Re: The price of oil

On 18.10.2022 16.27, Merlyne wrote:

[stuff]
>>>>>>> *adds have Zoom conference with BeH to bucket list before 'get
>>>>>>> TikTok account'*
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Good luck with that. I still don't have a webcam.
>>>>> You don't need a webcam, you need an internet connection.
>>>>
>>>> I do have one of those...
>>>>
>>>>> <whispers...your cellphone has a camera>
>>>>
>>>> IT DOES??? What will they think of next.
>>>
>>> You'll have to wait to see.
>>
>> Oh never mind, it will probably just be something silly - like *two*
>> cameras.
> 
> How many does an IPhone have?

I don't know - and I don't care. Appl* is evil...

>>>>>>> I don't want you to die a virgin.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I did take part in some video conferences back in the day
>>>>>> (1993-ish). That involved a great big camera and a wall mounted
>>>>>> tv. Mostly though it was 1/2 hour taxi -> 1/2 hour plane ride ->
>>>>>> 3/4 hour drive to have a physical meeting. On behalf of the
>>>>>> country's largest telecom operator...
>>>>>
>>>>> We had those too. Except that there were probably 2 or 3 conference
>>>>> rooms with the camera/tv. Now they all have them.
>>>>
>>>> And things are so much better now, coordination and co-operation
>>>> vise... or what!
>>>>
>>>>>>> We use MS Teams at work.
>>>>>>> It has some advantages over in person meetings such as if you
>>>>>>> have your camera off and the meeting is boring, you can play
>>>>>>> Candy Crush or pretend that your internet connection dropped.
>>>>>>> When we were 100% virtual, the director would ask to get invited
>>>>>>> to team meeting randomly just to stay in touch with people. Like
>>>>>>> the rank and file want to hang out with upper management. *eye
>>>>>>> roll* I have 2 programmers who report to me who would never put
>>>>>>> their camera on at meetings. I'm cool with that. The director
>>>>>>> called me after a meeting and asked how I knew they were working.
>>>>>>> Seriously?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, how do you know? It's not like those types produce anything
>>>>>> tangible. It's all bits and zeroes and ones with them.
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, someone is loading the databases and creating custom
>>>>> extractions for clients. The only other person who can program on
>>>>> the team is me and I know I didn't do their work.
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The benefit of not having your camera on at meetings is that no
>>>>>>> one can see you rolling your eyes when they say something stupid
>>>>>>> or blather away off topic for an extended period of time. In the
>>>>>>> before-time, I would doodle in my notebook or write 'OMG STFU' or
>>>>>>> something like that which would often make the person sitting
>>>>>>> beside me burst out laughing. MYOB.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Heh. The first place I worked the boss insisted on going over the
>>>>>> accounting in d-e-t-a-i-l every month; overhead slides and all.
>>>>>> All nine of us sitting there listening attentively (obv.)...
>>>>>>
>>>>> Ugh! I leave my body at those meetings.Then someone calls my name
>>>>> and sucks me back into the vortex. What did I think of the idea?
>>>>> Yep. it's craptactular! I tell them I missed the question because I
>>>>> left my body. They all laugh because they think I'm joking.
>>>>
>>>> The worst part, I always found, was all the time (and money) is
>>>> wasted on these things - half the people aren't interested in *any*
>>>> of and the rest are only invested in a little bit. Also 50
>>>> consultants (who could be billing opwards of €200/hour) sitting
>>>> there for an hour...
>>>>
>>>
>>> Weird. I never invited any of the consultants I've had to hire to
>>> budget meetings. It was usally them booking meetings to present
>>> screen mock-ups and such.
>>
>> It was a consulting firm - otherwise all the consultants would be
>> billing which somewhat eases the sense of futility.
>>
> 
> When I hired consultants, there was a contract that stipulated a per
> diem of X$. Then they gave me time sheets which were signed off by the
> project manager.

By the time I left the then top boss had plans to change the 
pay-structure from overtime being time-and-1/2 (or time off), to base 
salary + a bonus if one had been a good little worker and done a lot of 
extra hours. I didn't much like that idea.

External billing was always by the hour, AFAIK. Time on fixed priced 
projects were acct. internally by the hour. And set at project estimate 
+ X% re. customer (where X was whatever they could get away with).

BeH