It's been 4 years today...
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31 years and counting!! :-D ...but then I never started so perhaps that doesn't count! ;P Ant.
2 years and counting, well 2 years when i started.:laugh:
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
Good for you :-D My mother stopped smoking when we were little. If not, she might not be with us now. The tigress is here :-D
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Actually, it's the CEO / self-proclaimed programmer (he was decent with AutoLISP 15+ years ago and think that means anything now) that's the biggest problem. We also have industrial engineers coding the UIs and algorithms, among other things that our small development staff doesn't have time for since we work on the core things. They're decent, but definitely don't have the experience or mindset to write good, efficient code. Add that to the other management problems I mentioned earlier, and it's a bad situation. I'm...well...dipping my toes in the market to help rectify the problem, which may help me eliminate the "need" to smoke (having one or two projects to work on instead of many, many projects with constantly changing schedules and priorities makes things very tough). We just need more developers, but can't afford them right now. :sigh:
Microsoft MVP, Visual C# My Articles
Heath Stewart wrote: We just need more developers, but can't afford them right now. That seems always to be the story. At Northrop, while working on ATE for Trident, we had a hiring freeze imposed on us so long that we were falling seriously far behind schedule. The PM managed to get HR to relent, but then they refused to let us use headhunters. Internal effforts by HR were fruitless, and by the time they admitted that they were unable to find the help we needed we had 1800 manmonths of design and programming load in order to deliver in 18 months. Once they let loose the chains, I had to find, interview, and hire 100 engineers and programmers in 30 days. You can easily imagine how much design effort I contributed that month...:doh: When beancounters run the company, the company is doomed. A year after I left that division, it was closed. Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
My consolations.... *cuts the bottom off of a pack of Camel non-filters and lights all 20 at once*
Jeremy Kimball Moderation is for monks. -Lazarus Long And this, too, shall pass away...
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
Congratulations Michel. That's a great accomplishment.
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My consolations.... *cuts the bottom off of a pack of Camel non-filters and lights all 20 at once*
Jeremy Kimball Moderation is for monks. -Lazarus Long And this, too, shall pass away...
I smoked Camel non-filters for years. I loved those ones, but quite harmful I think. -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
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Heath Stewart wrote: We just need more developers, but can't afford them right now. That seems always to be the story. At Northrop, while working on ATE for Trident, we had a hiring freeze imposed on us so long that we were falling seriously far behind schedule. The PM managed to get HR to relent, but then they refused to let us use headhunters. Internal effforts by HR were fruitless, and by the time they admitted that they were unable to find the help we needed we had 1800 manmonths of design and programming load in order to deliver in 18 months. Once they let loose the chains, I had to find, interview, and hire 100 engineers and programmers in 30 days. You can easily imagine how much design effort I contributed that month...:doh: When beancounters run the company, the company is doomed. A year after I left that division, it was closed. Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
Roger Wright wrote: When beancounters run the company, the company is doomed Been there...When I was with Thiokol here locally the bean counters decided we had 12 people more than we needed in Engineering. So the layoff came on a Friday. As I was sitting at my CAD terminal there came a tap on my shoulder and my boss said "Come with me". I was working 60 hours/week trying to get a drawing package out, so my first response was " I don't have time now, I am too busy". To which, he replied "It don't matter". I was in my last quarter of Mechanical Engineering school and 1 week before finals when I was laid off. That was on a Friday. The following week, the bean counters recounted their beans and then decided they where now 12 people short in Engineering. So now the company tried to recover the people they laid off, including me. I came back as an Engineer two weeks after I was laid off. :rolleyes: Funny thing is, bean counters are always the last to be laid off...go figure. The division closed down two or three years later...Fortunately after I went to another company.:) Gary Kirkham A working Program is one that has only unobserved bugs I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks
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Roger Wright wrote: When beancounters run the company, the company is doomed Been there...When I was with Thiokol here locally the bean counters decided we had 12 people more than we needed in Engineering. So the layoff came on a Friday. As I was sitting at my CAD terminal there came a tap on my shoulder and my boss said "Come with me". I was working 60 hours/week trying to get a drawing package out, so my first response was " I don't have time now, I am too busy". To which, he replied "It don't matter". I was in my last quarter of Mechanical Engineering school and 1 week before finals when I was laid off. That was on a Friday. The following week, the bean counters recounted their beans and then decided they where now 12 people short in Engineering. So now the company tried to recover the people they laid off, including me. I came back as an Engineer two weeks after I was laid off. :rolleyes: Funny thing is, bean counters are always the last to be laid off...go figure. The division closed down two or three years later...Fortunately after I went to another company.:) Gary Kirkham A working Program is one that has only unobserved bugs I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks
Contrary to popular belief, managers and accountants have their uses. But accountants are by training and temperment focused on recording what happenned, not making things happen. Good managers are an entirely different breed; while beancounters look for costs that can be cut, managers look for opportunities for profit. Even at TRW, the nicest place I ever worked, this simple fact was forgotten or ignored. When the old engineers who grew the company began to retire, accountants and MBAs took their places on mahogany row and the company began to decline. An MBA is little more than an accountant who can do a little marketing - they aren't automatically good managers. The good ones tend to come from the ranks of working people around whom the troops seem to rally. Their opinions are sought and respected internally, and once they've grown enough to seek new challenges outside of their technical specialty, they're ripe for the ranks of management. Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
Nice! I've got 2 1/2 years under my belt. cheers, -B
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
I'm not going to quit until I hit my target weight goal. And I will still smoke when I go out to clubs. My BowFlex Ultima is due to arrive Friday. Look out world!!!!
Glano perictu com sahni delorin!
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
Congratulations! I've been tobacco-free for 13 years, 4 months, and 15 days. Woo-hoo! I just got back from my lunchtime run; today it was 4 miles through a hilly residential neighborhood; lots of endorphins flowing at the moment :-D.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Contrary to popular belief, managers and accountants have their uses. But accountants are by training and temperment focused on recording what happenned, not making things happen. Good managers are an entirely different breed; while beancounters look for costs that can be cut, managers look for opportunities for profit. Even at TRW, the nicest place I ever worked, this simple fact was forgotten or ignored. When the old engineers who grew the company began to retire, accountants and MBAs took their places on mahogany row and the company began to decline. An MBA is little more than an accountant who can do a little marketing - they aren't automatically good managers. The good ones tend to come from the ranks of working people around whom the troops seem to rally. Their opinions are sought and respected internally, and once they've grown enough to seek new challenges outside of their technical specialty, they're ripe for the ranks of management. Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
Roger Wright wrote: managers and accountants have their uses Yes, but how often do you really need to have your septic system cleaned from the inside?
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I'm not going to quit until I hit my target weight goal. And I will still smoke when I go out to clubs. My BowFlex Ultima is due to arrive Friday. Look out world!!!!
Glano perictu com sahni delorin!
Uh, I hate to break this to you man, but weight training is going to be tough if you're still smoking. If you do any circuit training or are time-limited (shorter rests between sets), your heart rate stays elevated throughout the workout. If you're still smoking, your cardiac response and respiration are affected. The BowFlex is a nice machine; we had one in the fitness room for a while where I work. It takes some practice and coordination. The resistance is a little different from using free weights. Be careful, and good luck.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Contrary to popular belief, managers and accountants have their uses. But accountants are by training and temperment focused on recording what happenned, not making things happen. Good managers are an entirely different breed; while beancounters look for costs that can be cut, managers look for opportunities for profit. Even at TRW, the nicest place I ever worked, this simple fact was forgotten or ignored. When the old engineers who grew the company began to retire, accountants and MBAs took their places on mahogany row and the company began to decline. An MBA is little more than an accountant who can do a little marketing - they aren't automatically good managers. The good ones tend to come from the ranks of working people around whom the troops seem to rally. Their opinions are sought and respected internally, and once they've grown enough to seek new challenges outside of their technical specialty, they're ripe for the ranks of management. Some people think of it as a six-pack; I consider it more of a support group.
They may have their uses, but they are often the ones that are over-staff, not the development departments that actual do the work for which accounting handles billing, marketing markets, sales sell, and the high managerial types delegate responsibility. I work in a building (I won't say for many reasons) that is owned by a company that laid off about 2,000 developers (and a few other positions here and there) about every 2 months while the CEO was making $55m on paper, and gave himself a $5m bonus that year - enough to pay almost all the workers that were laid off. That was just one guy near (at) the top. I realize this happens all over, but I can't believe that companies are run by such idiots. I mean, who's going to do the actual development or provide services that these managers are supposed to manage? Are they going to do it? Fat change they even know where to begin. Seems to me that cuts should be first taken higher up, but of course that will never happen.
Microsoft MVP, Visual C# My Articles
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Congratulations! :rose: While I've cut back, I'm still working on it myself. I've tried cold turkey and - because of the stress and hectic project schedules (changes every week with conflicting priorities in a start-up that's poorly managed at times) - I was ready to start pulling heads off. Yeah, I know it's an excuse but it's a damn good one! Anything work for you in particular? I never really smoked that much anyway (about a pack/2 days was ever the most), but the gum just doesn't seem to do it for me. I think a lot of the dependence is more on getting away and doing something while taking a break and thinking about things / recollecting myself. I still uphold that these types of businesses need punching bags in their weight rooms (if available)!
Microsoft MVP, Visual C# My Articles
I used patches the first week, which helped a lot on the first days. Starting the second week, i didn't need anything. I myself tried cold turkey several times, to no avail. But the method above worked great for me. I can party and drink like hell without craving :cool: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
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12 hour and counting. :rolleyes: Mazy "I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts." - Albert Einstein
You have to start somewhere. -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
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Congratulations! I've been tobacco-free for 13 years, 4 months, and 15 days. Woo-hoo! I just got back from my lunchtime run; today it was 4 miles through a hilly residential neighborhood; lots of endorphins flowing at the moment :-D.
Software Zen:
delete this;:cool: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson
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Good for you :-D My mother stopped smoking when we were little. If not, she might not be with us now. The tigress is here :-D
Me too. :)
Glano perictu com sahni delorin!
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... without tobacco :jig: -------- "I say no to drugs, but they don't listen." - Marilyn Manson