acruns

My experience is quite different. I enjoy contract work. And it is quite rare that I am treated very different than an FTE. While I don't get the same benefits, I am paid more, in fact I have a prepared statement for when FTE's ask how much I am making to avoid the awkward conversation after. I pay for my own HC and Roth and still make more than FTE's doing similar work as me at the same company. I control my WFH schedule, vacation, sick, etc. I also enjoy working at different places so I may be working at a financial company for six months, about half way through that I will start looking for a new gig (if I don't have one already) and that new gig might turn out to be a utility company. They often ask me back for projects as well. So it's nice to see old friends again. I obviously don't work on the help desk or racking servers but in tough times I wouldn't turn down datacenter work. Most of the gig's I work at approach me about coming on full time but at most I might extended my contract a few months. Most of my work I find on my own but I also work as a sub-contractor for a few places I like if they need help and our schedules align.

I would seriously reconsider this. They won't come to collect it, they will simply file a police report and the police will show up at your home. Depending on the laptop, where you live, your record, this could end up as a felony, and will certainly hinder your future employment.

I know its tempting and it's likely your only recourse but it won't work out for you in the end.

Judge blocks Apple's bid to reveal government surveillance using Covid-19 tracing program

This is SOP for a contract like this. I worked in this field for over a decade before I went back to straight consulting. Helping or ever writing a RFP / RFI / proposal for a customer is not unheard of. I was given the opportunity to provide input on more than one occasion and would certainly include requirements I knew competitors could not functionally meet, in esence eliminating all other competitors. They could respond but when the technical team members meet with project sponsors and there is a big red square on the scorecard in the competitors column indicating they can't meet a requirement what is a SVP going to say? 'We don't need that'? They aren't technical and even if they ask about it we clearly have internal support for our product and can count on the technical team explaining why our feature is a requirement. (We just so happen to have the best product so this wasn't much of stretch.) The only difference between the private sector and gov is we can't take them out to a $3000 dinner to discuss the requirements before they submit them. As you can tell, this is a "bit" sleazy, while still mostly truthful we are clearly trying to influence the outcome in our favor.

Having worked with the OIG (office inspector general), more than one of them, they are as much a political animal as any other office in DC, more so in lots of ways, so getting a report from them that says what you want is just a matter of phone calls and dinners with the right ppl.

AWS got played, plain and simple. They thought they were going to win and probably didn't do as mush as they should have to make sure they could win, and at the same time underestimated Microsoft. Just bc Azure was new to the DOD doesn't mean its new to the feds, I worked on several projects in AZ with the feds, and MSFT is not new to DC, they have been playing in DC politics for decades, and doing so very successfully. Which I am guessing from my outside view was AWS / Jeff's mistake. Buying a mansion and hosting partys in DC and a amateur move. There are a lot of very powerful ppl in DC that are former MSFT employees. It is very common practice to move from MSFT's fed teams to a fairly high position in a fed agency for your 20 years to get you retirement plan completed.

They are the technical person on the sales team. They do demo's, field technical questions, might do a POC with a potential customer, so on. They also get a commission but they traditionally have a standard salary as well instead of the sales rep where their salary might be 60% or more commission only.

Shocked! I wouldn't really care if they were upfront about it, but when they try to hide it, it makes it adversarial and since I consider myself technical, I must do as my cat does and make it stop.

You should also assume that the email you "deleted", is still there.

Most email servers/services have a setting to keep deleted emails for a period of time. Most corporations also have a separate email server for execs that have different settings. This is above and beyond compliance settings that also email retention for different periods of time. Then there are also backups and archiving...you get the idea.

>Will we be more prepared for the next (epi/pan)demic?

More, sure a little more prepared, but we won't be "prepared" (in the US). Just like Pearl Harbor, WTC bombing, 9/11, we can see all the signs after the fact but ignore them prior, until disaster.

WOW!

I was at ESRI when we were going to host this data, then Congress got involved and blocked it.

Yes. https://www.inc.com/glenn-leibowitz/in-a-rare-23-year-old-in...

I have done a few GCP projects and this is the typical OP of the google team. I think their intentions are good, trying to make sure you get everything perfect, but customers do not really care to spend all the corresponding time updating the google team twice a week for something that would be better served with as-needed support.

And there can be a flavor of condesending attitude when they assume the customer doesn't know anything.

What happened to "Don't Be Evil"? How did it go so wrong?

I turned down an offer from Google (cloud) because I didn't want to work for a company that was so focused on politics internally. This was just after they fired Damore, not that I agree or disagree with his opinion, but because Google seems promote internal fighting. That type of culture doesn't appeal to me.

Other countries off-shoring their spycraft. <cough> <cough>

By adding their partner ID, they get revenue based on the usage in Azure.

This is news?

Smaller portion size. Of any foods. Of course, I am not a scientist.