This was my first thought as well. Given that they just *happen* to have a replacement going up in 2 weeks and then to experience an "anomaly" to stop the deal from consumating seems a bit suspicious. If either of these companies has stockholders, we may hear more in the future.
I always call and demand that they put the Senator on the line. Then they hang up on me. So I call again and.......Oops, gotta go, there are some men in suits and mirrored sunglasses at my door.
The late 90's were an aberration that drew many unqualified people into IT. Think paper MCSEs and IT managers that could barely send email. What we are seeing is a deabsorption of these people (e.g. many of them out of work).
Watch the allied health (medium skilled) fields do the same thing in a few years.
I'm not a team player, I don't like to share and I dread/escape Company "outings." I subscribe to the McDLT theory of work/life balance. My home life is cool and I intend to keep it that way, without intermingling the work side.
Most people love these sorts of things, but the last thing I want to do is get drunk with work people. Sure, you work as a team, but you're all in competition, too. I like to preserve a bit of mystery and not give my opponents ammunition. If you don't think you're competing with the members of your team, then you're most likely losing.
Having kids comes in really handy in these situations. I just keep crapping out and people understand that I am not an outing target. If I went once and then crapped out, I wouldnt be team player. Just be consistent.
Finally, I have enough friends. Work people are associates. (Just to forestall any "you must not have friends" replies).
Having worked in IT for a while I can tell you that there are many overpaid, underqualified people in the profession at every Company. When measured against these people, outsourcing looks quite beneficial.
However, having seen two-tiered workforces in action, I can tell you from both sides that it is not a viable long-term strategy from a Company's perspective. Contract/outsourced employees just do not care enough to reach for excellence, and they have no reason to. Why would anyone give 110% to a Company that is willing to accept 80% (or 70 or 60) effort, as evinced by their willingness to tier their workforce in the first place.
Finally, I feel bad for people just starting in IT in a soft job market, where there are fewer and fewer entry level positions. The same companies that are screaming for senior level talent refuse to develop it here.
I, for one, welcome the challenge of outsourcing. If there is an Indian (or Filipino or Russian) engineer out there willing to work for 20% of my pay, then I just have to be 6 times better. Get close to the customer, master your craft, continuously improve and do not become complacent. If done properly, your lieklihood of being outsourced becomes slim to none.
I nearly worked for a Company that did hair follicle testing for illegal drug use. One of the first questions that came up from our group was: "what about bald people?" The presenter smiled and said that while some people may not have hair on their head, almost everyone has hair somewhere. Chew on that one for a while.
I personally believe that I would do fairly well with a telework situation, but in a large corporation, it's more important to have face time with your superiors (if you care about advancement, which I do).
For most people, however, I think they would take advantage of it and work less. Not to impugn the fine folks who replied above, but in my personal experience most employees exhibit the 'Lake Wobegone' effect, where everyone is in the top 50% of diligence. The truth is, time and time again, I have seen people abuse loose scheduling. Where I am right now, our team of 4 is able to come and go as they please, as long as they do 40 hours. Guess what? I am the first one here and the last one to leave every day. This is not an isolated occurrence. I experienced similar issues throughout my career.
Additionally, I agree with an above poster that if you can do your job from home, then make sure you have plenty of savings, because they may find that having someone do your work remotely works out a little too well.
Unfortunately, reading is not exactly cutting edge science. Much of the expository work with reading eye cameras (tachistoscopes) was done in the 50s and 60s.
Slashdot Mirror
This was my first thought as well. Given that they just *happen* to have a replacement going up in 2 weeks and then to experience an "anomaly" to stop the deal from consumating seems a bit suspicious. If either of these companies has stockholders, we may hear more in the future.
I always call and demand that they put the Senator on the line. Then they hang up on me. So I call again and.... ...Oops, gotta go, there are some men in suits and mirrored sunglasses at my door.
The late 90's were an aberration that drew many unqualified people into IT. Think paper MCSEs and IT managers that could barely send email. What we are seeing is a deabsorption of these people (e.g. many of them out of work). Watch the allied health (medium skilled) fields do the same thing in a few years.
I'm not a team player, I don't like to share and I dread/escape Company "outings." I subscribe to the McDLT theory of work/life balance. My home life is cool and I intend to keep it that way, without intermingling the work side.
Most people love these sorts of things, but the last thing I want to do is get drunk with work people. Sure, you work as a team, but you're all in competition, too. I like to preserve a bit of mystery and not give my opponents ammunition. If you don't think you're competing with the members of your team, then you're most likely losing.
Having kids comes in really handy in these situations. I just keep crapping out and people understand that I am not an outing target. If I went once and then crapped out, I wouldnt be team player. Just be consistent.
Finally, I have enough friends. Work people are associates. (Just to forestall any "you must not have friends" replies).
However, having seen two-tiered workforces in action, I can tell you from both sides that it is not a viable long-term strategy from a Company's perspective. Contract/outsourced employees just do not care enough to reach for excellence, and they have no reason to. Why would anyone give 110% to a Company that is willing to accept 80% (or 70 or 60) effort, as evinced by their willingness to tier their workforce in the first place.
Finally, I feel bad for people just starting in IT in a soft job market, where there are fewer and fewer entry level positions. The same companies that are screaming for senior level talent refuse to develop it here.
I, for one, welcome the challenge of outsourcing. If there is an Indian (or Filipino or Russian) engineer out there willing to work for 20% of my pay, then I just have to be 6 times better. Get close to the customer, master your craft, continuously improve and do not become complacent. If done properly, your lieklihood of being outsourced becomes slim to none.
"Honey, they called me into work today. It's cloudy in Uttar Pradesh."
I nearly worked for a Company that did hair follicle testing for illegal drug use. One of the first questions that came up from our group was: "what about bald people?" The presenter smiled and said that while some people may not have hair on their head, almost everyone has hair somewhere. Chew on that one for a while.
For most people, however, I think they would take advantage of it and work less. Not to impugn the fine folks who replied above, but in my personal experience most employees exhibit the 'Lake Wobegone' effect, where everyone is in the top 50% of diligence. The truth is, time and time again, I have seen people abuse loose scheduling. Where I am right now, our team of 4 is able to come and go as they please, as long as they do 40 hours. Guess what? I am the first one here and the last one to leave every day. This is not an isolated occurrence. I experienced similar issues throughout my career.
Additionally, I agree with an above poster that if you can do your job from home, then make sure you have plenty of savings, because they may find that having someone do your work remotely works out a little too well.
Unfortunately, reading is not exactly cutting edge science. Much of the expository work with reading eye cameras (tachistoscopes) was done in the 50s and 60s.
I hope everyone knows that google (and other spiders) can be blocked rather easily.
t orial.htm
See the URL below for a robots.txt tutorial:
http://www.searchengineworld.com/robots/robots_tu
It is still possible to share files on a web server without search engine exposure.