What am I doing here?
Readers of this blog may be scratching their heads at some of the articles I’ve put up so far, so I think it appropriate to explain (briefly) what I’m doing and why. For starters, here is the welcome message, including the scope and rules of the blog.
This blog is about the Austin, Texas high-tech employment market specifically, and US high-tech job markets in general. High-tech pretty much dominates the Austin job market. A lot of what I write will apply elsewhere, like in Europe, Russia, China, India, but since I don’t live in any of those places, my understanding of conditions there is sketchy at best. I'd love to hear from people in these places about what they are seeing. Just the facts, please.
Job markets are made up largely of companies and human beings. Like human beings, markets are organic and so subject to injury, sickness and disease as a result of internal and external events and processes, symbiotes and parasites (for example, bacillus imperium).
They are also subject to waves, as in economic waves. People can get hurt by those waves. I know from personal experience. I assure all readers I am not trying to scare anyone; the warnings issued here are a form of decision support, as in, persuading people to do their own homework and make better decisions.
Some of these economic waves are small and local, like a new start-up company, or the closure of an unsuccessful company. Some are large rouge waves, affect neighboring locations, like a crash of a particular industry. Some are major tectonic shifts, causing gigantic volcanic eruptions in hot spots throughout the globe with resulting world-wide tsunamis. I believe Cloud Computing / managed services is an example of the latter, and I’m not alone in feeling that way.
This post describes mentorship, and gives a flavor of the importance of it, especially for the young and inexperienced (that will be you until life happens to you - believe me, you’ll know it when it happens). Getting a good mentor is one of the best shortcuts around, especially if your mentor shows you how not to waste time.
This post, also with a dash of homage to mentorship, shines a light on a background effect most of us take for granted. It’s not accidental, unlikely inherent, and, IMHO, very harmful and naughty. I have deliberately avoiding turning it into a political rant. We all have to perform better, run on the treadmill faster, as a result. Call it a hazard warning. Solution unknown at current time, but you need to be several percent better than you think as an ongoing result. Ignore at your peril.
These two posts are advice for newbies and newcomers to Austin. Old-timers in the market can safely ignore them both. That way, I can’t be accused of proffering unwanted and unsolicited advice.
These two posts give early hints at solutions to the waves documented by these two posts. As I have already stated, I believe we have a major, epic economic tsunami in progress right now.
These two posts document the elephant in all our living rooms.
This blog is about the Austin, Texas high-tech employment market specifically, and US high-tech job markets in general. High-tech pretty much dominates the Austin job market. A lot of what I write will apply elsewhere, like in Europe, Russia, China, India, but since I don’t live in any of those places, my understanding of conditions there is sketchy at best. I'd love to hear from people in these places about what they are seeing. Just the facts, please.
Job markets are made up largely of companies and human beings. Like human beings, markets are organic and so subject to injury, sickness and disease as a result of internal and external events and processes, symbiotes and parasites (for example, bacillus imperium).
They are also subject to waves, as in economic waves. People can get hurt by those waves. I know from personal experience. I assure all readers I am not trying to scare anyone; the warnings issued here are a form of decision support, as in, persuading people to do their own homework and make better decisions.
Some of these economic waves are small and local, like a new start-up company, or the closure of an unsuccessful company. Some are large rouge waves, affect neighboring locations, like a crash of a particular industry. Some are major tectonic shifts, causing gigantic volcanic eruptions in hot spots throughout the globe with resulting world-wide tsunamis. I believe Cloud Computing / managed services is an example of the latter, and I’m not alone in feeling that way.
This post describes mentorship, and gives a flavor of the importance of it, especially for the young and inexperienced (that will be you until life happens to you - believe me, you’ll know it when it happens). Getting a good mentor is one of the best shortcuts around, especially if your mentor shows you how not to waste time.
This post, also with a dash of homage to mentorship, shines a light on a background effect most of us take for granted. It’s not accidental, unlikely inherent, and, IMHO, very harmful and naughty. I have deliberately avoiding turning it into a political rant. We all have to perform better, run on the treadmill faster, as a result. Call it a hazard warning. Solution unknown at current time, but you need to be several percent better than you think as an ongoing result. Ignore at your peril.
These two posts are advice for newbies and newcomers to Austin. Old-timers in the market can safely ignore them both. That way, I can’t be accused of proffering unwanted and unsolicited advice.
These two posts give early hints at solutions to the waves documented by these two posts. As I have already stated, I believe we have a major, epic economic tsunami in progress right now.
These two posts document the elephant in all our living rooms.
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