BAE systems needs someone to take the piss in America

Paul Riley

Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: They've been taking the piss out of their employees and customers in the UK for years... Actually, I used to work for GEC when it became Marconi and sold all its non-comms business to BAE. Our office ended up split, all the Marconi staff upstairs, BAE downstairs. Believe me when I say they (BAE) were a hell of a lot better off than we were. That said, I'd rather not be with any big company again. :) Paul Pleasently caving in, I come undone - Queens of the Stone Age, No One Knows

Roger Wright

This: "**IMPORTANT NOTE** THIS IS A PART-TIME ON-CALL POSITION, WITH NO BENEFITS. EXTENSIVE TRAVEL BY CAR IS REQUIRED IN AND AROUND THE DC METROPOLITAIN AREA. ONLY FEMALE APPLICANTS CAN BE CONSIDERED" ... "BAE SYSTEMS offers a full benefits package plus a very competitive salary." sounds both contradictory, and discriminatory. Let's sue! Besides, I've always wondered what a 'competitive salary' for this job might be. And do people really compete for this type of work? Nobody wants to read a diary by someone who has not seen the shadow of Bubba on the prison shower wall in front of them!
Paul Watson, on BLOGS and privacy - 1/16/2003

Megan Forbes

WTF! Job requirements: "Prefer the following: *previous urine collection experience" :laugh::laugh::laugh:

A pack of geeks, pale and skinny, feeling a bit pumped and macho after a morning of strenuous mouse clicking and dragging, arriving en masse at the gym. They carefully reset the machines to the lowest settings, offer to spot for each other on the 5 lb dumbells, and rediscover the art of macrame while attempting to jump rope. -Roger Wright on my colleagues and I going to gym each day at lunch

Anna Jayne Metcalfe

Paul Riley wrote: Actually, I used to work for GEC when it became Marconi and sold all its non-comms business to BAE. Our office ended up split, all the Marconi staff upstairs, BAE downstairs. Believe me when I say they (BAE) were a hell of a lot better off than we were. That said, I'd rather not be with any big company again. Really? Does that mean that BAE were better, of that Marconi actually got worse? I used to work for Racal Instruments, and the last job I did for them was a joint contract for an ATE system with GEC-Marconi Avionics in Donibristle (Edinburgh). I was the Software Architect for Racal on that project and couldn't believe how they operated. It was a very unpleasant experience - lots of politics and backstabbing, mainly originating from Donibristle I'm afraid. On one occasion the Project Leader and I travelled up there for a meeting with our opposite numbers, but when I sent up the minutes a week later they denied the meeting ever happened (their management didn't like the aggreement we'd reached). :confused: What followed was a directive from them stating "you will use our architecture, not the one you've proposed". We refused (I really stuck my neck out on that one) and the argument went all the way up to MD level and took over 3 months to sort out. :mad: The end result of the politics (which sucks time and motivation) and under-resourcing was a suicide (one of the hardware guys) and a nervous breakdown (my boss, the Software Manager). :(( I'm glad to be out of that business. Anna :rose: www.annasplace.me.uk

"Be yourself - not what others think you should be"
- Marcia Graesch

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Paul Riley

Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: Really? Does that mean that BAE were better, of that Marconi actually got worse? BAE were better, marginally. Like I say, I'd rather not be near either of them ever again :). Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: GEC-Marconi Avionics in Donibristle (Edinburgh) X| My sympathies. I worked with their guys for six months, went up there a few times. One time I came back (after a day, rather than the four I was planning to be there, because of their abject refusal to cooperate) and had to book the rest of the week off before I went the same way as your Software Manager. There was one project manager up there who had clearly come to the conclusion that her four programmers who had absolutely no experience doing the job we were doing were much more qualified for the job than my team who had been working on the same thing for other companies for a couple of years. While her bosses had hired us for all the right reasons, she only saw us as someone to offload the crap onto every time it hit the fan. Continually obstructed us and then blamed us when their programmers couldn't handle the job. These people were about the worst group I worked with at Marconi (though some came close - a four year long nightmare, including two with the boss from hell), but at least they convinced me that I was a programmer, not a project leader. Mentions of me ever having been a project leader are permanently removed from my CV, it'll be a long time before I go there again, for this reason: Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: politics (which sucks time and motivation... ...and souls and the will to live). I am so happy in my current job; programming, no politics, just happy hacking all day long. And I get to do it at home and only drive into the office to hand over work and get the next job. I love it. Paul Pleasently caving in, I come undone - Queens of the Stone Age, No One Knows

Anna Jayne Metcalfe

Ouch. None of it surprises me, but it's awful for those who get suckered into working for those sort of companies (they seem to survive on graduates). Like you, I don't want to take a management position again - although I was a Team Lead on that project I'm now quite happily one of the developers in an anarchic democracy at Sonardyne (for a lot more pay too!). I for one don't miss the politics and paperwork. ;) Anna :rose: www.annasplace.me.uk

"Be yourself - not what others think you should be"
- Marcia Graesch

Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Add-In for Visual C++

Paul Riley

Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: Like you, I don't want to take a management position again - although I was a Team Lead on that project I'm now quite happily one of the developers in an anarchic democracy at Sonardyne (for a lot more pay too!). :-D Replace Sonardyne with Tamworth and that's me. I'd have been inclined to put a bold on "a lot" as well. When I was oncall 24/7 one week in four at GEC/Marconi (pretty much 5 middle-of-the-night callouts a week), I was earning about 300 less a month than I am now. Not to mention that I used to use a £40 tank of petrol every week; now I use one every two months. Damn I'm happy :laugh: Paul Pleasently caving in, I come undone - Queens of the Stone Age, No One Knows

Anna Jayne Metcalfe

Paul Riley wrote: Damn I'm happy That's good to hear. :) Anna :rose: www.annasplace.me.uk

"Be yourself - not what others think you should be"
- Marcia Graesch

Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Add-In for Visual C++

Brian Delahunty

:rolleyes: Rotflamo :laugh: :laugh: Regards, Brian Dela :-)
Run naked in the snow until you're sweating like a stuck pig and can't seem to catch your breath. When the flu becomes pneumonia, they can cure that with a shot. - Roger Wright

Lost User

Sounds like you're lucky to get out at all X| The tigress is here :-D

Anna Jayne Metcalfe

I was hun - but staying there was slowly killing me (60 hours a month overtime and 70 miles a day commuting up the A33/M4). Add to that the fact that the place had a definite "beer culture" - and one of my co-workers who "came out" as being TV was ridiculed thereafter by his (and my) boss...and you can see why I'm glad I left. I'd hate to think what his reaction to me would have been. :mad: Anna :rose: www.annasplace.me.uk

"Be yourself - not what others think you should be"
- Marcia Graesch

Trouble with resource IDs? Try the Resource ID Organiser Add-In for Visual C++