●● IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Monday, September 23, 2024 ●● ● Sep 23 [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uCSZSqM [02:55] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes- ( status 403 @ https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uCSZSqM ) [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] " [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] @uwg the Indians knows that IBM pays about 1/3 of US based employees salaries, the Indian employee works less than 1/3 the US employee effort, so effectively, IBM hires mores than 3 Indians for every position offshored. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] 3 hours ago by Anonymous [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] | 4 reactions (+4/-0) [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @1eyv+1uCSZSqM [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] +6 [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] The math is very easy: when an employee in India costs a third or less than an American employee, the offshoring will happen. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] After all this is the investors money. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] For many years companies have talked about talent: this is a piped dream; anyone is expendable [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] 4 hours ago by Anonymous [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] | 10 reactions (+8/-2) [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @1uwg+1uCSZSqM [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] +5 [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] We can all thank Milton Friedman and his revolutionary proclamation that the purpose of business is to increase shareholder value. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Every business school has taught this in its MBA programs (disclosure: me too) ever since. And the effect has been management toward this goal ever since. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Throw in executive compensation via stock options to align executives interests with the shareholders and you get the situation many public businesses are in now. Think IBM, GE, and Boeing for starters. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Why were jobs sent offshore? Because that consulting firm said it would reduce costs, boost profits and juice the stock price. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Who sc--wed American businesses? The suits in the C-suite. And since they got theirs, they dont care. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] 5 hours ago by Anonymous [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] | 7 reactions (+6/-1) [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @1ytf+1uCSZSqM [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] +5 [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] This is exactly what I see happening as well. Its an executive / stockholder money grab. Keeping stock price afloat by cutting costs , and with media spin that it is doing great in the market. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Seems There is no real concern with product quality, Or keeping customers happy. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] I cant think of any acquired software product over the last 15 years that hasnt followed the path of: profit squeeze by cutting costs to the bone until lack of investment causes profits to fall. Then sell off or divest . This pattern has repeated over and over. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] 6 hours ago by Anonymous [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] | 5 reactions (+5/-0) [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @1zvi+1uCSZSqM [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] +9 [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] It is always about money and stock performance - ask your pals at the amazon's and Nvidia's of the world. You as an employee have to look out for yourself and the company has to look out for itself - it is each man on his own - you can either sit and complain and cry about it for 10 years or get on with the program and make money where and when you can - it's not complicated! [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] 7 hours ago by Anonymous [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] | 9 reactions (+9/-0) [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @1gkv+1uCSZSqM [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] +9 [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] If AK doesnt move more high paying jobs to India, IBM will go bankrupt; this is why the board has selected AK for. [02:55] schestowitz[TR2] This has nothing to do with ethics, but money and stock performance as a publicly traded company. " ● Sep 23 [03:04] *x-amarsh04 has quit (Quit: Konversation terminated!) [03:26] *x-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@hkzkvpsjrrw3q.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Sep 23 [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2024/09/18/ibm_job_cuts/ [04:06] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-forums.theregister.com | IBM quietly axing thousands of jobs, source says The Register Forums [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] "" [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] So I worked there for 15 years (last year was 2019), was brought in as a Lead Consultant to spearhead a small division, grew to 30 consultants worldwide. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] The type of work we did (wont detail) was unique in the industry and when you needed us, you really needed us...extremely large companies/govt agencies with mission critical work loads. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] Got RA'ed in 2019...my boss didnt even know, wasn't consulted but once you are marked for death, that's it. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] The sole criteria for my redundancy (actioned by some faceless bean counter) was that I was old (59) and was paid a good wack. Termination time. Reason for termination confirmed via a finance insider I knew. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] Belonging to a disbursed world wide group meant the money trail/income recognition for our work was opaque but if the faceless bean counter had done his job, he might have noticed, for example, that for the last two month project I did, I was billed out at $US 1 million and the customer (a top 3 multi-national insurance company) was only too happy to pay that to get them out of a big hole. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] So it wasnt as if I didnt have skills, was useless or not bringing in the dollars. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] Fast forward 1 year and all the rest of my group had left of their own volition. If I could be let go then they easily could be so better to leave on their own terms. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] IBM closed the division down and doesn't offer that service any more (cause the skills needed didn't exist in India), noting that the work we did was equally as applicable to onperm and cloud... so not a declining legacy service issue. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] Summary: Due to a spread sheet jockey using a simple formula of age and salary, IBM lost a unique consulting group that was extremely profitable. [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] Bluck [04:06] schestowitz[TR2] " ● Sep 23 [06:32] *agentcas3y has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) [06:33] *agentcas3y (~agentcasey@b6dc92btrdtrn.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Sep 23 [08:04] *parsifal (~parsifal@6thegygyadsu4.irc) has joined #techbytes [08:05] *parsifal has quit (Quit: Leaving) ● Sep 23 [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]
  • [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]
    This week in Plasma: polishing like mad
    [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]
    [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]

    The core Plasma team has entered full-on bug-fixing mode until Plasma 6.2.1, and what a week of bug-fixes it was! Were nailing regressions reported in the beta release as they appear, as well as older bugs we didnt manage to get to yet. Im incredibly impressed with the team and their tremendous work this week!

    [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]

    In addition, a few features and UI changes postponed from Plasma 6.2 have started to land in 6.3.

    [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]
    [12:19] schestowitz[TR2]
    • [12:19] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-pointieststick.com | This week in Plasma: polishing like mad Adventures in Linux and KDE ● Sep 23 [18:27] *x-amarsh04 has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) [18:31] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has left #techbytes [18:47] *x-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@7qmd5pw8km9b4.irc) has joined #techbytes [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uBczHiR [18:48] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes- ( status 403 @ https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uBczHiR ) [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] AK said: No more expensive dinosaurs at IBM [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] 4 hours ago by Anonymous [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] | 1 reaction (+1/-0) [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @3mjl+1uBczHiR [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] 0 [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] Whenever a war is being lost, one sees a lot of things on the battlefield that make absolutely no sense. Good men getting ki-led for no obvious tactical or strategic benefit, accidents happening to people "who should never have been there", wins or losses occurring not by victory or defeat but rather by chance. Many of the greatest works of literature in human history were written by people who went through war and lived to tell ab [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] out it. [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] The next time you see your friends getting canned, or maybe yourself getting canned, you would do well to remember this truism in life. Not everything is going to make sense. By all accounts, the IBM management ranks consist of tens of thousands of managers. They are all executing strategies that amount to little more than "cut x% of your staff". It is the kind of strategy you use when resources are running thin and hard decisions [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] have to be made. Cut some heads now (including maybe your own), or the entire department will be shuttered. [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] Sometimes, the heads are cut and the entire department is shuttered anyway. A lot of good jobs went overseas following that plan. Top achievers, people who brought in lots of money, were loved by customers, you all know them. It didn't matter. What mattered was that the generals of the company needed to save some cash and so they let go of some staff. Simple as that. [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] It's not exactly a forward-thinking or innovative strategy. [18:48] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uCSZSqM [18:49] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes- ( status 403 @ https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uCSZSqM ) [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] USA corporations like IBM contribute to Indian jobs growth in a very significant manner. [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] 4 hours ago by Anonymous [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] | 5 reactions (+4/-1) [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] Post ID: @2ekx+1uCSZSqM [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] +2 [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] AK said: Every employee making over $100K should to be asking themselves this question: can my job be done somewhere else? That will determine their fate.. [18:49] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uBon1uZ [18:53] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes- ( status 403 @ https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uBon1uZ ) [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] The real question is what does the USA head count look like by end of 2024? The answer will be found in the 5500 form filed by IBM mid next year. I predict the number will be in the 38-42k range. This is where IBM sees itself as being right sized for the USA [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] 160 x .08 = 13k in consulting/CIO/O and F [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] 40 x .2 = 8k in SW (note a good portion of these are IBM purchases of innovation) [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] 10k in IBM plants and labs (fix asset) [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] 8k in TSS, Hybrid cloud, lab services [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] This assumes IBM doesnt partner off all things SMB (power, storage, non-hybrid cloud, channel, TSS) [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uEkVPbf [18:53] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes- ( status 403 @ https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1uEkVPbf ) [18:53] schestowitz[TR2] " You have a choice, a choice to leave. The Amazon announcement has amped-up the talent seeking a change. " [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] I've been telling you and you haven't been listening: get your sorry butts back into the office, pronto! -- AK [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] https://www.businessinsider.com/employee-return-to-office-mandates-no-legal-recourse-employer-2024-9 [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] It's 2021, one year after the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the workplace. Your boss says the company does not plan to require employees to return to the office. You give up your $3,000-a-month apartment in the city to buy a house hundreds of miles away. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] Fast-forward three years, and now the company requires you to either come into the office five days a week or leave. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] This is a reality that remote workers around the US are either facing or bracing for some of them wondering whether they can successfully fight these mandates in the courts. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] The answer, according to employment lawyers, is not really. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] "Unless there's a protected reason under established law" such as a medical circumstance, "then you have no recourse," Ron Zambrano, the employment-litigation chair at the California law firm West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Business Insider. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] When Amazon announced its plans last week to end remote work and require corporate employees to be in the office five days a week, some staffers swiftly criticized the megacorporation's decision in an internal Slack channel. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] The move by the Seattle-based tech giant came after other major companies, including Walmart, recently hardened return-to-office rules. And the latest push by companies to get workers back at their desks could trigger an even broader RTO trend. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] Some workers have filed lawsuits against their companies or charges with the National Labor Relations Board over return-to-office mandates. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] But remote employees who simply argue that returning to the office is an inconvenience to their lifestyle have "zero chance" to fight an RTO mandate with legal action, Zambrano said. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] The vast majority of employees across the US are considered "at will," meaning an employer can terminate them at any time as long as the reason for the dismissal is not illegal. At-will employment also means that an employee can quit at any time. [18:54] schestowitz[TR2] " [18:54] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.businessinsider.com | Workers Angry About RTO Orders Basically Have No Legal Way to Fight It - Business Insider [18:55] *x-amarsh04 has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) ● Sep 23 [19:20] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has joined #techbytes [19:27] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has left #techbytes [19:40] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has joined #techbytes [19:49] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has left #techbytes [19:52] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Sep 23 [20:31] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has left #techbytes [20:35] *psydruid (~psydruid@jevhxkzmtrbww.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Sep 23 [22:04] *agentcas3y has quit (Ping timeout: 2m30s) ● Sep 23 [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > Hi Rianne, [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > I like that you're serialising this. It's a fresh idea for [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > me because I write single essays. Maybe it can give more space [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > for a conversation if you do it slow and let other voices [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > come back from irc and etc? [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > If you please always take the _freshest_ version at [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > digitalselfdefence. That way if I can repond in later sections as [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > peoples' ideas feed back. There will surely be more folks to add to [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > the acknowledgements. [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > Really looking forward to see your visual ideas. WHat have you picked [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > for "introduction"? Thanks for working on this with me. [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > [23:49] schestowitz[TR2] > best