You're right, it can be tiring over the long run, and I think that many of us experience that burn out. But I find that I have a healthy amount of enthusiasm for my work when I'm allowed a certain amount of freedom to pursue good solutions on my own & implement them, or work on a team & pull off a project that is technically elegant or especially efficient.

The one feeds the other I think, you build up that confidence from management, and they continue to give you those degrees of freedom that keep you motivated. Then again, all it takes is one overbearing PHB to derail that :( You learn to watch out for those types though, as you see different environments over the years.

The best thing is that if it is going right, no matter how challenging the work is, it feeds into other parts of your life & has positive impacts there.

I'm with you, I liked being a contractor also. I felt like I owed a higher degree of professionalism & rapidity, though. Pull that off, and it'll make you shine, and they'll bend over backward to stay out of your way and let you get the work done.

Now, having moved to a full-time position, which I thought I would never do again, I keep the same attitude of 100% heads down, no slacking whatsoever, and man, do they ever show the appreciation for that. I work more than 40, never outwardly show any negative emotion regarding unpleasant maintenance windows or working conditions, and help out my peers.

So maybe how they treat IT folks also has something to do with the attitude you bring to the job. Act like a paid-by-the-hour, high-dollar pro, even if you're 'fulltime', and you'll be treated as such.

Okay, lots of fans for Finland here. Sure, they have some tech industry there. But they are still rural. Name three major metros in Finland, anyone ?? Helsinki, um, um....

Let's compare with Arkansas for instance, shall we ? Anyone want to debate that it is rural ? Anyone want to debate there is tech industry there ? Walmart, UoA RFID research center, Acxiom, Tyson Foods, Arkansas Best Freight -- all major tech consumers & employers.

Cell phone coverage everywhere ? Sure. Running water everywhere ? Probably.

Paper mills ? Yep, got them too. I don't know who designed them, but a paper mill is a big ugly smelly thing that unless otherwised purpposed, will remain a hulking ghost if decommissioned.

Finland is definitely remote relative to the core of Europe, is sparsely populated, and in fact refers to itself as a 'rural European nation' (google "rural finland").

So, I don't undertand what your argument is. Are you just punking on the fact that the guy was making a joke and I tried to turn it serious ? If that's it, then grow up and join the adult table.

If you believe that Finland is the premier urban oasis of Western Europe, maybe you ought to go there & look around for yourself. Then tell me what you think.

But then again, you have to admire how they structure their word usements.

Change is inevitable. I'm pretty surprised to see anyone here taking the luddite stance.

Think of it this way though. Finland is basically rural Europe. Investing in information industry in rural Europe, Google is leading the envelope is spurring information technology job growth in rural areas, where unemployment is highest (definitely true in the U.S. anyway).

Bringing IT workers in usually will raise the general technology if not education level in a given rural setting (see datacenters in South Carolina and Alabama for instance). That will tend to improve school systems and other services to a certain degree. Granted a datacenter isn't a massive employer, but it can start or contribute to a positive trend.

So, converting a mammoth eyesore that can't be profitable in hard industry space to a net job producer ? How can you argue against that ?

I, um, humbly beg your forgivenss, mr. anonymous coward. /. is what it is today because of you guys.

I guess I'll let you have the last word on this. Or maybe . . .

LW !!!