> -----Original Message----- > From: Adam Haskell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 8:18 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Working for Big Ass Companies > > > I'm in the same boat: IBM consulting was asked to make an "impartial" > > decision concerning our technology need. Surprise! They suggested > > WebSphere on AIX. > > We are heavily into IBMs technologey, we even ran Websephere studio > for a while which is the commerciasl version of eclipse... we also use > RUP clearcase and lotus we're an IBM company....
Yup - we DO run WebSphere Studio (although I personally don't know the beastie) and we're all Notes (although before the merger we were all Exchange/Outlook - talk about a step down). The three mainframes are all IBM and DB2 and the database servers are all getting moved to UDB (we were SQL server before the merger). > > I can't get anybody to actually believe that ColdFusion actually > compliments > > this choice. I keep getting told that it "could never handle the load" > or > > that it's "nothing but a prototyping system". > > This is where we get lucky here people actually see the value of MX > (or MX7) I am hoping to see some good MX7 stuff by years end, which > probably means next year, we have one POC runnign right now on a > Websephere box. First they need to be reminded that if CF can't handle > the load thats implicitly saying Java cannot handle the load either. Too true. We've still got about 60 apps running on CF 4.5 (CF is considered a "rust in place" technology). However we've only got another year on our NT 4.x support contract from MS so they're moving everybody off to Windows 2003. I've made the ase (I think successfully) that we should attempt to run 4.5 on that so it looks like we might (begrudgingly) get a CF upgrade after 6 years! > If it can not handle the load why does the gov't use it so much on > critical systems. If its a prototyping language why does a divisdion > of Ebay (half.com) use it for parts of thier website. My suggestion > was to take one of our Java achitects to CFUNITED and let him meet > some fo the people out there that are doing CF on clusters or load > balanced systems and let them talk first hand with those of us out > there using CF to its full potential...I know inhouse we are not even > close....Just my nickle and a few pennies. The main problem really isn't convincing people standing in front of me - I can really do that. Instead it's the idea if compartmentalization that they've set up: I am simply not allowed to address the people that could make this decision. Before the merger we were still a big company (around 3,000 people - maybe four times that if you counted detached agencies) but I could actually get a few minutes of ANYBODY's time (CEO, CIO, CTO, etc) if I needed it. On a tangent we also had two defined advancement tracks: technical and managerial. You could advance just as far in each (well - at least to the directorial board). I was a "level 30" (senior consultant) after 6 years and I was paid the same as a vice president. Managers managed, tech folks developed but they were really just jobs - everybody was peers. So when there was a problem we all threw in together and figured it out. We would get actual yearly raises (good raises to - in six years I never got less than a 5% raise, but twice I got 15% raises). We also got small, but significant yearly bonuses (they were generally small for salaried employees because the raises were so good, but larger for hourly folks). We had yearly reviews - our managers, together with at least three of our internal "customers" would review our work and the average rating would dictate the reward (this allowed people with "bad" managers to still get a fair shake). We then reviewed our managers with they're managers. We had a full, subsidized cafeteria, an in-house clinic and health club, the either floor was dedicated to free training in all aspects of the business and technology (open classes, CBTs, etc). We had free bottled water. We often (at least six or seven times a year) had either group or company events: ice cream parties, afternoons off to go to a movie (we considered "Toy Story" to be research for our multimedia work). Now, after the merger, there is a line between "workers" and "bosses" - the only way to advance is to take on management responsibilities (which leads directly to a vast implementation of the Peter Principle). All works is segmented amongst distinct teams who are generally adversarial to each other: each teams primary responsibility seems to be diverting work from itself and blaming others for their delays or problems. It's a very "blame based" corporate culture: when a problem occurs we might start with a conference call of 5 people - but by the time the finger-pointing stops we've wasted an hour and the call now has over 75 people on it. This is primarily because we don't get raises any longer. We get "variable compensation" - that means that the first time you get blamed for something (anything!) you can kiss half your year-end bonus goodbye - there is NO WAY to redeem yourself. We get a yearly review done soley by our immediate manager (even if we don't actually do project work for them) and have no outlet to review our manager's performance. They've sold our building (we're still leasing two of the ten floors we used to occupy). Our cafeteria is now an expensive coffee stand, we don't have a health club or clinic. We have to pay $10 to join "water clubs". We can still go to training, but we have to get business approval and got a class off-site. All told I guess, through my whining, I'm simply saying I didn't like the merger. But when talking about this I've sometimes attributed it to a "New York" style of management rather than the "Boston" style of management we had (I've worked for several other large firms in Boston). The argument has come back that this is just a "Fortune 50" style of management period. That's why I'm wondering about other people in big ass companies. As I said - the benefits of working in a bib place simply can't be beat - and you'll need them if that big place is going to destroy you through frustration and neglect. ;^) Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:154229 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
