The trick is to understand the nature of the person on the other side of the negotiating table, and push for what is a fair deal based on your research and gut feeling about this company.

-Mark Poppen

Wage Slave

July 22, 1999

Generally, my favorite part of the workday is Lunch.

I bet this is true for many workers. While there are aspects of work that we all enjoy, few of us toil from sunup to sundown in complete rapture. Often the nature of the work brings us less Joy than the relationships we build over time with our coworkers.

This struck me while re-reading a quote from Maxim Gorky, the famous Russian writer and park owner, in which he noted that "When work is a pleasure, life is a Joy. When work is a duty, life is Slavery." Lots of my friends are self-described wage slaves, churning out product and watching the office clock slowly making its inexorable way toward quitting time. If you are a clock-watcher, then your work probably resembles something between drudgery and wage slavery.

And that's not good.

Even when we are stuck in 'bad' Jobs, there are some tactics you can use to make your work life easier to deal with. For example, some of the daily frustrations in work come from circumstances preventing us from being able to do our Jobs as well as we think we can. Archaic Company policies, ridiculous rules, interference from coworkers, and daily distractions all make an average workday seem like a week.

To cope with these impediments, try organizing your work area with the things you use every day. Few things are more frustrating then falling further behind in your tasks because you don't have the tools you need to finish. By taking control of your environment you can charge your batteries and give yourself the feeling that you are directing your activities, rather then feeling that they are controlling you.

Just as important is keeping your perspective about things. A sense of humor about your Job will go a long way toward maintaining your sanity. In the big scheme of things, whether you get this particular task done on time or 100% correct really doesn't matter much. I know most managers don't want to hear this, but it is generally true. While Employers may say they want workaholics that live and breathe their Jobs, this is not very healthy for the Human body or spirit.

-Mark Poppen

Resume Tips

July 21, 1999

Successful Jobhunting usually requires submitting resumes to organizations that will most likely only throw them away. While frustrating, the thing to remember is it's their loss. They could have had a hardworking, competent, and decent person working for them - You. And there are a few techniques that can get your hard copy resume noticed, rather than filed in the proverbial circular file.

Paper resumes that arrive at most firms are scanned into a database and searched at a later date for certain key terms or phrases. Hopefully your research about the target firm will have educated you as to what these 'industry keywords' are, so you can pack your resume with them. Because your resume will enter a database via a scanner, it is important that it is set up to be scanner friendly. Some keys to scannability are:

• Use a laser printer for higher quality scans
• Print on one side only, using white, letter size paper
• Font sizes should be 12 to 14
• Standard typefaces like Courier, Helvetica, or Arial
• Skip the use of formatting niceties (no Bold, Underline, Italics, etc.)
• Don't staple or fold the resume (one page really should be sufficient)
• Information should be set up chronologically
• Please spell check (includes having a friend look it over)

Don't forget the Job code and/or title of the Job you are applying for - generally it goes at the top of the resume you are sending. Your contact information should follow the Job title at the top of the page. Include sufficient contact information (name, address, phone, cell, email, and fax) so that you are easy to track down. What could be worse than losing the Job simply because they couldn't get in touch with you?

Use short and sweet headings that concisely tell a reader, at a glance, what they should expect to find in the text immediately below. After the electronic scanner gives your resume the once over, it gets passed on to the human scanner for further review. Clarity and keywords are the way to get past the first scanner - and quality of work experience or references is the best way to get by the human scanner.

-Mark Poppen

Short Circuit II

July 20, 1999

The over-hyped 'IT labor shortage' has encouraged a number of undergraduates, workers, and Jobhunters to jump into training programs for a variety of IT careers. Were they making the right choice based on solid evidence, or were they misled by an abundance of faulty information?

Some Industry experts think the IT shortage is an excuse for Hi-Tech Employers to access a greater number of foreign born (and less expensive) workers. Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at UC, has pointed out that there appears to be a reluctance among Employers to hire IT workers who are in their mid-thirties or older. US Hi-Tech companies, primarily in Silicon Valley, rely on younger IT workers that are willing to work 60-80 hour work weeks in order to get products to market before their competitors do. Half of the H1B visas go to IT workers from India, and these workers are paid an average of twenty percent less than their American counterparts.

Over eighty percent of computer science graduates are no longer working in their field twenty years after graduating, an extraordinarily high drop out rate for professionals. Anecdotal evidence indicates that there is some age discrimination against older (30+ eek!) IT workers, and even recent graduates with freshly minted Computer Science degrees have found that Employers are unwilling to train new workers in the specifics that the new Jobs demand, they'd rather hire cheaper, foreign laborers that have the exact skill match they are looking for.

Why do IT professionals leave their field in droves, especially since it appears there is such a huge shortage and skyrocketing wages? The two-fold answer harkens back to the Silicon Valley urban legend about the T-shirts that Steve Jobs had his techies wear, emblazoned with "90 hours a week, and loving it!" IT workers are intentionally burned out by Employers at an early age, and then replaced by cheaper foreign imports.

This is not a new model, by any means, but should be a warning to Jobhunters hoping to cash in on the IT wage boom. If you are under thirty, IT careers are a viable choice. If you are over thirty, then getting started in IT will be an uphill battle if you want to work for Corporate America. And if you are really talented at IT, love the field, and plan on working for yourself - don't be afraid to buck the trend and do what you want.

-Mark Poppen

Short Circuit

July 19, 1999

Is there really a shortage of Hi-Tech workers?

This question is raging throughout the IT industry, and accurate forecasts would be very useful to Jobhunters thinking about upgrading their IT skills and certifications. If there is a long-term shortage, and salaries will do nothing but shoot through the roof for years to come, it makes sense to invest your own time and limited funds in upgrading pertinent skills. If not, then training could turn out to be more than a waste of time, it could put you in an economic hole that would take years to dig out of.

The Information Technology Association of America's (ITAA) oft quoted 1998 'help wanted' study indicated that there was a shortage of Programmers, Computer Scientists, and Systems Analysts that approached 350,000 workers. Their estimates project the shortage to increase to over 400,000 by the end of this year. Demand for workers in these fields is expected to outpace average Job growth, so ITAA has pushed for increasing the number of foreign IT workers allowed to work in the US (using H1B Visas) from 65,000 last fiscal year, to 115,000 this year, and over 200,000 starting in October 1999.

There are over 2 million IT workers in the US today, so the imported workers represent less than ten percent of the total workforce. But a shortage of almost twenty percent, coupled with the accelerating growth in IT Jobs, would ensure increasing salaries for the next decade or so. But not everyone sees the ballyhooed "IT labor shortage" through such rose-colored lenses. Evidence is mounting that the shortage could be less of a reality, and more of a Corporate Shell Game - an attempt to push wages and worker empowerment down.

IT Job candidates are offered Jobs less than 30 percent of the time, and the reasons for not tendering offers often boil down to two items: perceived unwillingness to work long hours, and unwillingness to accept below market wages. And that sounds less like an IT shortage, and more like a desire to import programming slaves - workers with a reduced ability to effectively complain about their situation.

Before you jump the gun and enroll in a slough of IT courses, read about the rest of the story in tomorrow's 1^st Steps in the Hunt.

-Mark Poppen