Sad to hear your story. It sounds like a bad working environment for new ideas if they answered like that. And I think you're right when you say it's a bad time to lose your job.
What I'd do in your place it's try to keep my job while trying to get a new one. You'll be able to negotiate better terms in a new job, and be more picky, if you have a current job. You can research other places, what tools they use, how open are they to new ideas and so on. Eventually, a good job offer will appear. And try to save as much money as you can, just in case. And kudos for promoting freedom. lily via libreplanet-discuss writes: > Dear LibrePlanet Community, > > I am reaching out to you again for advice. 7 months ago, I asked for > advice with asking IT to support a GNU+Linux operating system. Months > later, and now in the middle of a pandemic, I am working remotely on a > Windows laptop. I have admin rights and so I am able to install and > run all the Free Software I wish, but I have run into some problems in > the workplace. > > Let me remind you that I work as a biostatistician for a research team > at a major hospital in Portland. And as a non-patient facing health > care worker, I and the team I work with have been working remotely > since April. We are forced to use Microsoft Outlook, Teams, > Skpye/Lync, OneDrive for communication and storage. I continue to use > R, Emacs, LibreOffice, GIMP, and other pieces of Free Software, but I > have run into a problem. The data analysts and my manager primarily > use SPSS, Tableau, and Microsoft products, and other non-free > software. And, when I propose that we use Beamer to produce > professional research posters, as opposed to PowerPoint, or when I > propose LaTeX to write up research reports as opposed to Word, or Git > to maintain a repository of the R and SPSS code, I get shut down, and > even punished. Now all my emails have to go to my manager before I can > send them to the medical doctors, and data analysts. I try to gently > show how great these tools are from a utility perspective, forget the > ethical standpoint, because all I get is "We use Word and PowerPoint. > That is how things are done here." > > I am very passionate about Free Software, without it I would be > nowhere. It was there for me all throughout my studies in mathematics > and beyond. But now, as I have only been in the biostatistics field of > paper pushing research for less than two years, I fear that if I upset > my manager too much I could easily lose this job (I have been at this > job for less than a year). I am the only biostatistician on this team, > but unfortunately, the team can get away with producing research > papers without understanding the mathematics/statistics, because they > can run some code and there will always be an answer. So, practically > they can do without me. > > I have learned enough statistics within these past two years, on top > of my mathematical background and computational background, that I > feel confident in my knowledge and skills. But, now with the state of > the economy, due to the poor response to the pandemic, there are hiring > freezes at my place of work and many others. Even if I were lucky > enough to pick up another position in this field, who is to say I > will not face the same problems as before. > > So in my mind I have two options. > > 1. Continue to use Free Software just for myself and keep my mouth > shut, and give the results of my work in the non-free software format > like Word and PowerPoint to keep the manager happy so that I may > continue to eat and donate to the Free Software movement. (This option > I also risk loosing the Free Software I have, since eventually they > plan to take away my admin rights.) > > 2. Gently try to push for a little more Freedom in the work place, but > risk loosing my job and not be able to contribute what I can > financially to the Free Software Movement. > > I am leaning more towards Option 1, but if I lose the Free Software I > am able to work with, I will also lose the opportunity to learn and > grow as a biostatistician. > > I understand that this is more of a social issue, rather than a > technical issue, but I would greatly appreciate any advice from people > who can relate to this experience. > > Thank you so much LibrePlanet community, you are wonderful! I also do > volunteering where I get to promote Free Software, but again with the > pandemic, those activities have come to a halt. And as a result I > tried pushing for alternative software in the work place, which is > having a the negative outcome I described above. > > I look forward to hearing your responses. FSF and others are free to > share my story, but please remove my name and location. > > Thank you again. (Forgive my misspellings.) > > Crista (Electrostatic Woman) > > > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ > On Friday, 7 de August de 2020 14:40, Greg Farough <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi, everyone, >> >> We're happy to share a new video that we've come up with together with >> the producers of Shoetool, the video we released over the holiday >> season. This one speaks to the dangers of remote learning based on >> proprietary software, and how its unethical behavior might impact your >> friendly, local college of masked crusaders. But, more importantly, it >> shows the ability each of us have -- superhero or not -- to stand up >> against it. >> >> Please take a moment to watch and share with others to spread the >> message: >> https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/the-university-of-costumed-heroes-a-video-from-the-fsf >> >> Best, >> -Greg >> >> -------------- >> >> Greg Farough // Campaigns Manager >> Free Software Foundation >> >> Join the FSF and help us defend software freedom: https://my.fsf.org >> >> libreplanet-discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > libreplanet-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss -- _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
