Scott:
- What attracts me to a job.
1. Am I learning/using transferrable job skills?
2. How is the boss/co-workers. Unfortunately, you only get to meet the boss and one or two folks on the team during interviews.
3. Atmosphere - is the place a sweatshop.
4. Training - does company pay for training.
5. Flexibility - can I choose assignments/hours I work/when I work/how I work. Will boss stay away from me.
6. Location - I prefer the country - preferrably the West (CO/MT/WY)
7. Money - surprisingly not all that important as you would think.
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Red Flags:
1. An interviewer who is too busy to talk to me for all of 20 minutes without an interruption.
2. A manager who looks too worn out for the interview. (like he's been up for 2 or 3 day)
3. An inteviewer who does not pay attention to what I have to say.
4. An interview who forgets business
cards. I see this is a major sign as to whether the company is really hiring or not.
5. If I go to work and start getting yelled at for little things - like going too many times to the restroom or for parking my car too close to the front door - even though it's in a regular parking space.
Or getting yelled a for parking in one of the 30 empty "Visitor Only" parking spaces when doing emergency production support at 2AM.
6. I make it a point to talk to the secretary/receptionist. I use their attitude to judge how well the company treats their employees. Just one of many factors I take into consideration.
7. I use the on-site interview to interview the company as much as the company interviews me. Granted, I don't get to ask a lot of questions - but I try to get a good picture by seeing how people act during my visit.
8. Just plain rude management.
This is why I lean/preach so heavily on transferrable job skills and the College Education. If I get ticked off - I just go somewhere else.
Remember: Company's today have absolutely NO LOYALTY whatsoever toward their employees. And my friends, that non-loyalty attitude goes both ways. Layoffs can happen at any time - at any point in your career with the company.
If I get treated right - then I stay. If not, then I am out the door. And I really don't have time nor do I really care about playing any of these political b.s. games that you see so often in the office environment.
Bottom line is that I did not spend 8 yrs in college to be unhappy with my employment situation.
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I found my current position on
www.brassring.com Position advertised 5 yrs experience (I have only 1). They wanted a zillion certifications (I had none at the time). But they were doing
J2EE work and it was Hewlett-Packard (I saw that as a big plus), and they wanted 100% travel.
I figured I would fire them a resume in the off-chance that they would need a junior level person who would be willing to do a lot of travel & teaching. Turns out that they did.
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What I don't care about:
- Dress code.
- Benefit package - as long as the basics are covered. Most of the Fortune 500 boys have the same general package.
- Vacation time. Again, most of the big outfits offer a flat 3 weeks plus X-Mas week off. Or something close to that.
- Company Perks - like baseball tickets, or retreats. I prefer to go where I want to go and do what I want to do.
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My current situation. I work for Hewlett-Packard in Philadelphia, PA - yet live in Colorado. My job is to function as a J2EE developer/instructor. Currently working with JSP/XML/XSL technologies to develop a website connected to an Oracle database. This, in addition to, either attending or teaching HP "Total-E-Server" classes.
My job involves about 80% transferrable job skills (teaching/consulting/J2EE/OracleDB). The other 20% deals with HP specific server software.
My boss literally stays away from me. Going to see him is a little like going to confession. He basically asks me what I did wrong that month and asks me what I want to do right for the next month. And we play a little give and take as far as my next assignment(s). BTW/ I only visit with the big boss once a month.
We work about 40-45 hours per week in the office. But we also spend about 10-20 hours a week flying between various customer sites or home back in Denver, CO. I also study 4 or 5 additional hours per night.
Regarding compensation - HP takes care of their employees. We have a manager's night out once a week. The whole outfit is having a "pig roast" tomorrow at a manager's house.
Basically, we subscribe to the "work hard - play hard" mentality. If my boss wants me to learn a technology, I am on my own to get it done. If I need a class - I go take it. If I need books - I go get them. Whatever it takes. And it's this freedom - away from management - that makes this such a great job.
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The downsides:
- Too much to learn, and too little time to do it.
- Corporate bureaucracy and paperwork. It takes 5 phone calls to get anything done. It seems to be a common trait among big companies that should be addressed by senior management.
- Too many different projects going on at one time. Worst part, each project uses a different technology. Seems like we get pulled in opposite directions sometimes.
- Our course materials always need updated due to changed in the underlying technology. This means more pressure on the instructures to "keep up with latest technology." Right now we are looking at "XP" and ".net"
- I have a tendency to fall asleep in class - due to jet lag (I guess). And I have caught "heck" for that a few times.
- Not much "flex-time". We teach/attend classes - so we are on-site from 8:00AM to 5:00PM. Would love to come in at 6AM and be out at 2PM.
[This message has been edited by John Coxey (edited August 24, 2001).]