Journal Xerithane's Journal: I can't work in these conditions! 7
You remember that old adage that gets told, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."? I think we need a bit of a revision for that statement.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, become recruiters.
I just got finished meeting with my agent at my contracting firm. Well, that was what I thought. She went on to Permanent Placement, and I was going to meet with her and her replacement. Except I met with her replacements replacement, and some woman from Cupertino, California.
I have an appointment at 3:30. In my world, an appointment at 3:30 means that I show up at 3:25 and you have me in an office no later than 3:32. Unless you have "M.D." after your name this is what I expect. If I pull in six figures of revenue for your company, I expect there to be coffee and pastries waiting for me. At 3:40, my brain was contemplating what the hell happened to this place.
At 3:43 my tetris game (Thank you modern cellphone) was interrupted by Steve. I would protect the innocent, if there were any. At which point, I get brought into a conference room where they talk about my previous job and where I want to go. My choices are this small ass town in Oregon or Vegas. Vegas, Baby. For less than what I make now. Coding PHP. No offense to the PHP coders around here, but I don't want to make a living pretending I can use references.
I thought their job was to give me jobs. I make them money, and I get some of that. That's the game, and they don't know how to play it. So, at about 3:51 I was on my way to the car shaking my head and chuckling at them. They'll still be in business, because the people they talk to don't have any idea they're stupid.
There are certain questions that can prove one to be completely out of their depth. While asking me about my work, I said I did quite a bit of Perl code for client/server communication and some web applications. He then asked, "Oh, so did you use Tomcat for your perl web applications?"
How the fuck is this monkey going to get me a job? "So, tell me again how it is you fed the bananas monkeys?"
"Sorry, Steve, I feed bananas to monkeys."
"Ooooohhhh."
Two things (Score:2)
Two, I would definately have a chat with Steve's boss. Point out everything you mentioned in your JE. Also mention that you are strongly considering contracting your services via another agency.
It is a very bad business practice to treat people who know their shit and can make you money like crap.
In defense of PHP (Score:2)
That is, unless they re-write it, over and over, every 2 years or so.
Blah.
(Disclaimer: PHP pays my rent. I don't hate it, I just wish it was better.
Re:In defense of PHP (Score:2)
I feel the same way about it. It's kind of ironic, because my template engine that I'm coding for magicbox is turning into php more and more...except in a weird control construct environment. More macros are being added, and more complex operations are possible. I can already embed perl, but it would be kinda funny to have a php->perl interpreter
Contracting in the US. (Score:1)
I have my CV (resume) logged with bazillions of agencies. The only thing the agencies have in common is that they recruit for IT industry and that they have my CV.
Essentially, every job that comes up on JobServe (I think you guys have the equivalent site called Dice), that meets my requirements gets my CV with a covering letter in their inbox. If they have a recent CV I will still s
Re:Contracting in the US. (Score:2)
It's a loyalty thing. I'm the local office golden boy. I make them a shitload of stable revenue, and they love me. Or at least, they did. Until the people I worked with left, and now I'm stick with Jack-off and Jill.
I do work with multiple agencies, but I am seeking a full time position on my own.
I just wanted to bitch because my agency that has supported me for over 2 years turned into a fucking chimp fest.
Re:Contracting in the US. (Score:1)
Re:Contracting in the US. (Score:2)
After returning from college full time for a semester I decide to work full time and transfer to a college in The Big City(tm) instead of Podunk Town(tm). I called up my most recent contract agency and their competition.
I have worked for both contract agencies at the same fortune 500 company (currently run by monkeys) over the past 5 years and both have been decent to me.
One recruiter at Adecco [adeccotechnical.com] (I'm not protecting any innocent people here) lo