Long story short, he claimed some mystery illness, said he couldn't work any more, and filed for workers' comp...and after months of getting a free ride, someone investigating the workers' comp claim happened to find out that his social security number was a woman's, not a man's. Oops. It didn't make much sense that he'd use a fake name and SSN to get workers' comp, so we were all left wondering why he'd used the fake info...
Yes, of course admins with the ability to wreak major havoc at an organization should have to undergo background checks. Several years ago I worked at a Fortune 500 company, and there were no background checks done at all for IT staff. Turns out we hired a guy who used a fake name and someone else's social security number, and he worked as one of our main sysadmins for over a year, with privileges on probably 100 servers and full privileges on the email servers, before he was caught. I thought background checks were a waste of time until that...scared me half to death because no one had any idea what he'd done in all that time, and worse, no idea who he actually was.
I do stand up for my rights. But in those cases, what could I do? At both companies, senior management and ownership were discriminating against me. I could have sued, which would have made my work situation even worse, plus cost me a lot of money - or I could move on to another job. Why would I want to stay with a company that didn't really want me there? Why would I want that company to benefit from my work? I certainly believe in standing up for my rights, but I also know that I need to choose the battles that I fight. There are many great companies out there that don't discriminate against their employees, so why waste my time in a futile attempt to change other people's minds?
I had problems with discrimination in my first two jobs out of college - about ten years ago. I had the double whammy - young (21) and female. I was a sysadmin, programmer, jack of all trades, with three years of experience and a CS degree. But because I was female, the salesmen gave me letters to type. The owner referred to me as the "computer girl" and treated me like a secretary. I tried to tough it out for a while, but realized that there isn't much you can do about people like them. So I quit.
The next place I worked at, I was the manager of the IT department, with two employees reporting to me. I was nearly 20 years younger than them, and one of them had major problems with my age. She tried very hard to get me fired. Most of the other managers also thought I was way too young and didn't take me seriously at all. So I quit.
The next time I interviewed, I looked for companies with lots of young employees. Getting a tour of the company is a great way to scope this out. I also looked for temp-to-hire positions, so I could make sure things would be good before hiring in permanently. And I found a fantastic company, where people didn't care that I was female or young. I was much, much happier.
So if you've got the experience, knowledge, and talent, why stay in an environment where you're uncomfortable or not treated right? Life is too short...
I've been working in my home office full-time (with 7 computers) for almost a year. I wouldn't want to be working at the same desk where the computers are because of all the heat they produce. So I have four of my computers stacked together on an anti-static mat. It's a lot cheaper than buying furniture for them, it works well, and they're directing their heat out of my office.
I use a desk from Office Depot (about $60) for my workstation - it's wider than normal computer desks, so you can fit your mouse, keyboard and a frosty beverage on the main desk surface. A shelf in the back comfortably holds 2 monitors, and the space under the shelf gives me plenty of room to hold all those little odds and ends. I have two of the desks together at about a 90 degree angle, and they make a great work area.
The other trick was to get a decent chair with height-adjustable arms (about $100) and set them so that the top of the arms is roughly even with the desk. I've had tendinitis and carpal tunnel in the past, but I haven't had any trouble at all working in my home office.
I have been one of the directors of a regional science fair for the past seven years. The whole purpose of the fair is to encourage children to think critically, to be creative, to take an idea and study it scientifically. This girl did exactly that - she had an idea, she designed an experiment, and she reported on her results. The sensitively or controversiality of the subject should have no impact on whether the project is displayed or not.
In my experience, I have seen students have their projects thrown out of fairs. However, this was only done when the project clearly violated the published rules of the fair and there was no way to correct the situation. The best example of that would be where a student killed all of their test animals, in violation of LD50 (Lethal dose to at most 50% of test subjects). We have had projects that were distasteful and completely unscientific - one even made light of the Ebola virus - but we would never think of eliminating a project based on content.
It is a disgrace that this child's work has been thrown out simply because it made someone uncomfortable. Whoever made that decision is clearly interested in politics, not science.
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Long story short, he claimed some mystery illness, said he couldn't work any more, and filed for workers' comp...and after months of getting a free ride, someone investigating the workers' comp claim happened to find out that his social security number was a woman's, not a man's. Oops. It didn't make much sense that he'd use a fake name and SSN to get workers' comp, so we were all left wondering why he'd used the fake info...
Yes, of course admins with the ability to wreak major havoc at an organization should have to undergo background checks. Several years ago I worked at a Fortune 500 company, and there were no background checks done at all for IT staff. Turns out we hired a guy who used a fake name and someone else's social security number, and he worked as one of our main sysadmins for over a year, with privileges on probably 100 servers and full privileges on the email servers, before he was caught. I thought background checks were a waste of time until that...scared me half to death because no one had any idea what he'd done in all that time, and worse, no idea who he actually was.
I do stand up for my rights. But in those cases, what could I do? At both companies, senior management and ownership were discriminating against me. I could have sued, which would have made my work situation even worse, plus cost me a lot of money - or I could move on to another job. Why would I want to stay with a company that didn't really want me there? Why would I want that company to benefit from my work? I certainly believe in standing up for my rights, but I also know that I need to choose the battles that I fight. There are many great companies out there that don't discriminate against their employees, so why waste my time in a futile attempt to change other people's minds?
I had problems with discrimination in my first two jobs out of college - about ten years ago. I had the double whammy - young (21) and female. I was a sysadmin, programmer, jack of all trades, with three years of experience and a CS degree. But because I was female, the salesmen gave me letters to type. The owner referred to me as the "computer girl" and treated me like a secretary. I tried to tough it out for a while, but realized that there isn't much you can do about people like them. So I quit.
The next place I worked at, I was the manager of the IT department, with two employees reporting to me. I was nearly 20 years younger than them, and one of them had major problems with my age. She tried very hard to get me fired. Most of the other managers also thought I was way too young and didn't take me seriously at all. So I quit.
The next time I interviewed, I looked for companies with lots of young employees. Getting a tour of the company is a great way to scope this out. I also looked for temp-to-hire positions, so I could make sure things would be good before hiring in permanently. And I found a fantastic company, where people didn't care that I was female or young. I was much, much happier.
So if you've got the experience, knowledge, and talent, why stay in an environment where you're uncomfortable or not treated right? Life is too short...
I've been working in my home office full-time (with 7 computers) for almost a year. I wouldn't want to be working at the same desk where the computers are because of all the heat they produce. So I have four of my computers stacked together on an anti-static mat. It's a lot cheaper than buying furniture for them, it works well, and they're directing their heat out of my office.
I use a desk from Office Depot (about $60) for my workstation - it's wider than normal computer desks, so you can fit your mouse, keyboard and a frosty beverage on the main desk surface. A shelf in the back comfortably holds 2 monitors, and the space under the shelf gives me plenty of room to hold all those little odds and ends. I have two of the desks together at about a 90 degree angle, and they make a great work area.
The other trick was to get a decent chair with height-adjustable arms (about $100) and set them so that the top of the arms is roughly even with the desk. I've had tendinitis and carpal tunnel in the past, but I haven't had any trouble at all working in my home office.
In my experience, I have seen students have their projects thrown out of fairs. However, this was only done when the project clearly violated the published rules of the fair and there was no way to correct the situation. The best example of that would be where a student killed all of their test animals, in violation of LD50 (Lethal dose to at most 50% of test subjects). We have had projects that were distasteful and completely unscientific - one even made light of the Ebola virus - but we would never think of eliminating a project based on content.
It is a disgrace that this child's work has been thrown out simply because it made someone uncomfortable. Whoever made that decision is clearly interested in politics, not science.