Lou Dobb’s Bill Tucker gives a blockbuster report on how PhDs, Post Doctorates are being paid peanuts. There is also an active agenda to wage repress the nations Engineers and Scientists in research through use of the H-1B Visa program.
As a former engineering technician I can verify most of these claims.
The companies post ridiculous job qualifications and then are able to deny applicants based on some pretty far out skill requirements. Obscure skills and talents that few people would have even if college trained, and then are often posted and then HR department screams that they can not find the right applicant. Just look at the job boards and how they are so specific and detailed about job skills. Most university programs do not and will not teach specific skill sets for “xyz” management fad, they change to often to make part of any curriculum, and thus HR includes a few buzz-words like 6-sigma or other pieces of clap-trap to justify denying a normally qualified candidate. The companies then complain that they can not find the workers with the special skills they need and then cry for more visas to be issued.
A catch-22. Do it the boss’s way, and get in trouble, or offer a fix, improvement or other solution and get in trouble.
As the article claims, the management are to blame. The worker is trying to do good science but is hindered at almost every step. I have seen managers really perform some dumb acts; such as threatening employees with job security to perform work that is not science and just more number fudging and an attempt to justify the need for product that does not work. When you witness a PE tracked engineer staple his manager’s tie to his own desk, because the manager hampers this guys ability to perform his job and then blames him for all the things that go wrong. I have seen engineers warn against doing a design a certain way, then the management with their supposed better judgment pushes it through and then the conditions the engineer warned against happen, and the engineer is reprimanded for the design failure.
It is easy to do this to good quality people when you have three more in the bush who need to eat, pay the mortgage or what have you. Work hours go up, but hey you are salaried and would not mind working 70 hours a week for a 60 dollar X-mass bonus. I confronted my boss about this crap-tastic bonus and told him I made about $400 for x-mass when I used to deliver newspapers. He told me, “So go deliver newspapers”. I stopped working any time over 40, and thus they fired me. I should have stapled his tie to his desk like the other guy, but I needed the job.
I have seen senior management force technicians and scientists make calculations that are not science. Graph presentations that are supposed to show power consumption that are based on math that does not have power as the basis for the graphs. I have seen management request that steam power be ran through non-pressure rated pipe, luckily the engineer was able to get the correct fitting installed without drawing attention to himself. I have seen senior management make calculations for power requirements and the units did not cancel,and thus he was making decisions based on faulty math and proceeded to brow-beat the engineers around him until they agreed or left the job.
I used to have a good job doing science related work, but the writing on the wall encouraged me to leave. Contract workers, low job security (5 jobs in three years compared to 1 job in seven years when I first started), incompetent managers, really poor pay and long work hours forces me to reminisce when I used to delivery pizza’s four days a week and make 500 dollars.
I thought my education and longer work hours were supposed to make me prosperous.
I see guest workers being forced to work 20 hour days. The management poorly handles his resources and brings only resources with him that provide a kickback. Of course they are all foreign. Diversity programs at their best.
Awesome video. What date did this air?
January 9, 2009, Here is the show transcript.
As a former engineering technician I can verify most of these claims.
The companies post ridiculous job qualifications and then are able to deny applicants based on some pretty far out skill requirements. Obscure skills and talents that few people would have even if college trained, and then are often posted and then HR department screams that they can not find the right applicant. Just look at the job boards and how they are so specific and detailed about job skills. Most university programs do not and will not teach specific skill sets for “xyz” management fad, they change to often to make part of any curriculum, and thus HR includes a few buzz-words like 6-sigma or other pieces of clap-trap to justify denying a normally qualified candidate. The companies then complain that they can not find the workers with the special skills they need and then cry for more visas to be issued.
A catch-22. Do it the boss’s way, and get in trouble, or offer a fix, improvement or other solution and get in trouble.
As the article claims, the management are to blame. The worker is trying to do good science but is hindered at almost every step. I have seen managers really perform some dumb acts; such as threatening employees with job security to perform work that is not science and just more number fudging and an attempt to justify the need for product that does not work. When you witness a PE tracked engineer staple his manager’s tie to his own desk, because the manager hampers this guys ability to perform his job and then blames him for all the things that go wrong. I have seen engineers warn against doing a design a certain way, then the management with their supposed better judgment pushes it through and then the conditions the engineer warned against happen, and the engineer is reprimanded for the design failure.
It is easy to do this to good quality people when you have three more in the bush who need to eat, pay the mortgage or what have you. Work hours go up, but hey you are salaried and would not mind working 70 hours a week for a 60 dollar X-mass bonus. I confronted my boss about this crap-tastic bonus and told him I made about $400 for x-mass when I used to deliver newspapers. He told me, “So go deliver newspapers”. I stopped working any time over 40, and thus they fired me. I should have stapled his tie to his desk like the other guy, but I needed the job.
I have seen senior management force technicians and scientists make calculations that are not science. Graph presentations that are supposed to show power consumption that are based on math that does not have power as the basis for the graphs. I have seen management request that steam power be ran through non-pressure rated pipe, luckily the engineer was able to get the correct fitting installed without drawing attention to himself. I have seen senior management make calculations for power requirements and the units did not cancel,and thus he was making decisions based on faulty math and proceeded to brow-beat the engineers around him until they agreed or left the job.
I used to have a good job doing science related work, but the writing on the wall encouraged me to leave. Contract workers, low job security (5 jobs in three years compared to 1 job in seven years when I first started), incompetent managers, really poor pay and long work hours forces me to reminisce when I used to delivery pizza’s four days a week and make 500 dollars.
I thought my education and longer work hours were supposed to make me prosperous.
Sounds about right. Basically work for free and btw, we’re going t abuse you too.
There are some groups to join, such as the programmer’s guild and we also have a mailing list.
I posted a version of this video where I added interesting viewer comments on the end. You can see it on YouTube here.
I see guest workers being forced to work 20 hour days. The management poorly handles his resources and brings only resources with him that provide a kickback. Of course they are all foreign. Diversity programs at their best.