Do we have any hope?

After reading your views?

Nope. Gonna leatn how to juggle.

It sounds like you would enjoy uninized IT work. No selling your ideas, thoughts or achievements just 8-4 5 days a week. Can't get fired because you are seniority protected and too much paper needs to be processed, formal shop steward complaints, witten earnings, reviews at the union hall etc. They'd just let you work unsold.

Then again you could do all that and earn more money in a labour field. I think people often expect too much from IT, just like everything else it had it's big day and now is commonplace, just like the staff who suuport it.

I've been selling my thoughts, ideas and actions most of my life, that agreeably hasn't changed in IT but it is everywhere else too, you must prove yourself to be accepted by those with the power to choose. I think that's also what separates the true IT staff from those that slip through certs in a hurried attempt to 'get in' on the boom.

Certainly we have hope! Corporate America certainly rules the road, but sure, we can collaborate and make a difference. Isn't this part of what this forum is about? I'm a one man show now that used to have 12 employees and was run out of business by Corporate America and the poor work ethics they put into those employees. American Employees expect too much from employers and the Government over taxes and makes running a viable business difficult. That's why only the big seem to survive. But I believe there is still hope. I'm certainly not giving up!

No,

since all people are different (with free mind, different opinions and all) people will never agree 100% with each other and some will always think they know better. And some people all followers and some are leaders and others don't care.

How can we ever agree on something ?

Nice theory, should work in practice, and we should try to get there but even if we seperate all markets to one specific vendor, that verndor will try to eventually outperform vendor 2, and there we go again.

Leopold

Yes, I believe we have hope; however, not for the same reason you believe.

I CHOOSE to be a part of the IT profession because I enjoy it. Personally, it is the most professionally fulfilling thing I have done. There is not one day that I regret not doing what I am doing. I do not use the yardstick of salary to measure my worth as an IT professional. There are many other professions whoes salaries easily top that of IT professionals but again, I CHOOSE not to be a part of those.

My hope comes that each day I wake up I will learn something new. That I will be a better when I lay down to sleep that night. It is through the fulfillment of this hope that makes me a better professional and a better person.

Through the downsizing of companies, I have seen many people exit from the IT industry and take jobs in sales, real-estate, etc... These people simply were chasing this fantasy of richness that would never come. I am resigned to the fact that I will not make a million dollars being in IT; however, I wake up every morning and start a new day with a smile on my face.

I think all of us know that the world is not perfect. There are many things that could be changed. All of us want to make more money doing what we are doing. Answer the following question though and this makes sense:

Why is it that I go to work?

Your answer to this question will lead you to the realization that it is not the work that makes you happy and fulfilled, it is you. You alone can decide if what you are doing fulfills you. If IT is not personally fulfilling, I am sorry. I could not be any prouder to be part of IT, and frankly I could care less what Microsoft, Novell, and CISCO have to say about it.

Matt

"He who knows he has enough is rich."
- Lao Tzu (6th century B.C.)

Yes, but like Matt said before me, not for the same reasons you may think.

We are all different and that itself is a wonderful thing! It can lead to innovations because of competition.

Also like Matt, I love what I do. I enjoy helping people work with technology.

Technology, when accessible, can open the world to those isolated by disablities such as blindness and deafness. An unfortunate fact is that the software and hardware for people with those disabilities is more expensive than they can afford--I think it's 70% of blind people are currently unemployed.

Well, first, you may have gotten more distance with this question posed in the Discussion forum. Just cut and paste it there for a bunch more ideas from some rather brilliant people.

My take...

You sell yourself to get a job. From then on, you work for the company, and you are not selling anything.

Selling indicates you're trying to get more value from something than you paid for it yourself. Working for your company isn't the place to try and take value - your job is to give value.

When you've been hired, you should be giving the company more value than you take away. The only time you sell yourself is when you're determining how much your time working for them is worth. After that transaction, you're working, not selling. [with respect to your employer]

This question seems to be based a thought that we are a super community among professionals. Are the doctors, mechanics, builders, electricians, radio operators out of jobs - NO.

Nobody asked these questions before the boom. Life was "stable", people got hired and fired, salaries were average, people looked for long-term investments and day traders were much less, etc etc. I mean, back then, life was "normal", no ups, no downs.

Frankly, the boom was good for very few, and a mirage for the rest of us. It lifted our spirits from the facts of reality, gave us hopes etc etc... in short drugged us. It created a false sense of IT demand. I have nothing great happen during the boom inside these large companies, other than day trading of course.

But now, it seems we are all crying that the "ice-cream has fallen to the floor". Where would we be if there had been no boom? We'd be doing client-server, DBMS etc., AND thinking thrice for buying expensive SUVs, LCD monitors, laptops. Now that we are "used to better times" we are all whining about it.

I was jobless for several months, and I know what it means to be jobless, each day is a nightmare. I trodded to job fairs and useless interviews. If you think that you are frustrated, think about the fresh grads... And please stop saying "Companies should do this and are not doing that..."

"Life finds a way" and it doesn't come on a silver platter, it never did. So, let us stop mourning and start rebuilding, if we really are who we say we are, we can make it bloom again. WE meaning not just the jobless, but WE as in ALL of us. WE make the companies, WE make the decisions, WE have made ourself jobless.

The key - if you are in a job help a friend get one, if you a decision maker help remove the fear of failure and so on - we did this before the boom. Hey, if nothing, do it for your kids - they be out of college soon!

Wishing for great future for our generations!!!
- Umesh

Hi Jose, my view is:
1) yes, let's collaborate. i think we are a little late joining the party though (tease)
why don't you make a blog and go for it?
2) it is precisely because of 'the Microsofts, the IBMs, the HPs, the Novells, the Red Hats and the CISCOs that i can be lazy, fulfilled happy independent consultant, up to my neck in their lovely crumbs. there are so many opportunities thanks to those big companies, is seems like trying to drink from firehose...
it is going to be ok. you have lots of passion, that's really all you need.

02/06/2004
It is great to see people loving their jobs, feeling passion on the chosen way. I feel the same way and technology and science are, for right or wrong, my way of life.

Some of us work for someone else?s as captives employees, the rest of us sell our products and services to final customers and/or other providers. Life seems plain an easy, we train ourselves, we buy tools, we pay taxes, we spend time with our families. But all of us, from time to time, have some crazy ideas that are out of our reach because of our size or resources. In that moment we see that life is not so easy, training have not been enough, tools are not always at hand because of budget, and the time spent with the family could, and should, be increased (not to mention profits).

Have you had a chance to propose a solution that could be ideal for a big customer if you should have more resources? Have you been in the position of a large prospect client going with a lower quality and bigger price deployment just because the other provider is nation wide and can support it locally? Do you know of any medium or large company that could benefit for a re-engineering strategy that you could help to engineer?

What about if you were not only you? What about if you could be a nation wide or world wide organization capable of selling professional services in the IT sector for any kind of organization without loosing control, or having to pay fees or royalties?

I?ve seen powerful big blue?s distributors to get down theirs clouds to negotiate with tiny contractors because of client preference or specific competence.

Jose.-

02/06/2004
Does YOUR client need a solution for the couple dozen offices he is planning to open across the country? Congratulations, but remember he DOESN?T need a Microsoft solution. He does NOT need a Novell or an AS/400 solution either. He needs YOUR solution. You could choose Linux or Microsoft, Novell or OS/400, or whatever you think is appropriate with the ?client needs AND your business strategy?.
It means YOU have to see YOU as the SOLUTION, and the platform/technology/product as the tool, and not the opposite. If you do so, if you start by respecting yourself then you could ask them to respect you. And this point of view is in some way different to the idea of being a ?respected slave? which conforms itself with being listed as ?partner? in IBM?s website!

If Bill Gates had accepted IBM?s control of the 32-bit OS platform we could be using some version of OS/2 instead of Win XP by now. And, besides some technology points of view, I?m sure his position let him and his company to be what they are right now!

WE should let IBM, Microsoft, HP, CISCO and others to integrate their products in OUR solutions to OUR clients. Not the opposite.

And the war won?t be against IBM or Oracle. The war is against the big retailers; and we should have an advantage: Our size, speed and low operative costs!!!!!

How do you think our individual purchasing power will affect costs if we have 200 offices (even home offices) across the country? Do you think your training will be cheaper? I bet my head on that!

Many technicians, freelancers, consultants, etc., have founded in technology franchises a way to starting a business. Can we find a better way without having to pay someone else and be ourselves the ones in command?

What do you think?

Regards,

Jose.-

Hey Jose,

I think there is a difference in what you are trying to sell us. First of all, yes, there can be a collaberation of ideas. That is where TR and other places come in. IT personnel can share their ideas, thoughts, mistakes, and successes. Others can benefit from them by reading or interacting.

Next, I do think that IT people are sales people. They need to sell their ideas to their supervisor, CEO, client, or corporation. They need to sell their ideas, plans, solutions, and their selves. Personality plays a big part of one's work and will help or hinder what you attempt to do.

However, having said all of that, there are some things that I do not agree with you. I seem to hear you saying that we (IT) people should group together and work together. This smacks of 'collectivisim' (sp). The free world is based upon 'individuality'. If someone has an idea they are free to expand out and try it. Instead of being bound by the group mentality where it is difficult, if not impossible to get away and try something new on your own. In a group, one has a leader(s) who tell them what to do and when to do it. All of this stifles initiative.

Now, IT people are, by and large, individualistic. We like to think on their own. We solve problems, make things easier, try new ideas, expand on a new market. We may team up with others for a project, but in the end, we like being individuals.

In conclusion, it is possible for IT people to collaborate on ideas, but IT people will not easily be grouped. There are just too many facets of IT. There is DB, PC, Server, OS, repair, installation, Networking, Security, Web, programming... This is only the tip of the iceberg and each has different specialties. Will IT people be grouped together? Not likely.
As far as your first post, ideas and experiences can be shared and collaborated. But will the people be grouped together, I doubt it.

In your trying to sell us a group mentallity, it is off the mark.

Collectivism sounds to me like the ?IT Freelancers Socialist Republic?.

I?m not talking about that. I don?t even talk about ?Unions?. I?m not against them, but that?s not the idea in my mind right now.

All of us compete with each other. But we also compete with bigger fishes, long retail stores, big firms with several engineers and fancy letterhead, and, at least in my case, I?m just me!

Big companies perform alliances, countries do it also. Chambers of commerce exist in almost every city of the nation, and business associations are very common these days. This is not against individualism or freedom. It?s just COMMERCIAL STRATEGY to overcome common problems.

My thought, basically, is to find a way to allow several (20? 50? 100? 300? 800? ?) small freelancers (one-man IT bands) to share a common corporative identity to compete AGAINST the big fishes (and the other several thousands freelancers) in a better position.

Regards,

Jose.-

The next 25 years is a real long time time to tell! I expect some virus to have linked all PCs world over to behave like one server by then!
That aside as you rightly say consulting has its base on selling and anyone who cannot sell their case must depend on someone else.
For those who can sell, their future shapes a lot to what they want it to. For those who depend on someone, it is probably their thinking that decides what the future is.
Have I made that cryptic enough?
The IT heads right now are getting into the one-upmanship game (oracle & ps kinda) and its getting into the survival of the fittest at that level. This will surely impact the levels below and again it will be the same rule. Survival of the fittest.

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