I understand how this must look to the general public. But I can tell you, if you were in my shoes, you'd do exactly the same. Keeping up with the Joneses in my neigborhood gets very expensive and I've got three kids all looking to go to Ivy League colleges. The bonuses I raked in for this scheme were more than enough to cover this and put a new down payment on a beautiful home in White Plains. What are you doing to ensure your family prospers?
Well, your Executiveness, I'm currently trying to get an interview with a company in India to see if I can get back my job, which you recently outsourced. Little Timmy's surgery is on hold, since we no longer have medical insurance, but he probably won't die immediately. Thanks for asking about us, though. I always knew you were a great guy, no matter what all the other employees said.:)
The honest companies don't have to spend millions on litigation brought about by cheating; they don't get caught because they haven't done anything wrong.
There are still honest companies? The honest CEOs, who have a genuine concern for the company, get *replaced* because they aren't pumping the stock to double-digit, short-term increases like the fraudsters are. And which type of CEO is the one praised in the press and rewarded with millions of dollars by the board of directors?
On a lighter note, perhaps MCI will change their name again after this is all behind them?:-)
Of, course. Back to WorldCom again to avoid the taint of MCI's shady deals.:) It appears this company is just bad to the bone, no matter what you call it, and it's not just due to the buyout by WorldCom. A number of people that I went to college with were gung-ho when hired by MCI but were quickly relieved of their idealism. (There, but for the grace of God, go I.) After interviewing with them, I was less than impressed by the mandated corporate culture but really impressed by the ignorance and minor deceits of the line management. I'm guessing it was an STD contracted from upper management.
Wow, I must be stupid or something. I am really confused by your comment. Can you clarify
I can't vouch for him, but I'd guess he's talking about the huge cost of getting an M.D. on student loans, then limiting the Doctor's income. Include the astronomical cost of malpractice insurance, and being a doctor makes no sense. My long-time doctor, who was a great, funny, informed guy as well as a great doctor who saw me through some tough times, recently decided to pursue other avenues of employment rather than stay on that constantly money-increasing treadmill. He really hated increasing office charges every six months, especially since he knew it was a burden for many of his elderly patients. It was a loss to the medical community - not just to me.
What!? You're trying to tell me that the average salary of a US programmer is more than 65,000 dollars a year? In this economy? No way.
I agree, but the trade-rags continue to put out numbers like this. It certainly isn't true at the company I work for. Perhaps they only count programmers in New York or Silicon Valley.
The higher-ups are still champing at the bit to outsource everything they can, though, even though it costs more, increases lead time, and the work done by the outsourcers is of questionable quality (this is customer service repair, BTW).
It makes sense. The key thing now is to announce you are outsourcing or offshoring your labor. This gets into the financial press and the stock price jumps because *everyone knows* it will save money. The executives are able to exercise their stock options at a profit, and that's all they care about - the hell with the company.
A bit harsh on the India assessment. . . . so I figure this isn't a troll, but a point of view. . . To demonize India is, IMHO, a grave mistake.
He didn't say anything about India except that jobs are going there. If anyone is trolling, it's you. Companies like Bank of America (ha ha) admit that they are dumping Americans and sending their jobs to India. It's just the plain, unvarnished truth. When did we become so politically correct, that stating the obvious became *demonizing*?
I would think that in-house programming projects would be less likely to be shipped out to India than retail software. It's a great benefit to have in-house developers physically present, as they need to be able to work with users to assess needs, address problems, train users, etc.
What you say makes sense, but, unfortunately, it's not true. You need to spend some time at infoworld.com and the other trade-rag sites. When the CEO says the company is offshoring its IT, the stock price jumps and his/her options become profitable. You don't really believe that the company's real needs have anything to do with offshoring, do you? I think the last figures showed over 80% of American companies with IT departments were exploring offshoring "alternatives". Only a small percentage of those companies produce retail software.
Typically in house it applications are written in very high level languages such as Java, C#, asp, php, i.e. not C, C++, assembly..
I don't suppose you'd care to supply some backup for your claim? First, C, C++, and Java are all 3GLs. Second, the last survey I read showed that C/C++ was still the most often used programming language for in-house applications. I know for sure that it is the most used language at the company I work for (and the last company I worked for, too).
I happen to remember reading here when Gartner said, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET RID OF ALL IIS INSTALLATIONS" that everybody agreed with Gartner. They're not in any way pro-MS.
And right up until that time, Gartner had been telling everyone to run IIS. The constant exploits and obvious lack of security made them look stupid, hence the double-face. Now, it's pro-MS again. Another day, another dollar for Gartner.
Well then, what we really need to do is blow smoke up Daryl McBride's ass, you know give him a taste of his own medicine. We need to dig up any dirt that we can find on him. Has he ever cheated on his wife? Has he ever rented a porno? Was he ever caught cheating on a test?
You're kidding, right? McBride was an executive for FranklinCovey, the company that convinces PHBs that they can turn employees into fawning, helpful little elves during a seminar (and oddly, they are also Utah-based). Only $250 (IIRC) per, um, victim - hey, great deal, and only $140 for the Leatherette keepsake notebook. And the message sticks like like paint on vinyl. Hey, I'm "sharpening my saw" by revealing this, Covey.
McBride has sued companies he worked for after being fired. There is nothing more you can do to this guy's reputation. SCO is it. He has nothing to lose.
The fact that I gave my Senei a black eye was meaningless. He could easily have bounce my ass around the Dojo. In fact, if I was him, I would have done exactly that. Fortunatly, like many Martial Arts instructers, he had a great sence of humor.
Grasshopper, when you can snatch the armed grenade from my hand, then it will be time for you to leave - quickly, please.:)
That is unless some SCO employee (or disgruntled ex-SCO employee) drops a bombshell that kills SCO's claim off.
I don't think it's news that SCO has said they will terminate any employee who says anything - (Cringely, InfoWorld). Not much chance of a current employee saying anything. And I don't recall seeing any "Well, I work at SCO, and..." comments during all these discussions. SCO coders don't hang at slashdot, or they don't dare post for fear of their jobs?
Too true. It's corporate management that pays Gartner to brew potions and make incantations before divining the magic TCO number, which is essentially useless. Meanwhile the IT people collectively hold their noses.
Publicly humiliate every SCO executive who had anything to do with this. Make them such social piriahs within the community that they won't even be able to get jobs working a tech support desk.
McBride is already a pariah after working for Franklin-Covey and suing his previous employers, which is probably why SCO hired him - he has nothing to lose. Other than that, I really liked your post.:)
If you do decide to file, don't forget to mention the recent Vultus purchase. Vultus is owned by The Canopy Group, the same people who own a large portion of SCO.
Wow. I read about the Vultus purchase and wondered what was up with that - it sounded like SCO was a company that thought it had a future. In reality, it's just some nasty corporate incest due to recent infusions of money from Sun and MS. No wonder that the Vultus products are *immediately* available from SCO.
Why create a section for a company that will cease to exist in a few months?
Because unless the cretins that are behind it decide to dump and run (hopefully), SCO will remain a prominent thorn for years as the case works its way through the courts. Might as well have a section where I can get my daily SCO news fix, until the day I finally read that they are dead, DEAD, DEAD.
But I think my original point - that you can profit from the Next Big Thing, even if you're not working in it - still stands.
Thank God that I have finally found someone with your wisdom. When they told us that the textile jobs were going offshore, they said it was okay because we could move to manufacturing, which was more suitable for us. When the manufacturing jobs were going offshore, they told us to move into IT work, which was more suitable for us. Now, the IT jobs are going offshore. Oh, great Guru, what is the "Next Big Thing" that is more suitable for us? Unemployment among American engineers is at 7% and rising, an all-time high (and that is under-reported). I had thought the NBT might be McDonalds, but they are downsizing. Please guide us with your knowledge of the future.
Slashdot Mirror
I understand how this must look to the general public. But I can tell you, if you were in my shoes, you'd do exactly the same. Keeping up with the Joneses in my neigborhood gets very expensive and I've got three kids all looking to go to Ivy League colleges. The bonuses I raked in for this scheme were more than enough to cover this and put a new down payment on a beautiful home in White Plains. What are you doing to ensure your family prospers?
Well, your Executiveness, I'm currently trying to get an interview with a company in India to see if I can get back my job, which you recently outsourced. Little Timmy's surgery is on hold, since we no longer have medical insurance, but he probably won't die immediately. Thanks for asking about us, though. I always knew you were a great guy, no matter what all the other employees said. :)
The honest companies don't have to spend millions on litigation brought about by cheating; they don't get caught because they haven't done anything wrong.
There are still honest companies? The honest CEOs, who have a genuine concern for the company, get *replaced* because they aren't pumping the stock to double-digit, short-term increases like the fraudsters are. And which type of CEO is the one praised in the press and rewarded with millions of dollars by the board of directors?
Accredited professional lying is reserved to MBAs and statisticians -- totally different fields from accounting. :)
On a lighter note, perhaps MCI will change their name again after this is all behind them? :-)
Of, course. Back to WorldCom again to avoid the taint of MCI's shady deals. :) It appears this company is just bad to the bone, no matter what you call it, and it's not just due to the buyout by WorldCom. A number of people that I went to college with were gung-ho when hired by MCI but were quickly relieved of their idealism. (There, but for the grace of God, go I.) After interviewing with them, I was less than impressed by the mandated corporate culture but really impressed by the ignorance and minor deceits of the line management. I'm guessing it was an STD contracted from upper management.
So what means "moose"?
It's the stuff Darl McBride puts in his hair to give it that edgey, spikey, hip look.
Well said. If I'd mod points today, you'd have one.
Wow, I must be stupid or something. I am really confused by your comment. Can you clarify
I can't vouch for him, but I'd guess he's talking about the huge cost of getting an M.D. on student loans, then limiting the Doctor's income. Include the astronomical cost of malpractice insurance, and being a doctor makes no sense. My long-time doctor, who was a great, funny, informed guy as well as a great doctor who saw me through some tough times, recently decided to pursue other avenues of employment rather than stay on that constantly money-increasing treadmill. He really hated increasing office charges every six months, especially since he knew it was a burden for many of his elderly patients. It was a loss to the medical community - not just to me.
What!? You're trying to tell me that the average salary of a US programmer is more than 65,000 dollars a year? In this economy? No way.
I agree, but the trade-rags continue to put out numbers like this. It certainly isn't true at the company I work for. Perhaps they only count programmers in New York or Silicon Valley.
The higher-ups are still champing at the bit to outsource everything they can, though, even though it costs more, increases lead time, and the work done by the outsourcers is of questionable quality (this is customer service repair, BTW).
It makes sense. The key thing now is to announce you are outsourcing or offshoring your labor. This gets into the financial press and the stock price jumps because *everyone knows* it will save money. The executives are able to exercise their stock options at a profit, and that's all they care about - the hell with the company.
Do Indian programmers get benefits?
They get a job. That's a benefit a lot of unemployed or underemployed American programmers would like.
A bit harsh on the India assessment. . . . so I figure this isn't a troll, but a point of view. . . To demonize India is, IMHO, a grave mistake.
He didn't say anything about India except that jobs are going there. If anyone is trolling, it's you. Companies like Bank of America (ha ha) admit that they are dumping Americans and sending their jobs to India. It's just the plain, unvarnished truth. When did we become so politically correct, that stating the obvious became *demonizing*?
I would think that in-house programming projects would be less likely to be shipped out to India than retail software. It's a great benefit to have in-house developers physically present, as they need to be able to work with users to assess needs, address problems, train users, etc.
What you say makes sense, but, unfortunately, it's not true. You need to spend some time at infoworld.com and the other trade-rag sites. When the CEO says the company is offshoring its IT, the stock price jumps and his/her options become profitable. You don't really believe that the company's real needs have anything to do with offshoring, do you? I think the last figures showed over 80% of American companies with IT departments were exploring offshoring "alternatives". Only a small percentage of those companies produce retail software.
Typically in house it applications are written in very high level languages such as Java, C#, asp, php, i.e. not C, C++, assembly..
I don't suppose you'd care to supply some backup for your claim? First, C, C++, and Java are all 3GLs. Second, the last survey I read showed that C/C++ was still the most often used programming language for in-house applications. I know for sure that it is the most used language at the company I work for (and the last company I worked for, too).
I happen to remember reading here when Gartner said, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET RID OF ALL IIS INSTALLATIONS" that everybody agreed with Gartner. They're not in any way pro-MS.
And right up until that time, Gartner had been telling everyone to run IIS. The constant exploits and obvious lack of security made them look stupid, hence the double-face. Now, it's pro-MS again. Another day, another dollar for Gartner.
Well then, what we really need to do is blow smoke up Daryl McBride's ass, you know give him a taste of his own medicine. We need to dig up any dirt that we can find on him. Has he ever cheated on his wife? Has he ever rented a porno? Was he ever caught cheating on a test?
You're kidding, right? McBride was an executive for FranklinCovey, the company that convinces PHBs that they can turn employees into fawning, helpful little elves during a seminar (and oddly, they are also Utah-based). Only $250 (IIRC) per, um, victim - hey, great deal, and only $140 for the Leatherette keepsake notebook. And the message sticks like like paint on vinyl. Hey, I'm "sharpening my saw" by revealing this, Covey.
McBride has sued companies he worked for after being fired. There is nothing more you can do to this guy's reputation. SCO is it. He has nothing to lose.
The fact that I gave my Senei a black eye was meaningless. He could easily have bounce my ass around the Dojo. In fact, if I was him, I would have done exactly that. Fortunatly, like many Martial Arts instructers, he had a great sence of humor.
Grasshopper, when you can snatch the armed grenade from my hand, then it will be time for you to leave - quickly, please. :)
That is unless some SCO employee (or disgruntled ex-SCO employee) drops a bombshell that kills SCO's claim off.
I don't think it's news that SCO has said they will terminate any employee who says anything - (Cringely, InfoWorld). Not much chance of a current employee saying anything. And I don't recall seeing any "Well, I work at SCO, and ..." comments during all these discussions. SCO coders don't hang at slashdot, or they don't dare post for fear of their jobs?
Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes...
That pretty well describes it. Now we just need to know who paid the acorn and how a blind pig types a report. :)
Three letters: PHB.
Too true. It's corporate management that pays Gartner to brew potions and make incantations before divining the magic TCO number, which is essentially useless. Meanwhile the IT people collectively hold their noses.
Publicly humiliate every SCO executive who had anything to do with this. Make them such social piriahs within the community that they won't even be able to get jobs working a tech support desk.
McBride is already a pariah after working for Franklin-Covey and suing his previous employers, which is probably why SCO hired him - he has nothing to lose. Other than that, I really liked your post. :)
If you do decide to file, don't forget to mention the recent Vultus purchase. Vultus is owned by The Canopy Group, the same people who own a large portion of SCO.
Wow. I read about the Vultus purchase and wondered what was up with that - it sounded like SCO was a company that thought it had a future. In reality, it's just some nasty corporate incest due to recent infusions of money from Sun and MS. No wonder that the Vultus products are *immediately* available from SCO.
Why create a section for a company that will cease to exist in a few months?
Because unless the cretins that are behind it decide to dump and run (hopefully), SCO will remain a prominent thorn for years as the case works its way through the courts. Might as well have a section where I can get my daily SCO news fix, until the day I finally read that they are dead, DEAD, DEAD.
I fully expect that if everyone did revert to 2.2 kernels that SCO would find something to extort with there as well.
You do realize that taint, like water, runs downhill, don't you. I'm just waiting for a warning letter from SCO about my Atari 600XL in the basement.
You mean the post-evil, pre-offshoring IBM, right?
I meant the pre-Gerstner IBM, when being an IBM employee was 2-way commitment. You know, like pre-Carly HP.
But I think my original point - that you can profit from the Next Big Thing, even if you're not working in it - still stands.
Thank God that I have finally found someone with your wisdom. When they told us that the textile jobs were going offshore, they said it was okay because we could move to manufacturing, which was more suitable for us. When the manufacturing jobs were going offshore, they told us to move into IT work, which was more suitable for us. Now, the IT jobs are going offshore. Oh, great Guru, what is the "Next Big Thing" that is more suitable for us? Unemployment among American engineers is at 7% and rising, an all-time high (and that is under-reported). I had thought the NBT might be McDonalds, but they are downsizing. Please guide us with your knowledge of the future.