The Obama Presidency - 2008 & 2012

[Warhammer]

One of the other problems is two fold:

1) Many companies are putting too many conditions on what they need for a position. I've seen some factory jobs requiring a 4 yr degree (which the worker would never use!).

2) Many of the young kids entering the workforce are not looking at get-your-hands dirty jobs. There are a slew of positions for blue collar tech positions that companies are having a hard time filling because the younger generations don't want to do that sort of work.

[Coffee Warlord]

My current company:

CTO - No college degree.
4/6 Developers - No college degree.
1/1 Network Admin - No college degree.

Most of the best IT folks I've worked with over my 15ish years in the industry either have no degree, or if they do, it's unrelated. There's just not much in most development jobs that one can learn in a college classroom - at least not how it's presently taught.

IMO, if colleges had a software development program that functioned more like a classic trade school, graduates would enter the job market much more prepared.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

My current company:

CTO - No college degree.
4/6 Developers - No college degree.
1/1 Network Admin - No college degree.

Most of the best IT folks I've worked with over my 15ish years in the industry either have no degree, or if they do, it's unrelated. There's just not much in most development jobs that one can learn in a college classroom - at least not how it's presently taught.

IMO, if colleges had a software development program that functioned more like a classic trade school, graduates would enter the job market much more prepared.

I'd agree with this. I have two bachelor degrees and a master's degree. My first employer in IT basically saw my college background as a sign that I was a motivated worker and put me in an eight week IT training class to get me up and going. Spent 12 years in the industry after having no experience in IT during my six years in college. The skill set can be taught. The main thing is getting the right people in place to learn and implement it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

There are a slew of positions for blue collar tech positions that companies are having a hard time filling because the younger generations don't want to do that sort of work.

Damned if I run across many that want to do any sort of work.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

1) Many companies are putting too many conditions on what they need for a position. I've seen some factory jobs requiring a 4 yr degree (which the worker would never use!).

This is DEFINITELY the case - I remember seeing adverts for C# developers when it'd first come out which required 4 years experience in a language which had only been out for a couple of years

2) Many of the young kids entering the workforce are not looking at get-your-hands dirty jobs. There are a slew of positions for blue collar tech positions that companies are having a hard time filling because the younger generations don't want to do that sort of work.

I agree totally - this is one of the reasons I've told my daughter (19) that she's getting a job during the summer next year, she's never had one and won't truly appreciate her career unless she has more mundane jobs to compare it to ... as such it might sound odd, but I want her to spend several months stacking shelves or cleaning toilets ... it'll make her appreciate her career all the more once she graduates.

PS - For the record my full resume would include such jobs as: Stock Filler, Factory Worker and would include toilet cleaner ... but the 17 year old me was turned down for that one

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

I expect you're not being serious - but yes we are presently ... if you go to sigames.com you'll see what positions are open.

You guys need to open a satellite office in the U.S. Somewhere near (me) Portland, Maine would be ideal.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

You guys need to open a satellite office in the U.S. Somewhere near (me) Portland, Maine would be ideal.

I think you're in the wrong Portland for the US soccer hotbed

SI

[sterlingice]

Lets not kid ourselves, tho. Very few companies, especially larger ones, want to significantly train within. They want commoditized labor- cheap (or expensive) replaceable parts. Whereas it's a significant investment for a smaller company to go find new hires and, as such, have more invested in keeping an individual trained and happy, larger companies have "streamlined" hiring so it's not nearly as big an ordeal for them.

Every larger organization I've been a part of or contracted to was working towards simplifying individual components so labor costs were lower and more controlled.

SI

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

This is DEFINITELY the case - I remember seeing adverts for C# developers when it'd first come out which required 4 years experience in a language which had only been out for a couple of years


I agree totally - this is one of the reasons I've told my daughter (19) that she's getting a job during the summer next year, she's never had one and won't truly appreciate her career unless she has more mundane jobs to compare it to ... as such it might sound odd, but I want her to spend several months stacking shelves or cleaning toilets ... it'll make her appreciate her career all the more once she graduates.

PS - For the record my full resume would include such jobs as: Stock Filler, Factory Worker and would include toilet cleaner ... but the 17 year old me was turned down for that one

My Dad was always willing to pull strings to get us jobs. The problem was his strings led to jobs like grave maintenance, sludge pond maintenance and road crew. By the time I saw my three brothers go through this, I found my own job at a grocery store.

[DaddyTorgo]

I firmly believe everyone should have a nice mundane job for a couple years in HS or at worst during summers in early college years. It really sets your head on straight.

My full resume would start in elementary school (4th grade) when I was a paperboy for our local neighborhood. Every morning. Rain, snow, etc. Been working ever since.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Arles

Writing software is a lot like translating language. If you understand algorithms and solving problems, learning to code isn't insurmountable.

Code is definitely the easy part, it's algorithms and data structures that so many self-taught programmers seem to have trouble with. For so many kids that want to go into game programming (and for many of them that means "I want to work on Call of Duty!" which affects this list), when I tell them they should take physics, calculus, algorithms, and data structures, they don't believe me, they think they can just take those l33t web hacker skillz and get cracking.

There are definitely exceptions, though, and depending on the particular programming job you might get away just fine with l33t hacker skillz. The programmers that have a natural feel for algorithms and data structures without formal training are great to find...

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by bob

The problem is a lot of those jobs are never coming back, either due to technological gains or more lean companies. Its a real problem that I have no clue how to solve.

I've been blessed to never have to be on unemployment, so i have a question - are those on unemployment required to do any sort of community service or other work while getting benefits? I suppose this sort of thing could vary state to state, but I think if those on benefits were required to work one day a week cleaning parks, working in animal shelters, whatever, others would be more willing to fund extended unemployment. And don't tell me people can't look for jobs then - no one spends 40 hours a week searching.

I didn't see anyone answer this yet. The only requirement for a person on unemployment is to make sufficient "job contacts" in a week. In Wisconsin, that is 2 contacts. A contact can be as simple as sending your resume in response to an online posting. Community service is not a requirement. Working anywhere that pays you can cause problems with unemployment benefits. At the very least, it causes confusion on filing for benefits. It is better for an unemployed person to not work at all if they can't work enough to at least cover the unemployment benefits.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I firmly believe everyone should have a nice mundane job for a couple years in HS or at worst during summers in early college years. It really sets your head on straight.

My full resume would start in elementary school (4th grade) when I was a paperboy for our local neighborhood. Every morning. Rain, snow, etc. Been working ever since.

Agree 1000%. From age 14 to 20, I worked on a farm, refereed soccer, umped baseball, painted exteriors for business, did construction, stocked inventory at retail stores, sold computers and wrote for my college paper. Finally, at age 21, I got a summer internship with Honeywell for my "career". If you can learn a decent work ethic between the ages of 14-19, you will be more successful than most - independent of whatever arena you enter.

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Lets not kid ourselves, tho. Very few companies, especially larger ones, want to significantly train within. They want commoditized labor- cheap (or expensive) replaceable parts. Whereas it's a significant investment for a smaller company to go find new hires and, as such, have more invested in keeping an individual trained and happy, larger companies have "streamlined" hiring so it's not nearly as big an ordeal for them.

Every larger organization I've been a part of or contracted to was working towards simplifying individual components so labor costs were lower and more controlled.

That was the model 2-3 years ago, but a lot of companies are investing more in their own workers. The company I am Manager at now has done this with 3-4 different people. What you find is it's much better to "promote within" and train a motivated employee that knows your business and doesn't make a ton than deal with big salary "authorities" on certain subjects that want a ton of money and want to redo everything you have setup because they feel they know best.

We had a DBA open position and got three qualified guys with a ton of EXP who wanted top line money. They each made it to our final round of interviews and each had massive changes they wanted to do to make our systems better. The cost to do this would have been massive (man hours + software/hardware). So, instead, we promoted a guy who was a hardware tech but a very good problem solver. In a year, he has become a very good DBA and makes a fair salary now (because he doesn't have the 5-7 years yet to demand more). Plus, we didn't have to buy one piece of hardware as he understands we don't sell database jobs/procedures - we sell wafers

Sometimes "good enough and cheap" is better than "perfect and expensive". That's something a lot of high-paid experts don't like to explore.

[sterlingice]

I agree with you that I think it's typically better to invest in your own people at least for anything more than entry level (entry level- just find the correct attitudes and a real base level of competence as you can teach the rest, and you build yourself a competent farm system for recruiting up the ladder). I just don't think most large companies see it that way

SI

[Edward64]

Call me jaded but I think its very difficult to train an older worker in non-tech to tech. Younger kids can absorb and adapt. In my experience, older workers do not make this transition as successfully or at all.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Call me jaded but I think its very difficult to train an older worker in non-tech to tech. Younger kids can absorb and adapt. In my experience, older workers do not make this transition as successfully or at all.

Depends on the mentality of the individual, their willingness to learn and mentality in my opinion - on my Computer Science course at university was a REALLY inspirational lass in her 50's who was frankly awesome, I don't think she was the best programmer out of us - but her attitude, passion and general approach was fantastic and I learnt a lot from her.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Arles

We had a DBA open position and got three qualified guys with a ton of EXP who wanted top line money. They each made it to our final round of interviews and each had massive changes they wanted to do to make our systems better. The cost to do this would have been massive (man hours + software/hardware). So, instead, we promoted a guy who was a hardware tech but a very good problem solver. In a year, he has become a very good DBA and makes a fair salary now (because he doesn't have the 5-7 years yet to demand more). Plus, we didn't have to buy one piece of hardware as he understands we don't sell database jobs/procedures - we sell wafers

Sometimes "good enough and cheap" is better than "perfect and expensive". That's something a lot of high-paid experts don't like to explore.

Yup, I tell the guys I work with right now that the our business is cutting back on funds. That means the old days when we could have the best software tools and the best engineers are over. Can you work with the open frameworks and build and use what we need or do I need to get the fully-built software and get a cheap IT dude to maintain it. The choice is yours. And they usually agree to go with the less expensive software solution.

Basically: "Do you want badass software or badass engineers?"

Originally Posted by Edward64

Call me jaded but I think its very difficult to train an older worker in non-tech to tech. Younger kids can absorb and adapt. In my experience, older workers do not make this transition as successfully or at all.

I mostly agree. But there are some brilliant old dudes out there too. Depends a lot on time, passion, and frame of mind.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Christie Aide Tied To Bridge Lane Closings

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Christie Aide Tied To Bridge Lane Closings

Don't be shocked if we eventually learn that this information was casually mentioned to the NYT and others by Republicans.

I'd be downright giddy to see this waste of protoplasm relegated to being a footnote.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Don't be shocked if we eventually learn that this information was casually mentioned to the NYT and others by Republicans.

I'd be downright giddy to see this waste of protoplasm relegated to being a footnote.

Yeah, I'm not so sure that being the candidate of all people (i.e. appealing to both sides) is a good idea if you're a politician in this climate. Then you've got both sides looking to sabotage your campaign.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Don't be shocked if we eventually learn that this information was casually mentioned to the NYT and others by Republicans.

I'd be downright giddy to see this waste of protoplasm relegated to being a footnote.

The emails came via FOIA requests by several media organizations. The original story started via the Ft. Lee mayor complaining about the "study" being political payback.

If this sinks Christie it will be an amazing fumble. He was going to win the election by a landslide, and that was obvious months before this. He had no need to use any dirty tricks to win.

[molson]

Your move, Jeb Bush!

Edit: I think Christie is the only electable Republican presidential candidate and my gut reaction is that this will blow over and some staffer will take the fall.

[sabotai]

While the emails do not establish that the governor himself called for the lane closings, they do show his staff was intimately involved

Just like the Barksdale crew in The Wire, you always keep the top dog away from any means of communication that can be traced/recorded.

[bhlloy]

That is unbelievably fucked up though. Hopefully nobody died in the back of an ambulance but at best it made thousands of commuters lives hell for a couple of days. I wonder if you could make a criminal case out of it somewhere

[NobodyHere]

After reading the article, unless it's proven that Christie had direct knowledge of what was going on or approved of it I don't think this will be enough to sink him. It will be more akin to the IRS targeting conservatives groups.

On another note apparently a lot of the documents released had redacted information. If the released parts are this juicy, what wasn't released?

[albionmoonlight]

BREAKING NEWS: Man who sincerely and honestly believes that he, personally, should be the most powerful man on Earth has issues with narcissism and abuse of power.

I know that it is important to do our due diligence and report all of these things. But, really, it's more surprising when people with naked ambition for the presidency don't have this kind of stuff in their past than when they do.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

That is unbelievably fucked up though. Hopefully nobody died in the back of an ambulance but at best it made thousands of commuters lives hell for a couple of days. I wonder if you could make a criminal case out of it somewhere

Civil suit?

[bhlloy]

Oh undoubtably a ton of civil suits coming - you know there's somebody who missed a plane or got in trouble for being late to work who is already lining this up. Usually I'd moan about a litigious society but in this case I hope they get burned.

And I agree they will never touch Christie for this, but the people on the email are toast

[Jon]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

After reading the article, unless it's proven that Christie had direct knowledge of what was going on or approved of it I don't think this will be enough to sink him. It will be more akin to the IRS targeting conservatives groups.

On another note apparently a lot of the documents released had redacted information. If the released parts are this juicy, what wasn't released?

This is much bigger than the IRS thing, since it involved more than a local office. It involved someone in Christie's office who was a Deputy Chief of Staff. It'd be as if the IRS decision was made by someone who worked in the West Wing.

It won't touch Christie, but it's bad nonetheless. It shows questionable executive decision making. He's either lying about it, has no idea what's going on in his office, or has questionable judgment on who he places in higher positions of authority.

If the NJ US Attorney has political inspirations, he can do what Christie did--start a corruption investigation.

[JPhillips]

This first broke 117 days ago. Since then he's accepted the resignation of two Port Authority employees. Now he's shocked that something happened and he was lied to?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

BREAKING NEWS: Man who sincerely and honestly believes that he, personally, should be the most powerful man on Earth has issues with narcissism and abuse of power.

I know that it is important to do our due diligence and report all of these things. But, really, it's more surprising when people with naked ambition for the presidency don't have this kind of stuff in their past than when they do.

Yeah- I guess it's a slow news cycle.

SI

[JPhillips]

I'm not sure I believe Christie, but he's doing a very good job in his press conference. He's striking just the right tone, IMO.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'm not sure I believe Christie, but he's doing a very good job in his press conference. He's striking just the right tone, IMO.

It could just be that I am from NJ, but the Letterman top 10 last night was pretty epic. I recommend youtubing it.

[Galaxy]

Rather poor jobs report. Not good.

[flere-imsaho]

And November's was better than expected. Your point?

[sterlingice]

So where is this Christie news coming from? I can come up with 3 possible explanations but I'm sure there are more:
1) GOP wants to bury him before he gets a chance to get out there
2) Christie wants to float some of these things to get them out of the way now as opposed to closer to 2016
3) The Clinton machine is getting an early start.

SI

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

So where is this Christie news coming from? I can come up with 3 possible explanations but I'm sure there are more:
1) GOP wants to bury him before he gets a chance to get out there
2) Christie wants to float some of these things to get them out of the way now as opposed to closer to 2016
3) The Clinton machine is getting an early start.

SI

It's too early for #1 or #3. They would wait until closer to the primary and try to sink him right before Iowa/NH. For #2, his press conferences before the e-mails were released don't make sense.

I think this is just a snowball effect of the initial story. For instance, there is a story out now about Christie cancelling a meeting with the Jersey City mayor after a declined endorsement. That would get zero attention before this scandal, but now every little thing like that becomes a story because it's tied to the main story and it fits the Christie bully narrative.

[flere-imsaho]

A commentary I read (sorry, can't remember the link) posits that it's not motivated by a political rival (current or potential), but has blown up because Christie's a juicy target for the press, and any indication that there's fire behind the smoke has been enough for them to try and press home their advantage.

[ISiddiqui]

One does wonder what effect this will have on Hillary Clinton. Obviously the Clintons have had enemy lists and petty reprisals. Wonder if that sort of thing will come out with Hillary in the Democratic Primary, or if they are liking that this is so early in the Presidential race that it'll be super old news by the time everyone is running.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

One does wonder what effect this will have on Hillary Clinton. Obviously the Clintons have had enemy lists and petty reprisals. Wonder if that sort of thing will come out with Hillary in the Democratic Primary, or if they are liking that this is so early in the Presidential race that it'll be super old news by the time everyone is running.

That got dealt with way back when Bill won two terms. It will be an issue if the opponent is any good, but as we've seen from both sides if you trot out a lousy candidate, it doesn't matter what the other guy has done, he'll / she'll still win.

[Edward64]

Waiting to see the details, but a good thing to get rid of the uncertainty

Congressional leaders back $1 trillion spending bill - CNN.com

Washington (CNN) -- Congressional leaders say they have agreed on a roughly $1 trillion spending bill that will fund the U.S. government through the end of the 2014 budget year.

Shaking off three years of a bitter partisan freeze, Democratic and Republican negotiators unveiled the $1.012 trillion spending deal Monday night.
:
:
The measure follows the guidelines laid out in the budget agreement Congress passed in December.

In a joint statement, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees said the bill "keeps the government open and eliminates the uncertainty and economic instability of stop-gap governing."

[flere-imsaho]

It's sad that we've gotten to the oint where passing a spending bill for one year is cause to break out the hallelujahs.

[Buccaneer]

A step in the right direction - a proposed budget that is actually lower than the previous year (years?).

[Thomkal]

amazing that the fact that the mid-term elections are coming and both sides need the support of the voters, so finally "positive" things can happen now after more gridlock than ever before.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan;2149426 [SIZE=4

on 10/21/2009[/size]]Interesting discussion going on about the official government website. It appears that the administration only cares about your opinion on health reform if you support the administration's position. There is a button on the front page where you can click on it to voice support for the bill, but no place to click if you want to voice your opposition. This wouldn't be a big deal if it was on the White House site, but they've set up a separate, taxpayer-funded .gov website to make it appear unaffiliated with the White House.

Health Reform

whiskey....tango...foxtrot

Originally Posted by An email I received a few minutes ago

---

From: {redacated}
To: Webmaster
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 2:09 PM
Subject: broken health resource link on your site


Hi, My name is {redacted}, and I’m working on writing a guide to help individuals understand their health care options under the Affordable Care Act. I’m gathering quite a few resources, and firstly want to say thank you for all the valuable information you provide on your site.

I also wanted to let you know that I found a link on your site that doesn’t seem to be working. It’s a link to http://www.healthreform.gov/ (found on this page: The Obama Presidency - 2008 & 2012 - Page 123 - Front Office Football Central, which was archived when the Affordable Care Act became law. This page has replaced it: Health Insurance Marketplace, Affordable Care Act | HealthCare.gov, which I thought would be helpful to you in case you’d like to update the broken link.

I’ve also found a few other resources that I thought you may want to link to. These have been really useful to me, so I’m passing them on in hopes you’ll agree they would be useful and helpful to others via your site:

Affordable Care Act: Obamacare & Health Reform Facts: Affordable Care Act: Obamacare & Health Reform Facts | Kaiser Permanente

Understanding the Impact of Obamacare on Medicare: eHealth Medicare Infographics

What does Marketplace health insurance cover?
What does Marketplace health insurance cover, Essential Health Benefits | HealthCare.gov

Affordable Care Act: State-by-State Impact: State by State | HHS.gov/healthcare

The Lifestyle Revolutionaries Guide to Addiction Intervention: http://www.lakeviewhealth.com/InterventionGuide.pdf

I hope you’re able to use these on your site!

If you are looking for more info, I’d be happy to show you my guide when I’ve finished it! I’m hoping it will be very useful. Or if you know of any other resources that might help, I’m open to suggestions.

Thanks so much! Hope you’re able to use these resources. All my best,

{full name, address, work phone, and email address redacted}

P.S. If you’re not updating the site right now or if you’d just rather not worry about adding new links, please do let me know in an email response and I won’t contact you again.

[sterlingice]

I'm going to go with "I'm confused"

SI

[cartman]

My guess is that they took the referral logs from healthreform dot gov and sent a mass email to admins of sites that had a link to the page that had been clicked since the site went offline.

[panerd]

Redacted = Steve Bollea.

[gstelmack]

At least SOMEONE thinks we have valuable information on our site...

[Suburban Rhythm]

I can't believe they made it to the site and didn't get sidetracked by the Cool Images thread...