Earlier in my career, I worked on a payroll system. It's not as straightforward as one might think, as payroll systems rarely are similar. In fact, the term "payroll" should really be replaced with "compensation", and "system" replaced with "rules engine system".

In a simple small business, compensation is probably pretty straightforward. Hourly employees, owner takes a salary. But what if an owner takes a draw against the the equity of the business?

Up the chain a bit, you now may have union dues to account for, bonuses, stock options instead of "cash", severance, and various other--often contractually obligated--quirks. Does health insurance count as compensation from the company? The smartphone with ultra data plan? The company car?

On the political side, what are the basic rules? What are the exemptions the politicians put in for their buddies?

There are a lot of little gotchas in "payroll" systems, and the use case testing needs to be spot on. Because no one wants their paycheck screwed up.

It depends how far back you're going for "the old days". The 60's, 70's and 80's had lots of good shows. Twilight Zone, Beverly Hillbillies, Gilligan's Island, Emergency, Mayberry/Andy Griffith, Adam-12, Star Trek:TOS, Addams Family, Dragnet, Brady Bunch, Knight Rider, Airwolf, Cheers, Cosby, Family Ties, Star Trek:TNG, Night Court, St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, MASH, The Muppet Show, MacGuyver and WKRP---just to name a few. Very few shows of similar caliber exist today.

The problem with television isn't the technology of television; it's really too many channels requiring something--ANYTHING--to fill the timeslots and sell advertising in order for people to live life vicariously through television shows instead of going out and living it. As for the technology of television, everything needed to satisfy the needs of 95% of the viewers exists.

Ageism in IT isn't due to knowing too little. It's due to knowing too much.

It's like the Wizard of Oz. When you point out a certain problem or technology is on its third iteration in 20 years, you pull the curtain back, and show the Great Wizard for who he is.

Hear hear!

The thing to remember (US-wise) is off-shoring really didn't take off until the late '90s (maybe 2000). Prior to then, a lot of work still needed to get done and it was done in-house. There were a LOT of people in MIS/DP. The post-Y2K recession allowed companies to get rid of many of those folks, and either off-shore or bring in H1-Bs for a fraction of the cost (and less real estate usage).

Things have changed in the past 11 years.

Actually, it's about both. Everyone wants the 20+ years of experience, just wrapped up in a 24/7 working, caffeine guzzling, lower salary 22 year old.

A company recently offered me a "Position-name-here II" (or Junior-level) position with them, and refused to budge on either the title or salary (which was a 30% cut). I pointed out to them that I'd been at a Senior/Architect level for the past 12+ years of my 20 year career, and it would be difficult to explain the position-drop on my resume in the future, they just laughed. Turns out, their two senior guys have been there around 15 years, and are only "Position-name-here II"'s, and they saw no reason to even provide them the title promotion without a pay raise, as it would only make them more marketable.

Needless to say, I declined the position.

"But what's your vertical?"--every recruiter I've spoken with in the past 5 years.

Let's face it, the Golden Age of Technologists--those with a variety of skills, those who thought through problems and developed solutions, those who tinkered--ended with Y2K. And Sarbanes-Oxley drove a stake through its heart. The name of the game now is being a highly specialized cog in the machine.

First of all, if "because we have the money" is the best persuasive argument you can make, I don't see your career going too far. What is your real justification for obtaining support? Do you do custom development which may expose the need for kernel patches? Or, are you looking out for your own career and thinking RHEL will look really good on your resume? Second, are you certain your company "has the money" to purchase support? Having been on both sides, I can guarantee the CIO has a far better view of departmental financials and the corporate big picture than you. Add to that one-time purchases are often treated differently than on-going operational expenses in the budgeting process. (People think IT is black magic; accounting is the root of all evil and makes technology look like child's play.) My guess is your CIO is facing one of two things. Either there isn't the money to spend, or he's under pressure to keep on-going operational expenses as minimal as possible. There is still the very real possibility of another economic downturn, and companies don't want to be left holding the bag of unneeded expenses. As such, he's asking just how often support would be used and not seeing a justifiable number.

Must be a Euro-weenie, who decides to blame everyone and everything but themselves.

Success or failure is based ENTIRELY upon personal factors--initiative and diligence being the top. There will always be someone or something standing as an obstacle in your life--so how do you improvise, adapt and overcome it? No one will hire you? Wah-wah. Make a frickin' plan and show some initiative.

Hit the streets and knock on every door. Find professional associations, become a member, and attend their meetings. Join Rotary. Cold call people in the field. Look outside your "major" field to other businesses--a vast majority of people find careers in areas that weren't their majors in college. After all, there's not much demand for pre-Byzantinian art history majors. Plan your work and work your plan.

Start your own business. Have a hobby you're good at? Monetize it. Want to stay in your "major field"? Find a couple of "anchor customers", offer to do contract work for bare minimum compensation AND solid referrals--treat them like kings, always. Plan your work and work your plan.

Or, if you're currently in the decision stage--don't go to college. At least a four year one. Grab an AA from a community college on a pay-as-you go basis if you want a degree. Otherwise, plan out a good course of either self-employment, or journeyman work.

And have I mentioned plan plan plan? And work that plan, adjusting and adapting the details continually but keeping the end-goal set in semi-permeable clay.

Personally, I think that's the problem with today's college graduates. Far too many have no planning skills. They go to college not knowing what they want to do (other than party), and four years later emerge with massive debt--still not knowing what they want to do. Or worse, they do know what they want to do, but don't do enough research to realize their dream job maxes out at $45K/year but their college-of-choice will leave them in debt at/over $100K.

There are all sorts of options available. You just have to realize no one's going to hand you something on a silver platter.

Mr. Shatner,

It's been 22 years since TekWar was first published; seventeen since the television series gave us a "common" visualization of Tek itself. Since those two milestones, I've found it intriguing how our technological advancement seems to be aiming towards the development of Tek. And not just advancement with computers and the Internet, but within the neuroscience and brain-computer interface fields also. It is within the realm of possibility that Tek--or similar digital drug--will exist within a couple of decades.

Could you talk about how the concept of Tek came about? Was it just a "crazy idea" that hit you while riding one of your horses, or did you sit down by yourself or others to develop a vision of the future and build a story around that? Also, looking around at people addicted to using smartphones everywhere, what are your thoughts regarding a form of Tek coming into existence in the next decade or two?

Thanks for your answer, and thanks also for a great career.

the problem with IT is, for someone 45+, much of your network has deteriorated by attrition--some retire, many leave the industry, some die (7 funerals in 5 years of older colleagues--although one was 46). And it can be difficult to add "younger" people (say 20s-early 30s) to your professional network to keep it growing. Even professionally, people prefer to associate and be associated with people like themselves and within their age-range. Not that it can't be done, but it becomes more difficult.

Ayr must have some wicked telepathic skills, as I've been saying those exact same words since late 2007. I'd gone to work for a rather insular company back in 2000, and when the company moved out of state, re-entering the job market was night and day. In just 8 years, I'd gone from being the youngest in the room by 15-20 years (think reverse age discrimination) to being the oldest by 8-10. What I found interesting was the major shift in average age downwards in just that short time.

1991...Twenty years ago, and it seems like only yesterday.

Anyway, my first experience with the "web" came around March/April '93 when I fired up NCSA Mosaic .8 or .9 at my alma mater. I'd graduated a couple of years prior, was working for a company in the area, and decided to head back to turn a minor into a major.

That last point is important. You young pups may not realize it--with ubiquitous Internet access from almost any device, and the emphasis on developing and monetizing websites/apps--but back in those days, commercial activity on the Internet was a big "no-no", and in some cases illegal. Unless one was affiliated with an institution of higher learning, a scientific/reseach company, or a defense contractor, one wasn't getting on.

So, there were no broadband or ISP dial-up connections, and high-speed generally meant 56-256Kb/s. Heck, a lot of backbones were T-1s (or multiple bonded T-1's by '93).

So, after playing with Mosaic for a few days, the college network manager (who had been a year ahead of me) saw me messing around with it, and asked me what I thought. My reply: "Not bad. I really like the concept, and think it's going to work great for text. But these graphics...they're going to kill the backbone; it's unfeasible."

Strangely enough (or not), that race is still ongoing today.

It's here.

Could you see Bender in a crossover episode?

Solo yanking open floor panel: "The hyperdrive isn't working again!! What's wrong!?"
Bender under panel: "Hey, we're cuddling in the afterglow here!"

or

"Bite my shiny metal hyperdrive."