and some aptitude and a willingness to learn. As others have pointed out, once you get some experience the degree becomes less important. What you're looking for in the job description are the three magic words "or equivalent experience" in the list of qualifications. Don't worry about taking a job that you might think is beneath you. Think strategically about the type of job you want to eventually end up in and work towards getting the necessary experience and qualifications. Don't underestimate the importance of networking. Not ass kissing - networking. I am convinced that many of the best jobs are filled through connections with people that have a say in the hiring. Never throw away a business card. A couple of times in my career I took jobs that nobody else seemed to want and yet I picked up skills that proved to be valuable down the road. Don't be afraid to take the crappy job. Learn how to write a resume. If you don't put something in there that will catch the recruiter's eye you won't even get to the interview stage. In an interview enthusiasm is critical. I have interviewed people in the past that didn't seem to give a shit whether I hired them or not. Well, if they don't care neither do I. If it's a face to face interview practice how to give a proper handshake. Seriously. A firm confident handshake says a lot about a person. Make eye contact but don't stare at the person. After the interview send a note to the interviewer thanking them for their time. It's a small gesture but it can make an impact. These things might seem trivial but if you are competing against others with more education or better qualifications then attitude and presentation matters. A lot. Good luck.
The Sales people were the ones that were supposed to be using the CRM system. We had the right audience. CRM, by the way, stands for Customer Relationship Management. Sales people use it to manage sales leads and communications with customers. We led them to water but couldn't make them drink. Some of them got it and actually understood that if they used the system properly it would help to increase their sales and by extension their sales commissions.
On a prior engagement I was part of a team of people charged with training Sales people on a CRM application. I was probably jaded going in, seeing as I have a general distain for sales people of all types, but my experience there was that most of them had the attention span of a fruit fly. Gregarious, type A, call them what you like but those bozos couldn't pay attention for more than 5 minutes. Fucking Blackberrys going off all the time, stepping out to take phone calls in the middle of class, you name it. They were like a bunch of Kindergarden kids with too much sugar in their systems. Needless to say it wasn't the most successful gig I've even been on. I hope you have better luck that I did. Never again.
Schulze currently has a 20% stake in the company and is "currently exploring all available options" including, presumably, liquidating them. What really bugs me about that place is the way they push the extended warranties. Grossly overpriced. I know enough to avoid them but many people that are less tech savvy are taken in by them. If I want to check out tech stuff in person (vs. online) I go to Frys. Best Browse has lost it's way. Reminds me of Blockbuster.
I haven't taken any of Thrun's courses yet so I can't attest to the quality, or lack thereof. But in my line of work I sometimes have Higher Ed clients and all of them are scrambling to create online offerings. Online education is clearly the future. Yes, it's still evolving and needs improvement but I think it's a viable option for many people including working adults, late bloomers or people that simply just can't afford a standard classroom education. Much of the value of the onsite college experience is networking...I get that...but many people are asking themselves if it's really worth running up a six figure debt to get it. In some fields, yes it makes sense. Others not so much. I don't see online education so much replacing in class as much as I see it complimenting it. This idea that going to college is the only way to get a quality education is nonsense. Some of the brightest people I have worked with are completely self taught.
Try Keepass (keepass.info). It's an excellent, free password manager. There are others as well (LastPass is one that comes to mind). No excuses for not having a different password for each site you visit. As far as LinkedIn goes, changing the password is about all you need to do. You might want to monitor it for the next few days for any suspicious behavior. Evidently the password leak was via iOS so if you're not logging in with an iPhone or iPad then you're probably not affected. Does't hurt to change your password though.
What's with all the LinkedIn bashing? I have been using it for years and have never gotten any spam from them. It's a great resource and has gotten me more than one job.
Exactly right. The structure has broken down because the concept of lifetime employment is dead. There was a time, not so long ago, when companies would hire kids out of college, train them, and provide them with a career with a good salary and benefits. And at the end of it you got a pension as gratitude for your service. Heck, my dad worked for Kodak for 35 years until the day he retired. He made a good living. They took care of him. Today, the idea of working even 3.5 years (never mind 35) at the same company is insane. Pensions - gone. Training - gone. If you work in high tech you can be certain that your job will be off-shored the instant some bean counter can justify it.
Companies claim they can't find qualified people - bullshit. What they really mean is that they are unwilling to spend any money to train someone to do the job. They would rather hire some H1-B worker at a fraction of the salary and hold them captive for the duration of the visa. You realize that if you're on an H1-B and you leave the job you have to start the visa process all over again? And possibly have to leave the country to do it. Yeah - employers know that too. All to well. So they have a basically a captive labor force working cheap. If it doesn't work out then just can the guy and move on to the next H1-B application on the pile.
That's why I contract. I work they pay me. No quarter asked, none given.
I guess the real question with Facebook is how much of the information they have on there is real and how much of it is fake? How many accounts are completely bogus with no valid information attached to them or false information? How many of the legitimate profiles contain false data (eg. DOB, school attended, likes, etc.)? I would suspect it's a significant amount. So taking the remaining legitimate accounts how many of them actually buy anything on Facebook via games etc? i could go on but I'm seeing ever dwindling numbers here. Granted, when you start at 800 million users you can still end up with a large number but it seems to me that Google's ads are much more effective in terms of targeting real people that want to buy real things.
You'd be surprised how long you can live off just coconuts. Drink the juice, eat the insides, use the branches and leaves to build a shelter. Heck if you're luck you might even find a few fallen ones and try making a raft.
DirecTV, along with cable, have this model where you have to buy channels by the package not a la carte. So out of 200 channels maybe there are 10 that you watch regularly. Not only that but the default setting on DirecTV is to also show you the channels that you DON'T get to entice you to get them. This all plays in to the prevailing American mentality of "more is better". Big house, big SUV, big refrigerators, big everything. This is why Costco is so successful. Why buy 2 rolls of paper towel when you can buy 50?
What does this have to do with DirecTV you might ask? I believe that there is a psychological comfort that people get with 200 channels even if you don't watch most of them. If it got pared down to just the channels you want I think that many people would feel cheated. "What...only 10 channels? But my buddy has 200!!".
Unfortunately the wasteful-hoarder mentality works against the just-get-what-you-need mentality. I see this time and time again. People driving down the street in 9 passenger vehicles alone. People in the grocery store with enormous carts full of food. People buying big houses only to have several of the rooms never used. I'd love to see a la carte programming but I just don't see it catching on for the reasons above.
Somebody mod this guy up. Ever since LBJ we have been introducing ever more programs to "defeat" poverty. And yet, more Americans than ever are living in poverty --> https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
How can this be? It's plain to see that these programs are not working.
See if she can get a job in a big company. The initial position is not that important but the eventual goal would be to learn the various software packages that the company uses. Then, with her teaching background, she could go into corporate training. Say goodbye to those snot-nosed smart asses in public school and say hello to teaching adults. Adults that are in your class because a) their boss told them to be there, and they damn well better pay attention or b) they signed up for the course themselves and have a genuine interest in attending. Either way it's a win for you. Plus the odds of one of your adult students packing heat is next to none:-)
I'm still wearing my headphones at work. It seems that the every noise get magnified in an office. There was this one dizzy broad that I worked with. She had these really long fingernails and all day long I would hear the clickity-click of her typing and it drove me nuts. Cellphones...stupid conversations...music blocks out all of that and I feel more productive and less irritated. So I use them.
The moment that companies stopped providing pensions I knew the gig was up. Is it any wonder that IT people change jobs so much? It has turned an entire generation of IT workers into mercenaries.
"I've never been at a company (that wasn't a consulting company) where they gave ANY value to IT workers period" - That's why I went into consulting. Working in IT support puts you in a cost center in the eyes of senior management. In consulting I am a revenue generator. The difference is night and day in terms of how are you treated.
Bingo! Numerous times I have turned someone down that appeared to have great technical skills but terrible interpersonal skills. Why? Because IT is a team sport. Being able to get along with people - even people you don't particularly like - is really important. So are technical skills but I am convinced, based on 20+ years in the industry, that I can teach technical things to someone with a good attitude and a bit of aptitude. If someone comes in with a shitty attitude I don't care how good they are technically I don't want anything to do with them. In time they will sour everyone they come in contact with. I have seen this time and time again.
I know that there is a lot of anti-management sentiment out there (I'm not in management, btw) amongst the IT group. Frankly, most of the management types I have worked with are worthless. Middle management is the last refuge of the unemployable. But as long as they are running things you might as well just find a way to get along. It doesn't mean you have to invite them to your weekend BBQ, just don't be openly disdainful.
Slashdot Mirror
Many of the big IT companies like IBM, Deloitte, etc. won't even talk to you unless you have a degree. Screw them. I have found that smaller companies are more willing to give someone a try if they don't have the degree but they have a good attitude and some aptitude and a willingness to learn. As others have pointed out, once you get some experience the degree becomes less important. What you're looking for in the job description are the three magic words "or equivalent experience" in the list of qualifications. Don't worry about taking a job that you might think is beneath you. Think strategically about the type of job you want to eventually end up in and work towards getting the necessary experience and qualifications. Don't underestimate the importance of networking. Not ass kissing - networking. I am convinced that many of the best jobs are filled through connections with people that have a say in the hiring. Never throw away a business card. A couple of times in my career I took jobs that nobody else seemed to want and yet I picked up skills that proved to be valuable down the road. Don't be afraid to take the crappy job. Learn how to write a resume. If you don't put something in there that will catch the recruiter's eye you won't even get to the interview stage. In an interview enthusiasm is critical. I have interviewed people in the past that didn't seem to give a shit whether I hired them or not. Well, if they don't care neither do I. If it's a face to face interview practice how to give a proper handshake. Seriously. A firm confident handshake says a lot about a person. Make eye contact but don't stare at the person. After the interview send a note to the interviewer thanking them for their time. It's a small gesture but it can make an impact. These things might seem trivial but if you are competing against others with more education or better qualifications then attitude and presentation matters. A lot. Good luck.
Sorry for the confusion. Funny story though :-)
The Sales people were the ones that were supposed to be using the CRM system. We had the right audience. CRM, by the way, stands for Customer Relationship Management. Sales people use it to manage sales leads and communications with customers. We led them to water but couldn't make them drink. Some of them got it and actually understood that if they used the system properly it would help to increase their sales and by extension their sales commissions.
On a prior engagement I was part of a team of people charged with training Sales people on a CRM application. I was probably jaded going in, seeing as I have a general distain for sales people of all types, but my experience there was that most of them had the attention span of a fruit fly. Gregarious, type A, call them what you like but those bozos couldn't pay attention for more than 5 minutes. Fucking Blackberrys going off all the time, stepping out to take phone calls in the middle of class, you name it. They were like a bunch of Kindergarden kids with too much sugar in their systems. Needless to say it wasn't the most successful gig I've even been on. I hope you have better luck that I did. Never again.
Schulze currently has a 20% stake in the company and is "currently exploring all available options" including, presumably, liquidating them. What really bugs me about that place is the way they push the extended warranties. Grossly overpriced. I know enough to avoid them but many people that are less tech savvy are taken in by them. If I want to check out tech stuff in person (vs. online) I go to Frys. Best Browse has lost it's way. Reminds me of Blockbuster.
I haven't taken any of Thrun's courses yet so I can't attest to the quality, or lack thereof. But in my line of work I sometimes have Higher Ed clients and all of them are scrambling to create online offerings. Online education is clearly the future. Yes, it's still evolving and needs improvement but I think it's a viable option for many people including working adults, late bloomers or people that simply just can't afford a standard classroom education. Much of the value of the onsite college experience is networking...I get that...but many people are asking themselves if it's really worth running up a six figure debt to get it. In some fields, yes it makes sense. Others not so much. I don't see online education so much replacing in class as much as I see it complimenting it. This idea that going to college is the only way to get a quality education is nonsense. Some of the brightest people I have worked with are completely self taught.
Just curious...what kind of spamming did you get? Do you mean from recruiters or from LinkedIn itself? I wonder what I've done to avoid all of that :-)
Try Keepass (keepass.info). It's an excellent, free password manager. There are others as well (LastPass is one that comes to mind). No excuses for not having a different password for each site you visit. As far as LinkedIn goes, changing the password is about all you need to do. You might want to monitor it for the next few days for any suspicious behavior. Evidently the password leak was via iOS so if you're not logging in with an iPhone or iPad then you're probably not affected. Does't hurt to change your password though.
What's with all the LinkedIn bashing? I have been using it for years and have never gotten any spam from them. It's a great resource and has gotten me more than one job.
Exactly right. The structure has broken down because the concept of lifetime employment is dead. There was a time, not so long ago, when companies would hire kids out of college, train them, and provide them with a career with a good salary and benefits. And at the end of it you got a pension as gratitude for your service. Heck, my dad worked for Kodak for 35 years until the day he retired. He made a good living. They took care of him. Today, the idea of working even 3.5 years (never mind 35) at the same company is insane. Pensions - gone. Training - gone. If you work in high tech you can be certain that your job will be off-shored the instant some bean counter can justify it. Companies claim they can't find qualified people - bullshit. What they really mean is that they are unwilling to spend any money to train someone to do the job. They would rather hire some H1-B worker at a fraction of the salary and hold them captive for the duration of the visa. You realize that if you're on an H1-B and you leave the job you have to start the visa process all over again? And possibly have to leave the country to do it. Yeah - employers know that too. All to well. So they have a basically a captive labor force working cheap. If it doesn't work out then just can the guy and move on to the next H1-B application on the pile. That's why I contract. I work they pay me. No quarter asked, none given.
I guess the real question with Facebook is how much of the information they have on there is real and how much of it is fake? How many accounts are completely bogus with no valid information attached to them or false information? How many of the legitimate profiles contain false data (eg. DOB, school attended, likes, etc.)? I would suspect it's a significant amount. So taking the remaining legitimate accounts how many of them actually buy anything on Facebook via games etc? i could go on but I'm seeing ever dwindling numbers here. Granted, when you start at 800 million users you can still end up with a large number but it seems to me that Google's ads are much more effective in terms of targeting real people that want to buy real things.
You'd be surprised how long you can live off just coconuts. Drink the juice, eat the insides, use the branches and leaves to build a shelter. Heck if you're luck you might even find a few fallen ones and try making a raft.
DirecTV, along with cable, have this model where you have to buy channels by the package not a la carte. So out of 200 channels maybe there are 10 that you watch regularly. Not only that but the default setting on DirecTV is to also show you the channels that you DON'T get to entice you to get them. This all plays in to the prevailing American mentality of "more is better". Big house, big SUV, big refrigerators, big everything. This is why Costco is so successful. Why buy 2 rolls of paper towel when you can buy 50? What does this have to do with DirecTV you might ask? I believe that there is a psychological comfort that people get with 200 channels even if you don't watch most of them. If it got pared down to just the channels you want I think that many people would feel cheated. "What...only 10 channels? But my buddy has 200!!". Unfortunately the wasteful-hoarder mentality works against the just-get-what-you-need mentality. I see this time and time again. People driving down the street in 9 passenger vehicles alone. People in the grocery store with enormous carts full of food. People buying big houses only to have several of the rooms never used. I'd love to see a la carte programming but I just don't see it catching on for the reasons above.
Somebody mod this guy up. Ever since LBJ we have been introducing ever more programs to "defeat" poverty. And yet, more Americans than ever are living in poverty --> https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all How can this be? It's plain to see that these programs are not working.
See if she can get a job in a big company. The initial position is not that important but the eventual goal would be to learn the various software packages that the company uses. Then, with her teaching background, she could go into corporate training. Say goodbye to those snot-nosed smart asses in public school and say hello to teaching adults. Adults that are in your class because a) their boss told them to be there, and they damn well better pay attention or b) they signed up for the course themselves and have a genuine interest in attending. Either way it's a win for you. Plus the odds of one of your adult students packing heat is next to none :-)
I'm still wearing my headphones at work. It seems that the every noise get magnified in an office. There was this one dizzy broad that I worked with. She had these really long fingernails and all day long I would hear the clickity-click of her typing and it drove me nuts. Cellphones...stupid conversations...music blocks out all of that and I feel more productive and less irritated. So I use them.
The moment that companies stopped providing pensions I knew the gig was up. Is it any wonder that IT people change jobs so much? It has turned an entire generation of IT workers into mercenaries.
"I've never been at a company (that wasn't a consulting company) where they gave ANY value to IT workers period" - That's why I went into consulting. Working in IT support puts you in a cost center in the eyes of senior management. In consulting I am a revenue generator. The difference is night and day in terms of how are you treated.
Bingo! Numerous times I have turned someone down that appeared to have great technical skills but terrible interpersonal skills. Why? Because IT is a team sport. Being able to get along with people - even people you don't particularly like - is really important. So are technical skills but I am convinced, based on 20+ years in the industry, that I can teach technical things to someone with a good attitude and a bit of aptitude. If someone comes in with a shitty attitude I don't care how good they are technically I don't want anything to do with them. In time they will sour everyone they come in contact with. I have seen this time and time again. I know that there is a lot of anti-management sentiment out there (I'm not in management, btw) amongst the IT group. Frankly, most of the management types I have worked with are worthless. Middle management is the last refuge of the unemployable. But as long as they are running things you might as well just find a way to get along. It doesn't mean you have to invite them to your weekend BBQ, just don't be openly disdainful.