Searching...

[Carl Sappenfield]

Frankly, I appreciate the army of knuckleheads surrounding me at the company
where I work.  I appreciate the nitwit accountants and marketeers who don't
care if the information services I provide are faster, or more reliable, or
more accurate than what they have now, because they're why we have an IT
industry.
Engineers could never have created the industry we have now, and it isn't a
matter of communication skill.  I don't think I've ever met an engineer who
could see any reason whatsover why every dimwit who never even took a high
school trig class would need more general purpose computing power sitting on
his desktop (and at home, too!) than the entire Apollo space program had
available.
I, and everyone I work with, has a job because some VPs somewhere spend
millions on snazzy looking programs that don't do what my company wants them
to, and need to be "customized", and don't play well with other programs and
need to be "integrated".
And I say, "Thank you", because although I don't make as much money as the
people who run the company, playing with computers all day is like being
retired.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marvin [GodfatherofSoul] Bellamy" <mbellamy at kc.rr.com>
To: <kclug at kclug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 10:57 PM
Subject: Re: Searching...

> This is how the game is played, folks.  Specialists are always
> surrounded by a thick, bureaucratic layer of car salesmen in suits.
>  Look at ANY industry or market powered by people with a specific
> talent.  IT, sports, entertainment, teachers, whatever.  And whatever
> your sales guy tells you about how much he loves the company philosophy,
> he's there because he's a car salesman.  And, he knows your talent is
> worth a ton of cash that he wants a huge bite of.  The specialists get
> so busy and get so accustomed to leaving the car salesmen with the book
> keeping, they don't notice until it's too late that they've turned into
> the auxillary servant to some CEO with ZERO knowledge of the product.
>  And, he's making 10X as much to BS with others of his ilk who've manage
> to usurp the thrones in their own domain.  Look at the model for any
> tech company.  You start out with some engineers with a great idea
> pettling their wares.  By the end, the engineers are those quirky guys
> in the basement with 10 stories of executives, marketers, salesmen, and
> accountants up above.  Okay, so the girls in the legal department are
> eye candy, but...
>
> Don't ask me what the solution is, but somehow techies have to develop
> enough communication skills to not give these schmucks a foothold.  I'm
> sorry if I offend anyone, but IMO the market's dive we're seeing is the
> result of these shysters getting a hold of the reins with no intention
> other than stuffing their pockets with as much cash as they can before
> the wagon goes over the cliff.  Hell, software sales is so removed from
> the actual product nowadays that people like Bill Gates can build
> fortunes selling BS marketing schemes.
>
> Qwest had what, 35 million customers paying at least $30-$50 a month and
> they're going bankrupt?  Why?  Because any CEO with enough "VP of"'s on
> his resume can swing a deal for a $50 million severence package after he
> runs the company into the ground, nevermind what all of his underlings
> get collectively.  AOL buys up prime beef companies and manages to grind
> them into hamburger, and just NOW the media decides to report that
> something looks wrong? This is a rant, but not to say that suits don't
> have a role, but they should be augmenting the business and not running
it.
>
>
> Dustin Decker wrote:
>
> >On Wed, 31 Jul 2002, Kurt Kessler wrote:
> >
> >>I find it hard to believe that any of these companies
> >>ever had problems. Common sense tells you what it
> >>takes to make money. When you are head of a company
> >>that big, you hire people to do what you tell them to
> >>do. When things are going wrong, wouldn't you be
> >>concerned? Is it not their job to inform you of such
> >>things? When the "brass" is walking away with
> >>multi-million dollar severances and options, and
> >>everyone else loses 15 years of 401 and stock
> >>overnight, it makes you wonder...
> >>
> >
> >Yeah - I just have to wonder in the present sense of Chapter 11 filings
> >whether or not the executive officers aren't willing to "swear they
> >books aren't cooked".  This is something the Bush administration has
> >been pushing a lot lately - to the point we may even see more companies
> >throw in the towel rather than find themselves with their financial
> >pants wrapped around their ankles.
> >
> >Needless to day - anyone who isn't prepared to swear on their books
> >faces a significant hit in the consumer confidence arena as well.  I
> >think we've finally hit the "shit or get off the pot" moment.
> >
> >Just my $.02
> >Dustin
> >
>
>
>
>