I think you guys are mixing up being productive after the first day with being able to take everything over and run the site by yourself. And remember this isn't a test, it's just asking for our personal opinions of our personal experience. There are all types an levels of systems programmers, just like any other profession.
No one should take anyone else'[s opinions for anything other than the face value of being their opinion. I really hate getting all the personal flaming email from people who seem to think that I have no business giving my opinion because I have "an unfair advantage". I'm not sure I even understand the unfairness but I certainly don't appreciate the personal email if all you are going to do is whine and complain about my opinion. It's not like I'm not going to have an opinion, and whether you agree with me or not is totally irrelevant (to me). My personal opinion was, and still is, that an "experienced" systems programmer should have zero problems being productive after or even during that first day. To be able to manage the entire site could take a while, but that wasn't what was originally asked. I also personally don't believe that you hire a senior systems programmer to spend months training them, that's what junior people are for. My opinion again is that taking 6 months to come up to speed, or even 2 months it totally outrageous to me. Are there things that you won't know about after the first day or so, of course, but they should be limited to what might be archaic (or seem to be archaic) local procedures, not just "being" a systems programmer. I know a lot of systems programmers and some are very, very good, and would be productive even quicker than I would, But some are quite bad, and no amount of time will make then good. So, in the end, this was an opinion question, there is no "right" or "wrong" answer to someone honest opinion, but apparently some of you don't want others to have an opinion unless it is the same one you have. I can live with that, just don't send me personal email about it. Brian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
