MindSpring use to let employees bring pets. I would bring my dog in occasionally. Every once in awhile, someone would bring in their Ferret. I also had a friend that brought in a small fish tank and another one that brought in Hermit Crabs and would let them roam around her desk. Earthlink took over and all that stopped almost immediately.
Late 1998. After a few months, it was turned back on. I think the engineers figured out most that where using remote port 25's and automated a message about updating SMTPs.
I worked for a smaller National ISP (MindSpring) and our engineers tried this one day without telling anyone. 2 hours later, Technical Support was being killed by customers complaining that they couldn't send mail to other required sources. After our NOC figured it out, the engineers had to turn things back the way they where and the call Q cleared up.
The problem with your situation is that the same customers that complain about the spam that come in rely on Port 25 to allow their users access to company servers. It's too much to ask of these people to change the mail server on the sending machine - they'll just scoff at you.
Some of the smarter ones use another Port to get around these type of issues but even then, it sometimes causes problems. Ignorance is bliss.
But - I'd buy CD's that where a little more expensive than that if the artists where actually getting the amount per CD that they are owed. The amounts that Artists get and how they get paid is hog wash. Check out this blog post about Weird Al with a break down for more info on that.
If you have any type of military background on your resume mixed with IT, you'll get email all the time about positions downrange.
In the last 2 weeks, I've been offered several positions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Dubai. Some of the recruiters even attempt to brag about how "This position is in the protected Green Zone" - HA! That was for a SharePoint admin position.
Sadly, coming from a military background myself, you hit the nail on the head.
There are many good things that have happened downrange, but hardly anyone hears it because "Good News" doesn't sell unless you're some pop-idol that just got a face lift - or, you're Sanjay and just got voted off AI...
Now, AFN does show this type of stuff, but it's not picked up by the main media (I'm guessing it's shown to them..) The bad side of this is that AFN plays mainly OCONUS (overseas for those of you that haven't a clue) and only shows informational things to troops. So I see safety commercials 24/7 with Good and Bad news thrown in. The Good news is normally played over and over and over, to the point where we can mute the TV and say exactly what they are (That should be a Security question for all military personnel - "Who is Squeakers?"). The families overseas normally get excited when a normal commercial gets into the mix...
But, back on topic, good news doesn't sell. People only want to hear the bad things. Sadly, I know several people that refuse to watch the news (my wife, being one) specifically because it's only the bad stuff. The American public is so ignorant (in the true sense of the word) of whats going on down there. All they hear is X soldiers died...X Civilians died. They don't hear how many water plants are operational, they don't hear how we're attempting to fix the power but the locals keep cutting down towers so they sell the metal....
I get this a lot on my primary address and I don't have problems. The only things that have come back to me are idiot users that don't know what a forged header is. I use to maintain a note on my website and responded to these idiots, but got tired of it very quickly.
Come to think of it - I haven't gotten one of those types of emails in a while.
Then again, as a web dev guy, I'm one of 2 people in the company allowed to have Firefox installed. Even then, I get dinged on every network scan for unauthorized software and I have to re-explain why I need it. No one believed there was a big difference until I opened IE and Firefox on 2 monitors to the same page...
Do what most of us do and pick up a book. I've got my own library, a Safari membership and several people around me to pull knowledge from. There are enough people on the hundreds of Forums asking weird question to say that they're learning too.
Personally, I'm considering some of the online training, but it's only because I get reimbursed for it.
I'll second PowerVPS. Been going strong for a year and a half. Oddly, I was part of the Hardware node issue as well and was taken care of without even complaining. Support is usually on top of any questions I have within an hour or two and they're willing to poke around your box to fix weird issues that come about.
I can agree with this. I started with a 286 then moved my way up to a 386 with a Turbo button (whew - remember the days when you could double your processor speed with a single button?!)
Seriously though. 2.4GHz isn't slow. I still use several PII/III's for test servers and such and they work fine. Now, I will admit that putting something like SharePoint on one will cause it to creep and crawl, but for general web applications, it's fine.
Light, unsafe, fuel efficient(kinda), small, aerodynamic(depending on model)... Sounds like a Smart Car to me.
I personally hate these things. They may be alright in Europe, in the cities, but I cringe every time I see one of these things fly past me on the Autobahn at their top speed. I'm amazed they think there is a market in the US for them. I don't even want to visualize one of these things getting flattened by some Soccer Mom in a Hummer H2.
I read programming books all the time. In fact, I take an odd pride in being able to sit down and read a programming manual without falling asleep, but reading isn't actually programming.
The funny part about what you wrote is: I'm actually sitting in front of a freshly installed (ie: within the last hour) copy of Visual Studio Pro. Now, granted, I'm working with ASP.NET but I'll still be able to move into C#...
Well, that doesn't work on people like me that work MUCH better if they're programming something for a reason. While I hate to admit it, I don't have the personality of "I'm going to do this just for the hell of it" - I need a reason to make my life easier, etc.
While I'm not the story parent, I've recently found projects to work on in C# so I can learn...
I currently have one that states that I can't work for a competitor or start my own company OR even talk to other current employees about starting a company for 1 year.
Interesting thing is, we all sign it, then we all break it.
It's all about how far you bend the rules. If you piss off management on one side, they might zap you in the butt on the other side - I've seen it happen.
I'm glad to see there are others that think the way I do. The same goes for Jessica Simpson and others that have, in my opinion, a limited IQ. Then again, I'm not really one of those people to become awestruck if some celebrity crosses my path.
Of course, being a contractor, it doesn't take into account that I use my personal e-mail to communicate with my contract agency about stuff that I'd rather not have stored on company e-mail servers.
Sorry but your contracting company should provide email for you. I contract for a MAJOR corp that filters and I have a remote exchange server that I can get into for official communications.
I have 4 email addresses (2 personal, 1 Contracted Corp and 1 Contracting) and can only get 2 at work or all at home when I VPN into the client - using a personal address for official communication is bad enough. I couldn't imagine using a yahoo or hotmail address as an official point of contact for contracting. I would honestly be embarrassed if I had to do this.
I did 5 years of TS and worked my way up from tier 1 to tier 3 at one company before moving on. Now, I hold a Tier 2 position (out of 3) and have sys admin abilities, but I still would not trust myself in a zero downtime situation. Granted, my boxes are currently setup for DNS failover (web) so there isn't any downtime, but file, exchange and DB servers and all that - no thanks. I see what our current sys admin goes through on a daily basis and it would take me at least a year shadowing him before I'd consider a zero downtime position.
I'm just about at six figures with no college but it's been a long hard road. I was one of those that took the leap to get a GED because school was too boring. I was doing technical support on my 18th birthday and looking at buying a Hummer H1 during the stock option days. Due to being young and stupid (collapse of market, no savings, no education and being laid off, all the latest toys, etc), I didn't have money for college and now I'm nearly 30 looking at going to college for the first time. The saddest part is - I'm going after a degree in something that I didn't even think of back in high school. On top of that, my current job has nothing to do with what I want my degree in other than I have experience designing software.
While I agree that people can do it on their own, it's much harder. I can't count how many times I've been turned away due to education. I have a home lab (CCNA, several boxes with different OS's, etc), my own personal technical library, am the family tech support dude, did 5 years of technical support professionally, have 10 years of development experience, etc - but corporations still see education as a requirement. I still say that I got REALLY lucky by getting my current job.
I talk with teenagers all the time that have the same problems I did when I was in school and the number one thing I say is to stay in, get your diploma and then go to college. You can always have your home lab and study on your own time - which includes the hard stuff from whatever your discipline is. After all that time, you should have enough experience that is hands on as well as the educational background.
In this type of situation, it's better for you to create your own company and work under that umbrella. That way, you have protection through your company and you have 1 company that you've worked with over the long haul.
Ah... I don't believe that. I'm an american that has worked for a German Company and my _contract_ stated 2 weeks. Since almost all employees are contracted in Germany/Europe, I would think that your contract states what you have to give. 3 months just doesn't sound right.
When the MCSE tests started getting popular in late 98, early 99 - I worked at an ISP and started getting all kinds of idiots that said after our initial thank you for calling..., and I quote(yes, MANY said this): "I'm an MCSE, don't treat me like a baby/idiot, I know what I'm doing. I can connect, but I cant get websites." Anyone with a twig of knowledge about networking should immediately think DNS settings... Well, here's how we handled these bright people:
"Go to your connectoid DNS settings and read them to me."
That was usually met with about a full minute of silence with the person madly clicking everywhere they could. They would occasionally make it into the TCP/IP DNS settings and read off whatever they had there. In this situation, with the countless people I did that to, I never had one actually make it to the DUN Connectoid DNS settings without me helping them.
Unfortunately, this left a bad taste in my mouth and I made up my mind: Businesses would rather care about experience than certifications... Bzzzzt - wrong. 7/8 years later (due to various issues), I'm finally getting a chance to work on my certs. If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken the MCSE while I was a tech and moved on from there. I still don't really support them, but you really do need them if you want to move up in the world.
But, to comment on Brainbench - I can't stand it. When did Brainbench become the de facto standard for all the knowledge of the world? Pardon my opinion, but I think its extremely unprofessional to put Brainbench scores on a resume...
The contractor probably convinced the client big wigs that no one needed to see the info because that info could cause security problems on the inside. That translates into "I'm keeping the plans as job security"...
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MindSpring use to let employees bring pets. I would bring my dog in occasionally. Every once in awhile, someone would bring in their Ferret. I also had a friend that brought in a small fish tank and another one that brought in Hermit Crabs and would let them roam around her desk. Earthlink took over and all that stopped almost immediately.
Late 1998. After a few months, it was turned back on. I think the engineers figured out most that where using remote port 25's and automated a message about updating SMTPs.
I agree that not telling anyone was a bad mistake...
While I'm not in the middle of the US IT situation, I don't think it's used as much as it should be.
I worked for a smaller National ISP (MindSpring) and our engineers tried this one day without telling anyone. 2 hours later, Technical Support was being killed by customers complaining that they couldn't send mail to other required sources. After our NOC figured it out, the engineers had to turn things back the way they where and the call Q cleared up.
The problem with your situation is that the same customers that complain about the spam that come in rely on Port 25 to allow their users access to company servers. It's too much to ask of these people to change the mail server on the sending machine - they'll just scoff at you.
Some of the smarter ones use another Port to get around these type of issues but even then, it sometimes causes problems. Ignorance is bliss.
I'll second that.
But - I'd buy CD's that where a little more expensive than that if the artists where actually getting the amount per CD that they are owed. The amounts that Artists get and how they get paid is hog wash. Check out this blog post about Weird Al with a break down for more info on that.
If you have any type of military background on your resume mixed with IT, you'll get email all the time about positions downrange.
In the last 2 weeks, I've been offered several positions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Dubai. Some of the recruiters even attempt to brag about how "This position is in the protected Green Zone" - HA! That was for a SharePoint admin position.
Sadly, coming from a military background myself, you hit the nail on the head.
There are many good things that have happened downrange, but hardly anyone hears it because "Good News" doesn't sell unless you're some pop-idol that just got a face lift - or, you're Sanjay and just got voted off AI...
Now, AFN does show this type of stuff, but it's not picked up by the main media (I'm guessing it's shown to them..) The bad side of this is that AFN plays mainly OCONUS (overseas for those of you that haven't a clue) and only shows informational things to troops. So I see safety commercials 24/7 with Good and Bad news thrown in. The Good news is normally played over and over and over, to the point where we can mute the TV and say exactly what they are (That should be a Security question for all military personnel - "Who is Squeakers?"). The families overseas normally get excited when a normal commercial gets into the mix...
But, back on topic, good news doesn't sell. People only want to hear the bad things. Sadly, I know several people that refuse to watch the news (my wife, being one) specifically because it's only the bad stuff. The American public is so ignorant (in the true sense of the word) of whats going on down there. All they hear is X soldiers died...X Civilians died. They don't hear how many water plants are operational, they don't hear how we're attempting to fix the power but the locals keep cutting down towers so they sell the metal....
I get this a lot on my primary address and I don't have problems. The only things that have come back to me are idiot users that don't know what a forged header is. I use to maintain a note on my website and responded to these idiots, but got tired of it very quickly.
Come to think of it - I haven't gotten one of those types of emails in a while.
I WISH - I'm forced to ONLY use IE...
Then again, as a web dev guy, I'm one of 2 people in the company allowed to have Firefox installed. Even then, I get dinged on every network scan for unauthorized software and I have to re-explain why I need it. No one believed there was a big difference until I opened IE and Firefox on 2 monitors to the same page...
Do what most of us do and pick up a book. I've got my own library, a Safari membership and several people around me to pull knowledge from. There are enough people on the hundreds of Forums asking weird question to say that they're learning too.
Personally, I'm considering some of the online training, but it's only because I get reimbursed for it.
I'll second PowerVPS. Been going strong for a year and a half. Oddly, I was part of the Hardware node issue as well and was taken care of without even complaining. Support is usually on top of any questions I have within an hour or two and they're willing to poke around your box to fix weird issues that come about.
I can agree with this. I started with a 286 then moved my way up to a 386 with a Turbo button (whew - remember the days when you could double your processor speed with a single button?!)
Seriously though. 2.4GHz isn't slow. I still use several PII/III's for test servers and such and they work fine. Now, I will admit that putting something like SharePoint on one will cause it to creep and crawl, but for general web applications, it's fine.
Hmm... What you described is pretty much here.
Light, unsafe, fuel efficient(kinda), small, aerodynamic(depending on model)... Sounds like a Smart Car to me.
I personally hate these things. They may be alright in Europe, in the cities, but I cringe every time I see one of these things fly past me on the Autobahn at their top speed. I'm amazed they think there is a market in the US for them. I don't even want to visualize one of these things getting flattened by some Soccer Mom in a Hummer H2.
I read programming books all the time. In fact, I take an odd pride in being able to sit down and read a programming manual without falling asleep, but reading isn't actually programming.
The funny part about what you wrote is: I'm actually sitting in front of a freshly installed (ie: within the last hour) copy of Visual Studio Pro. Now, granted, I'm working with ASP.NET but I'll still be able to move into C#...
Well, that doesn't work on people like me that work MUCH better if they're programming something for a reason. While I hate to admit it, I don't have the personality of "I'm going to do this just for the hell of it" - I need a reason to make my life easier, etc.
While I'm not the story parent, I've recently found projects to work on in C# so I can learn...
It is pretty standard.
I currently have one that states that I can't work for a competitor or start my own company OR even talk to other current employees about starting a company for 1 year.
Interesting thing is, we all sign it, then we all break it.
It's all about how far you bend the rules. If you piss off management on one side, they might zap you in the butt on the other side - I've seen it happen.
I'm glad to see there are others that think the way I do. The same goes for Jessica Simpson and others that have, in my opinion, a limited IQ. Then again, I'm not really one of those people to become awestruck if some celebrity crosses my path.
Of course, being a contractor, it doesn't take into account that I use my personal e-mail to communicate with my contract agency about stuff that I'd rather not have stored on company e-mail servers.
Sorry but your contracting company should provide email for you. I contract for a MAJOR corp that filters and I have a remote exchange server that I can get into for official communications.
I have 4 email addresses (2 personal, 1 Contracted Corp and 1 Contracting) and can only get 2 at work or all at home when I VPN into the client - using a personal address for official communication is bad enough. I couldn't imagine using a yahoo or hotmail address as an official point of contact for contracting. I would honestly be embarrassed if I had to do this.
I did 5 years of TS and worked my way up from tier 1 to tier 3 at one company before moving on. Now, I hold a Tier 2 position (out of 3) and have sys admin abilities, but I still would not trust myself in a zero downtime situation. Granted, my boxes are currently setup for DNS failover (web) so there isn't any downtime, but file, exchange and DB servers and all that - no thanks. I see what our current sys admin goes through on a daily basis and it would take me at least a year shadowing him before I'd consider a zero downtime position.
I'm just about at six figures with no college but it's been a long hard road. I was one of those that took the leap to get a GED because school was too boring. I was doing technical support on my 18th birthday and looking at buying a Hummer H1 during the stock option days. Due to being young and stupid (collapse of market, no savings, no education and being laid off, all the latest toys, etc), I didn't have money for college and now I'm nearly 30 looking at going to college for the first time. The saddest part is - I'm going after a degree in something that I didn't even think of back in high school. On top of that, my current job has nothing to do with what I want my degree in other than I have experience designing software.
While I agree that people can do it on their own, it's much harder. I can't count how many times I've been turned away due to education. I have a home lab (CCNA, several boxes with different OS's, etc), my own personal technical library, am the family tech support dude, did 5 years of technical support professionally, have 10 years of development experience, etc - but corporations still see education as a requirement. I still say that I got REALLY lucky by getting my current job.
I talk with teenagers all the time that have the same problems I did when I was in school and the number one thing I say is to stay in, get your diploma and then go to college. You can always have your home lab and study on your own time - which includes the hard stuff from whatever your discipline is. After all that time, you should have enough experience that is hands on as well as the educational background.
Wait... You're saying that in the UK, a company has a right to call up another company and ask for salary details?
In this type of situation, it's better for you to create your own company and work under that umbrella. That way, you have protection through your company and you have 1 company that you've worked with over the long haul.
Ah... I don't believe that. I'm an american that has worked for a German Company and my _contract_ stated 2 weeks. Since almost all employees are contracted in Germany/Europe, I would think that your contract states what you have to give. 3 months just doesn't sound right.
When the MCSE tests started getting popular in late 98, early 99 - I worked at an ISP and started getting all kinds of idiots that said after our initial thank you for calling..., and I quote(yes, MANY said this): "I'm an MCSE, don't treat me like a baby/idiot, I know what I'm doing. I can connect, but I cant get websites." Anyone with a twig of knowledge about networking should immediately think DNS settings... Well, here's how we handled these bright people:
"Go to your connectoid DNS settings and read them to me."
That was usually met with about a full minute of silence with the person madly clicking everywhere they could. They would occasionally make it into the TCP/IP DNS settings and read off whatever they had there. In this situation, with the countless people I did that to, I never had one actually make it to the DUN Connectoid DNS settings without me helping them.
Unfortunately, this left a bad taste in my mouth and I made up my mind: Businesses would rather care about experience than certifications... Bzzzzt - wrong. 7/8 years later (due to various issues), I'm finally getting a chance to work on my certs. If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken the MCSE while I was a tech and moved on from there. I still don't really support them, but you really do need them if you want to move up in the world.
But, to comment on Brainbench - I can't stand it. When did Brainbench become the de facto standard for all the knowledge of the world? Pardon my opinion, but I think its extremely unprofessional to put Brainbench scores on a resume...
The contractor probably convinced the client big wigs that no one needed to see the info because that info could cause security problems on the inside. That translates into "I'm keeping the plans as job security"...