I will love the light
for it shows me the way,
yet I will endure the darkness
for it shows me the stars.
Og Mandino
Am I a Shill For Business? No
Don Boudreaux has a related Cafe Hayek post here (he pushes for donation to support the superlative George Mason economics program (if I were to consider a second or third doctorate ...) and he has a rigorous response in his periodic Pittsburgh Tribune-Review column here. I have never gotten a paying gig or even a lead from anything I've ever written (except an informal query from the University of Washington's technical communication program while I was at UWM that a position was open, but I wanted to still continue teaching MIS): not a single gig from usability labs, publishers or IT consulting companies or shops.
I had gotten my first Oracle gig a couple of years after I left academia; the PhD was more of a liability than an asset. I had taken some graduate database classes at UH which had version 2.0 on the mainframe: documentation came in 3-ring binders and SQL-PLUS in those days was called UFI ("user friendly interface") While I was a prof, Oracle released an inexpensive version 5 for the DOS platform. I finally got my foot in the door as a DBA working as a low-paid EPA contractor in Chicago (my employer lost their re-compete my second day on the job).
My next employer was, and remains. my favorite. It almost didn't happen. . After I was laid off, I went on a campus visit to Louisiana (eventually the college would make a later-than-expected offer--the last from any college)
This was a small privately-held company (75 employees) that employed a number of University of Chicago statisticians using SAS to access large databases (my responsibility) on a Unix platform doing customer attrition and other analyses. We had a big contract with SBC before deregulation (I maintained separate summary databases for their land line, cell and catalog businesses). Somewhere in my moving boxes I have an unsolicited handwritten letter from an SBC executive thanking me for being their DBA. I also went to Brazil twice to work on a Citibank credit card subsidiary project.
It was a cool place to work . One Christmas party they rented the Brookfield Zoo. After working out at a nearby Bally's, I would check on jobs--the company floor would be dark, and a workaholic DBA colleague David (now deceased) had wolf sounds blaring over the loudspeakers. A group of geeks gossiping about the upcoming Star Trek movie. There was a group of a half dozen to dozen of us whom really were the core of the company (Mike, Phil, Will, David, Ray and myself come immediately to mind; Ray and I didn't hold equity; there was just a chemistry and mutual respect: I think we could have replicated that success )
Then the partners, fearing competition from the likes of Accenture, sold the company to Equifax Instant bureaucracy. You now had to order pencils out of Atlanta. In 6 months they took a company growing 30% a year to flat revenues. We lost a Universal Card deal I know would have been done under former management. Will moved to Atlanta. I was told I was making the top end of what Equifax was paying DBAs and should expect no more than a 2% raise over the coming year (actually I was making $15K below market and started taking those unsolicited calls from Coopers and Lybrand). Within 3 years it was a different company. Mike ran for Congress and lost (he probably doesn't care for my entitlement bashing); I think he and/or Ken formed new businesses after the no-compete terms expired. Ray moved to the West Coast, and I last heard from him when David passed away.) The basic reason for discussing this is I'm no big fan of bureaucracies
But going back to the blog I don't receive a penny for the blog (no publisher or syndicate deals) I don't even monetize the blog (for ads). No DBA gigs.
My blog goes completely unnoticed by most of the websites I cite. But just to satisfy those who think there is an alliance with the Left's favorite whipping boy, the Koch brothers. I supported Cato's management in the earlier dispute .
But there's a personal nuance. I have a relative whom works for Koch Industries; I don't know for sure my relative's current political views but he has been known to forward me Gray Lady stories or columns.(Not many conservatives or libertarians reference the NY Times.)
To provide some context I have almost 10 years of experience as an Oracle Apps DBA. Oracle Applications (yes a brand, not generic category, know commonly known as E-Business Suite integrated ERP software application products, e.g., Oracle Financials, Oracle Manufacturing, Oracle Human Resources, etc. An Apps DBA has a multi-faceted role involving DBA and software administration roles. Around 2003, the Chicago Oracle market was all but dead, and I went through a dry spell. A recruiter submitted me for a short-term contract role on an Apps upgrade project in Kansas. (Usually recruiters won't identify the clients until the deal is sealed (probably paranoid we'll cut a separate deal, which I've never done); I had worked on several upgrade projects.) He finally tells me me it's Koch Industries. I'm about to book flights when I call my relative; maybe I'll stay over a weekend and visit the family. My relative starts screaming at me--essentially thinking I put his job at risk, even though the project didn't involve him and I got the gig through different channels (talk about a misguided application of a nepotism policy). It was a surreal experience--the project went completely dead--my recruiter refused to return my calls, no emails (my guess is fear of a lawsuit), but I was in the middle of booking travel and deserved at least an acknowledgment that Koch Industries dropped me from the project.
A postscript: this relative called me years later to tell me Koch Industries modified its nepotism policy. If this company ever thought it had a shot of recruiting me after canceling a gig when I had been made available at a very good rate for them and lots of relevant experience when I could have used the work, it is delusional.
There are 3 domestic places I routinely rule out working: the Left Coast (particularly Taxifornia), New York City, and Koch Industries. I wouldn't hold my breath if I was a blue state (including Chicago: no dead fish for me!). I'll probably leave Maryland within the next year or two.
Follow-up Odds and Ends
- A Day in the Life: Just to be fair, the government actually did a good job managing my low expectations. If you read the post I missed qualifying for short form passport renewal by 2 years. The estimated time for long-form application is 4 to 6 weeks. So they actually beat expectations (although I never thought it should take that long). I will not load my passport picture: it might be traumatic for children and small animals. Unfortunately, the reason for renewing my passport seems to be no longer relevant.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer/Burl Ives, "Holly Jolly Christmas"
