And then came Bronson....

[Big-Foot]

I don't know how many of you remember that TV show from the 60's. Vet comes home, hops on his HD XLCH and rides around the country wherever the wind blows - landing only long enough to fill the belly and fuel tank and heading off into the sunset...

Well - you have no idea how close I am to doing just that....

For the second time in less than a year I have found myself un-employed. I had been out of work for 10 months doing odd jobs and looking in earnest for a position in the Information Technology Industry - Finally I was hired as a consultant to Best Buy. Well, last week, BBY announced to it's entire IT staff that they were going to out-source all of IT to a company called Accenture. Some employees would be offered jobs with the new organization, others would not.
Well yesterday, they cut the budget for my project altogether and put 85 of us on the street as of the close of business Friday.
All this from a company that outsources a Corporatley mandated 70% of all Technology work "Off-Shore" (That's called - India my friends)... Of the remaining 30% of the IT work that is done here, a good 80% is done by people from India that are here on work visas (Thanks Presidents Clinton and Bush).. What's that mean? It means that out of 100 jobs, 8 of them are being held by Americans....

Well, at least I got a decent paycheck for 6 weeks. The bill collectors will be back though... they are like the hounds of hell..

Thanks for listening to my rant. I think I will bust-out ol' BigFoot tonight and go for a long putt... I might even come back!

[Old-timer]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I too have a degree in computer science and am not working in that field anymore. The trade schools and colleges have flooded the market with young people that have degree's also. You look at some of the commercials on TV and they make it sound like there are lots of jobs. I even tried to start my own business and after 2 years I had to call it quits. Lost too much money to continue. Lets go for a putt one of these nice days.

[Joe_WaZoo]

Ok, so I will add Best Buy to my Wal-Mart list of places not to shop. And I never really liked that Accenture company. Wasn't is part of Anderson Consulting.

My company got bought on Monday. Who knows what will happen.

I did pull the bike out of the shed last evening and worked on it some. That brought some happiness to me.

Joe_WaZoo

[Swiffer]

Randy, we're real sad to hear about the job...we know how happy you and Dar were when you got it. Something's got to be done about all our good jobs going overseas. Maybe it's time for a revolution...been to damned long since the last one as far as I'm concerned! Hang in there buddy, something good will come your way!

Steve

[Obe-1]

I'm up for the revolution thing Steve. It's very sad the jobs that are going overseas from this country. Be aware of clothing tags and box's as to were they are being made. This country needs to get back on track, We need a middle class manufacturing job base or we headed for a two teir society. :mad:

[Sparky_Bill]

Originally posted by Obe-1
or we're headed for a two tier society. :mad:

Headed, I think we are pretty much there now and I do not like it at all. Examples are the CEO's. In 1945 CEO's were making 60 times their lowest paid worker. Today, check out Enron, Tyco, WorldComm and most others. They fed one another. The CEO of one company sits on the board of another and awards the CEO there absorbent compensations. Then that one does for another. So on and so on.

Cutting workers and out-sourcing gets them more money. Then there are the modern day pirates that buy companies and bust them up and take the profits, leaving good hard workers without a job.

This greed has to stopped some how. I can not believe that none of the top officials at Enron have not died by a distraught person who lost all they had when those officials walked away with millions and millions.

Good luck Thumper and maybe good luck to the whole country.

[John Ritter]

Thumper,
I am very sad to hear your news. I too just found that out about my former employer and and the very good people that they were going to let go.
I will start asking around again. Keep your head up buddy, you have way too many good skills, and will find something.
If I can do anything for you, please let me know.

Your pal,
John Ritter

[framy]

I'm really sorry to hear what happened, it just verifies another thing I heard that Bush administration was trying to reclassify manuficaturing jobs to include people who worked for Burger King and McDonalds. This is an attempt to show that the loss of jobs in that category isn't as bad as it really is. Don't know if its true, but your story sure rings true for it. Best of Luck

[Obe-1]

Everyone needs to do ther job and vote this november!!!!!!!!!

[Big-Foot]

Thanks guys... We are pretty sad about it around our house. John - The place is really depressing right now. People are walking around like zombies - staring off in the distance in disbelief.. :(

I am about to walk out the door to go there now. I will finish cleaning my workstation out and then go home. Many folks are going to get together for a happy-hour. I'm still too broke to do that. It wouldn't really help anyways.

Yes - Accenture was called Andersen Consulting. They are also a major employer of H1-B people (folks from other countries like India that are here on Work Visas)..

If you want more info on what H1-B is about and how it is affecting our country - please checkout this website: http://www.h1b.info/

Like Obe-1 said VOTE this November. The G-Dub-yaw administration talks about the 2.6m jobs they have created. What they didn't tell you was that they opened the borders and the vast majority of those jobs are being done not by Americans or Immigrants, but by foreign nationals that have no intention of becoming citizens!!!

Well - I gotta go for now. I will check in later. Thanks again!

[JoeGopher]

Thumper -

I do feel for you. I currently work at BBY, and the atmosphere around the IS team is really poor. I think the way the company handled the situation from the beginning was a little questionable, and they could have done a better job. My sister in law is also at risk of either being outsourced to accenture, or losing her job. Hell, I might be next.

I think it might be a little short-sighted to blame this all on Bush, Clinton, or any politician at this point. While NAFTA and other policies have contributed to the switch in job market, I don't think this is the main reason for the current trend in outsourcing.

Stockholders are being very demanding in the current marketplace and companies are responding to the pressure. SG&A is becoming a huge dictator in the earnings and share price, and there are only a few ways to keep costs under control. One of those methods is to gain economies of scale by creating partnerships with organizations that specialize in transactional type events, like benefits administration, IS infrastructure, call center management, auditing and accounting to name a few. The idea is someone else can use their expertise to operate at a lower cost allowing the company to focus their energy on growing the core business.

Personally, I think the .com boom had a little to do with the inflationary pricing of IS talent which may be some of the cause for movement in the workforce. But that's just my opinion.

Bottom line is, the world is changing at a very fast pace right now. Global economies are here and they are not going away. Companies must adapt, or they won't exist.

Obviously, this doesn't change anything about your situation, but I hope I have given a little different picture of what some of the reasons are for this event taking place. And no, I am not a BBY big wig, just a mid-level manager trying to keep my head above water...

[TXCharger]

Just a note I saw 2 IT jobs posted on the Polaris website the other day for Minneapolis. Don't know if it is your speciality or experience. Just a reminder--LEE

[jimbob92c]

I just have this overall depresso type of feeling these days. Maybe it's too much news....maybe it's this rotten gut feeling I've had since we invaded Iraq.......maybe it's how much we're letting our schools go (i.e./ cutbacks , no art, no phy ed, parents raising money for the basics....makes me angry!), where are our priorities? I just shake my head anymore. It's almost like Nostradamus' predictions are slowly manifesting themselves before our eyes. In his text, he predicts that the village idiot will come into power and the hot bed of the starting of the ending days will happen in the middle east. hmmmmm!
worthy reading..............
There is definitely a shift happening to our working class and brackets each side there-of. "you owe more money"
Pawlenty? torques me off. period. The basics should be education and welfare ( to those that show promise).
I can't change the system over ---yes, I trust you....but II ubderstand. etter Go We

hw 25543

[Big-Foot]

Originally posted by TXCharger
Just a note I saw 2 IT jobs posted on the Polaris website the other day for Minneapolis. Don't know if it is your speciality or experience. Just a reminder--LEE

Thanks for the Heads-UP Lee, I am preparing a resume for them now..

[Big-Foot]

JoeGopher - I wish we could have met for coffee / lunch there at BBY. Please see my other post about the outsourcing issue..

In regard to BBY or any other company that has embraced outsourcing due to the high cost of American workers - I just wish they would re-structure the salaries and give us (Americans) a chance!

You know - if you are looking for a Widget Specialist and have a $100 per hour price-tag on the job, I will take it. But that does not mean I would not take $30 per hour to do the same job!
American companies drove the salaries up to where they are today with the Y2K and Dot-Com booms. It was not we, the workers, that demanded the higher salaries! Sure there may have been some schmucks out there that were job-hopping just to increase their bottom line - but that does not make all of us (IT professionals) guilty...

There is still hope for some professional industries here in the USA, but that rope-of-hope is starting to fray and the time to act is now before the rope turns into the thread that it has for IT professionals.

Meanwhile - back at the ranch - ol' Thumper is preparing to bail out of IT altogether. I have well over 30 years in this industry, but have a lot of skills in regard to fabrication and specialty programming that I am going to kick into high-gear.

Thanks guys for all the support. Thumper is not quite ready to drink the Cool-Aid just yet...

[Bert Prouty]

Sorry Thumper about the job thing. Keep your spirits up. Something will turn up. (This outsourcing trend... Seen it coming when they started that Nafta S... !)

[JoeGopher]

Thumper -

I agree with you on the salary issue. I hope you didn't think from my opinion that I was blaming the pricing of IT talent on the people. It was just a sign of the times and supply and demand working at it's finest.

Good luck in your search.

[Joe_WaZoo]

Hey all,

I know this thread was a lot about one company's outsourcing practices, but take a look at this article.

BestBuy_Exec_Comp (http://www.startribune.com/stories/362/4781506.html)

All I can say is WoW! You don't find too many exec's like this anymore. Just think of what this token might actually do for the morale of those employees in front of the customer day in & out. It looks like this big wig has discovered that he already has enough.

Joe_WaZoo

[sstodvictory]

My employer, ADM, has 8 open IT positions. I don't know if you're degreed or not Thumper, but many of them state ".....or equivilent experience". We need another Vic person around here.

http://careers.admworld.com/iase_external/ASEPage_JobList.asp

Steve

[jimbob92c]

wow...my last message kind of trailed off there...too many hours working and the couple of glasses of wine didn't help..

anyway, here's a thought. I work for Quality Underground Services out of Eagen ( Neil Armstrong Drive)...they were and probably still are hiring folks.
The job is underground utility locater. Very unglamorous but man for work.
we can't keep up and need help out in the field....working steady 12 to 14 hour days and I don't anticipate much let up in the near future.

Training is free, provided by the company while being paid by the company.
You're given a truck, equipment, phone, laptop, etc. Joining the International Brotherhood of Electricians happens next, with a discount entrance fee. The benefits are great........eyeglasses, dental, medical...
no deduction from your paycheck for health insurance...it's in your contract.
also your retirement starts building up. The company is in flux....growing.
there is another branch in Denver, Colorado. We have just started a new
wireless laptop capability doing away with paper tickets....there have been a few glitches....but that may be another avenue to look at with having IT experience.

vacation after 1040 hours, same with pay raises. for a new locater, no previous experience, the pay is between 12 and 13 an hour with regularily scheduled pay raises...no great shakes...but it escalates into the 20 dollar bracket. again, no great shakes, but the overtime kicks it into a nice weeky paycheck.

Just a thought...........

Jimbob

[v92sc_065]

Randy (Thumper)

I am sorry to hear about you employment situation. I have not been on the board for quite awhile and I wish I saw this earlier, because I would have let you know about what I have been doing for the past 5 months.

Two fellows and I have started our own business was call Lean Networks, LLC and, although we have yet to sign our first customer, we are in need of IT professionals that have consulting experience.

A little background on Lean Networks. We basically offer companies consulting services covering Voice Telecommunications. We will go into a company, perform an unbiased analysis of their voice communications network, audit it, and then make recommendations to restructure or repair, or whatever could be done to save the company money.

Now this may not help with your immediate needs, Lord knows I wish I could offer you a job right now, but since we have no customer yet I don’t think you would take AIR as suitable compensation. I would like to add your information to our growing stable of consultants that we will turn to when the work does role in.

Please send us your information, resume and salary requirements, to: info@leannetworks.com and please visit our website www.leannetworks.com. for more information.

I hope the situation changes for you soon and if I can send anything your way I will.

[Sparky_Bill]

Hey all,

I know this thread was a lot about one company's outsourcing practices, but take a look at this article.

BestBuy_Exec_Comp (http://www.startribune.com/stories/362/4781506.html)

All I can say is WoW! You don't find too many exec's like this anymore. Just think of what this token might actually do for the morale of those employees in front of the customer day in & out. It looks like this big wig has discovered that he already has enough.

Joe_WaZoo

I missed that one, thanks for pointing us to it. Too bad the jerk with the health care none profit comapnay did not do the same. What a crook, $90 million for a CEO a year is crap when folks are out there that can't afford health care anymore.