From Software to Soup: On Trading Coding for Crepes 432
Legal Serf writes "Having lived through the best of eTimes and the worst (hopefully) of times, I bet everyone (still employed) has had daydreams of chucking it all and escaping the present malaise permeating most tech companies. The NY Times ('open' but not 'free' registration) has a piece about ex-dotcomers who've traded visions of iBuzzwords for soup, crepes and hotdogs. What?s most interesting is that everyone interviewed pretty much said the same thing: It's nice to provide something of real value to customers who are actually happy to trade money for goods, even if it's just dessert. Anyone out there feeling the same? (About the value of tech or the temptations of other trades?)
(I keep thinking about these tech friends I have that fantasize about opening a hip babershop...)"
I agree (Score:2, Interesting)
Last time I tried to take some of my holiday entitlement I had to cancel at the last minute because my boss changed his mind and refused to let me take it. A week later a memo went round 'Nobody is using their holiday entitlement - why not?'... If I'd had a gun at that moment...
The latest piece of crap was that unless everyone got eye tests at their own expense* they would have 1/3 of their wages docked for that month.
McDonalds here I come.
* They said they'd pay it back but that was two weeks ago and I'm still waiting... this company don't pay their bills, even to their employees.
How Sad (Score:2, Interesting)
I know it's happening more and more. Why did I go to college for 6 years? It doesn't seem to improve my job prospects over all those liberal arts majors I thought were slackers.. At least they were content to enter the economy and make crepes..
After reading the owner/builder article... (Score:3, Interesting)
Pass on Da Skillz (Score:2, Interesting)
I sometimes give non-gratis tech help to people I meet who are trying to get started on the web, or in computers, or starting an e-business. I get a warm fuzzy feeling, and still get to do the stuff I enjoy.
Aftermarket exhaust systems (Score:2, Interesting)
For the past few years, I have been seriously considered starting my own muffler manufacturing business. Provide an actual product, one that makes the world a better, quieter place, at a reasonable cost that actually performs as advertised.
Right now, it is just a dream. Still waiting for a certain set of noncompetes to expire...
WTF? (Score:1, Interesting)
This is an even better reason to kill people. If disgruntled employees who took too much crap killed their bosses more often...
Maybe bosses would think twice before being jerks?
Its like Columbine... people used to pick on us at school, but after Columbine... all the stupid jocks thought twice before messing with us. Muahahahaha. I learned a lesson there, I'll kill anyone that persecutes me in any shape/form/fashion. Be it a peer, a boss, a wife, a preacher, etc.
I just did it. (Score:4, Interesting)
My new job has taken me in a totally different direction from everything I've ever done. Instead of babysitting computers all day, I now help people do things that their mental and/or physical disabilities preclude them from doing. It's basic day-to-day things like laundry and lunch, but it's much more fulfilling on a personal level. I know that if it weren't for people like me, these people could not live on their own.
Now, I harbor no illusions about my geek-ness. I will most likely be back to a system/network admin job in a few years. It's just that right now, I want to stretch myself in other directions, and this provides a suitable challenge. Geeks are traditionally not so great when it comes to social skills, so this will continue to help me grow in that area. In effect, this job will help me do my old (and future) job better. (I think.)
I 'retired' to Bolivia (Score:2, Interesting)
So true! (Score:5, Interesting)
Bitter? Hell yes I'm bitter. I've wasted twenty years of my life, spending every spare moment teaching myself to be a better programmer, when the only skill that gets rewarded in this industry is that of piling a mixture of buzzwords and bullshit. Time and again, I've watched some of the most talented programmers around get fucked over, simply because some hotshot wannabee was a little better than they at self-promotion, and a little less scrupulous about being honest.
Just like the music and movie industries, the computer industry was started by people who sincerely loved their art, and like those industries, it's in the process of being slowly dehumanized and made into a commodity by bean counters in suits. There's no longer any place in the industry for people who do what they do for the joy of it.
I'm a bit luckier than most - having served in the military, I have some educational benefits that I can use to retrain. I have an "escape hatch" of sorts. And, I intend to use it - I'm sick of this whole sordid mess, and I'm getting out of it.
Most IT companies were straight up scams (Score:3, Interesting)
To this end, there were a lot of jobs created where people got paid a lot of money doing nothing. Sounds good? On paper. Until after a few years you're watching your life tick away, and you're accomplishing nothing besides making a lot of money. That would make me very depressed, and I think sooner or later you'd realize it somewhere in your soul. Once the jobs ended, working someplace where you got to produce something would be a real psychological uplift! Nevermind the freedom of leaving work at work, not constantly worrying about problems and deadlines.
This shakeout is good for the industry. People who are better off doing something besides IT will end up doing something else. It's happened before, and it'll happen again. If it's your calling, then you accept that. I've never had a problem finding a job for the market rate if I was willing to move around. Welcome to the sad employment future, sucks if you want a family.
IT was never about producing things, that's the point. IT is about helping people produce things and solve problems. Now that we're through with the madness, business as usual for 10 years or so.
I became more popular w/ my new business. (Score:1, Interesting)
Instead, I opened up a dive bar and I have lots of fun. I get to hire good looking women to bartend for me and I date more now (in fact, I date 4-5 times a week). Still, no one in my second life knows that I am geek by day. You get a different perspective behind the bar. I also have a friend who is a successful pediatrican with her assets and trust fund, she can buy a small island in the bahams but decided to be a bartender at a popular club (in a BIG metro city). She is 34 but dates guys in their early 20s and pretends she is clueless and airheaded.
Well, back to my story. The clientele think I am just another schmoe behind the bar and don't even know I own it and don't even know that my net worth is probably worth more than everyone there combined. It has been a humbling experience for me to meet real and down-and-out people (aka alcholics). They all think I am just some punk kid and I like to keep it that way. Its bad enough, I meet so many gold-diggers that want to date me when they find out that I have a nice car and own the place.
Anyways, if it fails, I'll just move to Costa Rica. I don't need to make lots of money, just enough to be happy. I already have a villa that I am buying there so I am working on my escape plan very soon ( say 4-5 years) when I get too old to do the IT thing.
One thing for sure, I sure like the new lifestyle.
Tried it and it sucked - a confessional (Score:3, Interesting)
Why'd I quit? The list is endless. After the first week I remembered that people are grumpy, disgusting, and for the most part are stupid and suck. Wearing a colorful uniform with your name badge on it sucks. Cleaning after people sucks, especially when you calculate that on the average full day of LABOR you made as much money as you did when you were a techie looking at slashdot for 1.5 hours a day while eating Wendy's at the expense of your boss. While I did feel more human sweating as I swept floors, and appreciated catching the occasional gaze of a beautiful girl pounding away at chicken fingers, I'd long for my cozy conditioned office. The number 1 reason I quit, however, was the fact that YOUR MIND IS NOT REQUIRED TO DO THESE JOBS. Techies and creative people have busy brains. We just can't sweep the floor - we have to come up with ways to make it more efficient or more fun. I just couldn't turn my brain off and do grunt work.
Food Service (Score:2, Interesting)
Although food service can be rewarding it can also be very grueling. My grandfather ran restaurants and I worked in one of them for many years when I was growing up. The work is hard, the pay is low, and you're frequently surrounded by idiots. :-) I am much, much happier as an "office girl." I don't get burned, or end up smelling like grease, or get yelled at by tourists when I'm sitting behind a computer!
-- Jessica
Actually.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Unfortunatly there was a wave of idiocy that swept through the tech industry where people started using nasty words like professionalism which of course has no place in computers. It became a giant mess of beuracracy and fell apart shortly after as a result of stifled curiosity.
Presently the wife and I are thinking about purchasing a campground or some other buisness which might be a bit more fun to do for the rest of our lives. Maybe we'll buy a buy a bowling alley. Were not real sure. Time to wander and find out.
House goes on the market in 3 days. The RV is loaded. should be intresting.
Re:There ARE meaningful IT jobs (Score:5, Interesting)
I love computers. I am 16. By all accounts, I should be some dork cracking away at IIS boxen in between my job at Subway and my evil evil filesharing.
But I'm not.
Instead, I actively seek out oppurtunities to use my skills- even for *gasp* free! And honestly, not only has some of my non-paying work been my most rewarding, but it has also lead to experience and oppurtunities to make lots of money in a short amount of time-- what many in the industry seek out, and miss, because they have the wrong approach.
For example, I work for my school's computer lab during the summer. Not a whole lot of money there-- I'm not sure, cause I haven't checked the math, but I'd bet I make maybe 2 or 3 dollars and hour for my work there. I don't do it because I want to make all kinds of money-- I do it because I want the experience, and I see hacking BSD in an air conditioned lab as a much riper experience than washing dishes for the local college. Anyway, our school was approached by a company selling a management product that would allow students to track grades and assignments using a webbased interface. As such, our school's BSD server needed to be configured with MySQL and PHP. So impressed was this company with my configuration that they recruited me to setup Linux solutions for their other clients-- at a far better wage. Soon, I will be coding small stuff for them. From there, I hope to progress with the company as they grow and mature.
Those who treat their IT job as an investment rather than an easy way to a good salary are the ones who will find what the other is looking for.
~geogeek
.. the grass WAS greener. (Score:2, Interesting)
On the other hand, hobbies are a completely different story. I'm currently running a non-profit web server, writing collaboration/discussion/sharing software, and I'm getting into embedded r/c flight control software. Can't get the geek out of my system, and I don't particularly want to, either!
Regardless, after I quit my job at the dot.com, I pursued my other big interest: photography. I worked both as a photographer, and as a professional assistant. Being an assistant was great, because I was making money hanging out with models, and it's an intense way to meet people and learn about the business. When I did my own shoots, there was a very tangible result which was almost completely the product of my blood, sweat, and tears.
I speak in the past tense, because I've decided to go back to school, and I no longer have the space or time to do much photography on top of my school work and geek interests. Regardless, I expect I'll get back into it after I've completed my formal education.
So, sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence. There's only one way to find out, though.
Re:Grass is always greener.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Where the hell did they ask about stress levels? They certainly didn't ask in Los Angeles.
If you're fixing Joe Superstar's guitar and time is ticking away at the most expensive studio in town and you've got people from Big Ass Corporate Music Company calling you every five minutes asking "Is it fixed yet? Is it fixed yet?" then damn straight, you have stress.
One of my best family friends would be placed in this situation again and again. He eventually left the LA area, first for Tokyo to work for a guitar company, then finally for Portland, OR where as far as I know he's now working for a nondescript music store.
I'm sure music techs in New York City have horror stories like this too. That NPR story is full of crap.
On the stock market side (Score:4, Interesting)
When the price of gas or electricity or food goes up, people don't say "gee, look how great our economy is doing".
But they do just that when it come to stocks.
Of course, if you already own the stock or have stock options, you love it when people drive the price up irrationally.
Exactly (Score:2, Interesting)
And even with this background note that it's also possible to have a completely different after-work life, like having a girlfriend, going out, having non-tech hobbies and stuff. That's where I think the geek stereotype is overrated, because probably most of us have this sort of balance in one way or the other.