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Here I enclose a short story of my employment and not very original funny story but with a cool end.

The company I work for, EDS, is the largest NZ information solutions provider. Actually it is a US corporation, the inventor of information services industry in 1962. It is able to get contracts for $1 billion during a week. As for the project I know very little yet, it is the very beginning and not all directions have defined. So for now I learn a supercomputer architecture Beowulf for Linux clusters (прикинь, да?), and hope that they hire me for Java. I have got a job offer without any discussing of the position, responsibilities and the project. At the interview they refused me but in a week changed their mind. At that time I worried very much about my prospects because of the language, and recruiting agencies offered me positions in very small towns far from Auckland (Rotorua, Masterton). So I hurried to agree without asking. Everybody says that it is a very remarkable result to get a job offer in 2 weeks, but it is a casual event. The language problems are still very serious. Можешь представить себе какого-нибудь чурку на техническом совещании... :-)

Engineers and managers

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A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The woman below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 41degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist.

"I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help so far."

The woman below responded, "You must be a manager."

"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."