Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Back to School

Well, I finally overcame the inertia and resumed my Graduate studies to get a Master's of Information Science (MIS). Yeah!! Go Penn State!!


Education is never a bad idea. Especially when the company you are working for is footing the bill for it! I'm planning to learn all I can about proper project management and then guess what time it is? That's right people, it's time to implement project New Job!!! Right now I'm learning everything I never wanted to know about Financial Accounting. The wife says it's good for me. I don't know. It's numbers, it's somewhat interesting, so I suppose it's fine. Maybe it'll help me to gain perspective on investing. Or maybe it'll make me just dangerous enough to make awful financial decisions.

With the way things are going right now, it seems a lot of the technology jobs are being exported overseas. That's bad news for people like me. I have a Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Microsoft Certification, MCSE, MCSA. I can administrate servers, I can build databases, move data from here or there and manipulate almost any piece of hardware to do what it was and was not designed to do. However, with all these skills, companies seem bent to not pay to have a talented U.S. based IT department anymore and are outsourcing and worse yet shipping jobs overseas. It's really sad too, because there are good people I see getting nixed out week to week. And let me tell you something about the outsourcing, it SUCKS!!! Not just the concept, my experience with the outsourced IT companies hasn't been great:

Example1:

JP: OK Mr. Customer I need a backup of your data to convert?
Customer IT: What Data?
JP: The data you contracted my company to convert for you?
Customer IT: We contracted which database?
JP: The database on your server. You're the admin right?
Customer IT: Yes I have full admin access to everything.
JP: OK, let me walk you through X, Y, and Z to get a backup.

(5 very painful hours later.........)

JP: OK, when I tell you to, depress the key
Customer IT: I'm not sure where that key is can you direct me?

Example2:

JP: OK, Tbormajinbo can you tell me where you sent the file?
Tbormajinbo: Meaning to FTP server
JP: OK so you sent the file to an FTP server?
Tbormajinbo: Pleasing to help, sent there file one zour zince
JP: OK so you sent it in about an hour ago
Tbormajinbo: Else anything do to wiss yu?
JP: Nope that should do it....

Now maybe it's just me, but can companies see a problem with these situations? If I were not the patient guy I was, example1 could easily piss me off greatly. And as for example2, what the F!!!! Speak coherent English damn it!!!! How the hell did you ever manage to fill out the job application? And whoever hired you, what the heck were they thinking, and I totally never want to meet them?!!? Do sign language, draw me a stick figure, throw me a bone people!!!!

The End ...... For now...

3 comments:

Character Builder said...

Maybe you can come and balance my checkbook, because I haven't done it in about a year.

I could use your IT help tonight, I've spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out why my printer won't print. Still unsolved at this point. Aaarrrgh!

Way to clean the carpets, by the way.

Anonymous said...

They won't outsource your fabulous new career in . . . Retail Management! It's only a matter of time before accounting and similar disciplines head overseas as well :( Find a job where getting your a$$ kicked by multiple "customers" is part of the daily routine and you'll be sure not to be outsourced.

JP said...

character builder Sadly I don't balance anything. Sharkey holds all the cards when it comes to our money. You should know that better than anyone what a control freak she is!!!

crowe Retail Management. On the surface that sounds like a great job....until that woman comes to the store with her 3 barrels full of pennies and asks to pay for her waterpik with it!!