Journal Lurgen's Journal: Unions? Regulation? Qualifications? Bah! 1
On Slashdot recently, there was a discussion about Fortune's list of the "Top 100 Companies to Work For". Yay. As you'd expect, some of the big-name computer companies made the list - SGI, Microsoft, Intel...
The discussion thread was interesting though - lots of good points about the small sample set that the top 100 came from (less than 300). Criticism of the process used to choose that sample set. And the inevitable smart-arse comments about Microsoft being in the list.
Two things really pissed me off reading that thread. First up, I'd love to see a day go by when less than 50% of Slashdot posters didn't bad-mouth Microsoft. Sure, they suck - but get over it people! We've known they suck for how many years? And despite sucking so hard, they still manage to produce software that we all use (admit it - you don't honestly run Linux on EVERY machine you touch, do you?!?). I won't rant and rave for more than one more paragraph about Microsoft, I promise....
I've come into contact with more than my fair share of Microsft employees. From their reports (who I place far more trust in than random anonymous postings on Slashdot) it's pretty obvious they like their jobs. Yes, they get worked hard. Yes, there is a fair amount of pressure on them. But they work in IT - not sure if you noticed, but IT isn't the wonderland you were promised. These guys get a better deal than most of us - on top of the perks mentioned in the article, they also have job security (remember job security? Waking up each morning without wondering if the axe was about to fall?)
OK, I said there were two things, didn't I.... Unionism.
A surprisingly large number of geeks out there seem to be in favour of unions! Yeah, I was surprised. Shocked even. Have these people ever read a newspaper? Worked in a real (non-IT) job? Seen the nightmare than being forced to go on strike just because the union told you to causes?
There's a lot wrong with our profession right now, I don't disagree that we need to fix things. But unions won't help us.
One thing that was missing was a sensible analysis of the root cause of IT's problems. A few rabid
Why? Because there's no control over who gets in, and who doesn't. You don't need a degree to work in IT. Most of our professional acceditation programs are a farce (Can you spell MCSE? Welcome to the family!). So we end up with a workforce consisting mostly of wannabes and try-hards, lured by the promise of a big salary.
And yes, IT professionals are paid well. Why? Because what we do is a specialist career - the good techs have to commit to a life where they never stop learning. Unlike every other career path that I know of, techs don't get a chance to just coast - computers change every day. The hours suck. If you're in support (like me), you work a normal 8-5 type of day. Plus you're on call. Plus projects get carried out after hours (when they are less likely to inconvenience the users). Not to mention the time spent studying, tinkering, learning - not many employers will give you a chance to learn on their time.
So how does a union help us? Well, let's talk for a moment about the core function of a union - the bottom line is they give everybody an equal voice. A voice that is supposedly louder and stronger than a single person. Every member is equal (to some extent).
Yeah, great. So techs like me, who work their arse off, get lumped in with the no-brainers who are just here for the cash. No thanks.
You know what I think? I think that if we took all the no-hopers out of our corner of the job market, and just kept those who actually knew what they were doing, the IT industry would surge ahead. The better techs would have to work a bit harder, but they'd be guaranteed of having a job tomorrow. We'd be back to the good old days, when knowing lots about your field meant you could negotiate with your employer. When you could resign from a crappy job, and get a good one. When employers were afraid to mis-treat/abuse/pressure their workers (unlike today, grumble grumble).
Does a union achieve any of this? If you ask me (and even if you don't), unions just compound this.
Electricians are mostly the same (ducks under an incoming soldering iron). They all do similar jobs, and all have similar skills. I've yet to meet a "guru" sparky. So a union helps them by giving them all a single voice. Electricians are a bad example of why unions are good for IT geeks. Doctors are a far better example. You have general practitioners (techs who do the day-to-day stuff). You have your specialists (our gurus). There are doctors who know next to nothing about general medicine, but can cut apart your brain on-demand, and doctors who pave the way for other doctors (researchers, programmers).
Of course, there is no "medical practitioners union". Nope. They protect themselves by making it bloody difficult to become one. You really, truly, have to know what you're doing to become a doctor. Medical Association endorsement is required before you can practice medicine - without their go-ahead, you're out of luck. How does this help them? Well, ideally it makes it impossible for the unqualified morons who just want to earn lots of money to get a job as a doc.
As a result, medicine is a field where job security is just about guaranteed. If you are particularly good at what you do, you get a better deal. But you're safe, either way.
If enough "good" techs were to get together and develop a professional accreditation that was not vendor specific, we could force the grunts out. But we won't - because we have enough trouble deciding if we're grunts ourselves, let alone working out who else we can trust.
You know what I think? (Score:1)
It just happened. It was called the dot-com bubble bust. The industry isn't surging yet because every big shot is looking at every other big shot wondering who's gonna be first one out of the fallout shelter.