Cory Hamasaki's DC Y2K Weather Report V2, # 1 "January 1, 1998 - 729 days to go." (c) 1997 Cory Hamasaki - I grant permission to distribute and reproduce this article as long as this entire document is reproduced in its entirety including this notice. I do not grant permission to a commercial publisher to reprint this in print media. As seen in USENET:comp.software.year-2000 http://www.elmbronze.demon.co.uk/year2000/ http://www.kiyoinc.com/HHResCo.html Please fax or email copies of this to your geek pals, especially those idiots who keep sending you lightbulb, blonde, or Bill Gates jokes, and urban legends like the Arizona rocket car story. If you have a Y2K webpage, feel free to host the Weather Reports. Don't forget- April 2, 3 1998, Geek Out. -------------- Welcome 1998 issue ---------- 1. On Rates, what else. 2. Washington DC. 3. What can you do. 4. Five Guys COBOL, Inc. revisited. 5. Even MORE DC horrors. 6. The Survey. 7. CCCC -------- On Rates, what else -------------- I started the WRPs, yes, that's what I call the weather reports, WRPs, to vent my frustration on the rediculously low rates that programmers, real code crankers earn. We geeks are too nice, we're basicly shy and introverted and they are taking advantage of us. It's getting better, in the last year, there's been about a 50% rate increase, not as much as I'd like but the trend is right. In 1998, I'd like to see at least another 50% but lets try for 75%. What does that mean in real numbers... my sense is in 1995-6, the journeyman legacy programmer was earning about 50K; some geeks with specialized skills were earning a little more, 55K, 60K but the average rate for the average code cranker was somewhere around 50K. In 1997, this average of averages increased to 75K or so, a 50% increase. This is not enough. I'd like to see working programmers earning more like $100K-$125K and superspecialists like VTAM experts, OS/390 systems internals people earning in the $150-$200 range for a salary. Of course consultants like me would earn more. Just as we got our 50% increase last year, we can move rates to a reasonable level in 1998. It will take more hard work but if everyone does their share, we can meet our goals. Here's what we can do. Keep track of rates and salary surveys, when you find out something such as Oracle is now paying a $4,000 quarterly bonus (true Washington DC Oracle rumor), pass the word on. Every SQueaLer should note that down and use it as part of their negotiations. If someone leaves, get the word out that money was an issue. If they left disgusted, use their email address to send a copy of the phone list to the most obnoxious recruited who's ever called you. Start a raid on your own company. (just kidding.) Make copies of articles that mention recruiting problems and send them to your CEO with a cover letter from the director of HR. (still kidding.) -------- Washington DC. ------------------- Is Washington DC as bad as I say? It's worse... the DC reports are simply clips from the daily paper with rude sound effects. Serial killers, decapitated bodies, problems at the morgue, a drug addled mayor, stolen or missing city cars, armed police and FBI agents murdered at their desks, cryptosporidia, infant mortality, 50% of the streets need repairs, young workers at a Starbucks coffee store shot 'execution style', school roofs leaking and school furnaces not working or unsafe, and more, lots more that I don't have time to write about. It's time for the federal government to retake DC, eliminate the mayors office, clean this mess up. But jobs, there are lots of jobs here, Rep. Horn is slamming the federal agencies, at some point they'll get tired of the bashing and will start the work. Rep. Horn... the man's a rhino. Just look at him gore the agencies. and in a couple weeks, we'll have the Washington Post's Mega Job issue. Keep watching http://www.washingtonpost.com -------- What can you do ------------------ What can you do? First thing is to make sure that you are receiving your fair compensation. You don't need absolute top dollar but you should earn at least the average. If you don't, don't quit. Go on some interviews, check into contract work, post some articles on the programmer shortage on the lunchroom wall. Careful, management can be very thick skulled. This is a requirement for a senior executive. Senior executives may smile a lot, glad hand but make no mistake, they are terrific at promoting their point of view and ignoring yours. They can do that while agreeing with everything you say... You're underpaid? Of course we'll do something about that immediately... we'll establish a higher salary structure, maybe stock options all starting at the top, of course, with smaller percentages down the chain of command. Oh, here's your generous increase... 3.2 % and a big 8 shares of stock. Hey, how come the boss got 30% and a thousand shares... that's just the way the formula came out. In the mid 1970's I worked for an insurance company in Texas. I earned a big five dollars an hour doing systems programming. This was at the time that some confused economist convinced Gerald Ford that the U.S. needed to Whip Inflation Now. so Big Gerry imposed wage price controls. When it came time to get our raises, the insurance company said, oops we're allowed to give only a 2 percent increase to the entire company so we won't insult you workers with 2 percent, we'll make the company pension plan non-contributory (10 year vesting) and (whispered) give the increases to the executives. OK fine, I know how the game is played. The next year, Big Gerry expanded the inflation cap rule to mean no person could get more than the specified amount and transferring dollars from workers to executives was not allowed. When the second year's raise plan was announced, the VP of IT had the nerve to claim that one of the other executives offered to give "our raises" to the workers but someone in the executive meeting said, "the government won't allow that" Give me a break, the previous year, they scooped up all the money for everyone's raise and stuck in their pocket. Now they're pretending that they wanted to give us a raise but Washington is blocking it. I stuck it out for two years and left earning 28 dollars a month more than when I started. My boss was miffed, said I let him down by leaving. The company could have given out promotions. You don't build loyalty by stealing the livelihood of the employees. Every geek should know what the current market rate is. If you're not paid the current market rate, if you don't receive fair and regular increases and bonuses, that's a sign that it's time to plan your escape. Don't leave in a huff. Plan, use your head and engineer an exit strategy that will protect you and get you the money that you deserve. Money is a resource that can be used to obtain other resources. You need it to buy food, energy, and to provide for your family. Make sure you receive your fair share. -------- Five Guys COBOL, Inc. revisited -- FGC, Inc is five guys who are tired of slaving for the massa and decide to strike out on their own. They do it gradually and on the cheap. Buy an incorporate yourself packet at the office supply store. Fill out the forms and file for the various federal and state numbers. Get a copy of Quickbooks and just have at it. You can do it all yourself, don't get suckered in by professional business setter-uppers. You can do it yourself, it will take some time, about a week to get started and a half day a week to keep it going but if you can read, you can start FGC, Inc. If it starts to get hard, call the local small business assistance people. You don't have to pay someone more than you can make as a consultant to do this simple stuff. Pricing FGC Inc. If you're a COBOL gearhead earning 60K year and you and your 4 pals decide to go for the American Dream. Here're some thoughts on pricing. We have to come up with a minimum rate. As a commercial business, you can charge whatever you can get away with but this analysis will set the floor below which you are losing money. Rate Justification and Revenue Analysis Hours/Year Days 60,000.00 Base Salary Assumptio 71.33 8.92 28.85 Hourly Rate 1,712 142.66 17.83 46 Total Overhead Day 3.83 10 Holidays 0.83 5 Education/Educatio 0.42 25 Vacation/Sick 2.08 3 Marketing 0.25 3 Management 0.25 Annual Monthly 8,400.00 850.00 Medical Insurance Actual 550.00 45.83 Life Insurance Actual 2,200.00 183.33 Communications(voice, email Actual 3,600.00 300.00 0.0600 SEP IRA Pension Actual 9,000.00 750.00 Office Rent Actual 3,105.00 258.75 Hardware, Software licences Actual 2,308.00 192.33 Seminars, Training Actual 1,225.00 102.08 Legal services Actual 1,400.00 116.67 Auto, transportation Actual 210.00 17.50 Unemployment Ins 3,000.00 250.00 Accounting Actual 4,980.00 415.00 Social Security $39,978.00 Overhead Total $10,615.38 368 indirect hours $49,384.62 1,712 direct hours $50,593.38 1.0245 % Overhead Rate $99,978.00 Verify ********* $99,978.00 Total $58.40 Effective Hourly R 1.0245 Mult $6,498.57 Fee 0.065 Mult $62.19 Consulting Hourly Rate Including Fee In the example above, as one of the Guys in Five Guys Cobol, you charge $62.19/hour for 1,712 hours a year, a total billing of $99,978.00. plus $6,498.57 fee. This allows you to break even with your previous salary of $60,000/year. The $3,000 accounting allocation covers the cost of someone to help keep your accounting records and an annual charge for an accountant. The communications fee of $183.33 covers your business phone, cell phone, internet email account, and long distance charges. You pay yourself $49,384.62 direct and $10,615.38 for holidays, vacations, and other overhead tasks, a total of $60,000.00. The costs are realistic for the DC area. Do not underprice your services. The consultants who don't do this analysis and charge too little, quickly find themselves working 200-220 hours/month to make ends meet. The fully burdened hourly rate, $62.19/hour is just a little over twice your previous hourly rate of $28.85/hour. Some consultants have rules of thumb that they have to bill 2X or 3X salary. You can use 2X and 3X or you can build a spreadsheet using the actual values above and calculate precisely what your rate should be. Have your eyes glazed over? ...and to those who think us geeks don't understand the difference between what the client pays and what the employee earns, now all geeks know the score. -------- Even MORE DC Horrors ------------- The Washington Post - December 31, 1997 Page 1A "D.C. Woman Who Killed Daughter Is Awarded Custody of Young Son" "Latrena D. Pixley, a District woman who killed her 6-week old daughter in 1992 by smothering the child with a blanket, has been awarded legal custody of her young son after prevailing in a bitter court fight in Montgomery Country with a woman who wanted to adopt him, according to attorneys involved in the case." "Pixley, 23, has been in and out of jail since pleading guilty in March 1993 to second-degree murder. Now she is to be reunited with her son, who turns 2 next month....." This is nutz! I can't make up stuff this looney and you know my imagination... -------- The Survey ----------------------- Eric's quarterly survey results are in. Thanks for running the survey and compiling the results. From: Eric Turner <gears@ix.netcom.com> Subject: Survey 4Q-1997 Result Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 10:18:38 -0600 In response to this list; 1 - it ain't gonna happen 3 - bump in the road, 80-hour weeks for all in 1999-2001 5 - probable collapse of economy, start hoarding now the opinions were; Geeks response 4.09 - Experience 18.06 Non-geek response 4.29 Overall 4.11 And thanks to everyone who contributed to the vote. I glanced over the list and noticed that there were only two votes at 4.75. In the Geek Category: Frank Ney 4.75 19 In the Non-Geek Category: Paul Milne 4.75 Coincidence? I think not. -------- Cory's closing clueless comments - Ya-hooo. Denial is over. Two years to go. How high can a geek jump? How high do you keep the money. I'm all a-quiver, it's clear that we're not going to make remediation. That's the bad news. The good news is that the horn-hairs don't know that yet so they'll pay and pay us to turn the crank on the remediation mill. Finally, denial is working in our favor. Also, there are things that can be done. We have two years, I've got lots of ideas. Some software conversion aids will help. I've been working on one. I'd like to assemble a real remediation kit. My product, a couple dozen others, not vaporware but real code. I haven't seen Bob Bemer in the news. Come on, geeks, we've had our last holiday for a couple years, are you ready to CRANK CODE! Are you with me? Let's go. But first... I'll light a geek candle, turn down the lights, ah, flip on some geek coding music, "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", ooOOH, ... Lets hold hands and recite the new geek oath.... I, a true geek, will earn my fair share and do my best to fix the software that keeps civilization running as long as they continue to pay me. I'll watch out for my fellow geek and geekette, help them do the work and get their fair share. Even if I have to work 14 hours a day, I will do it cheerfully, and will charge for every minute that I work. OK, now shout the cheer, "Stick em up!" Check out http://www.ntplx.net/~rgearity any evening, 8-10PM EST. Lots of hot Y2K talk. 729 days to go.