[TheForge] OT - Telcom stuff

[Bob Ehrenberger]

Original Message
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 09:14:28 -0700
From: Andy Vida <osan at netlabs.net>
Andy V Wrote:
And old PCM d00d, I see.  The days prior to terabit IP switches
were a lot more pleasant than what we see now, IMO.  Everything
has gone SO hard-edged in that world; it's all quite inhumane.

--- Reply
Not CPM, PDP/11 assembler.  We used RSK11-D for development, and our target
system had a home brew operating system.  Programmers now wouldn't beleave
what could be done in 40K of memory. They wouldn't pay for the extended
instruction set, so all higher math functions had to be done with shifts and
adds.
>
---Andy
This is what I have spent the past fifteen plus years telling
people.  If you have to work more than 40 hours on a regular
basis, the project is being mis-managed.  Naturally, the execs
don't want to hear this because they already know it, and know
that it is being done very much on purpose in order to squeeze
every last drop of life from the employee.  If they quit, who
cares?  There are 143 others just like him or her that will
happily take their place, and at a lower wage, to boot.  That
is the hard edge I refer to.  It's just plain mean and nasty
and it treats people like interchangeable pegs in a board,
and that is one reason why this nation is falling fast.

---Reply
One of our best guys used to tweek management by using terms like "work
unit" and "interchangable morons" for system passwords.

We could bet that when they changed our benifits it was to save the company
money not make things better for the employees.

---Andy
Software is just like all other IT/telecom related things: a
mere commodity.  Most coders are nothing more than semi-skilled
clerks anymore.  The automation of things such as memory
management and the advent of environments such as VB and Java
make it possible for a smart tenth grader to be able to knock
out very complex application code as good as, and often better
than that produced by "professionals".  It is really no longer
much of an art in most cases, and science in virtually no case
any longer.
---Reply
Unfortunatly there are a lot of guys out there that think they can program
just because they can put together a couple system calls and not crash the
program. They don't have a clue about design.  I found that even most
comming in with degrees didn't really contribute anything of value for 6mo
to a year. There are exceptions, but there is a reasion most adds call for 2
years experience.
Token Blacksmith content.  When Bob Patrick demoed at our conference a
couple years ago he made the comment that almost anyone can make something
nice out of steel if they spend enough time at it, a real blacksmith can do
it quickly and over and over.  I don't want to start a fight on definitions,
but there are a lot of levels of experiance, before someone calls themselves
a "professional" programmer/blacksmith they should pay their dues.

.
>
> Now I work a lot harder for a lot less money, and wouldn't go back if you
> put a gun to my head.  I miss the money and the paid vacation, but not all
> the BS.

---Andy
I envy this.  I will follow suit one day, but I screwed things up
so badly in financial terms, that I cannot afford to do it at this
time.  I think a little knee surgery would also go a long way toward
making it more enjoyable.  Very slightly damaged meniscus can be a
real trouble, I have found.

---reply
My boss was right about one thing, I did earn a lot of money as a software
engineer. I used it to get out of debt and buy the blacksmith equipment I
needed to get out and do something that I love to do. And I didn't have to
wait for retirement. When I would get my bennifit summary and it said I had
to stay there another 18 years to get full bennifits, I would say "I can't
last that long without killing someone, I have to get out." I very well may
have saved a life by quitting early.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.