Human Resources

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Articles about Human Resources: 9 items


Software Engineer -
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Many people have asked me over the years about Software Engineering; what's it like to be a computer programmer? They see the glamour of the job (believe it or not), or hear about the paychecks, without seeing the downsides. There are many positives to the job; because it takes a lot of knowledge to do well, so there are few that will do it. And because it requires thought and continual learning and change, there are fewer that can do it well. So getting a job that's in demand and hard to fill, generally means reasonable salaries and relative security (compared to other jobs); and there are many companies looking for people.

Micromanagement -
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There are good managers, and there are micromanagers, but there are no good micromanagers. You can lead, trust and inspire, or you can question, dictate and undermine -- but not both. That's not to say that there's never a time to micromanage some people or some aspects of a project, but in general, if you micromanage, you aren't delegating and giving people the freedom and protection they need to succeed.

Ivory Tower -
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An ivory tower is a place — or an atmosphere — where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world in favor of their own pursuits, disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life. Colleges and Universities once stood for education and learning, a place you went to learn things, be assessed on what you know, and share information with other people who were knowledgeable in your area of interest or expertise. But more and more the concepts of "ivory tower" and out of touch educators, is combining with a mire of bureaucratic hoops and over-powering any goals of "higher learning" or balanced assessment of knowledge.

Is there a tech shortage? -
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Is there a shortage of qualified technical people? Yes and no. Unemployment is low, so there's certainly a demand. But there's also a lot of qualified people looking that can't get hired or want to break into the field, and the number of Résumé's to job openings is still absurdly high, so let's not pretend that you can't find people -- companies just can't find people that meet their requirements (which are often stupid).

Hiring Programmers -
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Human Resources people, Managers, and general users, have no idea how simple or complex computer programming is. They think that they can just throw programmers around from one task to another, then some HR people select computer programmers based on language (Syntax), and not what really matters (skills and abilities). This would be like hiring an employee based on what school they attended and not what subjects they studied! This article will give some non-programmers a better idea of what Programming is about, and what they should be looking for when hiring programmers.

Getting a raise -
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How to get a raise? It's not that hard, assuming you're actually worth more than you're getting paid, and if you're not, then you can learn to be worth more. (1) Reduce the risk to your company (2) be easy to work with (3) Manage expectations (4) Show your worth (5) Demand what you're worth (6) be prepared to leave (7) leave if you are worth more, and can find it somewhere else.

Gender Wage Gap -
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This one is many myths (lies) in one: (a) Women get $.77-.82 cents on the dollar compared to what men make (this injustice is called the "Gender wage/pay gap" or GWG) (b) We need big government (politicians) and new laws/regulations/taxes to fix it (c) Democrat politicians motives are all sincere, anyone that opposes is a sexist/misogynistic/bigot. All false, and debunked here.

Chinese Fire Drill - How not to impress HR. Of course, if they can't take a joke, then they don't impress me either.

Adobe: Beer Bash - It's easy to get jaded, and kind of hard not to. But one thing that helps is trying to look through the world through baby eye's (look at things like this is your first time seeing it). Adobe has some awesome benefits, and they often rank in the top-10 places in the bay area to work... and the bay area ranks in the top of the nation, and our country is ranked pretty high as well. But like all large companies, they're constantly shifting things around, and many of those shifts aren't always for the better. Some people leaving, some going (not always voluntarily). So you get a two starkly different views of things, those of an old-timer (OT) versus the wide eyes of a new timer (NT). He's some examples of what that means.