I know I'm running more than a week late reading the almost 800 messages off
the list. But I could not resist replying to this anyway...
I'm also an HP3000 guru. I can make Image stand on it's head, fly through a
Sysgen in a single bound, ....
Now maybe that is what my clients hired me for in the first place. I suppose
it is a simple thing that can sit on a resume'. But it sure as heck is not
why my clients keep coming back to me year after year.
My clients keep coming back because I never say I can't do something just
because I haven't done it before. I don't care if it is as simple as "Where
does that wire under my desk go and what does it do?" or as complex as "Can
you merge the computer rooms of these two divisions?". I don't care if it is
Microsoft, Unix, HP, the 'net, a wired or an RF network, fibre optics, or
what chair they should be sitting in to stop their neck aching from looking
at a computer screen all day.
I am happy to admit if I don't know the answer right then or I don't have
the skills period. But this is never the complete answer. The next and most
critical part of the answer is:
"But I can find out for you. When do you need it? I'll find out and get back
to you before then."
or
"I'll find the people who have the skills to do that. I'll get them and run
the project for you. When do you need the first estimate for what resources
it will take?"
My university training may have been in computer programming. But my most
important skills aren't in any particular technology. My most important
skills are:
1) How to research to find an answer to any question.
2) General problem solving techniques.
3) Project management.
Those are what you should be training yourself in.
Timothy Atwood
Holtenwood Computing
http://www.holtenwood.bc.ca/computing/
for Domtar Vancouver Mill
(Opinions expressed are mine and do not reflect Domtar)
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Emerson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 7:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [HP3000-L] "...and would you like fries with that" [revisited]
<snip>
In five years, after leanring & mastering one or more platforms (that might
be deemed as ancient and proprietary as the 3k was...) I'll be one of the
hordes of "general unix programmers", rather than a well-versed guru of the
HP3000 -- in other words, I'll end up blending into the background...
Thoughts like that scare me when I read week-after-week about out-of-work
programmers and H1b-visa'd replacements (or worse, simply outsourcing to
other countries without the need to have them work "here" in the U.S.)
I suspect a few others are thinking the same or similar things -- I invite
coments (and will endure flames) and would certainly entertain suggestions
on what specifically I should be looking into for (re)training over the
next few years...
Thank you for your time,
Tom Emerson
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