Oppression and Clothes

I pity the Arab women who have to cover themselves from head to toe in black cloth. That seems oppressive and wrong. They should get to choose what to wear. On the other hand, I only wear certain allowed clothes to work every day. I do this for the majority of my life. That's sort of the same thing, I guess.

Women starting to dominate in the workforce

The times they are a changin'...

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/

Motivating employees

There are all sorts of books and blogs that cover the topic of motivating employees. From experience, these two items caused me to be highly motivated.

Being part of a small company

It was hugely important for me (as a software engineer, as opposed to a manager) to be working for a small company.

In a large company my efforts were diluted by the performance of large number of other people. Therefore even if I did a tremendous job it usually did not "move the needle" very much in terms of overall company performance. In a small company, however, my performance has sometimes made a dramatic difference.

Having Skin in the Game (Part Ownership)

When you are an employee with no stake in the company you're a cog in a big machine, you come to work, you do your job, you leave, etc. You are basically working to make somebody else rich. If you do an outstanding job you might get a slightly higher than cost of living raise (or in these troubled economic times, you may get the privilege of keeping your job). On the other hand, if you have ownership in the company the decisions you make feel more tied to your own personal success.

How can a company share ownership with their employees? Two ways that I can think of:

1) A yearly bonus tied to individual performance (good)
2) Shares of the company (best)

In particular, item 2 was important to me. Knowing that my performance at work could lead to a payout at the end that could significantly change my life has been highly motivating. If I feel like I own a part of the business then I am more likely to make decisions as if they affect my own personal profit and loss (because, in fact, they do).

I am not sure what motivates others, but these two items have worked for me.

-BT

Failure at work might be a good thing

This video with Dean Kamen explains why...



-BT

Work-related quotes

I am a quote-a-holic. I love quotes because they distill deep wisdom into bite-sized pieces! Here are some of my favorites that relate to the world of work:

"Since the dawn of time, companies have hired people whose entire job is to tell you everything is all right and you can completely trust them and the company is as stable as a rock, and to do so until they, themselves are fired because the company is out of business."
-Jason Scott

"The traditional interviewing process is two people pleasantly lying to one another for an hour or two and then making a really big decision that they will live with for years to come."
(unknown)

"If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind."
-Kurt Vonnegut

Regrettably, my first job was on a six year project to write a COBOL compiler. I lasted about three days. I didn't want to end up like my colleagues at HP, bored shitless and sitting around talking about their lawn sprinkling systems, as they toughed out another coffee break on the road to oblivion.
-Eugene Jarvis

"Money can be made later, but time is lost forever."
-Eugene Jarvis (programmer of the game "defender") on working at Atari

"It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t."
-Martin Van Buren

"Things may come to those who wait... but only the things left by those who hustle."
Abraham Lincoln

"The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything."
Theodore Roosevelt

"Drink Coffee. Do stupid things faster, with more energy."
-On coffee mug

If it is not useful or necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to make it. If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to enhance it by adding what is not an integral part of its usefulness or necessity.
And finally: If it is both useful and necessary and you can recognize and eliminate what is not essential, then go ahead and make it as beautifully as you can.
-from "the rule of thumb for Shaker creations", from ShakerBuilt by Paul Rochleau & June Sprigg

"Work should always be fun....
We all only have one life.
A third of life is work.
Without happiness and fun, work becomes hell."
-IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad,

"No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had spent more time alone with my computer.'"
-Danielle Bunten Berry

Question of the day

Do you ever sit at your desk at work (or kitchen table at home) by yourself and wonder "Is this what I'm meant to be doing?". I mean, in life - is this exactly what you should be doing? After all, you only have so much time left, shouldn't you be spending it as well as you can?

Just wondering if it's only me that does that :)

Until the next time,

-Buford Twain

Coding faster and better - by not coding

So, this morning I was stuck on a thorny problem. I was going around in circles and getting frustrated. I ended up just stopping work completely, had lunch and went for a walk. When I got back, an idea had popped into my head that simplified the problem and I was able to finish coding the feature in a couple of hours. If I had stayed at my keyboard I am pretty sure I would never had come up with that idea and would probably still be stuck. It's paradoxical but sometimes it's best to step away and do nothing in order to be more productive.

Time for the quote of the day:

"The trouble with programmers is that you can never tell what a programmer is doing
until it's too late."
-Seymour Cray

-Buford Twain

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (at work)

The idea of men discriminating against women to prevent them from pursuing certain jobs or from reaching higher-level positions such as senior management in America is a myth.

Women can and will do the jobs that they are capable of and that they want to do.

I make these statements on the basis of one observation:

American corporate life is driven almost completely by greed.

So, if a male hiring manager can hire a woman that will make him look good, he will.
That greedy manager wants a bigger bonus and if she can get him that bonus he will hire her.

Let me add this: Men are pigs and will lust after women, demean them, try to hit on them, and so on, at work and outside work. That seems to be an unfortunate part of male DNA.

But, when it comes down to getting the job done, a man tends to hire the best person for the job. If the applicate is a woman I would even bet money that she has an advantage over a male applicant with the same qualifications (the eye-candy factor).

So, why are there so few women scientists and computer engineers in the USA?

I would counter that with the following questions:

Why are there so few women plumbers in the USA?
Why are there so few women electricians in the USA?
Why are there so few women dry-wallers in the USA?
Why are there so few women auto mechanics in the USA?
Why are there so few women participating on volunteer open source software projects like linux and firefox?
Why are there so few women on the John Deere tractor repair forums?
Why are there so few women that work on their cars on weekends?
Why is it mostly the men who do the mechanical repair work around the house?

Here's the reason: In general, women don't like to be plumbers, electricians or dry-wallers,
they don't enjoy mechanical or dirty work, and they don't like writing software. Extrapolating this slightly, I claim that women don't enjoy senior management either.

At some point, we need to wake up and smell the stale coffee that has spent all day simmering in the office kitchen-area: there are some things that women just don't want to do, and they won't do those things even if they pay pretty well.

Cindi Lauper put it best: Girls just wanna have fun.

Women do the jobs that they like to do, and are less influenced by money and power than men are. So, if we stopped trying to lure them into doing the other jobs that they don't really enjoy, and won't be happy in, maybe we'd all be happier.

Time for today's quote, that is not surprisingly by a woman:

Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
-Marian Wright Edelman:

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain as always

Your Friend,

-Buford Twain

An Employee's Guide to Achieving Financial Security in America - In several excruciatingly difficult steps

Gentle reader,

Here are some thoughts on making sure that you don't spend your life in a state of continual financial stress. There are a number of steps. I'm afraid the first step is a difficult one. The other steps are difficult also. Hi-ho, let's get started anyway.

The first step is for you to get a very high paying job. How do you do that? Well, it depends on the job but you should definitely spend some time researching jobs that pay well. For some you will need to invest years into college (medicine, law). For some you will need to be extremely smart (Wall Street quantitative analyst). For some you will need to be able to handle large quantities of boredom and stress (management, law). For others you will need the ability to successfully lie to other people (sales, law). OK, I gave lawyers a hard time there. If you have a family and you want a decent house to put them in, you should aim for $100k or above. There aren't many jobs that pay that much these days, you may have noticed. That's what makes this step so difficult. The problem with high-paying jobs is that, usually, the amount of stress you will have to deal with is directly proportional to your salary.

Why such an emphasis on a high-paying job? Well, let's be honest. Inflation has been creeping up (gas, energy, education, little things like that). In particular, housing has gone up by a ridiculous amount over the past 5 years. I find it very frustrating that if I was starting out today I would not be able to afford my own house. I know it's nice for some to have their property value appreciate but not to the point where young people cannot afford to buy a place of their own. So, if you want a decent house you will probably need to make a lot of money.

The second step is for you to live below your means. There are many places you can go to read suggestions (e.g. blogs and finance web sites). I think you should aim to have at least $500 of cash left over every month to save, after all other expenses, including maxing out your 401(k). Maxing out your 401(k) means that you will need to invest around $15k a year, which is over $1k a month. See how step 1 is important? It's difficult to do that on a very low salary, particularly if you have a family. Be wary of the lure of the new car. That will take several hundred dollars a month away for a few years, at least. If you own your own house, your mortgage will most probably be your biggest expense. Don't underestimate heating and cooling as well, depending on where you live. Energy costs are rising far quicker than inflation. Owning a house in general is a constant source of expenses.

The third step is for you to build up an emergency fund. You should aim for around 6 months of expenses, but more is better. Be aware of the fact that if you lose your job, you will probably have to COBRA (continue paying for, by yourself) your health care. That can be EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE for a family. We are talking $1000 a month or more. That cost should be included when you are figuring your monthly expenses. Keep your emergency fund in a high-interest account or treasury bonds, something that is VERY SAFE.

The fourth step is for you to be VERY CAREFUL about your career. You do NOT want to lose your job for an extended period. That is terrible, financially (as well as emotionally). Basic advice here is to avoid companies that are clearly in trouble (unfortunately, most companies will be in trouble at some time, because many businesses are cyclical). If the company you work for is not making a profit, it is cause to be worried and start looking elsewhere. To this point, you must MANAGE YOUR OWN CAREER. Update your skills constantly, make sure that you are competitive. Be aware of current salaries for your type of work. Are you highly paid? BEWARE. You are a target for losing your job unless you are obviously justifying your higher-than-average salary. By the way, it is a fact of life that NOBODY cares about your career as much as you do, so look out for yourself.

Since so few companies offer pensions any more, the fifth step is to invest steadily for your retirement and invest in the right things. Again, you can read books about this. A good one is "The four pillars of Investing" by William Bernstein. Avoid the following mistakes:
* Do not invest all your money in your company's stock! Remember what happened to Enron?
* Do not invest more than a few percent of your savings in any one particular stock. Consider low-cost index funds or ETFs (exchange-traded funds). Google for IYY (Dow Jones total market) or EFA (European large cap).

Also, do not overlook international funds. Many very intelligent investors are sounding warnings about the US economy. Are they right? Beats me. But it doesn't hurt to diversify into European stocks, and maybe consider China and India as well. Once you have picked what you want to invest in, STICK WITH IT. Don't be constantly changing your mind and chasing "hot" sectors. Every day the press focuses on what the stock market has done. Forget about it. You need to invest your money for the long term (20, 30 years). If you are investing steadily (e.g. every month) it is best for you that the stock market goes DOWN for a while anyway, especially when you are starting out. It's like prices being cheap at the supermarket.

Well, that's it, I have run out of advice for now so on to today's quote...

If you're old enough to start thinking about sex, you're old enough to start saving for retirement.
-Phil DeMuth


Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain as always,

your friend,

Buford Twain

Two Weeks Off a Year

Gentle reader,

Somehow, we need to get more leisure/vacation time. Aside from just feeling downright tired all the time, we are losing many ideas and are spending time doing all the wrong things while not having time to do the right things.

Have you ever noticed what happens when you take an extended vacation? I am not talking here about a hectic five day trip to DisneyWorld (TM). I am talking about taking a vacation where you do "nothing".

As you decompress, you start to forget the pressures and stress of your job. You become happier. Time takes on a different feeling. Your time is your own and not somebody else's. You are not as hurried, you can focus on things that YOU want to do, not that somebody else wants you to do.

And after a few days, you might start to notice something else.

If you are like me, after a few days, your brain may start to throw out ideas and thoughts that previously would have been suppressed, pushed to the back of your brain as being too impractical. Thoughts that are radical and "foolish". Big thoughts.

For example, how can I improve life for others? How can I work less and have more time to myself? How can I spend more time with my children? How can I do more of the things that make me happy?

Sometimes, I will get some ideas about how I can make a positive difference to the lives of others. For example, would it be possible for me to set up a network of buses that could carry people economically from the suburbs to their jobs downtown, so they wouldn't need to drive any more? Would it be practical for me to install a big wind turbine near my house, to generate electricity to help
slow down climate change and save money in the long run? How about doing some more writing and maybe even beginning that novel I have been meaning to write? What can I do to organize non-religious people to come together and
do projects for the benefit of others (e.g. helping the poor and elderly)? And so on.

All these thoughts I find far more important than working. And yet, after a week or so, I am forced to go back to work and those thoughts disappear, or are pushed back into the back of my brain, lying dormant.

If we had a more equal balance between work, and leisure, I think we would see many benefits because some of these ideas would be able to see the light of day, instead of becoming pipe dreams. And then I wonder to myself, how many millions, billions of fantastic ideas have died in someone's brain, just because they don't have enough time to do something about them?

Ultimately I suppose the key is to become independently wealthy. I am trying to do that, but it is tough and paradoxically, I find that this requires even MORE time than simply "working for a living". It seems to me like the 2 weeks off a
year rule was set up on purpose to make sure people stay docile, to make sure that they keep their noses to the grindstone and don't think of anything too radical, until they are too old and tired to really do anything beyond play
golf. We are cogs in a gigantic industrial machine that chews us up, and then spits us out. With just 2 weeks of vacation time a year life becomes just a gigantic treadmill, from school, to working, and ultimately to the grave, with precious few redeeming features beyond the joys of friends and family that one doesn't see often enough.

If you read this and you own a company, consider increasing the amount of vacation time you offer. Perhaps you won't immediately realize any financial benefits. But overall, happiness will increase. And isn't that what life is all about?

Time for today's quote:

A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free.
-Nikos Kazantzakis


Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain,

Your Friend,

Buford Twain

Are you Middle Class or Working Class?

Gentle reader,

Do you consider yourself Working Class or Middle Class?

I am guessing that you answered what the vast majority of people in the US would answer: "Middle Class!".

But, what does that mean, and how do we define the "Middle" and "Working" classes"?

Let me suggest a very simple definition of Working Class, based on one simple test:

You belong to the working class if the majority of adults in your household *need* to work for a living in order to make ends meet.

I think this is a reasonable definition. Why? Because as soon as the percentage of working adults
in a household rises above 50% life becomes more about survival than "the pursuit of happiness". To use the vernacular: "It Mostly Sucks (TM)". Even if you enjoy what you do, your time is no longer your own. Well, aside from those 2 weeks of vacation (assuming that you even get that much).

In other words...

If you are a parent in a single-parent household and you need to work then using this definition
you belong to the Working Class, irrespective of the particular job that you have.

And, if you belong to a 2-parent household and both need to work to meet expenses then your
family is Working Class.

I don't know about you, but I find that it is becoming tougher to make ends meet than 10 years ago. House prices have increased, heating and gasoline are more expensive. Wages haven't really risen much, in real terms (adjusted for inflation). Many families are finding that they need both parents to be working. I think that in the future, a lot people who thought that they were middle class are going to find out that they are really Working Class.

And on to the quote for today:

If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him.
-Cardinal Richelieu

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain,

Your friend,

Buford Twain

Don't be Number 1. Be Number 2.

Gentle reader,

Despite what they may say ("our employees are our greatest asset!"), companies don't have your best interests at heart. Trust me on that.

They are there to make money and that's about it.

Not-for-profit companies may be the exception (I have never worked full-time at one) but somehow, I doubt it.

Given that it's a dog-eat-dog world, what can you do to improve your chances at thriving and surviving as an employee commando in the corporate jungle?

Here's a tip that may seem counter-intuitive but bear with me, all shall be revealed...

Don't be Number 1 at work...(even though you definitely have what it takes)
Don't be number 3 at work...
Be Number 2 at work (no, not in the scatological sense).

If you are number 1, you might be paid more than the others but that comes with some serious drawbacks. You are too smart to fall into that trap. It means...

* You are the person they all turn to in a crisis. This means: LOTS OF PRESSURE
* You must be driven and competitive. In other words, STRESSED OUT
* You will be expected to lead the critical projects. Or, YOU WILL LIVE AT THE OFFICE

If you are number 3 (i.e. significantly below number 1) you will have the following fun little issues to deal with:

* You will be passed over for promotions and will therefore MAKE MUCH LESS MONEY
* You will be viewed as a bit of a LOSER and will therefore be the FIRST TO GET THE BOOT when the layoffs start.
* You will probably not enjoy your job and so you will be MISERABLE at work

However, if you are #2, or just ever-so-slightly behind number 1, you will enjoy the following benefits:

* You will get to work on some of the most INTERESTING PROJECTS.
* You will be PAID REASONABLY WELL (though, of course, not as well as #1)
* You will enjoy PRETTY GOOD JOB SECURITY
* You will enjoy a moderate amount of prestige
* You will not have a lot of pressure, since the #1 guy or gal will be taking most of it (haha!)

It's a bit like trailing directly behind Lance Armstrong in the Tour-de-France.

It's similar to following in the slipstream of an 18-wheeler.

Or driving right behind the speeding emergency vehicle when traffic is stuck.

It's almost (but not quite) immoral (you are purposefully holding back your best work)
It's a little bit risky (you might just get promoted to the #1 spot. Aaargh!) but...
It can be VERY ADVANTAGEOUS

Come on, you know it makes sense. You're a savvy slacker.

And on to the quote for the day...

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
-Anatole France

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain as always,

Your friend,

Buford Twain