Comments on: I'm Just A Poor Mid Level Line Producer Whose Intentions Are Good

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:41:33 +0000

Here is a video of a John Deere 830 starting up. It came with a 4 cylinder pony motor that was used to start up the diesel motor. Pretty need idea for the time when 18 volt batteries were too expensive

Anyways, I’m rethinking Blizzard completely. Do I really want my real name associated with them in any way? Who is to say that they won’t come back and try this again in some other fashion?

By: All I have to say is amen « Bren’s Mental Dump

All I have to say is amen « Bren’s Mental Dump — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:44:21 +0000

[...] in Uncategorized I know this is a bit old, but I have something to say, as always. I find the layoff loop tragic, mainly because it is so delusional. Consider this single point: [...]

By: Iconic

Iconic — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:41:26 +0000

“Sort of like how your lawyer has a negative ROI, but you can’t run your business without one, so you subsidize the cost with other profitable parts of your business.”

The lawyer has a value. His value is the expected cost in legal fees and fines that you avoid by employing him.

Like anything else in business, calculating that value is tricky because of the entire premise that you, the decision maker, can make reasonable predictions about future possibilities. Obviously not every executive has that ability. Some have even argued that the entire premise is futile, and that virtually all business planning is the equivalent of putting your money on red and spinning the wheel.

By: Brask Mumei

Brask Mumei — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:17:47 +0000

The answer may to also rethink how honest you were being with yourself when you thought they were worth only $25k. Trying to calculate ROI per employee is a black art at best. While you might only see $25k in direct profit or savings by hiring the employee (In which case, incidentally, you can’t afford a $25k employee anyways since the overhead is much higher than that, but I’ll join the conflation of employee paycheque with employer costs as it does simplify things), presumably the developer is also enabling other aspects of your business. Sort of like how your lawyer has a negative ROI, but you can’t run your business without one, so you subsidize the cost with other profitable parts of your business.

By: Iconic

Iconic — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:37:35 +0000

“@JuJutsu
The basic flaw with your analogy is that there is a salary point at which you won’t find qualified candidates. Let’s say that an employee with a certain skillset is only worth $25k/year for you, but the general salary for people with those skills is going for about $75k/year.”

If your business depends on cheap labor that’s not available then your business is not viable. THat doesn’t mean you pretend your business is viable and spend more than you can afford.

By: JuJutsu

JuJutsu — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:21:48 +0000

@SumDumGuy

The h1b visas are one alternative, people without any kind of documentation are another. I take your point, if the potential employee is only worth 25K to me and 75k to many other employees I’m screwed. The answer isn’t to pay them 75k though, it’s time to redo the business or find a new line of business.

By: SumDumGuy

SumDumGuy — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:25:22 +0000

@JuJutsu
The basic flaw with your analogy is that there is a salary point at which you won’t find qualified candidates. Let’s say that an employee with a certain skillset is only worth $25k/year for you, but the general salary for people with those skills is going for about $75k/year. Why in the world would someone want to work for such a meager salary?

Oh wait – I guess I just described why some of the big Tech companies want to increase the annual amount of h1b visas. Apparently there are some folks willing to do so.

By: Verilazic

Verilazic — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:47:25 +0000

Love the writing, as usual. Just thought I’d recommend a book to scan through sometime if you drop by a bookstore: The Speed of Trust. Currently finishing it, and it seems like it might speak directly to this little issue. Well, more like, it would speak directly to Gevlon. I’d recommend it to him, but I think there’s better luck in preaching to the choir this time. =/

By: Iconic

Iconic — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:33:57 +0000

JuJutsu has it right, and I think it’s interesting that any one is even going to argue it, because that’s BASIC micro economics: marginal cost vs marginal profit. When the cost of hiring (or continuing to employ) an employee exceeds the profit they’re earning for you, then you let them go. It doesn’t matter what some one else is willing the pay them, only what they will work for, what they can produce, and whether that makes sense for YOU.

By: JuJutsu

JuJutsu — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:32:44 +0000

@yunk

“If the person is worth more in the market then they are worth more in the market, regardless of whether they are worth more to you or not.”

Umm ok. The fact that they are worth more to some other employer still doesn’t make them worth any more to me. An employee can have different value to different employers…I get that but apparently it’s beyond soulflame’s grasp. His question was “Why weren’t you paying them 65k in the first place? The answer is simple: just because he’s worth 65k to someone else, doesn’t mean he’s worth 65k to me.

“When the person is worth more than you can or want to pay, then they will leave as soon as they figure it out.”

umm yes.

“So you’d better pay them what the MARKET says they are worth, not what YOU think they are worth, if you want to keep them, or else lay them off and hire someone worth less but that matches your needs.”

No, I pay them what they are worth TO ME. Period. If someone else is willing to pay them more then they can leave.

I’m sorry you don’t care for my metaphor. If you give me the quote where I suggested in any way that companies would try to hire developers for lower salaries to fill the job of a boxboy or anything like that I’ll make a more specific apology. If you have a better example of an employee with different value to different employers post it and I’ll use it instead.