SCORE!

Post #47,889 by inthane-chan 8/2/02 6:24:16 PM Reply	SCORE! Got a (REAL) job! $35k a year. Plus FULL benefits. Plus bonuses (historically $1500-$2000) every financial quarter, tied to company performance. According to the guy I interviewed with, the bonuses have not been affected by the economic downturn. Plus some kind of matching 401-k. Oh, and free bus passes. Company name: Quorum. Provides ethical audits of pharmeceutical company drug test plans. Really niche-market stuff. The branch I'll be working at is 70 people, I'll be working with two other support techs. I belive they're mainly a Win2k branch. This is a systems support job, and I'll be a Jack-Of-All-Trades. Who knows, maybe I can even sneak a Linux box or two in... There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #47,891 by Steve Lowe 8/2/02 6:50:06 PM Reply	YAY!! Congrats Thane! Will tip one back for you tonight while I'm grilling burgers for the fam :) Good job! ----- Steve
Post #47,892 by inthane-chan 8/2/02 6:54:52 PM 8/2/02 7:53:49 PM Reply	Almost forgot... iwethey.employed++; There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Edited by inthane-chan Aug. 2, 2002, 07:53:49 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #47,893 by Another Scott 8/2/02 6:57:08 PM Reply	Nice way to end the week, eh? Congrats!
Post #47,899 by ben_tilly 8/2/02 7:27:30 PM Reply	Congrats! Dang. I guess I will have to go elsewhere for a police officer who will let me off easily... :-) Cheers, Ben "Perl is like vice grips. You can do anything with it, and it's the wrong tool for every job." --Unknown
Post #47,902 by Ashton 8/2/02 7:33:55 PM Reply	Congrats! ..but go easy on the Robin Williams imitations around guys in expensive suits - OK?
Post #47,906 by inthane-chan 8/2/02 7:54:06 PM Reply	Heh. When I went to the interview, I noticed that people were dressed EXTREMELY casually. I even noticed somebody in fluffy bunny slippers. Asked the guy if this was casual day, and he said, "No, this is how we dress every day, except for when the auditors come by." I'd hate to see this place on casual day. (Not.) Current job wants two weeks notice. This job wants me in one week. <voice tone="sarcastic">Gee, I really feel a lot of loyalty towards SBS - better hold out for two weeks.</voice> There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #47,907 by folkert 8/2/02 8:03:07 PM Reply	Okay... Give 2 and call in sick the last week... ;) `greg, curley95@attbi.com -- REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!`
Post #48,092 by static 8/5/02 12:06:12 AM Reply	I gotta get me some fluffy bunny slippers... :-) ... since I work in a casual-is-normal company. But congratulations anyway! Don't wear all your t-shirts out at once... Wade. "Ah. One of the difficult questions."
Post #48,586 by tablizer 8/7/02 5:13:43 PM Reply	Robin Williams? (* but go easy on the Robin Williams imitations around guys in expensive suits - OK? *) That is odd. My mother told me the same thing the other day. Is that another way to say "geek mode"? Oh, and ditto on the congrats ________________ oop.ismad.com
Post #47,927 by a6l6e6x 8/2/02 10:07:06 PM Reply	Superb! Way to go, Thane! Alex "Television: chewing gum for the eyes." -- Frank Lloyd Wright
Post #47,929 by orion 8/2/02 11:43:58 PM Reply	Good going pharmecuetical companies are making big money no matter what the economy because people still get sick and need medicine. You should have a job there for a long time. *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #47,939 by ben_tilly 8/3/02 8:34:09 AM Reply	No business makes money "no matter what" Because competition and expectations rush to fill the available opportunity, which eliminates the differential between that industry and others. Pharmaceutical companies in particular are highly dependent on the profit margins from their latest wonder-drug. If they don't have a deep research pipeline, they stand in serious danger of winding up in a credit crunch. Also if the healthcare system ever faced up to and dealt with its addiction to the latest and greatest drugs (particularly when there are workable generics), then that entire sector would face significant pressure on their business model. How am I aware of this? Because I actually worked in one for a bit (consultant to a cost-cutting unit). How about you? Cheers, Ben "Perl is like vice grips. You can do anything with it, and it's the wrong tool for every job." --Unknown
Post #47,930 by slugbug 8/2/02 11:57:30 PM Reply	Stylin' - way to go!
Post #47,946 by pwhysall 8/3/02 10:56:36 AM Reply	You know what this means... 1. You plunk down $20 for Quake 3 Arena 2. I frag your ass 3. Goto 2 Rock on. Peter [link\|http://www.debian.org\|Shill For Hire] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Blog]
Post #47,957 by inthane-chan 8/3/02 12:56:27 PM Reply	What this means... 1. I plunk down the $20 for Q3:A 2. You frag my ass 3. I get some 1337 m4d 5k1llz 4. I frag your ass 5. Goto 4. :) Actually, first I need to do something about this massive addiction I have to NeverWinter Nights. That game is Crack. There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #47,947 by gdaustin 8/3/02 11:05:15 AM Reply	Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the Music! The pharmacy/healthcare industry is a good place to be these days, methinks. That's where I be, but I'm on the claims processing end. Glen Austin
Post #47,981 by imric 8/3/02 6:23:11 PM Reply	cheer Imric's Tips for Living Paranoia Is a Survival Trait Pessimists are never disappointed - but sometimes, if they are very lucky, they can be pleasantly surprised... Even though everyone is out to get you, it doesn't matter unless you let them win.
Post #48,022 by Meerkat 8/4/02 8:13:04 AM Reply	Wheeee! That's tops. John. Busy lad.
Post #48,093 by SpiceWare 8/5/02 12:43:17 AM Reply	Congrats! Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Post #48,112 by drewk 8/5/02 8:14:13 AM Reply	They need anybody else? No, can't actually relo quite that far from all the grandparents. But asking that seems to have bedome a reflex. Congrats. === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #48,118 by inthane-chan 8/5/02 9:37:06 AM Reply	Sorry guys... ...but this is (currently) a single-person position. :) There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #48,124 by Yendor 8/5/02 9:49:46 AM Reply	Gratumalations! -YendorMike What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about? - Jimmy Buffett, June 20, 2002, Tinley Park
Post #48,158 by boxley 8/5/02 12:22:04 PM Reply	very congrats, a real job wih real people! ."Once, in the wilds of Afghanistan, I had to subsist on food and water for several weeks." W.C. Fields
Post #48,421 by Silverlock 8/6/02 3:06:39 PM Reply	Excellent news! Quick, go buy something you don't need. "...the problem with the French is that they don\ufffdt have a word for entrepreneur." George W. Bush
Post #48,465 by inthane-chan 8/6/02 7:09:31 PM Reply	Already looking. Wanted: P4 Laptop, NVidia GEForce 440 Go chipset, 512mb RAM, 30gb hard drive, 15" screen, Ethernet+wireless adapter, DVD player. $$$$$$$$$$ OTOH, it WILL keep me entertained on that 1.5 hour bus trip each way... There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #48,587 by tablizer 8/7/02 5:15:42 PM Reply	Congrats, now you can teach us how
Post #48,609 by inthane-chan 8/7/02 7:24:41 PM Reply	Arrogance. Chutzpah. A Big Brass Pair. The pre-interview: I called the recruiter, told him that I was PERFECT for the job - if he didn't interview me for the position, he'd be missing out on getting the contract. The interview: I was five minutes late (unintentionally - had the blue angels fly in front of the I-90 tunnel on my way in, and that ALWAYS backs up traffic.) and so I had nothing to lose. I balls out told the guy, "This is an easy job for me, I love doing this, I love working with people, the last support service job I had at the E.P.A., I can tell you of 5-6 people PER FLOOR who would name their firstborn son after me. (Okay, not that, but I did relate the story of going back to visit a 10-story officespace, thinking to visit 3-4 people, and ending up visiting 3-4 people per floor) Also, the story about making a stripe set on a Compaq Deskpro XL6150 out of some extra 540mb hard drives, an 8-device SCSI cable, and some extra power splitters, incidentally a) totally voiding the warranty on the Deskpro, but at the same time saving something on the order of 400+ man hours during a new system rollout. (backup to computer before stripe set = 1+ hour. Backup after stripe set 10 minutes.) Now I'm finding out that they never even heard from ANY of my references before they hired me. Migawd. Seriously, though, walk into the interview like Lester walked into his performance eval at his company in American Beauty. You are there for one reason - to convince the people that are hiring you You Are God, And God Will Not Be Pleased If You Do Not Hire Him. Or something like that. There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #48,623 by ben_tilly 8/7/02 10:14:43 PM Reply	But the catch is that... You have to live up to that reputation or else it will all backfire on you. /me remembers some specific stories. I don't think you will have a problem. Just make damned sure that you leave the door open while trying to sort out tech support issues in a woman's office. Else you might cause yourself marital problems in addition to the rumors! :-P Cheers, Ben "Perl is like vice grips. You can do anything with it, and it's the wrong tool for every job." --Unknown
Post #48,701 by inthane-chan 8/8/02 4:22:29 PM Reply	Been there, done that... ...and bought the t-shirt. Although, it didn't cause any marital problems, 'cause I wasn't married at the time. :) Remind me sometime to tell ya the one about the exchange student who ran up a $3k phone bill in a month, and then didn't understand why the long distance company cut off her account without warning... There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #48,746 by ben_tilly 8/8/02 10:30:43 PM Reply	I knew that... else why would I have picked the example? :-) Cheers, Ben Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. -- Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930-2002)
Post #48,815 by inthane-chan 8/9/02 11:25:41 AM Reply	D'oh! Man, I hate having a porous memory - I have a ton of "interesting times"-style stories - but I can't remember which ones I've already told. I'm the guy that "Stop me if you've heard this one before..." was written for. Monday, 9am, SHARP! (Gonna be there @ 8:45...) There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #48,705 by tablizer 8/8/02 4:29:31 PM Reply	fortune cookie:"Avoid jobs where you have to bend over alot" ________________ oop.ismad.com
Post #49,094 by inthane-chan 8/12/02 3:56:33 PM Reply	It's turd polishin' time! Just a quick update - started this mornin'... Place is pretty decent - ~80 computers. All are running some version of Windows, Exchange/Outlook for messaging. The IT Director just took a hit from MS's V.6 licensing agreement, and lo and behold... He wants to be WinFree in 2 years. Heh. All I gotta do is stick it out and get some m4d Linux sk11lz under my belt... There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Post #49,113 by a6l6e6x 8/12/02 7:45:36 PM Reply	And promise of a better world in the future! Alex "Television: chewing gum for the eyes." -- Frank Lloyd Wright
Post #49,120 by ben_tilly 8/12/02 8:13:26 PM Reply	Advice Do this one piecemeal. Start with specialized functions (eg move the fileserver over) and applications (eg let someone give openoffice a trial, swap out IE for mozilla, etc). Do not, and I repeat, do not try to migrate desktops until you have as much else cut over as possible. When you try to switch users, you want to be familiar with the OS (from setting up servers) and you want users to be comfortable with the applications (from using them on Windows). Good luck, Ben Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. -- Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930-2002)
Post #49,132 by folkert 8/12/02 9:29:27 PM Reply	Ask.... If you ask you might get alot of help from here... Personally I can help you... as long as you help yourself... I give people all the pieces they need to overcome problems... just they have to "FIX" the problem themselves... There are alot of good things that way... Windows Free is not as hard as people think... `greg - Grand-Master Artist in IT, curley95@attbi.com -- [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!]`
Post #49,138 by boxley 8/12/02 10:01:36 PM Reply	you know where to get the answers right? ."Once, in the wilds of Afghanistan, I had to subsist on food and water for several weeks." W.C. Fields
Post #49,149 by inthane-chan 8/13/02 12:12:42 AM Reply	Nope, haven't got a clue. ;-) There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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