> And getting even worse. Whoop-de-doo, I can wear chinos and a sportshirt in
> the office now but had to wear a suit and tie 20 years ago. Of course, 20
> years ago I wasn't expected to work til 3 a.m. or all weekend because of
> "urgent" project work. This trade-off doesn't seem to bother the younger
> people I work with (I'm 50) at all. To me, they seem like the most deluded
> generation in history.
Well, so find another job. Seriously, why would you stay there, unless you are making a killer salary or you get to play with million dollar toys? I certainly wouldn't tolerate that crap. Where I work we have an unwritten agreement, if I pull long hours I take some time off. I enjoy that flexibility - I don't mind working an occasional weekend and then being able to blow off work some day because the previous night I was out until dawn partying, or something. I pulled a 36 hour straight "shift" before at a remote location and that didn't bother me becuase I rewarded myself with a day off with pay plus some damn nice meals on the company tab.
I am curious, have you been at this job more than 5 years? There are people I work with who work every weekend and never take their vacation time but ALL these guys are around your age and I think they feel that they need to be "good company men" or something, a loyalty I don't have because I tend to change jobs after a few years when I get bored on burnt out with the current employer's bullshit.
If employment in your field is not so great where you live then organise - I wasn't objecting to the notion of organised labour in technical fields just that when Kelley says that we are all, including hackers, going to have to do it I disagree because I know damn well we don't organise well, and we won't have to. I'm 27 so maybe it is the naievete of youth (I get a kick out of that when it comes from someone who might have been protesting the war and screaming "never trust anyone over 30" 30 years ago :-)) but like I said I don't expect or actually WANT to be doing what I do 20 years from now, so there is no way in hell I am going to lock myself into some kind of labour union. IT could be the most boring dull field on the planet in 20 years and the hackers will be in the space stations designing asteroid mining systems or something. And even that may need to "profesisonalize" and form guilds and unions and what not but by that time, so what - the hackers will be working with nanotech and bio-engineering by the time people start talking about it 40 years from now.
Matt
-- Matt Cramer <cramer at voicenet.com> http://www.voicenet.com/~cramer/ The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience.
-Robert Burton