Below is a chat between me and a friend about various corporate and career topics. Things we like, dislike, get frustrated with, etc. I have removed my friends name and identifying characterstics on his behalf.

Note: I am notified when anything on these pages are changed. If you feel that any of the below commentary is inappropriate, please email me and let me know why, before editing/deleting. I will consider what anyone has to say. A lot of my opinions have changed, or were fueled by happenings of the time, but I am stance believer in not filtering/blocking original content. Everything a person does and says, good or bad, is a part of them and shouldn’t be hidden.... /me steps off soapbox

(2:58:29 PM) Friend: dude i am so unproductive today
(2:58:37 PM) Friend: i’m like thinking about how much i suck as an employee
(2:58:43 PM) Friend: but i cant bring myself to do anything
(2:59:17 PM) Ska Dood 1: haha, dood, u are just proving mr diarhea mouths postulation that smart people have up days and down days
(2:59:36 PM) Friend: who said anything about me being smart?
(2:59:46 PM) Ska Dood 1: dood, your smart
(3:00:06 PM) Friend: yeah i know dude i was just kidding
(3:00:22 PM) Ska Dood 1: we are the top echelon of people on this earth.....only like 1 or 2 percent of ppl even goto college
(3:00:27 PM) Ska Dood 1: anyway....
(3:00:50 PM) Ska Dood 1: someone else commented on his blog that there has not been much research or study into this...and i think it is true....i have up and down days or weeks just like u are explaining
(3:00:59 PM) Ska Dood 1: maybe its us, maybe its the work we do...dunno
(3:01:04 PM) Ska Dood 1: but it has to be factored in
(3:01:13 PM) Friend: whose blog?
(3:01:18 PM) Ska Dood 1: steve dood
(3:01:23 PM) Ska Dood 1: i forget his name
(3:01:25 PM) Friend: steve? the google guy?
(3:01:28 PM) Ska Dood 1: yeah
(3:02:04 PM) Ska Dood 1: i have read a number of his blogs...very intriguing perspective and smartness on things.....but in that agile one, he touches on that agile doesnt take down days into account
(3:02:10 PM) Friend: its definately the work. so boring. holds my attention for about 2 seconds
(3:02:51 PM) Friend: you would think i should quit right...but there are alot of factors keeping me here

(3:03:30 PM) Ska Dood 1: ive been writing a list of ‘things i like about my job’ ‘things i dont like’....ill have to see which one gets longer :-p
(3:03:46 PM) Ska Dood 1: want to see?
(3:04:16 PM) Friend: sure....but you cant use tha tlist as a basis for staying or going. different things have different weight on overall happiness...so just because one list is longer doesnt mean you should stay or go
(3:04:40 PM) Friend: but yeah id like to see it
(3:05:29 PM) Friend: my reasons for staying are: no politics here, no assholes trying to be cut throat, no workplace personalities that suck (<my_ex_company> bred work place personalities that suck), no stress at all, no over time, nice location
(3:05:40 PM) Ska Dood 1: yeah yer def right....i was thinking of ordeering them from most important to least...and then i could put weights easily on em, good idea thanks

1. Get to come in when I want, not kept tabs on
2. Can get privacy when I want to excel in work
3. Two monitors / Good equipment; keeps me productive
4. Get to attend as many free or cheap conferences, groups, talks as I want
5. Get to choose my path of projects to a degree
6. Get to suggest ideas to higher management
7. Get a lot of vacation time and sick time
8. If I dont meet a deadline, its no big deal
   1. I would meet more deadlines if they did not have so much that they want the department and I to do
9. My own office with window
10. Management experience; of employees, projects, and systems
11. Get to interact, meet, and train new people often (but not too much)
12. Can do less work when im not in the mood to work
13. Women are very nice and motherly like
14. I get to attend classes; they work around my schedule

(3:06:49 PM) Friend: - Can do nothing when im not in the mood to work
(3:06:52 PM) Friend: that is quite funny
(3:07:21 PM) Ska Dood 1: haha but its true....lol on yers...i notice that a lot seem to be there just because of your expereinces at <friends_ex_company>
(3:07:24 PM) Friend: that goes for here too, problem is, it is kind of a diseasse
(3:07:38 PM) Friend: you know...the more realize you can do nothing, the less yo udo
(3:07:46 PM) Ska Dood 1: yeah tru
(3:08:01 PM) Friend: and yes you are right. my experinces at <my_ex_company> sucked
(3:08:17 PM) Friend: <my_ex_company> is very much responsible for why i’m happy here
(3:08:18 PM) Ska Dood 1: when i get downtime, i dont use it to catch up...when im busy and bogged down, i do more work.....man, i should make that as one of my goals to stop doing

note: updated 1/7/08

1. Provides stress (many bullets below add to total this one)
2. Job no longer exciting / new
3. Stressful, unhealthy physical pains ( may be mentally related though)
4. Peoplesoft - an ERP solution that will work, but one that I think is not optimal
5. Not many people know or gets technology
6. Some workers are not logical or thought intensive, some are also lazy and want stuff done for them
7. Not fully appreciated; salary is very low and not competitive; even with other state schools
8. I have to stretch the truth and lie to customers
   1. Give false deadlines
   2. Not speak what I believe in
   3. Read back over everything I write because it might be used against me(note: which i had to do on this )
9. Third party company provides horrendous, inconsistent support
10. Commonplace systems methodology is unknown, not used, and ignored
11. Documentation is non-existent; when it does exist, it stinks; its getting better though
12. Current (former now) boss sometimes ignores my requests, or is too busy to tend to them
13. Too much to do with not enough resources
14. Too many email communications required
    1. I come in to 20+ emails that all need specialized responses or complete functionality requests
15. all requests are implicitly expected to be responded done, not taking into account that I can only do so much
16. Management decides upon new things to implement too often
    1. they need to realize that growing functionality, needs drastically growing infrastructure
17. Employee switches and new employee training is no good
    1. there needs to be more overlap for all employees when possible; it should be part of the culture
18. No everyday outlets or comradery with other like minded people (no one in my age group or social background)
19. Little to no help or support on advanced projects and knowledge
    1. linux solutions
    2. 3rd party systems and administration

(3:09:57 PM) Friend: alot of those things though are true just about everywhere
(3:10:08 PM) Friend: its business
(3:10:59 PM) Friend: esp the part about people being lazy, and people not understanding technologies. the thing about that is, especially in your position, you need to realize they dont understand them, they are old, probly gen-X’ers
(3:11:21 PM) Ska Dood 1: probably because of that dates driven aspect that steve-dood also talks about....most business’s just want something out there, they dont care if it is gracefully running
(3:11:27 PM) Friend: that is why you are there so part of your job is to interface with them and deal with them as people in addition to helping them
(3:11:37 PM) Ska Dood 1: yeah, and in 30 yrs, we will be the same
(3:11:39 PM) Friend: yeah
(3:12:04 PM) Friend: i mean alot of IT guys are stigmatized as being assholes when it comes to helping ppl who dont know what they know, and i agree that IT guys like that suck
(3:12:27 PM) Friend: obviously you are helping them because you know what they dont, and its why you have a job, no need to get a big head about it or put them down
(3:12:31 PM) Friend: and im not talking to you personally
(3:12:35 PM) Friend: just in general

(3:13:00 PM) Friend: there are IT guys like that here
(3:13:15 PM) Friend: you know, just asking a simple question like asking for an OS installation disk and they are snide about it
(3:13:28 PM) Friend: its like come on dude, i went to school for the same shit you did, dont give me that attitude
(3:13:33 PM) Friend: i could put them in their place in a second
(3:13:53 PM) Ska Dood 1: yeah, i know what u mean....i have been told here that i am leaps and bounds above helping the department users here than the last guy
(3:14:25 PM) Friend: yeah thats good
(3:15:04 PM) Ska Dood 1: he spent more time locked in his office making productive apps, but then probly not sewing the best social stitches with the everyday department users..... now i have been nice to the everyday people here, but i didnt notice that i was not being nice to our central IT ppl....i am learning from my mistakes and calm myself when working with them now cause i know they are in the same boat as me
(3:15:26 PM) Friend: nope not at all. and thats why developers will always be developers
(3:15:45 PM) Friend: you know what i mean? certain personalities are just meant to work alone
(3:16:06 PM) Friend: and the biggest mistake employers make is not recognizing those personalities
(3:16:17 PM) Friend: i saw it happen numerous times at <my_ex_company>
(3:17:06 PM) Friend: i am referring to the guy who worked there before you
(3:17:06 PM) Ska Dood 1: whatd u see
(3:17:18 PM) Friend: who you said was locked up alone and never helping ppl
(3:17:45 PM) Ska Dood 1: i think i was exagerating when i say he was locked up...i dont really know how he was because I wasnt there....but i think that he was more so locked up than I am
(3:17:51 PM) Ska Dood 1: whatd u see at <friends_ex_company> over and over tho
(3:18:11 PM) Friend: well at <my_ex_company> they hired a few guys on their resume skills alone, but at <my_ex_company>, everyone needs to interface with the client to some degree, or know how to handle people. some jobs dont require people skills at all
(3:18:18 PM) Friend: so the guys they hired didnt work out
(3:18:21 PM) Friend: and were fired pretty quickly
(3:18:29 PM) Ska Dood 1: huh

(3:31:40 PM) Ska Dood 1: heh yeah. Man, u are way more PC <Politically Correct> than me....id a chewed him a new one by now.... It is a good skill that you have, and youve helped me control myself on it a few times. Thanks
(3:31:51 PM) Friend: no prob
(3:32:05 PM) Friend: i’m PC in situations where i could see it coming back to bite me in the ass
(3:32:15 PM) Friend: beleive me, i dont like to be that way and id rather not be
(3:32:36 PM) Ska Dood 1: and i run on emotions when something happens, it is a character hit of mine
(3:32:47 PM) Friend: yeah
(3:33:10 PM) Ska Dood 1: awight tho, workt ime
(3:33:21 PM) Friend: lol. ive pretty much given up on getting anything done today
(3:33:23 PM) Friend: its 330
(3:33:36 PM) Friend: about an hour and a half of solid time to get something accomplished but i wont
(3:34:39 PM) Ska Dood 1: hey, this was a good convo....do u mind if I take your name (and company) out and put it on my website? I might start a bloggy type thing. maybe. But if u dont want me to, its all good too.