[OFF-TOPIC] Re: MediaOne dns problems

[ccb at valinux.com]

> Hmmm ...  Interesting.  You've clearly informed the members  of  this
> list  about  your  ethical standards.  I trust that most readers will
> note the name Charles Bennett and the  address  ccb at valinux.com,  and
> remember  that  they  stand  for taking every possible advantage of a
> customer to con them into spending as much as possible for  something
> they  want  to  buy.   And  tricking  them  into paying for something
> different than what they wanted is ok, too; you can then charge  them
> again for an "upgrade" that amounts to simply enabling something that
> they already paid for.
> 
> Most people have the sense to not admit to such  predatory  attitudes
> around the potential marks.  I hope you don't speak for valinux ...


No, it merely means that I've failed to communicate clearly ;-).

Let's start by stating that the obvious - you don't speak for MIT and
I don't speak for VA Linux Systems.

I was attempting to take this from Slashdot-level "jeez biz folks
suck" into something more revealing about *why* everything isn't free
beer and perhaps *how* some of the mechanisms work.

Every player in a commercial interaction is immersed in as complex a
gestalt as players in a romantic or family interaction.  The simple
unadorned truth may work, but we've been bred for more spice and
entertainment than that.


Let's break out a few examples at varying levels of complexity.  It
may take a few days.


I'm a contract joe and I go into a job interview and they tell me that
they want me to do some light system/network administration some 40 or
60 hours a week and we agree on an hourly price for my services.  Now
this is my price for being a system administrator.  I also know how to
be a hard core release engineer/makefile monkey and I know how to do
wizard-level distributed object design and Java programming and I
have differnt, higher prices for manifesting these skills.

Three weeks into the six month gig the hiring manager comes to my desk
and says "I hear you're a crack Java jock, I want you to drop the
sysadmin stuff and work on this design and coding project."

Dispense with your immediate thoughts about how the employer might
have been trying to pull a fast one.  Think about me, the "vendor" in
this interaction.

If you were me, would you ask for more money to do the Java work
knowing that The Man would have to pay 40% more if he placed an ad
looking for a Java jock?

Would it be different if this weren't a contact gig and was a
"captive" job with bennies?

By offering myself - budding Wizard of the MetaObject Protocol - as a
sysadmin at a sysadmin rate have I "cut the jumper" and ripped off the
employer?

Should the employer be glad to have me, wizard though I may be, doing
sysadmin work at sysadmin pay?


ccb

--
Charles C. Bennett, Jr.			VA Linux Systems
Systems Engineer,			25 Burlington Mall Rd., Suite 300
US Northeast Region			Burlington, MA 01803-4145
+1 617 543-6513				+1 888-LINUX-4U
ccb at valinux.com				www.valinux.com

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