but as the worst company i've ever worked at. in terms of existing companies that i've ever worked at, this is true. right now, i'm sitting at home totally stressed out and mentally paralyzed. i've only been in this type of state twice in my life. once after i graduated from college (a kind of de-pressurizing period) and the second was when i came back to LA from Japan and had my pre-ticketmaster stint. i've never felt so trapped in my life where i can't win no matter what. i didn't eat all day and i barely can move. it's terrible. i'm experiencing prolonged periods where i just stop and stare at my monitor, not knowing what to do.
i'm thinking of going to a shrine and praying for a meteor fragment to collide with the building. that would make life much easier.
overall, what can i say? i was reading today an article talking about unions in pro-wrestling. i think they need unions in IT as well. there really hasn't been much protection for workers in IT. i read about stories like Electronic Arts and how they were abusing employees with long hours, until someone blew the whistle on them. the closest thing to a union in IT is a consulting firm. but that's not really a union. there needs to be consistent governance of IT labor so that all employers treat people in IT equally. required governance should include the following:
- a set number of work hours
- required work hours exceeding the set amount would force employers to pay the workers a certain amount over a period
- regulated pay managed by the union. pay must be consistent with experience and industry type. this will prevent employers from underpaying people as well as creating a unified pay structure that prevents one company from easily snatching another just because of things like stock options or better pay (in other words, it works both ways).
- all benefits would be managed through the union
- certain work conditions are required (e.g. allowed breaks every 15 minutes, health checks for things like eye sight)
- continued training and testing to ensure skills can meet demand would be provided by the union, resulting in a higher quality workforce and preventing labor from easily being outsourced overseas
- certain conditions being required before allowing outsourcing; in other words, a legal check list of items approved by the union in a certain district to prevent companies from easily lowering cost and causing local employees from losing their jobs
- the inability for companies to mark with prejudice employees who constantly jump ship; it is up to the employer to constantly provide satisfactory working conditions before demonstrating that a person can be classified as a job hopper. And those working conditions must be periodically approved by the union.
- opportunities for those who choose to move to different industries. for instance, a web developer being allowed to go to gaming. in these instances, the union would provide training to allow the developer to meet demands.
- allowing the union to boycott companies accused of abusing this body. the intent is to penalize/cripple companies who disagree with these terms while ensuring that these companies do not attempt to go around the union by giving under-the-table bribes to people.
- the constant education of potential employers in the realm of IT so that IT is consistently handled among companies.
obviously, there are more issues at stake. however, i think this is a good start as a potential charter for an IT union. what has been made clear to me as someone working in the IT industry for 8 years is that IT typically is an abused area. almost every industry requires an IT component these days. however, few really understand how to handle IT; generally these companies that understand IT are older, more experienced companies that have good staff. the newer ones that are not focused around IT but want to utilize it tend to be the ones that have the hardest time grasping the concept of IT because they are more business driven. no matter what the scenario is here, it's necessary for the industry to be regulated by a union for fairness.
when i see so many failed software projects or environments that are strict and prohibitive because of certain regulations, i feel that the responsibility is on the business side because their demands for IT were too high and their understanding for the necessary processes and resources have been inadequate. for instance, i see these people with certifications on PMP who never worked on a single piece of software in their life. however, when given a software project, they never listen to their developers and don't wrap their heads around the IT side. the excuse is, "I'm not technical!" if that's going to be the case, why even allow these people the opportunity for partaking in these projects? while i do agree that software projects are probably some of the hardest to handle due to the ubiquitous nature of software, i find it unsettling that companies continue to allow non-qualified people to handle them. just as unsettling is seeing people who lack proper experience lead groups because of corporate nepotism or unethical favoritism.
i think the software industry in general has been polluted with so many different types of people that it has been hard for companies to correctly judge their qualifications. if the qualifications were certified not just through exams, but through a regulatory body like a union, i feel that this pollution would be lessened. naturally, other industries are impacted such as recruiting.
but thing about software is that it's a peculiar industry. sure, the industry is relatively young compared with others like sales or marketing. however, it's mature enough to start formalizing how companies interact with it. people in IT are especially peculiar. what other industry would someone really care about staring at their screen all day at a bizarre language? there has not been a good way of representing this industry and especially the people.
i think it's time to create a union for IT. without it those of us in IT will be continually abused.
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