IT Rust Belt - by Bob Lewis

Post #47,550 by tablizer 7/30/02 11:58:59 PM Reply	IT Rust Belt - by Bob Lewis [link\|http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/07/15/020715opsurvival.xml\| [link\|http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/07/15/020715opsurvival.xml\|http://www.infoworl...survival.xml]] ________________ oop.ismad.com
Post #47,725 by broomberg 8/1/02 9:46:38 AM Reply	Key point > Unless you're in the top rank, there's little > future for you in IT. I agree. IT is TOO crucial to a company to trust to less than "top rank" So whatever is left should be given to the lowest bidder capable of doing the job. Because that is what your competition will be doing. And then the rest of the population gets to spend less on the widgets that the industry produces.
Post #47,758 by rsteiner 8/1/02 4:28:52 PM Reply	Writing code is FUN for me... ...and I frankly don't care how much I'm paid as long as the amount I get pays the bills that I have. It's never been about the money for me -- why else do you think I worked for large corporations instead of startups? :-) In five years I'll be back with the airline, probably. That industry is too much fun to leave forever. It's getting from here to there that's the challenge... -Rich Steiner (OS/2 and Linux user in Eden Prairie, MN) The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
Post #47,784 by inthane-chan 8/1/02 7:29:20 PM Reply	Ditto here. However, I'm finding that "other goals" (house, kids, retirement) aren't going to match up with what I can expect to be paid for about the next 10-15 years. No, I'm not talking about expecting $60k right out of college - I can't even find a $30k job, which is rabbit hutch material around here. Plan accordingly. There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #47,951 by gdaustin 8/3/02 12:01:42 PM Reply	I love coding, BUT... I think my long term career goal of becoming a DBA on multiple platforms will probably serve my family better, anyway. Coding has changed in the last 3-4 years from being an enjoyable longer-term thing, permanent thing to being a "how fast can you get it out the door"? Earlier in my career, projects took 1-2 years, delays were not the end of the world, and we got it done "right" in due time. Now, if you don't have a major deliverable every 3 months, then you're toast. It's even worse at my company because the owner of the company believes you can have it written in a day or two. (But, I'm not complaining, because it IS a paycheck.) It's no longer fun for me to be in a race to get things done. I would rather take my time and do a good job. The code I'm rewriting now was thrown together in a day, then literally thousands of man hours have been expended trying to "patch" it to keep it running. I don't believe in MilSpec, either, but I do believe in at least some software design. My boss wanted me to patch this crappy code, AGAIN, on Friday and have it done by noon. When I was done patching at 2:30 pm, it was too late to put it in for the day and he was disappointed. (What kind of crap is that?) Now the manager of customer support is on vacation, I'm not allowed to patch anything, and I've decided to take the week and just rewrite the whole damn thing. It's only 1000 lines of code anyway, and about 600 lines are just crap. It will be 1000 lines when I finish, but 600 of those lines will be comments (and 400 lines of really good code). Glen Austin Who is deciding that it's better to DBA than to code.
Post #48,591 by tablizer 8/7/02 5:30:45 PM Reply	No slider widget for $ (* ...and I frankly don't care how much I'm paid as long as the amount I get pays the bills that I have. It's never been about the money for me *) I wish it was possible to negotiate that way. If you lowball, then they are usually suspicious. BTW, I am seriously thinking about standing out on the street corner with a sign that says "will program for min. wage!". If I don't get some revenue stream soon, my wife will increase the pressure to either take on more house work (which I dread), or bag grocories (which bores the sh8t out of me). ________________ oop.ismad.com
Post #48,594 by rsteiner 8/7/02 5:57:33 PM Reply	Re: No slider widget for $ > I wish it was possible to negotiate that way. If you lowball, then they are > usually suspicious. Heh. Well, I didn't mean money wasn't a priority at all. :-) It's just not the reason I chose to get into programming in the first place, and a higher salary is something that I'm willing to forego in place of other things (flexible hours, enjoyable/interesting subject matter, the freedom to work on self-directed projects, coworkers I enjoy collaborating with, etc.). I had almost everything at NWA (including decent pay and flight bennies that I didn't use), which is one reason why I want to go back. Eventually. > BTW, I am seriously thinking about standing out on the street corner with a > sign that says "will program for min. wage!". If I don't get some revenue > stream soon, my wife will increase the pressure to either take on more house > work (which I dread), or bag grocories (which bores the sh8t out of me). I already vacuum and do the bathrooms and litterboxes, but I did that before I was axed. I don't mind it as much as she does. :-) -- [link\|http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner\|-Rich Steiner] (OS/2 and Linux user in Eden Prairie, MN) The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
Post #48,599 by ben_tilly 8/7/02 6:25:30 PM Reply	It isn't whether you mind it more... It is whether you mind it more than you mind her minding it. :-) /duck Ben "Perl is like vice grips. You can do anything with it, and it's the wrong tool for every job." --Unknown
Post #48,715 by rsteiner 8/8/02 5:50:18 PM Reply	Heh... Yes, you're right. :-) -- [link\|http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner\|-Rich Steiner] (OS/2 and Linux user in Eden Prairie, MN) The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.

Welcome to IWETHEY!