Depends on how you look at it I guess. If my Android phone wasn't working, I'd go to the iPhone. To diehard Linux and free software fans that would be tantamount to, "all manner of terrible things would be unleashed upon the world."
The problem is that, like Moneyball showed, it will only be an advantage as long as only a few teams (and not a majority) are using the methodologies. Once that happens, it's just the new norm.
I RTFA but I didn't see any reference to the general intelligence of the robbers. From what I've always understood, intelligent bank robbers are generally not caught while those who just wandering into a bank with a paper sank and a finger gun end up getting busted quickly. You know, because they make it obvious who they are.
The lack of Flash is why my PPC Mac Mini is still running some ungodly useless version of OS X. I mean the machine runs and it does shit just fine but I'd really like to have more use for the machine than simply being a paperweight.
At first I was excited to read this, thinking I could use it again, but then I realized I already have a Roku for my media and I really have no use for the old Mac Mini anyway. Then I saw the price and said, "oh right I don't care at all."
Oh I am well aware of the fact that these people may leave quickly and I write them off too, however, if you can find a place for them at a more reasonable salary or give them bumps as they prove their are worth what their experience/degrees/work history shows, then you may be able to retain them better.
That may have been the case several years ago, but generally organizations now are willing to let you go because at that level you're more expensive than someone who is currently unemployed begging for work.
I see plenty of people coming to my organization looking for work with 20+ years experience happy to drive 40 minutes and get paid $40k a year for an entry level position because they simply cannot find work right now.
So feel free to try this and watch them laugh you out the door.
I am worth a ton to my organization as a working supervisor. Not only do I know the work that's being done quite well, but I'm also more well respected by my employees because I'm in the thick of it with them.
While I don't always have to put in the same amount of time into various projects that they do, I still have a part in the work and keep fresh on my skills, something I personally disliked in every single "solely personnel manager" I ever had--one of the reasons I left my last job in fact.
While you may be worth less, depending on your work/supervision balance, they're right, your potential is much higher. If you're seriously interested in management, take the job. As long as the team is cohesive and fairly drama free, you should be able to do very little extra.
If you're going to be doing the same amount of work you always were and now have an additional amount of supervisory work to do (1:1s, PTO forms, tracking comp time, developing documentation for new hires/exit process, etc, etc, etc, etc) then you would certainly be getting the short end of the stick.
However, you must realize that if you pass up this job (assuming you're currently employed there and it's a "promotion") that they will be unlikely to provide you the chance again in the future. You will be ignored as management material and others will grow up faster around you forcing you to exit for another organization.
Best of luck. I enjoy my current role as it gives me the flexibility to get away from the code and into something else but also keep my skills sharp and my interests high.
When business and public safety unions cannot lobby politicians and they will be prosecuted, by death or indefinite jail terms not funded by taxpayers, for doing so.
My buddy works in a factory that makes furniture. Guess what? They prefer iPads to the old notepads. It has reduced duplication of effort and sped up the entire workflow process by automating it. No need to wait until your floor check run (two or more hours) is over before heading back into the offices to get the data entered. It's all done from the floor.
Keep on trying to live out the old style. If it's not broke, fix it anyway because there's a much better way.
I bought my 13" MacbookPro for $1100 (and that includes 8GB of RAM purchased externally, Windows 7, Office 2007, and Parallels). Yes, I exercised educational discounts for all, but for you to say that you need to spend $2000 to get a good computer.
I have a Lenovo laptop and this MacbookPro (as our main machines, we also have a desktop server machine). The Lenovo laptop outlasted its usefulness over a year ago. The keyboard has broken keys and trying to get Lenovo to tell me what I need to buy to replace it is like pulling teeth (no, I should not be transferred around to 6 different people and finally be told that I need to remove the keyboard itself and find the part number to get a replacement).
The Lenovo was an ok machine and I liked their warranty replacement service when I needed it. However the machine feels and looks cheap--because it was. It's woefully underpowered for Win7 even though that's what it came with. It had a TON of bullshit installed on it that I had to spend time removing when I first turned on the machine.
Counter to this is my MBP (13" which I upgraded to 8GB of RAM myself) which I took out of the box and haven't had a single complaint about yet. The machine is rock solid, its fast, even with only 8GB of RAM, and I didn't have a bunch of bullshit software on there.
Yeah, I admit to thinking (and still thinking) $1100 is a lot for a machine. But I use it all day, every day. Just like the bike I bought to commute to work, I need something durable, reliable, and easy to utilize. I particularly love going into a coffee shop or sitting in the airport and looking at the number of PCs plugged in somewhere and the number of Mac users happily chugging along on battery only. The MBP fits that comfortably. I am impressed and as long as Apple keeps this sort of quality up, I will be coming back time and time again.
That said, I figure I can get 5 years or more out of the MBP after an upgrade to 16GB (when it's reasonable) and SSD. I am worried OS X will stop supporting older chips (as they did with PowerPC) and I'll be left with unsupported hardware in the future but I have hope.
However, the Lenovo is underpowered, miserable to use, and has the battery life of a hooker on speed's dildo (even with a brand new battery--less than a month old).
I don't recommend Macs to everyone but it's serving its purpose well for me and I'm glad I made the switch. It does absolutely everything I need it to do and I'm quite happy with it.
Just because someone is reelected time and time again with negative media coverage doesn't mean it didn't happen for a reason. All too often people who run against the incumbent cannot compete with the incumbent knowledge.
I have interviewed candidates for office (both incumbent and newbies) and the newbies are 99x/100 totally clueless. They think partisan politics exist at the local level, they think the school board has something to do w/city taxes (it doesn't in our area) and they attach themselves to one single topic instead of understanding a year's worth of uninteresting and mundane topics.
It's the newcomers fault, not the incumbents', that the same people keep getting reelected. Local office sucks. Bad. It's boring, time consuming and meaningless in the grand scheme. It's no wonder only morons and assholes are elected. Everyone else has better things to do for four years of their lives.
They're all jokes but they're all politicians and politicians do not like voters knowing what they're doing is stupid. By ensuring more than the usual informed voters are made aware of what is happening, the politicians pay attention and tread carefully.
Policy analysis generally uses longitudinal analysis as well as qualitative analysis to provide data to decision makers with the information they need to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, politicians generally don't always pay attention to factual evidence but this isn't the fault of the staff working the projects.
There's also the fact that factual analyses are influenced by interpretation of data. This is always a grey area which is impacted by morals, etc, etc, etc.
This is a much bigger problem than most people are willing to admit.
Have you ever been involved in government at the city level? They most certainly do care--even about very little citizen participation and news coverage.
You get someone to stir up shit about something like that at a City Council meeting and have several news outlets there and a packed room and I guarantee you that the City Council will not make the typical stupid moves it normally does.
Why not try creating a non-paid or minimally paid internship?
As an IT manager, we do something similar to this. We hire recent college graduates with basic skills we're looking for (Excel and basically programming exposure) and train them to do the work we need to have done.
Now, while this works for our business and our model, it does take time to bring people on board who are not accustomed to the language we use and bring them up to speed. Depending on the timeline of the projects on hand and the time availability of those who would be working to bring associate level programmers up to speed, it may not work in all instances.
I have a close-knit team comprised of experience professionals willing to train entry-level people to do the work both during crunch times and lulls. Both myself and my guys have the desire and availability to do this and we hope that it will continue to serve us well.
As I mentioned in my post to the OP, what works for some people will not work for all others and their families.
May I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself about how I choose to raise my children. While the OP asked for advice and I gave it, I was not looking for input on how to raise mine.
My son (a little over 2 years old) LOVES to Skype with his grandparents. In fact when I am on the laptop and he's in the room he's usually begging me to see "Nana and Pop-pop".
To answer the OP; we generally do it while he's eating in his high chair. I can keep the laptop on the table, out of his reach and since he's locked in place he can't reach the keys.
While ripping keys off the keyboard was a problem in the past, he's to the point at two+ that he can listen to instruction and know consequences (time out). He basically just talks to them, shows them his latest favorite toy, and/or tells them whatever it is that's going through his mind at the time.
They're happy. he's happy and my MacBook is safe. That said, if he's not in his chair I don't leave him alone with it and/or use it as a babysitter. In between his ramblings I chat with them until he comes back to say hi again.
I think that you need to find what works best for your family and your child. While I don't think putting it on the wall or leaving the kid unattended with Skype open is a good idea, perhaps it's best for you.
Required fees (Class of 2014, matriculating October 2012) Tuition: $141,000 (includes books, course readers, and printed materials) Other estimated expenses (not included in tuition fees and not required for all MIT EMBA participants):
â Hotel accommodations: $20,000 (not required)
â Travel: varies based on where the participant lives
â Computer and supplies: $3,500 (if you anticipate buying a new computer)
â Health insurance: All students must have health insurance. You may continue your current US-based insurance if it meets MITâ(TM)s health insurance requirements. Otherwise, you must purchase MIT insurance. Review insurance rates.
I mean, if someone is working for a top company and is a top executive or plans to be, $141k may not seem like all that much money. However, most people will not realize the benefits of that degree in any meaningful way over the course of the remainder of their career, especially someone in the late stages.
Pay the $30,000 it costs just about everywhere else and you can pay off the debt in just two or three years following your promotion which, in most places, will net you only $10k to $15k in the short term rather than taking you what is most likely the rest of your career.
Yes an MBA might be a good choice depending on the person. As an IT manager myself, I work(ed) with and supervise a variety of individuals who are very well suited for IT but are not at all suited for management.
Just because you earn an MBA doesn't mean that you will suddenly have the personality or qualities required for IT management.
---
On a related note: I chose to go with an MPA instead of an MBA. Why? Well, I'm personally interested in the public sector but both types of degrees provide a fairly similar background--just with one providing more for the public sector's unique needs.
I still get the HR, finance, etc, etc, etc, but I have the ability to leverage both sides of the fence more easily. If the government changes its focus to move away from "smaller" to "larger" I may have an advantage that MBA degree holders do not.
You do realize that long-term usage of high blood pressure medicines, especially at a young age like I started them at (22), can cause kidney damage and the blood tests are meant to find those issues before they become a huge problem.
So, it's not unnecessary testing. It's just that the doctors are too lazy/cheap to order it. Why not force them to make certain any potential problems are mitigated before they become LARGE issues?
You should thank me for enforcing preventative care instead of waiting for a kidney transplant.
My doctor has totally stopped even testing my blood for my Lisinopril prescription. I still have him do it because I just paid $25 to go to the Dr and I expect the assholes to do SOMETHING other than re-up the prescription for a year.
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Depends on how you look at it I guess. If my Android phone wasn't working, I'd go to the iPhone. To diehard Linux and free software fans that would be tantamount to, "all manner of terrible things would be unleashed upon the world."
It all just depends on your perspective ;-)
The problem is that, like Moneyball showed, it will only be an advantage as long as only a few teams (and not a majority) are using the methodologies. Once that happens, it's just the new norm.
I RTFA but I didn't see any reference to the general intelligence of the robbers. From what I've always understood, intelligent bank robbers are generally not caught while those who just wandering into a bank with a paper sank and a finger gun end up getting busted quickly. You know, because they make it obvious who they are.
The lack of Flash is why my PPC Mac Mini is still running some ungodly useless version of OS X. I mean the machine runs and it does shit just fine but I'd really like to have more use for the machine than simply being a paperweight.
At first I was excited to read this, thinking I could use it again, but then I realized I already have a Roku for my media and I really have no use for the old Mac Mini anyway. Then I saw the price and said, "oh right I don't care at all."
Oh I am well aware of the fact that these people may leave quickly and I write them off too, however, if you can find a place for them at a more reasonable salary or give them bumps as they prove their are worth what their experience/degrees/work history shows, then you may be able to retain them better.
That may have been the case several years ago, but generally organizations now are willing to let you go because at that level you're more expensive than someone who is currently unemployed begging for work.
I see plenty of people coming to my organization looking for work with 20+ years experience happy to drive 40 minutes and get paid $40k a year for an entry level position because they simply cannot find work right now.
So feel free to try this and watch them laugh you out the door.
I am worth a ton to my organization as a working supervisor. Not only do I know the work that's being done quite well, but I'm also more well respected by my employees because I'm in the thick of it with them.
While I don't always have to put in the same amount of time into various projects that they do, I still have a part in the work and keep fresh on my skills, something I personally disliked in every single "solely personnel manager" I ever had--one of the reasons I left my last job in fact.
While you may be worth less, depending on your work/supervision balance, they're right, your potential is much higher. If you're seriously interested in management, take the job. As long as the team is cohesive and fairly drama free, you should be able to do very little extra.
If you're going to be doing the same amount of work you always were and now have an additional amount of supervisory work to do (1:1s, PTO forms, tracking comp time, developing documentation for new hires/exit process, etc, etc, etc, etc) then you would certainly be getting the short end of the stick.
However, you must realize that if you pass up this job (assuming you're currently employed there and it's a "promotion") that they will be unlikely to provide you the chance again in the future. You will be ignored as management material and others will grow up faster around you forcing you to exit for another organization.
Best of luck. I enjoy my current role as it gives me the flexibility to get away from the code and into something else but also keep my skills sharp and my interests high.
YMMV.
When business and public safety unions cannot lobby politicians and they will be prosecuted, by death or indefinite jail terms not funded by taxpayers, for doing so.
My buddy works in a factory that makes furniture. Guess what? They prefer iPads to the old notepads. It has reduced duplication of effort and sped up the entire workflow process by automating it. No need to wait until your floor check run (two or more hours) is over before heading back into the offices to get the data entered. It's all done from the floor.
Keep on trying to live out the old style. If it's not broke, fix it anyway because there's a much better way.
YMMV.
I don't know where you work but I haven't printed more than a handful of pages in the last 5 years which were actually necessary to do my job.
In the two places I speak of, there's a culture of sharing information via e-mail/PDF or, in my current role, via Google Docs.
I can't imagine going to a job which didn't act that way.
I bought my 13" MacbookPro for $1100 (and that includes 8GB of RAM purchased externally, Windows 7, Office 2007, and Parallels). Yes, I exercised educational discounts for all, but for you to say that you need to spend $2000 to get a good computer.
I have a Lenovo laptop and this MacbookPro (as our main machines, we also have a desktop server machine). The Lenovo laptop outlasted its usefulness over a year ago. The keyboard has broken keys and trying to get Lenovo to tell me what I need to buy to replace it is like pulling teeth (no, I should not be transferred around to 6 different people and finally be told that I need to remove the keyboard itself and find the part number to get a replacement).
The Lenovo was an ok machine and I liked their warranty replacement service when I needed it. However the machine feels and looks cheap--because it was. It's woefully underpowered for Win7 even though that's what it came with. It had a TON of bullshit installed on it that I had to spend time removing when I first turned on the machine.
Counter to this is my MBP (13" which I upgraded to 8GB of RAM myself) which I took out of the box and haven't had a single complaint about yet. The machine is rock solid, its fast, even with only 8GB of RAM, and I didn't have a bunch of bullshit software on there.
Yeah, I admit to thinking (and still thinking) $1100 is a lot for a machine. But I use it all day, every day. Just like the bike I bought to commute to work, I need something durable, reliable, and easy to utilize. I particularly love going into a coffee shop or sitting in the airport and looking at the number of PCs plugged in somewhere and the number of Mac users happily chugging along on battery only. The MBP fits that comfortably. I am impressed and as long as Apple keeps this sort of quality up, I will be coming back time and time again.
That said, I figure I can get 5 years or more out of the MBP after an upgrade to 16GB (when it's reasonable) and SSD. I am worried OS X will stop supporting older chips (as they did with PowerPC) and I'll be left with unsupported hardware in the future but I have hope.
However, the Lenovo is underpowered, miserable to use, and has the battery life of a hooker on speed's dildo (even with a brand new battery--less than a month old).
I don't recommend Macs to everyone but it's serving its purpose well for me and I'm glad I made the switch. It does absolutely everything I need it to do and I'm quite happy with it.
YMMV.
Here's a picture of it from Los Angeles: http://t.co/mwYNgArz
It wasn't that impressive honestly.
Just because someone is reelected time and time again with negative media coverage doesn't mean it didn't happen for a reason. All too often people who run against the incumbent cannot compete with the incumbent knowledge.
I have interviewed candidates for office (both incumbent and newbies) and the newbies are 99x/100 totally clueless. They think partisan politics exist at the local level, they think the school board has something to do w/city taxes (it doesn't in our area) and they attach themselves to one single topic instead of understanding a year's worth of uninteresting and mundane topics.
It's the newcomers fault, not the incumbents', that the same people keep getting reelected. Local office sucks. Bad. It's boring, time consuming and meaningless in the grand scheme. It's no wonder only morons and assholes are elected. Everyone else has better things to do for four years of their lives.
They're all jokes but they're all politicians and politicians do not like voters knowing what they're doing is stupid. By ensuring more than the usual informed voters are made aware of what is happening, the politicians pay attention and tread carefully.
Policy analysis generally uses longitudinal analysis as well as qualitative analysis to provide data to decision makers with the information they need to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, politicians generally don't always pay attention to factual evidence but this isn't the fault of the staff working the projects.
There's also the fact that factual analyses are influenced by interpretation of data. This is always a grey area which is impacted by morals, etc, etc, etc.
This is a much bigger problem than most people are willing to admit.
Have you ever been involved in government at the city level? They most certainly do care--even about very little citizen participation and news coverage.
You get someone to stir up shit about something like that at a City Council meeting and have several news outlets there and a packed room and I guarantee you that the City Council will not make the typical stupid moves it normally does.
As an IT manager, we do something similar to this. We hire recent college graduates with basic skills we're looking for (Excel and basically programming exposure) and train them to do the work we need to have done.
Now, while this works for our business and our model, it does take time to bring people on board who are not accustomed to the language we use and bring them up to speed. Depending on the timeline of the projects on hand and the time availability of those who would be working to bring associate level programmers up to speed, it may not work in all instances.
I have a close-knit team comprised of experience professionals willing to train entry-level people to do the work both during crunch times and lulls. Both myself and my guys have the desire and availability to do this and we hope that it will continue to serve us well.
YMMV.
Agreed. Except the part about the trial having no evidence presented.
As I mentioned in my post to the OP, what works for some people will not work for all others and their families.
May I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself about how I choose to raise my children. While the OP asked for advice and I gave it, I was not looking for input on how to raise mine.
My son (a little over 2 years old) LOVES to Skype with his grandparents. In fact when I am on the laptop and he's in the room he's usually begging me to see "Nana and Pop-pop".
To answer the OP; we generally do it while he's eating in his high chair. I can keep the laptop on the table, out of his reach and since he's locked in place he can't reach the keys.
While ripping keys off the keyboard was a problem in the past, he's to the point at two+ that he can listen to instruction and know consequences (time out). He basically just talks to them, shows them his latest favorite toy, and/or tells them whatever it is that's going through his mind at the time.
They're happy. he's happy and my MacBook is safe. That said, if he's not in his chair I don't leave him alone with it and/or use it as a babysitter. In between his ramblings I chat with them until he comes back to say hi again.
I think that you need to find what works best for your family and your child. While I don't think putting it on the wall or leaving the kid unattended with Skype open is a good idea, perhaps it's best for you.
YMMV.
Yeah the Executive MBA program at MIT is probably great. But, it's also completely cost-prohibitive for the vast majority of people.
From: http://emba.mit.edu/admissions/tuition-and-expenses/
I mean, if someone is working for a top company and is a top executive or plans to be, $141k may not seem like all that much money. However, most people will not realize the benefits of that degree in any meaningful way over the course of the remainder of their career, especially someone in the late stages.
Pay the $30,000 it costs just about everywhere else and you can pay off the debt in just two or three years following your promotion which, in most places, will net you only $10k to $15k in the short term rather than taking you what is most likely the rest of your career.
Yes an MBA might be a good choice depending on the person. As an IT manager myself, I work(ed) with and supervise a variety of individuals who are very well suited for IT but are not at all suited for management.
Just because you earn an MBA doesn't mean that you will suddenly have the personality or qualities required for IT management.
---
On a related note: I chose to go with an MPA instead of an MBA. Why? Well, I'm personally interested in the public sector but both types of degrees provide a fairly similar background--just with one providing more for the public sector's unique needs.
I still get the HR, finance, etc, etc, etc, but I have the ability to leverage both sides of the fence more easily. If the government changes its focus to move away from "smaller" to "larger" I may have an advantage that MBA degree holders do not.
Because the military is not supposed to take action on citizens. We have other enforcement divisions tasked with that sort of thing.
You do realize that long-term usage of high blood pressure medicines, especially at a young age like I started them at (22), can cause kidney damage and the blood tests are meant to find those issues before they become a huge problem.
So, it's not unnecessary testing. It's just that the doctors are too lazy/cheap to order it. Why not force them to make certain any potential problems are mitigated before they become LARGE issues?
You should thank me for enforcing preventative care instead of waiting for a kidney transplant.
My doctor has totally stopped even testing my blood for my Lisinopril prescription. I still have him do it because I just paid $25 to go to the Dr and I expect the assholes to do SOMETHING other than re-up the prescription for a year.