I did this on a temp basis last year - stepped out of a tech position and into an executive/management position for six months. It was more difficult than I expected.
My tech skill level = expert. My management skill level = rookie. Unfortunately, I assumed I was an expert manager, so I dove in and acted like one. If I had understood the truth, I would have given myself more time to learn the ropes. My superiors took my swagger at face value, and expected me to be an expert manager from day 1, and solve extremely difficult personnel problems. I was out of my depth, and I did a poor job.
MORAL: Management is a different skill set. Give yourself time to learn it.
should I relinquish the struggle to keep up with progress and take the comfy 'old man' management route If you are expecting that management is all about playing solitaire and filling out the occasional budget report, I would suggest that you need to get a clearer understanding of what the job will entail. A manager who doesn't at least try to stay current with progress will be on a 6 year glide path to obsolescence. Once you have no idea what the tech people are talking about, and can't even understand their explanations, you will be a PHB who can't run the department efficiently. You'll be ripe for replacement by some bright 39 year old looking to move out of a tech job.
You wouldn't take a tech job where you'd be forced to work with shitty equipment. In management, you'd be working with people, but the same rules apply. You should consider the people you'll be working with and for. Know their expectations. More importantly, you need to have a clear understanding of the people who will be working FOR YOU. In management, you should consider each person to be a different piece of kludgy, buggy, undocumented software. Each piece might work well under one set of circumstances, but make them interact and rely on each other under a different set of circumstances and there are no guarantees.
Oh, and you don't have access to the source code for them either, so figuring out what makes them tick has to be done empirically, through observational reverse-engineering.
This link & interview is the first indication I've ever seen about him where he's out of character. I can appreciate the facts of his homelife supporting a better picture of him as a person than his public face would suggest. If there is some disassociation between Colbert-the-comic and Colbert-the-character, it's present in the fact that he doesn't want his kids to see his work on the show.
Colbert stopped being funny to me after the first 3 minutes. It's like watching a clown who only knows one bit, repeated over and over. The joke doesn't become high art or meaningful social commentary just because you repeat it a hundred times.
And I'm sure that Rush Limbaugh is a far nicer, more compassionate, more lovable person than the character he portrays on the radio, on TV, in interviews and in every other public speaking appearance. Off-mike, Rush is probably a very down-to-earth and friendly guy, just like Colbert.
So what?
They both say stupid, offensive things, labeling their corrosive vitriol as satire. They and the hardest core of their fans wrap themselves in condescending self-congratulation, and twiddle their fingers at those who "don't get it".
Rush and Colbert are not normal character actors, and they shouldn't be treated as such. These guys have chosen to inhabit their characters completely. Rush IS El-Rushbo. Colbert IS Colbert. It lends a great deal of verisimilitude to the portrayal, but the downside is that there is nothing else for them to be judged by. If either one of them suddenly decided to start portraying a different kind of character, then it would be possible to separate the "real" person from the person he pretends to be all the time.
Whether or not he is a reasonable person in his true heart of hearts, the only face he ever shows in public is that of the bombastic, self-aggrandizing jerk. That's what he needs to be judged by.
I'll grant that he's not remotely as stupid as the character he lives in. So, he's not an idiot... he just acts like one.
Respond to a veiled threat with an all-out nuclear assault. Escalate everything! Turn all dials right the hell up to 11!
Contact the union TODAY, get ready to file the grievance TODAY, do it all TODAY... and then actually file the grievance with the HR office at corporate headquarters on the day you leave (your original departure date). Better yet, phrase your grievance to say that this threat of negative action was WHY you felt you were forced to leave.
This is not only to make that particular manager suffer, perhaps ending his career at the company. This is to establish a track record, so that if they ever say anything about you that isn't absolutely glowing, you can sue, sue, sue, again and again and again.
Oh, and put the telephone number of the local Fox news station on your speed-dial list, just in case this calm, rational approach fails.
The telemetry from the satellite is reading zero across the board. That must mean there's no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere anymore. Now we don't have to worry about global warming - fantastic!
Good work, NASA. I knew we could get this climate change thing cleared up once we had better data.
I read the headline and I thought, "Well, shoot, so many people plagiarize their papers from Google searches that Google might as well own the diploma mill, too. So much for 'do no evil'."
Slashdot Mirror
That caught my eye as well - had to check the paper. A 10 mm coating would be... unimpressive.
Good summary, thanks.
Bah. I used pen and paper back before the invention of the laptop computer, and I was still a witless stenographer.
With bad handwriting.
I did this for an older relative, got her a Mac Mini. It was relatively cheap, as she could keep using her old monitor, keyboard, mouse and printer.
Yes, her incidence of problems has gone way, way down, and her experience of "things are fine" has gone way, way up.
But the best part?
When she does have a problem and calls me? I can say, "Sorry, I don't know anything about Macs. Can't help."
Priceless.
Playing through the whole game only took ten minutes.
Subjectively, anyway.
What gives you the right to say that? You're generalising my generation. ... That's not very fair of you.
Heh, I said the same thing when I was your age.
I did this on a temp basis last year - stepped out of a tech position and into an executive/management position for six months. It was more difficult than I expected. My tech skill level = expert. My management skill level = rookie. Unfortunately, I assumed I was an expert manager, so I dove in and acted like one. If I had understood the truth, I would have given myself more time to learn the ropes. My superiors took my swagger at face value, and expected me to be an expert manager from day 1, and solve extremely difficult personnel problems. I was out of my depth, and I did a poor job. MORAL: Management is a different skill set. Give yourself time to learn it. should I relinquish the struggle to keep up with progress and take the comfy 'old man' management route If you are expecting that management is all about playing solitaire and filling out the occasional budget report, I would suggest that you need to get a clearer understanding of what the job will entail. A manager who doesn't at least try to stay current with progress will be on a 6 year glide path to obsolescence. Once you have no idea what the tech people are talking about, and can't even understand their explanations, you will be a PHB who can't run the department efficiently. You'll be ripe for replacement by some bright 39 year old looking to move out of a tech job. You wouldn't take a tech job where you'd be forced to work with shitty equipment. In management, you'd be working with people, but the same rules apply. You should consider the people you'll be working with and for. Know their expectations. More importantly, you need to have a clear understanding of the people who will be working FOR YOU. In management, you should consider each person to be a different piece of kludgy, buggy, undocumented software. Each piece might work well under one set of circumstances, but make them interact and rely on each other under a different set of circumstances and there are no guarantees. Oh, and you don't have access to the source code for them either, so figuring out what makes them tick has to be done empirically, through observational reverse-engineering.
Apparently Bill Murray, who holds a one-fifth controlling interest
Look, Bill Murray has CLEARLY demonstrated that can maintain control after one fifth.
It takes at least three of them to make him drive his golf cart around city streets.
first time in 15 years
Seriously, this one guy named @CDCemergency seems to know what he's talking about.
This link & interview is the first indication I've ever seen about him where he's out of character. I can appreciate the facts of his homelife supporting a better picture of him as a person than his public face would suggest. If there is some disassociation between Colbert-the-comic and Colbert-the-character, it's present in the fact that he doesn't want his kids to see his work on the show.
Colbert stopped being funny to me after the first 3 minutes. It's like watching a clown who only knows one bit, repeated over and over. The joke doesn't become high art or meaningful social commentary just because you repeat it a hundred times.
Thanks for the link.
Keep reading the rest of this comment thread. In real life, I'm a very friendly and down-to-earth person.(1)
So that makes it OK for me to say whatever I want here.(2)
(1) Satire.
(2) More satire.
And I'm sure that Rush Limbaugh is a far nicer, more compassionate, more lovable person than the character he portrays on the radio, on TV, in interviews and in every other public speaking appearance. Off-mike, Rush is probably a very down-to-earth and friendly guy, just like Colbert.
So what?
They both say stupid, offensive things, labeling their corrosive vitriol as satire. They and the hardest core of their fans wrap themselves in condescending self-congratulation, and twiddle their fingers at those who "don't get it".
Rush and Colbert are not normal character actors, and they shouldn't be treated as such. These guys have chosen to inhabit their characters completely. Rush IS El-Rushbo. Colbert IS Colbert. It lends a great deal of verisimilitude to the portrayal, but the downside is that there is nothing else for them to be judged by. If either one of them suddenly decided to start portraying a different kind of character, then it would be possible to separate the "real" person from the person he pretends to be all the time.
Colbert's success is due to the overabundance of people who are easily amused.
and that is simply hilarious
Exhibit A.
Whether or not he is a reasonable person in his true heart of hearts, the only face he ever shows in public is that of the bombastic, self-aggrandizing jerk. That's what he needs to be judged by.
I'll grant that he's not remotely as stupid as the character he lives in. So, he's not an idiot... he just acts like one.
Colbert's a bombastic idiot and he's not funny
Fixed that for ya.
as soon as this broke wind in the newschannels
Yeah, it really raised a big stink.
The worse thing is that Amazon has done this twice before. So this is the turd time.
Has anyone gotten the real poop on this story?
Since they've fixed the glitch, this story is now out of gas.
And so on, and so forth....
Actually, you all look like you're pretty new here.
RT
went out in a huge blaze of glory with the whole world watching and wondering.
I did that once.
The ability to turn pages one-handed is touted as one of the big improvements of the Kindle 2.
Draw your own conclusions.
Respond to a veiled threat with an all-out nuclear assault. Escalate everything! Turn all dials right the hell up to 11!
Contact the union TODAY, get ready to file the grievance TODAY, do it all TODAY... and then actually file the grievance with the HR office at corporate headquarters on the day you leave (your original departure date). Better yet, phrase your grievance to say that this threat of negative action was WHY you felt you were forced to leave.
This is not only to make that particular manager suffer, perhaps ending his career at the company. This is to establish a track record, so that if they ever say anything about you that isn't absolutely glowing, you can sue, sue, sue, again and again and again.
Oh, and put the telephone number of the local Fox news station on your speed-dial list, just in case this calm, rational approach fails.
The telemetry from the satellite is reading zero across the board. That must mean there's no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere anymore. Now we don't have to worry about global warming - fantastic!
Good work, NASA. I knew we could get this climate change thing cleared up once we had better data.
I read the headline and I thought, "Well, shoot, so many people plagiarize their papers from Google searches that Google might as well own the diploma mill, too. So much for 'do no evil'."
Then the coffee kicked in.
Aren't we already in short supply of gallium?
I'm pretty sure there are massive quantities of gallium in France.