Well, I can see your point. Security has its issues but some things help.
As for your car analogy, the government stepped in, which is what the 'net community doesn't want. Technically speaking, the government kicked in after saftey became an issue. Heck, the first automobile accident was in 1771, 2 years after it had been created.
Now, until people start getting killed by their computers for stupidity (short of chat room issues0, I don't see things getting much better.
I feel your pain. No one cares about anything until it happens to them. Then, like you say, they claim ignorance and blame anyone but themselves. Yea, I did 5 years of TS work...
I burned out about 3 years into it. My fourth year, I got a 'promotion' into E-Support (email support). Each email, from then on, started with "I'm sorry" then I read their message - honest to god truth. Oddly enough, I was the admin of the email box (Kana) and management wouldn't let me put that into the startup response...
I wish I could offer some advice, but I can't other than move up the ladder to get out of the shit.
Part of the problem is the company you're working for. There are ways to block what the users machines are doing, but the company just doesn't want to implement them - don't want to step on the toes of their users to create a little peace of mind...
I worked for a company that paid me a bonus (roughly) $800 a quarter, used no call prediction software, no outsourcing and paid a decent salary and we still where profitable.
Now, this company has since merged with another and turned into a giant cash cow that pays almost no bonuses a year, uses call prediction software and outsources nearly 98% of its calls and they're having a hell of a time producing profits.
Issue: internal spending and internal choices
You figure that can't be true, with all the money they're saving now, I'm not giving the whole detail... You're right - the "new" company gives cell phones to all supervisors and up, 2 way pagers to all supervisors and up - and anyone else that asks, has given their CEO a raise of over 100k a year the last 2 years, spend time and money arguing with outsourcers over pricing (as well as sending employees on sight every other month to supervise operations), upgrade systems that are working perfectly fine to get extra features they don't even use, develop their own in house billing database only to find the original solution worked fine and spend more money to switch back.... I could keep going.
This company is like so many others out there that decided that a few extra things wouldn't hurt, until they had to lay off most of their workforce and it became a perpetual cycle. If you took most of these "cash strapped" companies and put everything they did on paper (like a business plan), no one would invest in them before telling them to change a lot of things they do.
I believed this for a long time as well, but it seems that the research is starting to show its coming from within... With the amount of people that just don't care about spyware and such, its really not surprising that, in some cases, their ignorance/stupidity is causing their biggest complaint.
I'm in the process of researching issues like this for a new business. Would it be possible for you to email me the numbers you have based this post off of?
This is very true. I have a few applications that the health care industry could use and with LAMP, I can provide them very cheaply, but the cost and time involved with making sure everything was HIPPA compliant was too much for my 1 man design shop. Ultimately, the same application happen to work for another industry instead. Maybe one of these days I'll sit down and do all the requirements for HIPPA.
If you want a hint on how HIPPA compliance is an issue, read over the HIPPA bill (more specifically the part about computers and electronic records) and you'll get a very rough and legalized idea. Even if its just a simple chat program, that program must copy each chat transaction into a database in case an issue comes along with those people. Email: logged, etc...
Other than HIPPA, I've noticed that its very hard to get into the door with most health care providers. Since your company is bigger than mine, it may not be an issue, but be prepared for it to be brought up. Most of these companies still believe in the "bigger is better" principle.
While I understand your recommendation of Dell, there are cheaper companies out there. There are also cheaper solutions.
As a for instance - a VERY simple TCO study without the algorithms involved:
Dell Computer = $1,002 (no monitor, windows installed) Dell Monitor = 17 inch LCD bottom of the line $299 Initial Cost: $52,040 (40 computers)
HP/Compaq = $1,007 (w/ 19 inch LCD w/ Linux installed) Initial Cost $40,280 (40 computers)
Sun Ray Thin client = $359 + server costs Dell Monitor = 17 inch LCD bottom of the line $299 Initial Cost: $26,320 + server ($29,490) + seat licenses $3,960 (40 clients) = $59,770
Sounds simple based on initial price, right? Nope...
The dell's and compaq's use more power and put out more heat and are louder, so you have to account for that (power consumption, both normal consumption and "how big of a generator do we need to run X workstations in an emergency" and how badly it fights air conditioning as well as the general noise level in a call center).
You also have to account for extra staff to handle each computer related problem for the Dell/Compaq solution (2-3 people) vs 1 admin to handle the server and the thin clients (in their case, if its broke, you literally walk out to it, swap it out with a new one and you're done) for approx 1 large call center. Also, in a call center environment, hot desking (ability to switch desks at any time without losing any work) is something that is very important. You'd need more hardware (and licenses) to be able to do this on windows...
Reliability: Windows vs Linux = no brainer
Security: Windows vs Linux = again, no brainer
Support: Who answers fastest and who outsources. Yep, this means calling and waiting on hold. I'll save you the pain: Sun won with 2 mins of hold time before the rep answered (Dell, Compaq, etc = 17mins +)
Now granted, this is a very simplistic lesson without all the extra numbers to run, but its something for you to think over before assuming that one option is just magically better than another. Just the ability for 1 IT person doubling as an admin for the Thin Clients makes up for the difference in price. Add in the extras and its pretty clear which is the winner.
The same thing can be said for monitors, which you've assumed correctly. CRT's are initially cheaper, but in the long run LCD's are cheaper due to their footprint, heat output and power savings.
On a side note to be fair, we're considering both the Thin Clients for Customer Service and Technical Support staff and Dells/Compaq's that have Linux or FreeBSD for Managers, programmers, etc...
Feel free to argue, but until you've looked at the options and actually studied the effects of your decision, you won't know whats really going on. With my research, it looks like you'd be paying upwards of $60k more than me a year (and thats on your BEST year)... Yes, I know you're thinking "how on earth did you figure that out!" Do the research yourself... Now, the funny part is, I've figured most of this out in about 2 days worth of hard core research. 2 days worth of work to save $60k and up sounds worth "some stupid TCO study" to me...
Oddly enough, my wife is an artist and she's one that prefers no icons on the desktop. That and she's a normal person that dislikes change in any way.
Heck, I can't even login to her computer without her throwing a hissy fit because I end up changing something that she likes. This last time was when I disabled ICQ on startup...
KDE and Gnome are the two GUI's we're looking at. While I am like you in preferring WindowMaker, its easier to teach Gnome/KDE to others. Who knows, during our training day, we may let each user decide on which one they will use, but thats a support headache as well.
We're looking into OS X with the new iMacs, but as a startup, its all about the money. We may end up going with a free distro of some sort with cheaper computers to start with. I'm still working on a TCO study between computer manufacturers and different types of monitors.
Saddly, the whole "it looks different than Windows" is a major issue with my wife. I run FreeBSD, RedHat and recently setup Debian for a friend. During the initial setup of Debian, my wife came into the room and exclaimed "what the hell is that?!" Linux, more specifically, Debian "thats ugly, I'd never use that!"
Its sad to say that using something based on how it looks has become a major issue with people. Its better, more secure, but its damn ugly compared to what I've been using since 1995! I really don't get it.
Now, the other thing is that I'm starting a new company and one of our main issues is "no windows" - the only thing we're interested in windows for is software testing and technical support (for when we need to compare things we can't see with virtual apps).
One of the factors we have to deal with is training, but we don't have any major qualms with it. We figure 1 day should be enough for our reps to become familier with it at first. After that, we deal with class on a normal basis and teach certain things as we go.
I bounced mail on an ISP address that I grabbed a few years back for approx 6 months and I still got spammed non-stop. I figured it would get me off all the lists the other person was on and the spammers would eventually get the point - nope.
The problem with this is that the spammers never get a notice (unless they're doing things right) that the address is full. To them, they're still delivering to an existing address and, at some point, you'll carve out the offending messages.
I actually agree with you on this. Living in Germany, I've heard of people getting turned down for loans because they where late on their cell phone payment a few times. "Can't pay a small bill once in awhile, you don't need a big bill..."
Oddly enough, I'm pretty much in the same boat as the Story Parent. I'm in the process of starting a company, but we're too large to go for a few hundred thousand dollars, we have to go the VC route. Unfortunately, one of our main issues is control of the company, so just starting to work on a dream and getting paid for it isn't enough.
As someone thats supported Satellite customers, I can say that you don't want to go with it.
Not only is it a cashcow for the ISP, but its unreliable, even in the best conditions. Talk to anyone that has supported it and they will probably tell you that they'd rather deal with dialup than Satellite...
I see these things everywhere here in Germany (I'm a US Cit). I even pass by a smart car tower with cars stacked up in a glass elevator every day while going to work. I wouldn't get in one of these things on the autobahn... After driving on it myself, I wouldn't feel comfortable in the states with one due to the fact that it looks like a nice go-kart in the states.
The company has also known about the US market for several months and thinks they'll be able to go after the teenagers without a problem.
Na, my favorite 95 flaw was the ability to close the start button... Toolbar is there, but no start button. It took all kinds of teachers to figure out how it to fix that!
I was raised in the "computer in the family room" environment and had no complaints about it. When I finally got the courage to ask my dad if he was worried about me looking at adult sites, he typed in the address for playboy and said "have at it!"
I'm older now and spend most of my "freetime" on the computer and its actually starting to bother me (as well as my wife). My own dog has trained herself to go into the office right when I get home...
Trust me, spending a lot of time in front of the computer when you're younger doesn't really help all that much, especially if its in your own room. Most kids will just putz around online, they're not going to look over coding or anything like that. I know my best friends younger sister just sits and talks with friends on IM and the phone at the same time. When she's not doing that, she's "board" while looking at Barbie sites and crap like that.
At this point in life, we need to start redirecting web requests to the history channels website or something.
I was basically the same way when I was your age (I'm 25 now). Now I'm much worse. I must have all 3 of my physical computers (2 servers, 1 laptop) running, 2 VMWare servers running and an active internet connection. If the computers go down for any reason, I spend all the time needed to fix it. If my internet connection goes down, I pace the house.
My wife thinks I'm crazy, but has learned to deal with it. The funny part is, she keeps hearing me talk about "uptime" but hasn't figured out that its a computer term...
At a certain point it becomes cheaper just to expect x% of your product to be returned under warranty, bin it, and ship a new (also untested) replacement.
I've worked for a company that is notorious for this, and oddly enough, they're not even in the computer business. It annoyed the crap out of me, but management did nothing but send out "new" products. These things where so bad, they'd have pallets of incoming returns and not enough outgoing replacements. All of this for a $500 product that only cost upwards of $10 for them to make.
Guess its a good thing my non-compete ran out before I started a business plan to run them out of business. In two or three months, it goes out to the highest bidder... MUHAHAHA
I had a similar problem when downsized (use that word, it gets sympathy) from a major ISP awhile back. At first, I was a stupid hotshot that just tossed skills out here and there expecting some company to call on me for a perfect fit. I ended up temping at a lot of places. Unfortunately, since I'm in Germany, I can't test my luck in the states, but Oregon is still bad for jobs. Right now, I'm involved in a startup ISP and we're actually going so far as to tell our employees (future and currect) as well as our future customers that we will not outsource. Oddly enough, all the partners came from the same old ISP and where all downsized at one time or another.
One helpful hint - if you can program, hit up some of the contracting websites online (don't pay an upfront fee to use their service). If you don't program, start looking for a temp job and work your way into something else. I did 5 weeks of training for Verizon and sidestepped into a position at a mututal funds company the day after I was put onto the phones for Customer Service work - talk about a close call.
Theres a problem contracting as a GS position now. Its becoming harder and harder to find the jobs and actually get in. I've applied to more than 20 that I'm fully qualified for here in Germany but they just either don't fill the positions or pull an exisitng GS person from the states to fill it.
The reason: the GS system is over populated right now. With Germany and a few other choice bases starting to close up, its creating a surge of people that are qualified to work, but less jobs. (I'm getting this info from a few GS12-15's that I deal with)
The last issue is, the GS system relies heavily on the "good'ol'boy system" - you have to know someone to get the job. Everyone I've talked to in the system has agreed with that. I've met people that tried to get into the system for years only to have their spouse know someone who knows someone create an opening.
One last downfall about the system. When you move, you get 1 "choice location", if you don't like it, you get out.
Other than that, the money is damn good and its hard for them to give you the boot.
As an Army Brat thats lived in too many states to count, I can second this. I'd much rather be living in a hurricane zone than in the midwest when thinking about the weather.
Heck, a lot of people party when a hurricane comes in, the media likes to play in the wind... See what happens when a tornado shows up somewhere - everyone runs like hell except for storm chasers trying to 1. help people that aren't lucky enough to win against a tornado 2. Study them - and 3 (I really don't even consider these people true chasers) - chasing tornados for art (cameras and video) and even then, all 3 groups still try to stay away from them.
I'd say a hurricane is like a dull knife, it can hurt you, but the damage isn't (usually) too bad. A tornado is focused like an exacto knife cutting right to the bone.
Interesting part is, the ISP I'm working on to startup is going to allow "servers". I'm not the one writing the policy, but I think the only type we're not going to allow are mail servers, for obvious reasons.
We where also looking at doing some other stuff like setting up a web address to route to your IP so you don't have to use DynDNS and such.
Like my sig says - if anyone has a "geek wishlist" like webspace that supports CVS and such - email me...
Well, last I heard, they are using Brightmail for everyone, but like you said, it sucks. While working for them, I never saw a daily spam report either.
I do know that their system also worked on a challenge with required response system as well. Meaning you send me an email, their system doesn't recognize you so it sends you one saying "click here if you're real" and the mail goes through. I don't really know if they're still using it.
Like a lot of technologies Earthlink invests in, I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole - including Brightmail. In fact, my start-up has recently adopted the clause that if Earthlink invests in some new technology, we stay away from it.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I can see your point. Security has its issues but some things help.
As for your car analogy, the government stepped in, which is what the 'net community doesn't want. Technically speaking, the government kicked in after saftey became an issue. Heck, the first automobile accident was in 1771, 2 years after it had been created.
Now, until people start getting killed by their computers for stupidity (short of chat room issues0, I don't see things getting much better.
I feel your pain. No one cares about anything until it happens to them. Then, like you say, they claim ignorance and blame anyone but themselves. Yea, I did 5 years of TS work...
I burned out about 3 years into it. My fourth year, I got a 'promotion' into E-Support (email support). Each email, from then on, started with "I'm sorry" then I read their message - honest to god truth. Oddly enough, I was the admin of the email box (Kana) and management wouldn't let me put that into the startup response...
I wish I could offer some advice, but I can't other than move up the ladder to get out of the shit.
Part of the problem is the company you're working for. There are ways to block what the users machines are doing, but the company just doesn't want to implement them - don't want to step on the toes of their users to create a little peace of mind...
There is a flaw with this way of thinking...
I worked for a company that paid me a bonus (roughly) $800 a quarter, used no call prediction software, no outsourcing and paid a decent salary and we still where profitable.
Now, this company has since merged with another and turned into a giant cash cow that pays almost no bonuses a year, uses call prediction software and outsources nearly 98% of its calls and they're having a hell of a time producing profits.
Issue: internal spending and internal choices
You figure that can't be true, with all the money they're saving now, I'm not giving the whole detail... You're right - the "new" company gives cell phones to all supervisors and up, 2 way pagers to all supervisors and up - and anyone else that asks, has given their CEO a raise of over 100k a year the last 2 years, spend time and money arguing with outsourcers over pricing (as well as sending employees on sight every other month to supervise operations), upgrade systems that are working perfectly fine to get extra features they don't even use, develop their own in house billing database only to find the original solution worked fine and spend more money to switch back.... I could keep going.
This company is like so many others out there that decided that a few extra things wouldn't hurt, until they had to lay off most of their workforce and it became a perpetual cycle. If you took most of these "cash strapped" companies and put everything they did on paper (like a business plan), no one would invest in them before telling them to change a lot of things they do.
I believed this for a long time as well, but it seems that the research is starting to show its coming from within... With the amount of people that just don't care about spyware and such, its really not surprising that, in some cases, their ignorance/stupidity is causing their biggest complaint.
I'm in the process of researching issues like this for a new business. Would it be possible for you to email me the numbers you have based this post off of?
This is very true. I have a few applications that the health care industry could use and with LAMP, I can provide them very cheaply, but the cost and time involved with making sure everything was HIPPA compliant was too much for my 1 man design shop. Ultimately, the same application happen to work for another industry instead. Maybe one of these days I'll sit down and do all the requirements for HIPPA.
If you want a hint on how HIPPA compliance is an issue, read over the HIPPA bill (more specifically the part about computers and electronic records) and you'll get a very rough and legalized idea. Even if its just a simple chat program, that program must copy each chat transaction into a database in case an issue comes along with those people. Email: logged, etc...
Other than HIPPA, I've noticed that its very hard to get into the door with most health care providers. Since your company is bigger than mine, it may not be an issue, but be prepared for it to be brought up. Most of these companies still believe in the "bigger is better" principle.
(Big post to prove my point)
While I understand your recommendation of Dell, there are cheaper companies out there. There are also cheaper solutions.
As a for instance - a VERY simple TCO study without the algorithms involved:
Dell Computer = $1,002 (no monitor, windows installed)
Dell Monitor = 17 inch LCD bottom of the line $299
Initial Cost: $52,040 (40 computers)
HP/Compaq = $1,007 (w/ 19 inch LCD w/ Linux installed)
Initial Cost $40,280 (40 computers)
Sun Ray Thin client = $359 + server costs
Dell Monitor = 17 inch LCD bottom of the line $299
Initial Cost: $26,320 + server ($29,490) + seat licenses $3,960 (40 clients) = $59,770
Sounds simple based on initial price, right? Nope...
The dell's and compaq's use more power and put out more heat and are louder, so you have to account for that (power consumption, both normal consumption and "how big of a generator do we need to run X workstations in an emergency" and how badly it fights air conditioning as well as the general noise level in a call center).
You also have to account for extra staff to handle each computer related problem for the Dell/Compaq solution (2-3 people) vs 1 admin to handle the server and the thin clients (in their case, if its broke, you literally walk out to it, swap it out with a new one and you're done) for approx 1 large call center. Also, in a call center environment, hot desking (ability to switch desks at any time without losing any work) is something that is very important. You'd need more hardware (and licenses) to be able to do this on windows...
Reliability: Windows vs Linux = no brainer
Security: Windows vs Linux = again, no brainer
Support: Who answers fastest and who outsources. Yep, this means calling and waiting on hold. I'll save you the pain: Sun won with 2 mins of hold time before the rep answered (Dell, Compaq, etc = 17mins +)
Now granted, this is a very simplistic lesson without all the extra numbers to run, but its something for you to think over before assuming that one option is just magically better than another. Just the ability for 1 IT person doubling as an admin for the Thin Clients makes up for the difference in price. Add in the extras and its pretty clear which is the winner.
The same thing can be said for monitors, which you've assumed correctly. CRT's are initially cheaper, but in the long run LCD's are cheaper due to their footprint, heat output and power savings.
On a side note to be fair, we're considering both the Thin Clients for Customer Service and Technical Support staff and Dells/Compaq's that have Linux or FreeBSD for Managers, programmers, etc...
Feel free to argue, but until you've looked at the options and actually studied the effects of your decision, you won't know whats really going on. With my research, it looks like you'd be paying upwards of $60k more than me a year (and thats on your BEST year)... Yes, I know you're thinking "how on earth did you figure that out!" Do the research yourself... Now, the funny part is, I've figured most of this out in about 2 days worth of hard core research. 2 days worth of work to save $60k and up sounds worth "some stupid TCO study" to me...
Oddly enough, my wife is an artist and she's one that prefers no icons on the desktop. That and she's a normal person that dislikes change in any way.
Heck, I can't even login to her computer without her throwing a hissy fit because I end up changing something that she likes. This last time was when I disabled ICQ on startup...
KDE and Gnome are the two GUI's we're looking at. While I am like you in preferring WindowMaker, its easier to teach Gnome/KDE to others. Who knows, during our training day, we may let each user decide on which one they will use, but thats a support headache as well.
We're looking into OS X with the new iMacs, but as a startup, its all about the money. We may end up going with a free distro of some sort with cheaper computers to start with. I'm still working on a TCO study between computer manufacturers and different types of monitors.
Saddly, the whole "it looks different than Windows" is a major issue with my wife. I run FreeBSD, RedHat and recently setup Debian for a friend. During the initial setup of Debian, my wife came into the room and exclaimed "what the hell is that?!" Linux, more specifically, Debian "thats ugly, I'd never use that!"
Its sad to say that using something based on how it looks has become a major issue with people. Its better, more secure, but its damn ugly compared to what I've been using since 1995! I really don't get it.
Now, the other thing is that I'm starting a new company and one of our main issues is "no windows" - the only thing we're interested in windows for is software testing and technical support (for when we need to compare things we can't see with virtual apps).
One of the factors we have to deal with is training, but we don't have any major qualms with it. We figure 1 day should be enough for our reps to become familier with it at first. After that, we deal with class on a normal basis and teach certain things as we go.
Unfortunately, not true.
I bounced mail on an ISP address that I grabbed a few years back for approx 6 months and I still got spammed non-stop. I figured it would get me off all the lists the other person was on and the spammers would eventually get the point - nope.
The problem with this is that the spammers never get a notice (unless they're doing things right) that the address is full. To them, they're still delivering to an existing address and, at some point, you'll carve out the offending messages.
I actually agree with you on this. Living in Germany, I've heard of people getting turned down for loans because they where late on their cell phone payment a few times. "Can't pay a small bill once in awhile, you don't need a big bill..."
Oddly enough, I'm pretty much in the same boat as the Story Parent. I'm in the process of starting a company, but we're too large to go for a few hundred thousand dollars, we have to go the VC route. Unfortunately, one of our main issues is control of the company, so just starting to work on a dream and getting paid for it isn't enough.
As someone thats supported Satellite customers, I can say that you don't want to go with it.
Not only is it a cashcow for the ISP, but its unreliable, even in the best conditions. Talk to anyone that has supported it and they will probably tell you that they'd rather deal with dialup than Satellite...
What gets me is the idiots decided to upgrade all of the machines at once. Who, in their right mind, upgrades these types of systems all at once?
I see these things everywhere here in Germany (I'm a US Cit). I even pass by a smart car tower with cars stacked up in a glass elevator every day while going to work. I wouldn't get in one of these things on the autobahn... After driving on it myself, I wouldn't feel comfortable in the states with one due to the fact that it looks like a nice go-kart in the states.
The company has also known about the US market for several months and thinks they'll be able to go after the teenagers without a problem.
Na, my favorite 95 flaw was the ability to close the start button... Toolbar is there, but no start button. It took all kinds of teachers to figure out how it to fix that!
I was raised in the "computer in the family room" environment and had no complaints about it. When I finally got the courage to ask my dad if he was worried about me looking at adult sites, he typed in the address for playboy and said "have at it!"
I'm older now and spend most of my "freetime" on the computer and its actually starting to bother me (as well as my wife). My own dog has trained herself to go into the office right when I get home...
Trust me, spending a lot of time in front of the computer when you're younger doesn't really help all that much, especially if its in your own room. Most kids will just putz around online, they're not going to look over coding or anything like that. I know my best friends younger sister just sits and talks with friends on IM and the phone at the same time. When she's not doing that, she's "board" while looking at Barbie sites and crap like that.
At this point in life, we need to start redirecting web requests to the history channels website or something.
I was basically the same way when I was your age (I'm 25 now). Now I'm much worse. I must have all 3 of my physical computers (2 servers, 1 laptop) running, 2 VMWare servers running and an active internet connection. If the computers go down for any reason, I spend all the time needed to fix it. If my internet connection goes down, I pace the house.
My wife thinks I'm crazy, but has learned to deal with it. The funny part is, she keeps hearing me talk about "uptime" but hasn't figured out that its a computer term...
At a certain point it becomes cheaper just to expect x% of your product to be returned under warranty, bin it, and ship a new (also untested) replacement.
I've worked for a company that is notorious for this, and oddly enough, they're not even in the computer business. It annoyed the crap out of me, but management did nothing but send out "new" products. These things where so bad, they'd have pallets of incoming returns and not enough outgoing replacements. All of this for a $500 product that only cost upwards of $10 for them to make.
Guess its a good thing my non-compete ran out before I started a business plan to run them out of business. In two or three months, it goes out to the highest bidder... MUHAHAHA
I had a similar problem when downsized (use that word, it gets sympathy) from a major ISP awhile back. At first, I was a stupid hotshot that just tossed skills out here and there expecting some company to call on me for a perfect fit. I ended up temping at a lot of places. Unfortunately, since I'm in Germany, I can't test my luck in the states, but Oregon is still bad for jobs. Right now, I'm involved in a startup ISP and we're actually going so far as to tell our employees (future and currect) as well as our future customers that we will not outsource. Oddly enough, all the partners came from the same old ISP and where all downsized at one time or another.
One helpful hint - if you can program, hit up some of the contracting websites online (don't pay an upfront fee to use their service). If you don't program, start looking for a temp job and work your way into something else. I did 5 weeks of training for Verizon and sidestepped into a position at a mututal funds company the day after I was put onto the phones for Customer Service work - talk about a close call.
Theres a problem contracting as a GS position now. Its becoming harder and harder to find the jobs and actually get in. I've applied to more than 20 that I'm fully qualified for here in Germany but they just either don't fill the positions or pull an exisitng GS person from the states to fill it.
The reason: the GS system is over populated right now. With Germany and a few other choice bases starting to close up, its creating a surge of people that are qualified to work, but less jobs. (I'm getting this info from a few GS12-15's that I deal with)
The last issue is, the GS system relies heavily on the "good'ol'boy system" - you have to know someone to get the job. Everyone I've talked to in the system has agreed with that. I've met people that tried to get into the system for years only to have their spouse know someone who knows someone create an opening.
One last downfall about the system. When you move, you get 1 "choice location", if you don't like it, you get out.
Other than that, the money is damn good and its hard for them to give you the boot.
As an Army Brat thats lived in too many states to count, I can second this. I'd much rather be living in a hurricane zone than in the midwest when thinking about the weather.
;-)
Heck, a lot of people party when a hurricane comes in, the media likes to play in the wind... See what happens when a tornado shows up somewhere - everyone runs like hell except for storm chasers trying to 1. help people that aren't lucky enough to win against a tornado 2. Study them - and 3 (I really don't even consider these people true chasers) - chasing tornados for art (cameras and video) and even then, all 3 groups still try to stay away from them.
I'd say a hurricane is like a dull knife, it can hurt you, but the damage isn't (usually) too bad. A tornado is focused like an exacto knife cutting right to the bone.
Now, mod me off topic and be done with it
Interesting part is, the ISP I'm working on to startup is going to allow "servers". I'm not the one writing the policy, but I think the only type we're not going to allow are mail servers, for obvious reasons.
We where also looking at doing some other stuff like setting up a web address to route to your IP so you don't have to use DynDNS and such.
Like my sig says - if anyone has a "geek wishlist" like webspace that supports CVS and such - email me...
Well, last I heard, they are using Brightmail for everyone, but like you said, it sucks. While working for them, I never saw a daily spam report either.
I do know that their system also worked on a challenge with required response system as well. Meaning you send me an email, their system doesn't recognize you so it sends you one saying "click here if you're real" and the mail goes through. I don't really know if they're still using it.
Like a lot of technologies Earthlink invests in, I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole - including Brightmail. In fact, my start-up has recently adopted the clause that if Earthlink invests in some new technology, we stay away from it.