The totally off-topic thread

[mono88]

As with many things, it depends on the industry and the measures of success.

Completely agree...with the usual conundrum, how do you "measure" success?

 

[erkpod]

"They seek him here, they seek him there, those AFFers seek him everywhere."
Apologies to Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness E. Orczy

Granted I've gone from zero to (VA SG) hero in 12 months but I don't travel as much as some AFFers do, nor some of my colleagues at my Place of Employment think I do.

It's funny to think that some people will ask me if I enjoyed my holiday. Depending on the person & how well they follow me on social media, they could be talking about my 2013 US trip in Jan/Feb, my status run to ADL via MEL, my Festival of Erk to MEL & DRW or my recent trip to BNE.

 

[JohnK]

I don't know about incompetent. But the way the structure was setup it seems most of the 457 visa coming in are the white collar/professionals that are not really needed considering how many professionals are out of work.
IT workers, in particularly have seen no wage growth because of the abuse of the 457 visa system.
Other professionals have also have found it tough because of the lax visa rules when it comes to students on completion of their course.

I am in IT. I am in a specialised role as some members on AFF know. I am not stupid. I am not dumb. My salary has not increased much in the past 15 years.

I see what my company is doing. The people on the board, senior management have been given free reign to build empires. Perhaps they are looking to sell company. I don't know.

They are hiring people on 457 visas who are incompetent. Is there a better term? They cannot speak English properly. They make no effort to learn English instead choosing to speak in their tongue in an office in Brisbane, Australia.

I have a friend who worked with me ~10 years ago for a Swedish company. We are both immigrants in this country. We are both extremely experienced. We both have been out of work 3-4 times in past 10 years. We have both struggled to get interviews when we have been out of work.

I asked him to send resume to my GM last year when he was out of work. My GM said we will consider his application at the time. He never got an interview. At the same they have brought in people from the UK, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Philippines. The whole thing is a joke. The people they have brought into Australia cannot speak English properly. They are working for an insurance company. They are incompetent.

I am not gloating but we are both in the top 5%-10% of AS400 RPG employess in the country. In fact I would hazard a guess and say I am in the top 1% if not higher. There are not much better than me. Yet my company decides to hire people on 457 visas.

If I was getting paid twice their salary I would be extremely disappointed. The work I do is 3-4 times the work they achieve. I am being micro managed. They are left alone.

My response is I refuse to transfer my extremely valuable knowledge to them. I am in that driving seat. I am also lucky we have 4 quiet rooms in our office so I can spend my entire day at work in the quiet room.

Sad indeed to be an Australian in IT. Sad that some people are offended by my comments....

 

[mono88]

Granted I've gone from zero to (VA SG) hero in 12 months but I don't travel as much as some AFFers do, nor some of my colleagues at my Place of Employment think I do.

It's funny to think that some people will ask me if I enjoyed my holiday. Depending on the person & how well they follow me on social media, they could be talking about my 2013 US trip in Jan/Feb, my status run to ADL via MEL, my Festival of Erk to MEL & DRW or my recent trip to BNE.

Great achievement to reach VA SG so quickly. Looks like you did it in a fun way!!!

 

[Mal]

I was easily within the top 5% of people in Australia skilled in certain software packages. I was approached by two of the companies with potential roles (this only occurred when I was on a sabbatical and when I had given notice... Companies do not poach employees generally).

Does it mean that I have an easy time finding work? No. The job market in IT for specific skills is very small. Employers look for a lot more in the overall package these days.

 

[mono88]

I am in IT. I am in a specialised role as some members on AFF know. I am not stupid. I am not dumb. My salary has not increased much in the past 15 years.

I see what my company is doing. The people on the board, senior management have been given free reign to build empires. Perhaps they are looking to sell company. I don't know.

They are hiring people on 457 visas who are incompetent. Is there a better term? They cannot speak English properly. They make no effort to learn English instead choosing to speak in their tongue in an office in Brisbane, Australia.

I have a friend who worked with me ~10 years ago for a Swedish company. We are both immigrants in this country. We are both extremely experienced. We both have been out of work 3-4 times in past 10 years. We have both struggled to get interviews when we have been out of work.

I asked him to send resume to my GM last year when he was out of work. My GM said we will consider his application at the time. He never got an interview. At the same they have brought in people from the UK, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Philippines. The whole thing is a joke. The people they have brought into Australia cannot speak English properly. They are working for an insurance company. They are incompetent.

I am not gloating but we are both in the top 5%-10% of AS400 RPG employess in the country. In fact I would hazard a guess and say I am in the top 1% if not higher. There are not much better than me. Yet my company decides to hire people on 457 visas.

If I was getting paid twice their salary I would be extremely disappointed. The work I do is 3-4 times the work they achieve. I am being micro managed. They are left alone.

My response is I refuse to transfer my extremely valuable knowledge to them. I am in that driving seat. I am also lucky we have 4 quiet rooms in our office so I can spend my entire day at work in the quiet room.

Sad indeed to be an Australian in IT. Sad that some people are offended by my comments....

It is sad to be in Australian IT as it is in Australian manufacturing, Australian brands, and other Australian service industries etc etc. All have their various issues to deal with.
Shame your company is not fully utilising your skills.
I am no IT expert but I remember the IBM system/38, AS400, Digital Vax etc days but things have changed dramatically and I don't think that Australian management generally has coped well with some of the changes.

 

[amaroo]

It is sad to be in Australian IT as it is in Australian manufacturing, Australian brands, and other Australian service industries etc etc. All have their various issues to deal with.

Spot on. Many industries have been stripped & burned - people involved have had to get up, dust off & move on.....IT is nothing special in this regard.

 

[JohnK]

It is sad to be in Australian IT as it is in Australian manufacturing, Australian brands, and other Australian service industries etc etc. All have their various issues to deal with.
Shame your company is not fully utilising your skills.
I am no IT expert but I remember the IBM system/38, AS400, Digital Vax etc days but things have changed dramatically and I don't think that Australian management generally has coped well with some of the changes.

But such is life. Time to move on.

I want to ask a general question on AFF related to IT but will not start a new thread. I will make another post later.

 

[NM]

If you want to catch the current "wave" in IT, then just look at where all the money is being spent and look out for the huge mega-conferneces. When 23,000 people gather for an IT conference that is based on a specific topic, you know there is some momentum behind the wave. Just make sure you know where to find the letter "v" on your keyboard, because its going to get a lot of use in the future.

 

[Mal]

If you want to catch the current "wave" in IT, then just look at where all the money is being spent and look out for the huge mega-conferneces. When 23,000 people gather for an IT conference that is based on a specific topic, you know there is some momentum behind the wave. Just make sure you know where to find the letter "v" on your keyboard, because its going to get a lot of use in the future.

Yep. Cloud. Virtualization. Two of the biggest growth sectors.
Storage skills are also on demand. VMware skills are too.

 

[anat0l]

If you want to catch the current "wave" in IT, then just look at where all the money is being spent and look out for the huge mega-conferneces. When 23,000 people gather for an IT conference that is based on a specific topic, you know there is some momentum behind the wave. Just make sure you know where to find the letter "v" on your keyboard, because its going to get a lot of use in the future.

Yep. Cloud. Virtualization. Two of the biggest growth sectors.
Storage skills are also on demand. VMware skills are too.

Oh whoops. I thought "v" as in Ctrl+V, as in Cut/Copy and Paste :mrgreen:

 

[whatmeworry]

I do not trust the cloud!

 

[The Rok]

I do not trust the cloud!

How can you not trust the clouds? That's where the Care Bear's live. Who doesn't trust Care Bears??

 

[Mal]

How can you not trust the clouds? That's where the Care Bear's live. Who doesn't trust Care Bears??

Its also where rain is formed. Oh and thunder and storms come from.

(PS. I work for a very large cloud company so shouldn't make any negative comments!)

 

[The Rok]

Its also where rain is formed. Oh and thunder and storms come from.

(PS. I work for a very large cloud company so shouldn't make any negative comments!)

But it's also where Qantas planes soar....

PS. I know bugger all about IT clouds, it took me ages just to get the idea behind Apple iCloud.

 

[NM]

Yep. Cloud. Virtualization. Two of the biggest growth sectors.
Storage skills are also on demand. VMware skills are too.

FCoTR - Ethernet is just a fad

 

[NM]

Oh whoops. I thought "v" as in Ctrl+V, as in Cut/Copy and Paste :mrgreen:

Reminds me of someone who was asked to name the one thing for which they are most thankful. Answer was "Ctrl-Z".

 

[NM]

I do not trust the cloud!

Cloud is just a fad ... SDDC is the future!

 

[Rox]

FCoTR?
SDDC?

 

[drron]

FCoTR?
SDDC?

Don't worry they are just off in their parallel universe again.:shock: