On Tue, Nov 1, 2022 at 2:43 PM Kent Perrier <[email protected]> wrote:
> Based on my 7 years working for VUMC being a unix/linux sysadmin that never 
> happened.

Based on my 4.5 years at CHGR and my 8 months at VICTR I experienced
it multiple times.

They gave me the dirtiest, most low-end computers of anywhere I've ever worked.

I took a significant pay cut to go there, I thought at the time it'd
be cool to work in genetics research.  They subtracted 8 years from my
years of experience for not having a proper CS degree, then later
asked me to slow down when I outperformed the other properly trained
developers in my department.  I tried to get more money a couple of
times but was denied.  I got the standard 2.5% each year, the same
they gave everyone.

My first grant-based project was scheduled for 11 months, about 150
form fields spread across 7 or 8 pages.  No clue who thought it would
take 11 months but I completed it with about 10 months to spare and
never broke a sweat.  I sat there for the next two months waiting to
find out what they wanted me to work on next.  I began spending my
days teaching myself Android Java and started launching apps into what
would later become the Google Play Store.

This same theme repeated itself for several more years until I wanted
more money and so I left.  At the time they paid about 50% of what I
can get in the non-academic world.  No one in the real world cares
about CS degrees, they only care if you can do the work.  I mean, I
get it... when you're in the business of selling quarter of a million
dollar CS degrees you don't want it to get out that people without one
can make money too.

I only talked to my manager about once every 6 weeks, usually when we
just happened to be walking in from the parking garage at the same
time.  Vandy is a great place to work if you don't want to be pushed
too hard.  The hard part for me was the boredom and the fake smiles
from people who thought they were working hard.

My 8 months at VICTR was when I returned as a rehire, to recover from
startup burnout.  I had just spent close to 5 years working 60+ hour
weeks as the only developer at a 4-person startup.  We had been bought
out recently and I was ready for a break, but I wanted cheap health
insurance.  I knew Vandy would be a great place to recover, and it
was.  It sucked ironing a shirt every morning, but it was a paid
recovery.

This was my Vandy experience, I'm sure others vary.


--
Greg Donald

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