I've been an advocate for an IT Union ever since my father-in-law and I talked about how the CWA helped his career.
Consider this: The Union forced his major telco management to:
Plan changes well in advance.
Coordinate technical resources to ensure no overloading.
Allowed the technical resources the legal right to push back on after-hours changes, due to labor laws.
Provided hefty compensation bonuses for technical resources forced to work more than forty-five hours per week.
As a result, he couldn't fathom why I was always working fifty hour weeks, was always tired, was always on-call, was always working no-notice changes...you get the idea. When I would tell him about the late-in-the-day drive-by requests, he just didn't understand that we as engineers couldn't say "No!"
Remember, folks, that the businesses we work for cannot exist without the skills and experience that you bring to the table. Even in this economy, businesses stand to lose a lot if they let you go and are forced to replace you with a cheaper resource. You not only have a skillset, you understand the interpersonal relations, the political paths-of-least-resistence, and the office culture that will take a lot of time for a new person to pick up. That's worth a lot.
Remember, you have the right to defend your vested interest in the business arrangement that is a corporate job. The moment you forget that is the moment you allow yourself to become a technosurf.
I respect your position, but I'm actually the exact opposite of you. I get far, far more work done in my home office / studio than I do in a corporate work environment.
In my case the reasons are simple:
I dress the way I want.
I have an ergonomic setup tuned for me, and not for "range B - F", as in Corporate America.
I like the food in my home a lot more than the crap available at the office.
I'm managing my time, because I'm an adult, thank you very much.
If I need a break, I don't have to worry about an office snitch looking over my shoulder should I hit slashdot in the middle of the day.
To address the original article directly, I returned to IT last year after a four year break. It only took me six months to sidestep out of it again.
Bear in mind, I was a UNIX admin for thirteen years. The only reason I left the field was sleep issues. Those pushed me into Technical Project Management and 3D Modeling and Animation (no kidding). Ran my own business for over a year, and built up a nice client base. It was terrific.
A family medical emergency forced me to look for steadier work. In a bit of a panic, I remembered the freedom and good paychecks that IT offered. Since I thought I had my sleep issues licked, I headed back into the sysadmin realm in 2009.
I was stunned. Management worked their sysadmins like slaves. 14 - 22 hour days -- yes, days -- were common. Engineers had no push-back, and director's hounded resources literally into the hospital.
This wasn't a small company, mind you. This is a major, successful U.S. firm. (Yes, successful even in the last couple of years. That should be a clue as to what industry it's in.) There was no excuse for the way IT was treated, other than the business just didn't care.
My sleep issues flared up, and my doctors ordered my firm to move me off-call. I ended up as a Technical BA, and things improved for my health. Unfortunately, I don't consider working in such a hostile, sweatshop environment to be either personally or professionally fulfilling. As such I'm already rebuilding my 3D client base, and am looking to move back to running my business full-time.
My point: Things have change in the IT field, and for the worse. The most obvious culprit is that corporations are slapping management grads into IT leadership roles with absolutely no training as to what makes IT unique. The result is a demoralized, harried workforce. Add in the "your-job-can-always-go-to-India" stick waved about (and yes, I actually heard that at my corporate gig), and people work themselves into a sleep-deprived, unhappy puddle.
My recommendation is this: If you have the personality for freelance work, and running a small business, then get out of the corporate race while you can. Just don't be alarmed if it's not a good fit for you. After all, it really isn't for everyone.
[ off topic ]
I've noticed this polarization of communication on the web for the last couple of years, too. Sadly, I've encountered it before.
I've lived in Minnesota as a transplant for about ten years now. In this state, you don't dare express an opinion that differs from another's. If you do -- and, even more troubling, if you're not native to the region -- you'll instantly be judged to be "difficult" and shunned. Facts don't matter. Logic doesn't matter. All that counts is that your opinion -- and thus your worldview -- is different, and must be shunned.
Fortunately, I've left the region for extended periods for business, and as such I've always had my faith in humanity restored. It always reminds me of a couple of simple truths.
1. You don't have to agree with someone.
2. They don't have to agree with you.
3. The only real mistake is to let a falsehood stand unchallenged.
So, go ahead. Express your opinion. Only that way will you know that you did all that you could.
Me? I'm off to deal with a bunch of passive-agressive Minnesotans now.
[/ off-topic ]
They'd define it as "The Civilization that regularly has the best quarterly statement."
I'm horrified by how abusive Corporate America has become. Their avarice is astonishing. Worst of all, no one seems to have the guts to just say "No!" any longer.
Allow me to explain: I left a fairly good self-employment gig in mid-2009 to rejoin the corporate workforce. (Family medical reasons made me look back to the corporate world.) Even in this crap economy I found myself working for an IT organization within two months of starting to look. Figured I'd got lucky.
Ha!
My firm is a nightmare. The company expects people to live to work. No discussion. No expectations. Your life is your job. It's utterly Dickensian.
There is no hyperbole here. 14 - 16 hour days are common. Co-workers regularly put in 20+ hour days (yes, days) and are expected to be in the next morning. A friend of mine was dragged away from his cancer-stricken father's bedside on Christmas Eve by a Senior Director, despite not being on-call and being on vacation, because the SD demanded he look into a problem.
Here's the weird part: Most of the employees love it here. Oh, they are the most unhealthy co-workers I've ever met (at least a quarter are dealing with chronic health issues), and their productivity stinks, but they all insist through fatigue-glazed eyes that this is "...a great company." Worse, they even go as far as to say "Just look at our stock price."
Sadly, I'm the only one of the group who says wacky things like "You're putting your health at risk working like this!", or "If you continue to do the work of three people -- badly -- the company will never realize that we actually need three people."
It's a wasted effort. The employees have drank deep of the Kool Aid, and don't want to even consider a different world view.
Given that -- and given that Corporate America in the post-Bush years is still too powerful and unchecked -- I'm actually giving real thought to using my dual UK citizenship and heading back across the pond. Sure, I'll miss some things in the states, but not enough to kill myself for a freaking quarterly statement.
...and all of those years I spent farting around with my CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT made me confident enough to work with my first Linux distro in 1995.
Years later, I'm a Senior UNIX Admin, and making a good living. Yes, folks, I do attribute this fact to my love of PC games.:)
Oh, and for the record, I'm also a former Amiga 500 owner. My love of nicely integrated hardware and software led me to purchasing a Mac Pro in 2008. Now I can have a stable OS for my real world needs. When I want to play, I boot into Windows, fart around, and remind myself why I learned Linux in the first place.:)
I ended up writing a series on my (now sadly become rather stale) blog called "Why I Hate D20" wherein I discussed being an old-school (think 1979 for my first experience) RPG player grappling with the then new-ish "OMG Isn't It Cool!" D20 rule set. In the end, I just concluded that I was just getting a little too old to be able to waste a weekend around a kitchen table with nothing more than my dice, some friends, and my imagination.
This, of course, is total bunk.
What I ended up doing is re-writing some rules I'd put together when I was -- I shit you not, now -- 13 years old. I cleaned up the design a bit, of course, but the spirit remained the same.
The name? QUIDPERG: The Quick and Dirty Role Playing Game.
Character creation takes no longer than ten minutes.
Scenarios take no longer than ten minutes to create.
Combat? Quick, dirty, and brutal.
Result? It's a blast.
Is it as feature-rich as most of the commercial packages? Of course not. But it's playable, and my group finds it fun.
(Heck, I should just release the damned thing on my Blog.)
I wrote QUIDPERG because I genuinely think that the RPG as a pass time has lost its way. While it's neat to be able to buy pre-painted minis and battle mats for our games, the fact of the matter is that the core mechanic -- the fun -- was lost in the mix. So I'm going back to it.
QUIDPERG is right for my group. Would it work right for others? Who knows? Really, though, that's beside the point. If we GMs find ourselves fighting with ridiculous mechanics (D20), then we have this neat option to just say "No!" Exercise that right, folks. You'll feel better that you did.
"Nice" is too generic a term. I focused on being fair, firm, consistent, and approachable. Made me a well-liked lead.
And yeah, I was an idiot for wanting to get back into the trenches. Fortunately, it looks like I have an offer being extended this week to help rectify that error.
As a Twin Cities IT guy, I just wanted to point out that everything this poster said is spot on. The dynastic nonsense is absolutely in place here.
The only point I wish to make is that, IMHO, it has become much worse. I actually left IT for five years to work as a Tech Writer and Project Manager. Rose-colored glasses (and, honestly, the desire for the old salaries) drove me back.
It's been a shock. Along with what the poster wrote, I've been amazed at the utter lack of ethics displayed. System stability is just not as important as hitting a deadline any longer. Given the kind of systems our teams support, it's terrifying.
For the record, as soon as I can transition back to leadership and out of the trenches, I will.
Always, always be pleasant, professional, and courteous. Yes, even to the idiots who gave you the 2:00 PM drive-bys on Friday afternoons. Yes, even to the marketing people who yanked your chain for as long as you were in the gig. You might detest them, but the only smart professional move is to nod, smile, thank them, and leave.
I say this as a former Senior IT Administrator who changed his career and is now a freelance 3D Artist. Contract work is my life. That means that my work isn't the only thing that speaks to my clients, it's how I carry myself. Talent and technical skill doesn't mean a damned thing if clients find me unpleasant. Result? I'm polite, pleasant, and professional. I don't care how annoying my client might be, I'm always upbeat, and thankful to be bringing in pay from them. Even on the occasions when a contracts end early, usually because I've beat my deadlines, all I say is "Well, it was a great experience. If you ever need this kind of help again, please feel free to drop me a line."
Am I annoyed when I finish early? Sure. But that's part of the game. I just have to roll with it.
Oh, and for the record, I've only had one client not bring me back for new project work. I did great work for them, but I chalk it up to the "You-can't-please-everyone" bin and move on.
Of course, there was this one company I worked for back in 2000. I was hired to lead a UNIX Team. It was a nightmare. One of my two techs was having a flagrant affair with the QA manager, my CIO was verbally abusive, and our developers were clueless and nasty. It was easily the worst workplace of my career...and I'm ex-military.
I tried everything professional to solve the situation. Nothing worked. When I realized that it was never going to get better, I grabbed the first lifeline out of there.
In this case, and this case only, I wrote a blunt good-bye email. It read, essentially "Working with this firm was both professionally unproductive professionally personally repellent. Do not contact me again. Don't ask for a reference from me, ever, and I'll return the favor."
I left and I didn't look back.
Two years later I ran into the team I used to manage. They were at a "We-just-got-fired" luncheon. They'd been merged with another company, and had been told that -- guess what? -- they were all out of work.
I couldn't help but empathize with these folks. The challenge of actually having to produce something in a workforce was something I knew from personal experience that they weren't ready for at all. So I chatted with them for a bit, asking how they were, and generally being pleasant.
I shouldn't have. Within a few minutes they'd all asked if I'd mind writing them a recommendation.
I told them "No." The conversation pretty much stopped at that point. With that, I took y leave and walked away. I never saw any of them ever again.
Years later, I realize how lucky I was that my behavior to them didn't bite me in the butt. Any one of them could have ended up in a position at a firm where I worked. In that one case, though, I felt justified.
Wow, User Friendly still exists? Talk about a blast from the past.
That being said, having played GURPS, and now tried 4E, I can say that 4E is closer in spirit and gameflow to my ill-spent youth with the pre-2nd Edition D&D rules than any RPG has been in a looooooong time. And this comes from a guy who was annoyed by the idea of 4E for a while, too.
A while back, my family had a membership to a great gym. Went 2 - 3 times per week for three years. Great place. Family-friendly, good classes, and accepting of people who, while in shape, didn't look like super-models.
Then the gym changed ownership. The staff became faux-tan Body Nazis. Both the classes and clientèle changed. It was no longer a family gym; it was a meat-market for hot young urban professionals.
We canceled our membership.
To make up for it, we took up hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and yes, even golf. We're healthy, and we're active.
So, we do "go outside", and we've done the gym thing.
We picked up Wii Fit last week. We freaking love it. Yes, it has flaws:
It doesn't let you chain exercises (dumb design.
Its BMI calculation is goofy.
Is habit of having you watch cues on the screen during certain push-ups and Yoga exercises is baffling.
Regardless, it gets our heart rates up in our own living room, tracks our progress, and adds yet more variety to our daily exercise regime. That ain't bad for a hardware accessory and software title. Ain't bad at all.
Warning: Obligatory Nerd Musing:
That being said, I would love for an MMO to take advantage of the Wii Fit board and WiiMote and Nunchuck.
Imagine having to actually walk all of the way from, say, Stormwind to Lakeshire in World of Warcraft. Better still, imagine having to actually run away from mobs ganging up on you. Add in combat options with the WiiMote / nunchuck combo, and I'd both be happier and even slimmer for my hobby.
For now, though, I'll just keep working on avoiding those damned panda heads in the soccer head-butt mini-game.:)
I owe a lot to D&D. I can safely say that, were it not for the effort I put into learning the rules and running games back when I was a 13 year old kid in the late 1970s, I would never have developed the discipline to become:
Having setup one of the first three ISPs in Grand Forks, ND, in 1996, I have to say that this doesn't surprise me in the least.
(RANT ON}
North Dakota as a whole is a pretty xenophobic place. They don't like anything new or unusual up therem and they're none too fond of outsiders and anyone who challenges the status quo. (I quickly grew tired of the phrases "'Da colt keeps da riff-raff out!" and "If ya don't like it you cen leaf!") Add in technology -- particularly the kind that the powers-that-be don't understand -- into the mix and they become outright hostile.
(RANT OFF)
In my case I left the business, finished my degree, and got my family the hell out of there. It was the best move I ever made. Reading this just reinforces that point.
As a person who telecommuted from 1997-2006, I concur completely.
Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods at least, telecommuting seems to have become a bad word. Workers who once had the option of working 2-3 days a week from home have now been demanded to come into the office. Off-site workers have been transferred off projects and into projects closer to their geographic location, or let go entirely. To even ask to work from home for legitimate reasons ("My kids are sick, and I'd like to be near them if they need me, but will get my work done,") is suddenly blasphemous.
As near as I can see, there is zero business reason for this move. Instead, new management -- often from outside of the IT or engineering field -- has stepped into squash "waste". It doesn't matter that our productivity has dropped into a hole. It doesn't matter that contractors and employees have fled the place (sadly, only to find that other companies in my area seem to be adopting this stance). Nope, all that matters is that they have their worker bees in front of them to see them buzzing away.
My guess, sadly, is that businesses have taken a negative attitude towards telecommuting as one last backlash against the "good ol' days" of the tech boom. As one who had his butt kissed as an engineer during that time, I'm intensely aware of the hostility that me and mine receive from leadership now.
Of course, as fuel prices go up, this might become a moot point.
Oh, who am I kidding? We're just drones, right? We live to serve.
Sadly, I absolutely know of individuals in corporate leadership who think exactly like that.
One night in 2002, while playing the Call of Cthulhu RPG, a group of us decided to see how hard it would be to make a movie with existing technology. We figured we'd shoot a movie based on one of our player's unpublished vampire hunter novels. Original characters, original works.
Of course, we had no idea what we were doing. We planned it out over a few weeks, and, after twenty hours of shooting and a couple of months of editing, we had answered our question.
Was it good? Not really. But for some reason it played really well on Cable Access.
So we made another movie. Then another. Finally, in 2005, we decided to put the main character and her story to bed with a feature-length project. Took four months to shoot, and another four to edit and score, but in the end we even had a theatrical premiere for all involved. Heck, it even got reviewed. Not bad for a freely-available flick.
But back during the production of our second flick, the Starship Exeter folks released their first thirty minute episode. A few months later, New Voyages came out with their first piece.
You've heard of both of those guys. You've probably never heard of us.
No big; the fan film folks sunk a lot more time and money into their projects. (All of our movies combined cost less than the first thirty minute episode of Exeter.) They deserve their audience and their accolades.
That being said, the audience numbers for many is the key to "success" in amateur video. No mystery as to why; making movies is hard work. If someone chooses to throw the time and effort into shooting even a simple, silly script, they want to get it seen. Fan films by their very nature do have a much larger built-in audience than original fiction. That means that, no matter what, a derivative work will generate more hits than "Original Detective Movie #8."
I've seen this myself. My son and I threw together this little short this summer, but only put it up on YouTube a month ago. Then, last week, we put up this Star Trek: Phase II animation last week. In one week, the Star Trek video has generated nearly as many views as the original little video generated in a month.
The upshot? Our next project is a loving Star Trek parody. Both because I'm sick of writing angsty vampire stuff (one can only channel an emo goth chick for so long before wanting to go to a beach to lay out in the sun) and because my buds deserve to be seen by a bigger audience.
Though I disagree with the meat of your argument -- I could honestly care less if a Dwarf uses magic, shoots thunder out of his butt, or has +8 Herpes -- I do agree with your assessment that 3rd edition was terrible.
RANT ON:
D20 D&D wasn't terrible because it was poorly produced. Far from it. It wasn't terrible because it was "open source". No, it was terrible because it took a light diversion and codified it to such a manner that all of the fun got sucked out of every play session.
Hands up if you hated "Attacks of Opportunity"?
Hands up if you always had a player who would pitch a fit if you tried to simplify the miniatures combat system in favor of something, oh, I don't know, fun?
I started running RPGs back in 1978, when I was all of 13. In my time I've never seen a perfect system. I've seen systems that were missing rules, that contradicted themselves, and that were needlessly complex. (I.C.E., anyone?) But never have I seen a system that seemed to be complex merely for the sake of being complex.
If D20 makes you happy, well, more power to you. In my case, my players and I, having tried both D&D 3rd Edition and even D20 Call of Cthulhu have fallen back to older rules systems. Yes, they're silly...but they were just a hell of a lot more fun to play.
Oh, dear me! Isn't it horrible that people exist outside of your sphere of concern, and have interest that in no way jibe with yours? I guess the emancipation proclamation really got under your skin, didn't it?
You're a terrible communicator, who only succeeds in demonstrating your utter disdain for anything that isn't you. Your management model is clearly based around the theory that your employees are thieves, and therefore not to be trusted. You espouse an authoritarian power model, with you at the zenith. In short, you're a model of exactly the kind of boss people don't like to work for, and yet you don't seem the least bit interested in understanding why.
There's a relatively new saying you should become intimately familiar with: People don't quit companies, they quit bosses. The reason you need to understand this is that, believe it or not, bucko, things are going to get a whole lot harder for you. As Boomers retire and the younger generation -- acknowledged by HR departments throughout many Fortune 500 companies as "the most difficult to please generation of workers yet" -- your management style is going to lead you to a lot of failed projects and unmet deliverables as workers see the way they are being treated and offer you a well-deserved middle fingered salute as they walk out the door.
If anything, knowing that this is coming down the pipeline towards you is perhaps the best Christmas present of all.
Allow me to say "No duh!?" Of course it's your money. But, as you so reasonably pointed out, not all rewards need to be monetary. Indeed, some of the best rewards I've received as an employee have been relatively free to the company, but priceless to me. (Working from home, and having the flexibility to take care of my kids as I need comes to mind.)
Then you say this:
2. "I deserve the right to treat them poorly because I'm the one accountable for everything that goes on around here."
If you don't understand why that one statement proves that you're inept as a manager and just a freaking professional bully, nothing I say here will change your mind.
Speaking as a vet (NCO, who managed personnel), and a former business owner, I just have to say that you're responses are utterly reprehensible.
You seem completely ignorant of the fact that your employees have "anted the house" on their work. It's called paying the bills, and unless they do their work consistently well your business will fail and then their house is on the line, too.
I'm astonished that I have to even explain that to you.
I'd wish you good luck, but I think that it's high time that you become an employee again, preferably for someone who treats you like you treat your workers. Maybe then you'll understand why we're all so incensed by your attitude.
[quote]This is the most basic dilemma of our times. It is normal for an organization to expect some kind of bond of honor from its members.[/quote]
You're not talking about honor. You're talking about honesty. Expecting that from a worker comes with the territory. But a "bond of honor"? No freaking way.
Speaking as one who has managed personnel in corporate America, I'm here to remind you that most business organizations see people as replaceable resources, nothing more. They'll gladly dump personnel who have given them fifteen years loyal service for someone younger and cheaper, all with absolutely no notice. (Saw that with my own two eyes.) They'll replace skilled workers who have done outstanding technical work with a family relative who thinks the work "sounds neat", once again with no notice and with no care as to the negative impact that such actions would have on productivity and worker morale. (Once again, I've seen this myself.) When business show loyalty nor honor to the individuals that actually produce their product, they deserve no honor nor loyalty in return, short of the most basic fulfillment of their business arrangement agreed upon between parties.
That all being said, I do agree that workers should be honest, and do the work that they have agreed to perform in their business contracts. But beyond that, the business has no business poking their heads into the personal life of their workers. We are a free people, no indentured servants. The sooner we act like it, the sooner business will be forced to remember that.
Would that this were true. But in the post-Reagan world, businesses are the most powerful entities on the planet. Not governments. Not their military arms. Nope, business. As such, they will throw their weight around this way because no one will stop them.
I'm not an anti-corporate wacko. I like what big business can do for economies. Unfortunately, I'm also a humanist. Any organization that reduces individual rights purely on the idea that it might impact profit -- not government security, not the welfare of others, but profit -- skates right over some basic human rights and thus loses my respect.
What's most disturbing about the original article is its implications. You can lose your job for your online presence? Really? Well how much longer before you get asked why you're a part of this club or that? In Dubya's -- and, god forbid, Huckabee's -- America, how much longer before we're asked why we didn't go to Church that weekend?
Most people put up with the ridiculous clauses in employment contracts for exactly the reason one responder offered: They need a job. The solution, therefore, seems to be this: Don't want the restrictions? Don't take the job. But people need jobs for things like paying off student loans, medical bills, and, oh yeah, shoes and food, so that's not necessarily an option. As a result, people give up freedom for security...and we all know where that leads.
The problem, simply put, is that we as a people need to collectively say "No!" to such nonsense. Not in some Marxist, communist nonsense way, but in a way that asserts our rights as a people once again. Unless we do, I suggest we all get used to the idea freedoms that we once took for granted will vanish, one by one.
There is hope, though. A few years back, I worked with two guys in the IT field who had left the legal profession to work with systems. (Something about it being more honest, for what it's worth.) The subject of employment contracts came up, and they pulled a copy of theirs out of their files. It looked like mine, except it had many, many, many clauses marked off and initialed. They explained to me that these were clauses that they would not agree to, and as such would not sign off on. Much to my shock, the company -- after making some groans, of course -- agreed to their terms and hired them.
The moral of this story? Read your employment contracts, and don't agree to anything you don't feel comfortable about. The company isn't buying you, remember. They are buying your time and skill in order to provide a service. It's a simple business arrangement, nothing more. Don't let them convince you otherwise.
It's freeloading if the new people weren't willing to help the older people out in the same manner that the original group worked together. Sometimes that happened. Just as often, though, hard-working newcomers were treated with contempt because they were, well, newcomers. In those cases the original people were what we politely refer to as "elitist". Pardon me while I offer such people my middle-fingered salute.
This reminds me of a holiday dinner party I attended a couple of years back. Lots of doctors, lawyers, and well-off business types were in attendance. The subject of poverty came up, and one of the doctors actually said "People are only poor because they're too lazy to get a degree."
"And if they don't have the money for college?" I retorted.
The doctor scoffed. "Anybody who's anybody can go to college if they want to. Scholarships are easy to get."
"Bull," I replied. "I was a high school honor grad, but I could only get a couple of scholarships to get me through one year. After that I served in the military, got the GI Bill, and that's how I paid for college. That and loans."
"Then you must not have wanted those scholarships badly enough," he sniffed.
Yes, he really said that.
"Tell me," I said, keeping my temper in check, "What branch of the military did you serve in?"
From his expression, I might as well have asked if I could have sodomized his wife. On camera. To distribute on Youtube. "I didn't."
"So you went on scholarship?"
"No," he said. "My family paid."
No, he didn't get the irony. More frighteningly, none of the other guests did, either.
Ironically enough, the person throwing this party -- who also echoed the doctor's opinion -- ended up losing their business in the Real Estate crash. She lost everything...and immediately nabbed onto every government program she could get. I sincerely doubt that she saw the irony, either.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been an advocate for an IT Union ever since my father-in-law and I talked about how the CWA helped his career.
Consider this: The Union forced his major telco management to:
Plan changes well in advance.
Coordinate technical resources to ensure no overloading.
Allowed the technical resources the legal right to push back on after-hours changes, due to labor laws.
Provided hefty compensation bonuses for technical resources forced to work more than forty-five hours per week.
As a result, he couldn't fathom why I was always working fifty hour weeks, was always tired, was always on-call, was always working no-notice changes...you get the idea. When I would tell him about the late-in-the-day drive-by requests, he just didn't understand that we as engineers couldn't say "No!"
Remember, folks, that the businesses we work for cannot exist without the skills and experience that you bring to the table. Even in this economy, businesses stand to lose a lot if they let you go and are forced to replace you with a cheaper resource. You not only have a skillset, you understand the interpersonal relations, the political paths-of-least-resistence, and the office culture that will take a lot of time for a new person to pick up. That's worth a lot.
Remember, you have the right to defend your vested interest in the business arrangement that is a corporate job. The moment you forget that is the moment you allow yourself to become a technosurf.
I respect your position, but I'm actually the exact opposite of you. I get far, far more work done in my home office / studio than I do in a corporate work environment.
In my case the reasons are simple:
I dress the way I want.
I have an ergonomic setup tuned for me, and not for "range B - F", as in Corporate America.
I like the food in my home a lot more than the crap available at the office.
I'm managing my time, because I'm an adult, thank you very much.
If I need a break, I don't have to worry about an office snitch looking over my shoulder should I hit slashdot in the middle of the day.
To address the original article directly, I returned to IT last year after a four year break. It only took me six months to sidestep out of it again.
Bear in mind, I was a UNIX admin for thirteen years. The only reason I left the field was sleep issues. Those pushed me into Technical Project Management and 3D Modeling and Animation (no kidding). Ran my own business for over a year, and built up a nice client base. It was terrific.
A family medical emergency forced me to look for steadier work. In a bit of a panic, I remembered the freedom and good paychecks that IT offered. Since I thought I had my sleep issues licked, I headed back into the sysadmin realm in 2009.
I was stunned. Management worked their sysadmins like slaves. 14 - 22 hour days -- yes, days -- were common. Engineers had no push-back, and director's hounded resources literally into the hospital.
This wasn't a small company, mind you. This is a major, successful U.S. firm. (Yes, successful even in the last couple of years. That should be a clue as to what industry it's in.) There was no excuse for the way IT was treated, other than the business just didn't care.
My sleep issues flared up, and my doctors ordered my firm to move me off-call. I ended up as a Technical BA, and things improved for my health. Unfortunately, I don't consider working in such a hostile, sweatshop environment to be either personally or professionally fulfilling. As such I'm already rebuilding my 3D client base, and am looking to move back to running my business full-time.
My point: Things have change in the IT field, and for the worse. The most obvious culprit is that corporations are slapping management grads into IT leadership roles with absolutely no training as to what makes IT unique. The result is a demoralized, harried workforce. Add in the "your-job-can-always-go-to-India" stick waved about (and yes, I actually heard that at my corporate gig), and people work themselves into a sleep-deprived, unhappy puddle.
My recommendation is this: If you have the personality for freelance work, and running a small business, then get out of the corporate race while you can. Just don't be alarmed if it's not a good fit for you. After all, it really isn't for everyone.
[ off topic ]
I've noticed this polarization of communication on the web for the last couple of years, too. Sadly, I've encountered it before.
I've lived in Minnesota as a transplant for about ten years now. In this state, you don't dare express an opinion that differs from another's. If you do -- and, even more troubling, if you're not native to the region -- you'll instantly be judged to be "difficult" and shunned. Facts don't matter. Logic doesn't matter. All that counts is that your opinion -- and thus your worldview -- is different, and must be shunned.
Fortunately, I've left the region for extended periods for business, and as such I've always had my faith in humanity restored. It always reminds me of a couple of simple truths.
1. You don't have to agree with someone.
2. They don't have to agree with you.
3. The only real mistake is to let a falsehood stand unchallenged.
So, go ahead. Express your opinion. Only that way will you know that you did all that you could.
Me? I'm off to deal with a bunch of passive-agressive Minnesotans now. [/ off-topic ]
They'd define it as "The Civilization that regularly has the best quarterly statement."
I'm horrified by how abusive Corporate America has become. Their avarice is astonishing. Worst of all, no one seems to have the guts to just say "No!" any longer.
Allow me to explain: I left a fairly good self-employment gig in mid-2009 to rejoin the corporate workforce. (Family medical reasons made me look back to the corporate world.) Even in this crap economy I found myself working for an IT organization within two months of starting to look. Figured I'd got lucky.
Ha!
My firm is a nightmare. The company expects people to live to work. No discussion. No expectations. Your life is your job. It's utterly Dickensian.
There is no hyperbole here. 14 - 16 hour days are common. Co-workers regularly put in 20+ hour days (yes, days) and are expected to be in the next morning. A friend of mine was dragged away from his cancer-stricken father's bedside on Christmas Eve by a Senior Director, despite not being on-call and being on vacation, because the SD demanded he look into a problem.
Here's the weird part: Most of the employees love it here. Oh, they are the most unhealthy co-workers I've ever met (at least a quarter are dealing with chronic health issues), and their productivity stinks, but they all insist through fatigue-glazed eyes that this is "...a great company." Worse, they even go as far as to say "Just look at our stock price."
Sadly, I'm the only one of the group who says wacky things like "You're putting your health at risk working like this!", or "If you continue to do the work of three people -- badly -- the company will never realize that we actually need three people."
It's a wasted effort. The employees have drank deep of the Kool Aid, and don't want to even consider a different world view.
Given that -- and given that Corporate America in the post-Bush years is still too powerful and unchecked -- I'm actually giving real thought to using my dual UK citizenship and heading back across the pond. Sure, I'll miss some things in the states, but not enough to kill myself for a freaking quarterly statement.
...and all of those years I spent farting around with my CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT made me confident enough to work with my first Linux distro in 1995.
:)
:)
Years later, I'm a Senior UNIX Admin, and making a good living. Yes, folks, I do attribute this fact to my love of PC games.
Oh, and for the record, I'm also a former Amiga 500 owner. My love of nicely integrated hardware and software led me to purchasing a Mac Pro in 2008. Now I can have a stable OS for my real world needs. When I want to play, I boot into Windows, fart around, and remind myself why I learned Linux in the first place.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
I ended up writing a series on my (now sadly become rather stale) blog called "Why I Hate D20" wherein I discussed being an old-school (think 1979 for my first experience) RPG player grappling with the then new-ish "OMG Isn't It Cool!" D20 rule set. In the end, I just concluded that I was just getting a little too old to be able to waste a weekend around a kitchen table with nothing more than my dice, some friends, and my imagination.
This, of course, is total bunk.
What I ended up doing is re-writing some rules I'd put together when I was -- I shit you not, now -- 13 years old. I cleaned up the design a bit, of course, but the spirit remained the same.
The name? QUIDPERG: The Quick and Dirty Role Playing Game.
Character creation takes no longer than ten minutes.
Scenarios take no longer than ten minutes to create.
Combat? Quick, dirty, and brutal.
Result? It's a blast.
Is it as feature-rich as most of the commercial packages? Of course not. But it's playable, and my group finds it fun.
(Heck, I should just release the damned thing on my Blog.)
I wrote QUIDPERG because I genuinely think that the RPG as a pass time has lost its way. While it's neat to be able to buy pre-painted minis and battle mats for our games, the fact of the matter is that the core mechanic -- the fun -- was lost in the mix. So I'm going back to it.
QUIDPERG is right for my group. Would it work right for others? Who knows? Really, though, that's beside the point. If we GMs find ourselves fighting with ridiculous mechanics (D20), then we have this neat option to just say "No!" Exercise that right, folks. You'll feel better that you did.
"Nice" is too generic a term. I focused on being fair, firm, consistent, and approachable. Made me a well-liked lead. And yeah, I was an idiot for wanting to get back into the trenches. Fortunately, it looks like I have an offer being extended this week to help rectify that error.
As a Twin Cities IT guy, I just wanted to point out that everything this poster said is spot on. The dynastic nonsense is absolutely in place here. The only point I wish to make is that, IMHO, it has become much worse. I actually left IT for five years to work as a Tech Writer and Project Manager. Rose-colored glasses (and, honestly, the desire for the old salaries) drove me back. It's been a shock. Along with what the poster wrote, I've been amazed at the utter lack of ethics displayed. System stability is just not as important as hitting a deadline any longer. Given the kind of systems our teams support, it's terrifying. For the record, as soon as I can transition back to leadership and out of the trenches, I will.
Always, always be pleasant, professional, and courteous. Yes, even to the idiots who gave you the 2:00 PM drive-bys on Friday afternoons. Yes, even to the marketing people who yanked your chain for as long as you were in the gig. You might detest them, but the only smart professional move is to nod, smile, thank them, and leave.
I say this as a former Senior IT Administrator who changed his career and is now a freelance 3D Artist. Contract work is my life. That means that my work isn't the only thing that speaks to my clients, it's how I carry myself. Talent and technical skill doesn't mean a damned thing if clients find me unpleasant. Result? I'm polite, pleasant, and professional. I don't care how annoying my client might be, I'm always upbeat, and thankful to be bringing in pay from them. Even on the occasions when a contracts end early, usually because I've beat my deadlines, all I say is "Well, it was a great experience. If you ever need this kind of help again, please feel free to drop me a line."
Am I annoyed when I finish early? Sure. But that's part of the game. I just have to roll with it.
Oh, and for the record, I've only had one client not bring me back for new project work. I did great work for them, but I chalk it up to the "You-can't-please-everyone" bin and move on.
Of course, there was this one company I worked for back in 2000. I was hired to lead a UNIX Team. It was a nightmare. One of my two techs was having a flagrant affair with the QA manager, my CIO was verbally abusive, and our developers were clueless and nasty. It was easily the worst workplace of my career...and I'm ex-military.
I tried everything professional to solve the situation. Nothing worked. When I realized that it was never going to get better, I grabbed the first lifeline out of there.
In this case, and this case only, I wrote a blunt good-bye email. It read, essentially "Working with this firm was both professionally unproductive professionally personally repellent. Do not contact me again. Don't ask for a reference from me, ever, and I'll return the favor."
I left and I didn't look back.
Two years later I ran into the team I used to manage. They were at a "We-just-got-fired" luncheon. They'd been merged with another company, and had been told that -- guess what? -- they were all out of work.
I couldn't help but empathize with these folks. The challenge of actually having to produce something in a workforce was something I knew from personal experience that they weren't ready for at all. So I chatted with them for a bit, asking how they were, and generally being pleasant.
I shouldn't have. Within a few minutes they'd all asked if I'd mind writing them a recommendation.
I told them "No." The conversation pretty much stopped at that point. With that, I took y leave and walked away. I never saw any of them ever again.
Years later, I realize how lucky I was that my behavior to them didn't bite me in the butt. Any one of them could have ended up in a position at a firm where I worked. In that one case, though, I felt justified.
Wow, User Friendly still exists? Talk about a blast from the past.
That being said, having played GURPS, and now tried 4E, I can say that 4E is closer in spirit and gameflow to my ill-spent youth with the pre-2nd Edition D&D rules than any RPG has been in a looooooong time. And this comes from a guy who was annoyed by the idea of 4E for a while, too.
Good job, WotC.
Agreed completely.
:)
A while back, my family had a membership to a great gym. Went 2 - 3 times per week for three years. Great place. Family-friendly, good classes, and accepting of people who, while in shape, didn't look like super-models.
Then the gym changed ownership. The staff became faux-tan Body Nazis. Both the classes and clientèle changed. It was no longer a family gym; it was a meat-market for hot young urban professionals.
We canceled our membership.
To make up for it, we took up hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and yes, even golf. We're healthy, and we're active.
So, we do "go outside", and we've done the gym thing.
We picked up Wii Fit last week. We freaking love it. Yes, it has flaws:
It doesn't let you chain exercises (dumb design.
Its BMI calculation is goofy.
Is habit of having you watch cues on the screen during certain push-ups and Yoga exercises is baffling.
Regardless, it gets our heart rates up in our own living room, tracks our progress, and adds yet more variety to our daily exercise regime. That ain't bad for a hardware accessory and software title. Ain't bad at all.
Warning: Obligatory Nerd Musing:
That being said, I would love for an MMO to take advantage of the Wii Fit board and WiiMote and Nunchuck.
Imagine having to actually walk all of the way from, say, Stormwind to Lakeshire in World of Warcraft. Better still, imagine having to actually run away from mobs ganging up on you. Add in combat options with the WiiMote / nunchuck combo, and I'd both be happier and even slimmer for my hobby.
For now, though, I'll just keep working on avoiding those damned panda heads in the soccer head-butt mini-game.
Wow, this is very sad news indeed.
I owe a lot to D&D. I can safely say that, were it not for the effort I put into learning the rules and running games back when I was a 13 year old kid in the late 1970s, I would never have developed the discipline to become:
* A professional writer.
* A professional speaker.
* An engineer.
Thanks, Gary. You did good.
I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Crocodiles actively hunt man.
Having setup one of the first three ISPs in Grand Forks, ND, in 1996, I have to say that this doesn't surprise me in the least.
(RANT ON}
North Dakota as a whole is a pretty xenophobic place. They don't like anything new or unusual up therem and they're none too fond of outsiders and anyone who challenges the status quo. (I quickly grew tired of the phrases "'Da colt keeps da riff-raff out!" and "If ya don't like it you cen leaf!") Add in technology -- particularly the kind that the powers-that-be don't understand -- into the mix and they become outright hostile.
(RANT OFF)
In my case I left the business, finished my degree, and got my family the hell out of there. It was the best move I ever made. Reading this just reinforces that point.
As a person who telecommuted from 1997-2006, I concur completely.
Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods at least, telecommuting seems to have become a bad word. Workers who once had the option of working 2-3 days a week from home have now been demanded to come into the office. Off-site workers have been transferred off projects and into projects closer to their geographic location, or let go entirely. To even ask to work from home for legitimate reasons ("My kids are sick, and I'd like to be near them if they need me, but will get my work done,") is suddenly blasphemous.
As near as I can see, there is zero business reason for this move. Instead, new management -- often from outside of the IT or engineering field -- has stepped into squash "waste". It doesn't matter that our productivity has dropped into a hole. It doesn't matter that contractors and employees have fled the place (sadly, only to find that other companies in my area seem to be adopting this stance). Nope, all that matters is that they have their worker bees in front of them to see them buzzing away.
My guess, sadly, is that businesses have taken a negative attitude towards telecommuting as one last backlash against the "good ol' days" of the tech boom. As one who had his butt kissed as an engineer during that time, I'm intensely aware of the hostility that me and mine receive from leadership now.
Of course, as fuel prices go up, this might become a moot point.
Oh, who am I kidding? We're just drones, right? We live to serve.
Sadly, I absolutely know of individuals in corporate leadership who think exactly like that.
Let's hope that changes soon.
It's not as easy as you'd think.
;)
One night in 2002, while playing the Call of Cthulhu RPG, a group of us decided to see how hard it would be to make a movie with existing technology. We figured we'd shoot a movie based on one of our player's unpublished vampire hunter novels. Original characters, original works.
Of course, we had no idea what we were doing. We planned it out over a few weeks, and, after twenty hours of shooting and a couple of months of editing, we had answered our question.
Was it good? Not really. But for some reason it played really well on Cable Access.
So we made another movie. Then another. Finally, in 2005, we decided to put the main character and her story to bed with a feature-length project. Took four months to shoot, and another four to edit and score, but in the end we even had a theatrical premiere for all involved. Heck, it even got reviewed. Not bad for a freely-available flick.
But back during the production of our second flick, the Starship Exeter folks released their first thirty minute episode. A few months later, New Voyages came out with their first piece.
You've heard of both of those guys. You've probably never heard of us.
No big; the fan film folks sunk a lot more time and money into their projects. (All of our movies combined cost less than the first thirty minute episode of Exeter.) They deserve their audience and their accolades.
That being said, the audience numbers for many is the key to "success" in amateur video. No mystery as to why; making movies is hard work. If someone chooses to throw the time and effort into shooting even a simple, silly script, they want to get it seen. Fan films by their very nature do have a much larger built-in audience than original fiction. That means that, no matter what, a derivative work will generate more hits than "Original Detective Movie #8."
I've seen this myself. My son and I threw together this little short this summer, but only put it up on YouTube a month ago. Then, last week, we put up this Star Trek: Phase II animation last week. In one week, the Star Trek video has generated nearly as many views as the original little video generated in a month.
The upshot? Our next project is a loving Star Trek parody. Both because I'm sick of writing angsty vampire stuff (one can only channel an emo goth chick for so long before wanting to go to a beach to lay out in the sun) and because my buds deserve to be seen by a bigger audience.
I guess that makes me an amateur sell-out.
I'm OK with that.
I went so far as to create a "Quick and Dirty RPG" (nicknamed "QuidPerg") for my group.
Characters roll-up in less than five minutes.
Combat is quick and deadly.
Encounters are random and fun.
Amazingly, gameplay improved dramatically for all but the D20 rules lawyers of the group. No surprise there.
Though I disagree with the meat of your argument -- I could honestly care less if a Dwarf uses magic, shoots thunder out of his butt, or has +8 Herpes -- I do agree with your assessment that 3rd edition was terrible.
RANT ON:
D20 D&D wasn't terrible because it was poorly produced. Far from it. It wasn't terrible because it was "open source". No, it was terrible because it took a light diversion and codified it to such a manner that all of the fun got sucked out of every play session.
Hands up if you hated "Attacks of Opportunity"?
Hands up if you always had a player who would pitch a fit if you tried to simplify the miniatures combat system in favor of something, oh, I don't know, fun?
I started running RPGs back in 1978, when I was all of 13. In my time I've never seen a perfect system. I've seen systems that were missing rules, that contradicted themselves, and that were needlessly complex. (I.C.E., anyone?) But never have I seen a system that seemed to be complex merely for the sake of being complex.
If D20 makes you happy, well, more power to you. In my case, my players and I, having tried both D&D 3rd Edition and even D20 Call of Cthulhu have fallen back to older rules systems. Yes, they're silly...but they were just a hell of a lot more fun to play.
RANT OFF:
In short: D&D 4.0? Sorry; you lost me at 3.5.
Oh, dear me! Isn't it horrible that people exist outside of your sphere of concern, and have interest that in no way jibe with yours? I guess the emancipation proclamation really got under your skin, didn't it?
You're a terrible communicator, who only succeeds in demonstrating your utter disdain for anything that isn't you. Your management model is clearly based around the theory that your employees are thieves, and therefore not to be trusted. You espouse an authoritarian power model, with you at the zenith. In short, you're a model of exactly the kind of boss people don't like to work for, and yet you don't seem the least bit interested in understanding why.
There's a relatively new saying you should become intimately familiar with: People don't quit companies, they quit bosses. The reason you need to understand this is that, believe it or not, bucko, things are going to get a whole lot harder for you. As Boomers retire and the younger generation -- acknowledged by HR departments throughout many Fortune 500 companies as "the most difficult to please generation of workers yet" -- your management style is going to lead you to a lot of failed projects and unmet deliverables as workers see the way they are being treated and offer you a well-deserved middle fingered salute as they walk out the door.
If anything, knowing that this is coming down the pipeline towards you is perhaps the best Christmas present of all.
Happy New Year.
I keep hearing the same two refrains:
1. "It's my money."
Allow me to say "No duh!?" Of course it's your money. But, as you so reasonably pointed out, not all rewards need to be monetary. Indeed, some of the best rewards I've received as an employee have been relatively free to the company, but priceless to me. (Working from home, and having the flexibility to take care of my kids as I need comes to mind.)
Then you say this:
2. "I deserve the right to treat them poorly because I'm the one accountable for everything that goes on around here."
If you don't understand why that one statement proves that you're inept as a manager and just a freaking professional bully, nothing I say here will change your mind.
Wow.
Speaking as a vet (NCO, who managed personnel), and a former business owner, I just have to say that you're responses are utterly reprehensible.
You seem completely ignorant of the fact that your employees have "anted the house" on their work. It's called paying the bills, and unless they do their work consistently well your business will fail and then their house is on the line, too.
I'm astonished that I have to even explain that to you.
I'd wish you good luck, but I think that it's high time that you become an employee again, preferably for someone who treats you like you treat your workers. Maybe then you'll understand why we're all so incensed by your attitude.
Speaking as a veteran, I just wanted to say two things:
1. Thanks for pointing this out for others.
2. The military gets personnel management far better than 80% of the U.S. businesses that I've worked with.
If #2 doesn't scare you, nothing will.
[quote]This is the most basic dilemma of our times. It is normal for an organization to expect some kind of bond of honor from its members.[/quote]
You're not talking about honor. You're talking about honesty. Expecting that from a worker comes with the territory. But a "bond of honor"? No freaking way.
Speaking as one who has managed personnel in corporate America, I'm here to remind you that most business organizations see people as replaceable resources, nothing more. They'll gladly dump personnel who have given them fifteen years loyal service for someone younger and cheaper, all with absolutely no notice. (Saw that with my own two eyes.) They'll replace skilled workers who have done outstanding technical work with a family relative who thinks the work "sounds neat", once again with no notice and with no care as to the negative impact that such actions would have on productivity and worker morale. (Once again, I've seen this myself.) When business show loyalty nor honor to the individuals that actually produce their product, they deserve no honor nor loyalty in return, short of the most basic fulfillment of their business arrangement agreed upon between parties.
That all being said, I do agree that workers should be honest, and do the work that they have agreed to perform in their business contracts. But beyond that, the business has no business poking their heads into the personal life of their workers. We are a free people, no indentured servants. The sooner we act like it, the sooner business will be forced to remember that.
Would that this were true. But in the post-Reagan world, businesses are the most powerful entities on the planet. Not governments. Not their military arms. Nope, business. As such, they will throw their weight around this way because no one will stop them.
I'm not an anti-corporate wacko. I like what big business can do for economies. Unfortunately, I'm also a humanist. Any organization that reduces individual rights purely on the idea that it might impact profit -- not government security, not the welfare of others, but profit -- skates right over some basic human rights and thus loses my respect.
What's most disturbing about the original article is its implications. You can lose your job for your online presence? Really? Well how much longer before you get asked why you're a part of this club or that? In Dubya's -- and, god forbid, Huckabee's -- America, how much longer before we're asked why we didn't go to Church that weekend?
Most people put up with the ridiculous clauses in employment contracts for exactly the reason one responder offered: They need a job. The solution, therefore, seems to be this: Don't want the restrictions? Don't take the job. But people need jobs for things like paying off student loans, medical bills, and, oh yeah, shoes and food, so that's not necessarily an option. As a result, people give up freedom for security...and we all know where that leads.
The problem, simply put, is that we as a people need to collectively say "No!" to such nonsense. Not in some Marxist, communist nonsense way, but in a way that asserts our rights as a people once again. Unless we do, I suggest we all get used to the idea freedoms that we once took for granted will vanish, one by one.
There is hope, though. A few years back, I worked with two guys in the IT field who had left the legal profession to work with systems. (Something about it being more honest, for what it's worth.) The subject of employment contracts came up, and they pulled a copy of theirs out of their files. It looked like mine, except it had many, many, many clauses marked off and initialed. They explained to me that these were clauses that they would not agree to, and as such would not sign off on. Much to my shock, the company -- after making some groans, of course -- agreed to their terms and hired them.
The moral of this story? Read your employment contracts, and don't agree to anything you don't feel comfortable about. The company isn't buying you, remember. They are buying your time and skill in order to provide a service. It's a simple business arrangement, nothing more. Don't let them convince you otherwise.
It's freeloading if the new people weren't willing to help the older people out in the same manner that the original group worked together. Sometimes that happened. Just as often, though, hard-working newcomers were treated with contempt because they were, well, newcomers. In those cases the original people were what we politely refer to as "elitist". Pardon me while I offer such people my middle-fingered salute.
This reminds me of a holiday dinner party I attended a couple of years back. Lots of doctors, lawyers, and well-off business types were in attendance. The subject of poverty came up, and one of the doctors actually said "People are only poor because they're too lazy to get a degree."
"And if they don't have the money for college?" I retorted.
The doctor scoffed. "Anybody who's anybody can go to college if they want to. Scholarships are easy to get."
"Bull," I replied. "I was a high school honor grad, but I could only get a couple of scholarships to get me through one year. After that I served in the military, got the GI Bill, and that's how I paid for college. That and loans."
"Then you must not have wanted those scholarships badly enough," he sniffed.
Yes, he really said that.
"Tell me," I said, keeping my temper in check, "What branch of the military did you serve in?"
From his expression, I might as well have asked if I could have sodomized his wife. On camera. To distribute on Youtube. "I didn't."
"So you went on scholarship?"
"No," he said. "My family paid."
No, he didn't get the irony. More frighteningly, none of the other guests did, either.
Ironically enough, the person throwing this party -- who also echoed the doctor's opinion -- ended up losing their business in the Real Estate crash. She lost everything...and immediately nabbed onto every government program she could get. I sincerely doubt that she saw the irony, either.