Comment Re:How it was at Amex (and a call to unionize!) (Score 1) 911
I do not at all think I have "made [your] point". It is a little bit unreasonable to say that the airline industry's woes (and therefore the massive layoffs) are due to the high wages of airline mechanics. I imagine that the number of mechanics required has something to do with the number of airplanes in service and the number of flights flown. Whether or not there are unions doesn't really change that. Were it not for the unions, given the intense pressure that airline executives are certainly feeling, I am certain they would be pressuring mechanics to work all kinds of unreasonable hours.
It seems to me that programmers do, to a certain extent, compete with each other. Those who are willing to work fifteen hours a day have outbid those who will only work eight. Quality and productivity of work is very, very difficult to measure in both professions, especially for workers who are generally competent. However, hours worked (or not worked) is readily apparent.
I can only imagine what a VP at Amex would have said if I had declared, "I will only work eight hours a day, but those will be very productive hours and the quality will be very high." When crunch time came, they would have said, "put in the hours or quit." The programmers who were willing to stay late would retain their jobs.
It seems to me that programmers do, to a certain extent, compete with each other. Those who are willing to work fifteen hours a day have outbid those who will only work eight. Quality and productivity of work is very, very difficult to measure in both professions, especially for workers who are generally competent. However, hours worked (or not worked) is readily apparent.
I can only imagine what a VP at Amex would have said if I had declared, "I will only work eight hours a day, but those will be very productive hours and the quality will be very high." When crunch time came, they would have said, "put in the hours or quit." The programmers who were willing to stay late would retain their jobs.
