[rescue] info trumps man

[Skeezics Boondoggle]

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006, Richard, wrote:

> In article <dqouqg$jkr$1 at dopiaza.cabal.org.uk>,
>     abuse at cabal.org.uk (Peter Corlett)  writes:
> 
> > I think I'd rather look for a new career than have to earn a crust
> > programming Win32.
> 
> I'm a self-confessed mass-market slut.  I gave up being religious
> about my computing platform after securing a bank loan (cosigned by my
> parents) for about $4,000 in 1985 in order to acquire an Amiga 1000.
> After pouring very hard earned money down that rathole, I vowed never
> to be swimming upstream against the computing market.  That attitude

Yes, but did you enjoy the Amiga?  Why feel bad about it?  I've made some
purchases that now I might not repeat, given their financial consequences,
but life's too short to live with regrets. :-)

> has kept me employed on more than one occasion while my *nix coworker
> bigots struggled to find work, and when they did find it, it was at
> reduced pay while I got a raise.  To each his own, though.

Ironically, the _more_ I blew off Windows the more rapidly my career 
advanced.  Portland is a small town, however, and it pays to never burn a 
bridge here... everyone knows everyone and networking is key.  The decent 
high-end Unix gigs are a bit rare these days, admittedly, but the median 
salary for Unix bigots is $83,500, and reach nearly into 6-figures for a 
scruffy old hacker like me at the high end of the scale in terms of 
experience and references.  Meanwhile, the legion of Windows and Linux 
guys browse craigslist scrapping over $15/hr gigs...

Maybe I've been extraordinarily lucky, but telling recruiters and HR 
people flat out that "I don't do Windows" has never been a problem. 
Standing firmly outside the mainstream isn't nearly as risky or career 
limiting as most people seem to think; overcome the FUD by pushing 
standards - and then demonstrate how the Microsoft "solution" rarely meets 
and always costs more than the open source implementations of those 
standards.  That approach has worked well for me... but like you said, to 
each his own. :-)

-- Chris