Tech industry.

benenglish said:

However, most people don't see it that way. Since "most people" includes "most potential customers", I conclude that making money by providing training in fundamentals is probably not going to be profitable.

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Yep. It also doesn't help that most of us in the community give it away for free. I always jump at the chance to help new shooters who are willing to learn.

TheDan said:

Yep. It also doesn't help that most of us in the community give it away for free. I always jump at the chance to help new shooters who are willing to learn.

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Good point. I've become the "gun guy" at work and fix/clean people's guns if I can for nothing.

Sorry to drag this thread back to the original topic...

I'm in the tech industry also and have been my whole professional career. I'm currently a consultant and getting burned out. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at what I do. I want a career change but realistically speaking, I don't think it'll happen for a myriad of reasons. I'm not sure what I'd do anyway. The nice parts of my job are that I work remotely and have a fairly flexible schedule so I'm not having

If I could make a living in the firearms industry I might but I really like having it as a hobby and having to rely upon it as a means to feed my family would probably kill the joy in something I truly love.

I'd be interested in learning machining as a hobby. But I don't even know what I'd do with it and I doubt I could translate it into a tangible career that would pay enough.

Guess I'm lucky. Even when I'm burned out, I still love the work I do. I'm pretty versatile though, so if I burn out coding I'll switch over and do some networking/switching/routing, or systems admin work for a bit.

Brains said:

Guess I'm lucky. Even when I'm burned out, I still love the work I do. I'm pretty versatile though, so if I burn out coding I'll switch over and do some networking/switching/routing, or systems admin work for a bit.

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This is one of the things that drew me into networking.. if you don't like what you're doing- don't worry, it'll change. Change is the only constant. There are so many examples- currently SDN (Software Defined Networking) is where "they" want the industry to go...

The problem is when someone else decides what change is going to occur... I've picked up sys admin work when someone else on the team retired... and it's going to take a while to clean up the mess and make the systems more like what they should be. (Right now they're overly complex, under-monitored, and too labor intensive.)

Oh, and it seems like there are 3-4 people that their sole job is to figure out new ways to make mine harder...
A-hole1: You have to follow x process to get y done
A-hole2: You aren't authorized to do x process, please apply for access here
A-hole3: Your organization isn't allowed to do x process, you have to go to group z- they'll do it for you
A-hole4: We'll do x process for you, but you have to write a book on requrements and business justifications...
A-hole5: Please fill out your timesheet, accounting for all of the work you do by process- and what do you mean you need a category to account for your time spent filling out your timesheet?

Sam7sf said:

With googles leaked video of the day after the election now out, I can’t help but make this thread. For those that aren’t up to speed here’s Ben Shapiro filling you in

You know what gets me? Is any job I had Human Resources has issues with talking politics. If I was the ceo of a big company I wouldn’t have it any other way. How many of you are supervisors or bosses? I have been a supervisor. I’m not interested in bullshit outside of work causing trouble inside of work. Don’t these people have trash to take out? Survers to check up on? Some tps reports to do? See if anyone gets that.

I can’t imagine sitting in a meeting like that, for any employer. I’d get up and leave. I’d go find something to do. I get share meetings that encourage us to work for a good bonus. I get safety meetings. But calling me into a meeting because you’re sad who won an election...I’m getting up, leaving, and finding something to do.

It couldn’t be more obvious Trump is fighting a serious cancer with these tech companies.

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It just sounds pathetic to me.

If politics are that much of your life, where you have a pity party at work after your candidate for president (who has nothing to do with your business) loses an election.

These people are pathetic, but by starting monopolies and silencing anyone with a difference of opinion they don’t have to hear how lame they are.

Lunyfringe said:

...and it's going to take a while to clean up the mess and make the systems more like what they should be. (Right now they're overly complex, under-monitored, and too labor intensive.)

Oh, and it seems like there are 3-4 people that their sole job is to figure out new ways to make mine harder...
A-hole1: You have to follow x process to get y done
A-hole2: You aren't authorized to do x process, please apply for access here
A-hole3: Your organization isn't allowed to do x process, you have to go to group z- they'll do it for you
A-hole4: We'll do x process for you, but you have to write a book on requrements and business justifications...
A-hole5: Please fill out your timesheet, accounting for all of the work you do by process- and what do you mean you need a category to account for your time spent filling out your timesheet?

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^This is actually a direct symptomatic result of the issue of suboptimal leadership previously mentioned.

A good leader, properly positioned/empowered, and who is also an expert in technology & risk management/operations/etc. (or whatever their area of oversight, really) will work to nip that kind of shit in the bud and drive efficiency & efficacy across the board (applying foot to ass in the case of all aforementioned a-holes), or bring in someone to do it for them.

The only problem is unless said leadership is already present, in my experience it often takes some large (and often externally-driven) event to weigh-in on the scales and force any significant change...(good metrics can tell the story, but without proper endorsement/sponsor/audience, collecting them will at best be wasted effort, and at worst will really piss some people off and may even create additional liability)

CyberWolf said:

...good metrics can tell the story...

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About metrics -

• Metrics are absolutely required for success;
• Good metrics are great;
  
• Most metrics are are garbage and, therefore, a superhighway to hell, because
• You get what you measure, even if it's not what you want, and
• Most businesses, most executives in large organizations, and even most small business owners don't really know what they want or, at minimum, how to get there.

"Metrics" hits a nerve with me. I think I'll cut this off right here. The temptation to write a book is too great.

benenglish said:

About metrics -

• Metrics are absolutely required for success;
• Good metrics are great;
  
• Most metrics are are garbage and, therefore, a superhighway to hell, because
• You get what you measure, even if it's not what you want, and
• Most businesses, most executives in large organizations, and even most small business owners don't really know what they want or, at minimum, how to get there.

"Metrics" hits a nerve with me. I think I'll cut this off right here. The temptation to write a book is too great.

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100% agree with every single one of these statements

Me too, I hate the metric system!

CyberWolf said:

^This is actually a direct symptomatic result of the issue of suboptimal leadership previously mentioned.

A good leader, properly positioned/empowered, and who is also an expert in technology & risk management/operations/etc. (or whatever their area of oversight, really) will work to nip that kind of shit in the bud and drive efficiency & efficacy across the board (applying foot to ass in the case of all aforementioned a-holes), or bring in someone to do it for them.

The only problem is unless said leadership is already present, in my experience it often takes some large (and often externally-driven) event to weigh-in on the scales and force any significant change...(good metrics can tell the story, but without proper endorsement/sponsor/audience, collecting them will at best be wasted effort, and at worst will really piss some people off and may even create additional liability)

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I really appreciate the sentiment, but I believe you don't know the scale/size of what I'm referring to. I was hired 21 years ago at a smaller company that was great to work for, then was swallowed by another- then disaster, rebranding, and swallowed by the company that has the culture I was referring to. They pretend to be honorable, but they are leftist-owned and I'm going to force them to give me a severance to be rid of me.

It's currently like working for a gov't... I won't name them because their lawyers can beat up my lawyers.

Oh, and Office Space feels like my life there, except for the embezzling.

Lunyfringe said:

I really appreciate the sentiment, but I believe you don't know the scale/size of what I'm referring to. I was hired 21 years ago at a smaller company that was great to work for, then was swallowed by another- then disaster, rebranding, and swallowed by the company that has the culture I was referring to. They pretend to be honorable, but they are leftist-owned and I'm going to force them to give me a severance to be rid of me.

It's currently like working for a gov't... I won't name them because their lawyers can beat up my lawyers.

Oh, and Office Space feels like my life there, except for the embezzling.

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I may have a bit more exposure/insights to that than one might assume at first

Obviously every org is different, and between differences in industry, biz model, geography, culture, org structure, tech/product/infrastructure choices, processes & process management philosophies, regulatory model, risk tolerances, 3rd party & supply-chain relationships, etc., it might seem to be overall an unmanageable model of chaos (or unpredictable random/organic development) at-scale across all these considerations and the evolution of each organization over time, and that the commonality of bullshit simply exists a'la somthing along the lines of the weak anthropic principle.

This is in fact not actually the case, as there are patterns, relationships, and commonalities across the spectrum of orgs/industries which can be observed, quantified, and managed.

A reasonable but likely oversimplified analogy might be in the playing/observations across multiple consecutive games of chess between a group of players; while individual games/moves may all be unique, sufficient observation will often reveal patterns of game play which can be anticipated to some degree in real-time. At the end of the day, there are a finite number of core premises involved, with variations in conditions/outcomes (both good and bad, existing & projected) being largely related to combinations of ancillary factors. All of the aforementioned consideration can be managed properly, proactively, and collectively with "intent", or (as is most often the case, because contrary to popular opinion this stuff is not easy), the whole show can be entirely mismanaged and become materially dysfunctional (think I just found my new phrase of the day)...

Sorry for the long-winded philosophical road-trip (sometimes a little bourbon can be more dangerous than alot)...


My point was that I do in fact understand, and truly know where you're coming from and the bullshit you're dealing with (having been directly exposed to and surviving/navigating situations which although each being unique, could be described in nearly identical terms...).

That in mind, and while its always possible that I'm completely mistaken in this case, I do stand by my earlier comments on topic, even though the specifics and current manifestations of things is unknown to me.

btw, a notable part of what I do is related to helping "un-****" things (loose description), often at-scale, both proactively and reactively, and trying to do it without making anyone look bad (not always possible), but have learned that a.) help must be requested in most cases in order to be appreciated, and b.) sometimes it just is what it is and receptivity to change/improvement is simply nonexistent unless/until (the right) someone gets a foot planted in their ass with sufficient force...That foot can come from board members, shareholders, regulators/legislatures, major and/or prospective customers/partners/lenders, etc., but seems to invariably be required to come from on-high in order to have any impact whatsoeve (and even then rarely if ever carries the personal-impact levels which might be appropriate).

Hope you get it all worked out, but sometimes a properly timed move is simply the best or even only option, and there's enough opportunity out there for talented & motivated professionals that one shouldn't have to put up with being suffocated by bullshit any longer than absolutely necessary in the interests of self-preservation...Just say "to hell with them" and **shrug**