From mvr707 at gmail.com Mon May 4 14:19:04 2015 From: mvr707 at gmail.com (Ramana V Mokkapati) Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 14:19:04 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Exciting Full Time Employee Job Opening for OSS Experts Message-ID: Hi, Here is an exciting opportunity for Open Source Software (OSS) savvy Developers to play a significant role in solving challenges of semiconductor manufacturing. Sharing a snippet of the job description. Please spread the word. Interested may send me the resume, Or, just contact me for more details. Thanks, Ramana Mokkapati [SNIP] Senior Software Developer Position is open at Broadcom, Irvine office. Senior = platform/language neutral, focus is on business problem solving (using whatever tech it takes), Current architecture and team skills are around Linux and Windows (besides legacy Solaris). Domain: Automation of manufacturing flow for security devices Job Role: Immediate term (6 months -1 years) is about interface development for smart cards and develop authentication layer between client and server - involves low level socket programming. Longer term: Design and develop very large data base processing platform possibly leveraging Big Data frameworks, tools etc. Skills: C/C++/Perl/PHP/MySQL/MSSQL (current approaches), but we are not limited as solving business problem is the focus. Exposure to Very Large Data Bases, Experience with integrating disparate applications (EAI), Good understanding of Cryptography (not so much about mathematics of the algorithms, it is more about understanding and usage and integration) are critical to success. Linux and Windows hands-on experience is expected. [/SNIP] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mvr707 at gmail.com Mon May 4 14:30:47 2015 From: mvr707 at gmail.com (Ramana V Mokkapati) Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 14:30:47 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Exciting Full Time Employee Job Opening for OSS Experts In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: One may apply directly via website. FYI... https://career4.successfactors.com/sfcareer/jobreqcareer?jobId=545783&company=Broadcom On Mon, May 4, 2015 at 2:19 PM, Ramana V Mokkapati wrote: > Hi, > > Here is an exciting opportunity for Open Source Software (OSS) savvy > Developers to play a significant role in solving challenges of > semiconductor manufacturing. > Sharing a snippet of the job description. > > Please spread the word. > Interested may send me the resume, Or, just contact me for more details. > > Thanks, > Ramana Mokkapati > > > [SNIP] > > Senior Software Developer Position is open at Broadcom, Irvine office. > > Senior = platform/language neutral, focus is on business problem solving > (using whatever tech it takes), Current architecture and team skills are > around Linux and Windows (besides legacy Solaris). > > Domain: Automation of manufacturing flow for security devices > > Job Role: > Immediate term (6 months -1 years) is about interface development for > smart cards and develop authentication layer between client and server - > involves low level socket programming. > Longer term: Design and develop very large data base processing platform > possibly leveraging Big Data frameworks, tools etc. > > Skills: C/C++/Perl/PHP/MySQL/MSSQL (current approaches), but we are not > limited as solving business problem is the focus. > Exposure to Very Large Data Bases, Experience with integrating disparate > applications (EAI), Good understanding of Cryptography (not so much about > mathematics of the algorithms, it is more about understanding and usage and > integration) are critical to success. > Linux and Windows hands-on experience is expected. > > [/SNIP] > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From granny+lapm at gmail.com Wed May 13 12:12:19 2015 From: granny+lapm at gmail.com (Andrew Grangaard) Date: Wed, 13 May 2015 12:12:19 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] Call for Speakers, Call for Meeting Message-ID: Hello Mongers! YAPC.na is 4 weeks away. Do we have any local presenters who want to practice before the big day? Anybody wanna host a meetup this month? ball, get rolling. Who wants to help with examples and ideas for my "revision control as TimeMachine: what was I thinking?" git talk. http://www.yapcna.org/yn2015/talk/6079 Andrew -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mvr707 at gmail.com Mon May 18 15:34:34 2015 From: mvr707 at gmail.com (Ramana V Mokkapati) Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 15:34:34 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] YAPC::NA Salt Lake City Message-ID: Hi, I am thinking of attending the conference in Salt Lake City in June. Does anyone have a promotion code for registration? Thanks, Ramana -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From toddr at cpanel.net Mon May 18 16:10:39 2015 From: toddr at cpanel.net (Todd Rinaldo) Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 18:10:39 -0500 Subject: [LA.pm] YAPC::NA Salt Lake City In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3795A505-B18C-4BAB-8C66-57DBAC687414@cpanel.net> > On May 18, 2015, at 5:34 PM, Ramana V Mokkapati wrote: > > Hi, > > I am thinking of attending the conference in Salt Lake City in June. > Does anyone have a promotion code for registration? > There are no promotion codes. I believe you've missed the early bird rate already. Todd From daoswald at gmail.com Wed May 20 20:44:52 2015 From: daoswald at gmail.com (David Oswald) Date: Wed, 20 May 2015 21:44:52 -0600 Subject: [LA.pm] YAPC::NA Salt Lake City In-Reply-To: <3795A505-B18C-4BAB-8C66-57DBAC687414@cpanel.net> References: <3795A505-B18C-4BAB-8C66-57DBAC687414@cpanel.net> Message-ID: There actually never was an earlybird tate this year. There was an earlybird hotel rate, but the conference rate has been the same since the beginning this year. On May 18, 2015 5:10 PM, "Todd Rinaldo" wrote: > > > On May 18, 2015, at 5:34 PM, Ramana V Mokkapati > wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > I am thinking of attending the conference in Salt Lake City in June. > > Does anyone have a promotion code for registration? > > > > There are no promotion codes. I believe you've missed the early bird rate > already. > > Todd > > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Sat May 23 18:19:57 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Sat, 23 May 2015 18:19:57 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] looking for perl or javascript work in l.a. Message-ID: Hola Angelenos Brillantes y Computalleros Magn?ficos, It would be grand to find some work writing Perl pretty soon in the L.A. area. I also have some Javascript experience. I can figure out anything if dropped into a new framework or even a new language. http://formdata.biz/MarkHedgesResume.pdf Thank you. Mark (310) 487-7123 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Sat May 23 20:58:48 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Sat, 23 May 2015 20:58:48 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting Message-ID: Hey Perlmongers, I just sent my resume out. I'd like to stay in town if possible, contract or employee, at this point it doesn't matter. I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast. I was wondering what people thought about the deal. The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits. But, I have no guarantee. No relocation assistance, and I would have to borrow to get out there. Then it's entirely possible that they would pull the contract for no given reason and I would be living in my car far away from anyone with a mountain of debt. I am skilled, but I have gotten into a place where I feel a little bit batted around, like maybe it serves some kind of immature social function to screw with me. I need the money, but I'm wondering if I should say no. I kind of have a pattern of feeling desperate, so I take bad deals and/or in bad environments, which leaves me feeling desperate again. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on this. Has anyone had a similar experience? How do you get out of it? Should I say no to this deal unless they commit to relocation money, deposit/first/last, and a parachute? I get the feeling they're not going to do that. I need the money, but my instincts are telling me this isn't a good deal and I will end up living in my car. If you study quantum bogodynamics, I think I am a Pooron -- the meson pair of a computron and an anti-bogon. Frequently found living out of the trunk of its car looking for free wi-fi hotspots. Thanks. Mark -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Sat May 23 21:13:41 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Sat, 23 May 2015 21:13:41 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] looking for perl or javascript work in l.a. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Also... crazy idea... is there any part-time work out there? I am very productive while I work... until I burn out. And I have other projects and interests outside of programming because I am a human being with dreams and goals. That is something that doesn't seem to compute with some people. Mark On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 6:19 PM, Mark Hedges wrote: > Hola Angelenos Brillantes y Computalleros Magn?ficos, > > It would be grand to find some work writing Perl pretty soon in the L.A. > area. I also have some Javascript experience. I can figure out anything > if dropped into a new framework or even a new language. > > http://formdata.biz/MarkHedgesResume.pdf > > Thank you. > Mark > (310) 487-7123 > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From drew at drewtaylor.com Sun May 24 13:57:40 2015 From: drew at drewtaylor.com (Drew Taylor) Date: Sun, 24 May 2015 13:57:40 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Mark, Personally I would be very hesitant to move across country for a contractor position. Too many risks for my taste, but then again I have a wife and child. The money is okay, depending on where you're living. It might be a little low for the likes of Boston or NYC, but good for anywhere else in between. Just my $0.02. Thanks, Drew On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Mark Hedges wrote: > Hey Perlmongers, > > I just sent my resume out. I'd like to stay in town if possible, contract > or employee, at this point it doesn't matter. > > I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast. I was wondering > what people thought about the deal. > > The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits. But, I have no > guarantee. No relocation assistance, and I would have to borrow to get out > there. Then it's entirely possible that they would pull the contract for > no given reason and I would be living in my car far away from anyone with a > mountain of debt. > > I am skilled, but I have gotten into a place where I feel a little bit > batted around, like maybe it serves some kind of immature social function > to screw with me. I need the money, but I'm wondering if I should say no. > I kind of have a pattern of feeling desperate, so I take bad deals and/or > in bad environments, which leaves me feeling desperate again. I'm > wondering if anyone has any advice on this. Has anyone had a similar > experience? How do you get out of it? > > Should I say no to this deal unless they commit to relocation money, > deposit/first/last, and a parachute? I get the feeling they're not going > to do that. I need the money, but my instincts are telling me this isn't a > good deal and I will end up living in my car. > > If you study quantum bogodynamics, I think I am a Pooron -- the meson pair > of a computron and an anti-bogon. Frequently found living out of the trunk > of its car looking for free wi-fi hotspots. > > Thanks. > Mark > > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From barefootcoder at gmail.com Sun May 24 15:39:04 2015 From: barefootcoder at gmail.com (Buddy Burden) Date: Sun, 24 May 2015 15:39:04 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <55625308.80801@gmail.com> Mark, >> On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Mark Hedges > > wrote: >> : >> : >> I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast. I was >> wondering what people thought about the deal. >> >> The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits. ... > On 05/24/2015 01:57 PM, Drew Taylor wrote: > : > : > ... The money is okay, depending on where you're living. > It might be a little low for the likes of Boston or NYC, but good for > anywhere else in between. Agreed there. It's not too shoddy for DC, but probably merely meh for NYC or pretty nice for Atlanta. So it depends on where on the East Coast you're talking about. Also, "W-2 contractor" is a bit oxymoronic. I believe it means they're telling the IRS you're an employee but they plan to treat you like a contractor. Which I suppose is a bit nicer in some ways--e.g. at least you don't have to cover your own FICA/FUTA/SUTA/etc--but it certainly sounds like they want it both ways. Also also, if they're going to treat you like a contractor, they _may_ be implying that they're not going to guarantee you 40 hours a week, which also severely impacts your ability to pay rent. All in all, I personally would be a bit nervous moving to a place where I didn't know anyone, even without the wife-and-kids thing. OTOH, if you'll be in a city where you have some old friends that might be willing to put you up on a couch if times get hard, that's a whole different thing. Even better if said old friends are also in the tech business and could give you a boost with networking. But without at least that much of a safety net, I'd be super-nervous. Just my $0.02, of course. -- Buddy From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Sun May 24 15:46:40 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Sun, 24 May 2015 15:46:40 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: <55625308.80801@gmail.com> References: <55625308.80801@gmail.com> Message-ID: Thanks for all your opinions on and off the list. Everyone so far has concurred. Yeah, it's in Florida, and I don't know anyone there. It would be okay I guess. The rent is cheap. Except it is super hot in Florida, worse than dry L.A. in my opinion. And without any guarantee, I could get out there and be totally SOL... high and dry in the flat marshlands. I think I will write them and say, okay, if you raise the hourly to $70/hr, put up first/last and deposit on a 1-bedroom, and give me a $20k parachute if they terminate in the first year for any reason. But I don't expect they will go for that. My trust level with recruiters who talk big but don't promise anything and with some types of companies is pretty low right now. On the other hand, I need a job. Borrowing to go somewhere without a guarantee that I will actually have any work when my gut is telling me there's a strong chance I'll get screwed... it doesn't seem a good idea. I could very well end up worse off than I would be if I stayed in L.A., even if I have to downsize here. Mark On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 3:39 PM, Buddy Burden wrote: > Mark, > > On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Mark Hedges >> > wrote: >>> : >>> : >>> I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast. I was >>> wondering what people thought about the deal. >>> >>> The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits. ... >>> >> > On 05/24/2015 01:57 PM, Drew Taylor wrote: >> : >> : >> ... The money is okay, depending on where you're living. >> It might be a little low for the likes of Boston or NYC, but good for >> anywhere else in between. >> > > Agreed there. It's not too shoddy for DC, but probably merely meh for NYC > or pretty nice for Atlanta. So it depends on where on the East Coast > you're talking about. > > Also, "W-2 contractor" is a bit oxymoronic. I believe it means they're > telling the IRS you're an employee but they plan to treat you like a > contractor. Which I suppose is a bit nicer in some ways--e.g. at least you > don't have to cover your own FICA/FUTA/SUTA/etc--but it certainly sounds > like they want it both ways. > > Also also, if they're going to treat you like a contractor, they _may_ be > implying that they're not going to guarantee you 40 hours a week, which > also severely impacts your ability to pay rent. All in all, I personally > would be a bit nervous moving to a place where I didn't know anyone, even > without the wife-and-kids thing. OTOH, if you'll be in a city where you > have some old friends that might be willing to put you up on a couch if > times get hard, that's a whole different thing. Even better if said old > friends are also in the tech business and could give you a boost with > networking. But without at least that much of a safety net, I'd be > super-nervous. > > Just my $0.02, of course. > > > -- Buddy > -- Mark Hedges, software engineer Business info: http://formdata.biz/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From merlyn at stonehenge.com Mon May 25 15:51:10 2015 From: merlyn at stonehenge.com (Randal L. Schwartz) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 15:51:10 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: (Mark Hedges's message of "Sat, 23 May 2015 20:58:48 -0700") References: Message-ID: <86fv6kgtk1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> >>>>> "Mark" == Mark Hedges writes: Mark> I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast. [...] Mark> The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits. I'm confused. Is it a contract, or a W-2? -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. Still trying to think of something clever for the fourth line of this .sig From merlyn at stonehenge.com Mon May 25 17:52:06 2015 From: merlyn at stonehenge.com (Randal L. Schwartz) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 17:52:06 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> (Jeremy Leader's message of "Mon, 25 May 2015 17:49:02 -0700") References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> Message-ID: <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> >>>>> "Jeremy" == Jeremy Leader writes: Jeremy> I'd guess that means you're a W-2 employee of a contracting Jeremy> company who's hiring you out to a company that needs work done Jeremy> but doesn't want to hire an employee. In theory, when the work Jeremy> runs out the contracting company should try to find another Jeremy> contract for you. In practice it can be the worst of both Jeremy> worlds; you've got the uncertainty of contracting, but with the Jeremy> contracting company taking a (sometimes sizeable) chunk of your Jeremy> fee. If they're providing decent benefits it might make sense. Exactly. And if your contract "runs out", the company who is W-2'ing you better f'ing provide unemployment, or there are a lot of laws broken. -- Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. Still trying to think of something clever for the fourth line of this .sig From jleader at alumni.caltech.edu Mon May 25 17:49:02 2015 From: jleader at alumni.caltech.edu (Jeremy Leader) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 17:49:02 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: <86fv6kgtk1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> Message-ID: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> I'd guess that means you're a W-2 employee of a contracting company who's hiring you out to a company that needs work done but doesn't want to hire an employee. In theory, when the work runs out the contracting company should try to find another contract for you. In practice it can be the worst of both worlds; you've got the uncertainty of contracting, but with the contracting company taking a (sometimes sizeable) chunk of your fee. If they're providing decent benefits it might make sense. -- Jeremy Leader jleader at alumni.caltech.edu On May 25, 2015 3:51 PM, merlyn at stonehenge.com wrote: > > >>>>> "Mark" == Mark Hedges writes: > > Mark> I was offered a contract out of state, on the east coast. [...] > Mark> The money sounds okay, $57/hour W-2, no benefits. > > I'm confused.? Is it a contract, or a W-2? > > -- > Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095 > > Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc. > Still trying to think of something clever for the fourth line of this .sig > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Mon May 25 20:16:28 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 20:16:28 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> Message-ID: On May 25, 2015 5:52 PM, "Randal L. Schwartz" wrote: > > >>>>> "Jeremy" == Jeremy Leader writes: > > Jeremy> I'd guess that means you're a W-2 employee of a contracting > Jeremy> company who's hiring you out to a company that needs work done > Jeremy> but doesn't want to hire an employee. In theory, when the work > Jeremy> runs out the contracting company should try to find another > Jeremy> contract for you. In practice it can be the worst of both > Jeremy> worlds; you've got the uncertainty of contracting, but with the > Jeremy> contracting company taking a (sometimes sizeable) chunk of your > Jeremy> fee. If they're providing decent benefits it might make sense. > > Exactly. > > And if your contract "runs out", the company who is W-2'ing you better > f'ing provide unemployment, or there are a lot of laws broken. Right, I'd be a W-2 employee of a contracting agency. No benefits. The agency takes like 35-45% of the income. The times I really start to wonder are when there are TWO companies between me and the actual employer. So much cash has gotta be going down the drain, it makes one wonder how many drains there are and whose pockets they lead to. I have heard of schemes like that where the third party kicks back to second party managers who kick back to first party managers under the table so they can tap their budgets tax-free, but that would add up so fast it's probably some kind of money laundering. They'll withold state unemployment insurance, but if I get out there and don't have enough time before they pull the rug out from under me, I won't qualify for a claim. At least, that's the way it works in California. It doesn't add up. Mark -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From peter at psdt.com Mon May 25 20:26:14 2015 From: peter at psdt.com (Peter Scott) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 20:26:14 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> Message-ID: <5563E7D6.2040501@psdt.com> On 5/25/15 8:16 PM, Mark Hedges wrote: > > Right, I'd be a W-2 employee of a contracting agency. No benefits. > The agency takes like 35-45% of the income. > Is this a job or indentured servitude? Are you required to shop at a company store? I've had an intermediate contractor that I subbed through to avoid dealing with onerous paperwork from the prime. Not an employer, but yours doesn't sound much like one either. They skimmed 10% for the service of turning a monthly invoice into a check. I thought that was excessive. From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Mon May 25 20:52:42 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 20:52:42 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] dream job, as far as tech goes Message-ID: Topic for discussion: Programmer Co-operative We market in two ways: 1) Contracting agency, we have staff recruiters who place members at other companies. Recruiters are also members, paid at a base rate, but they get commissions too, which is generally how that game works. 2) In-house projects that we do for other companies. TDD, pair programming, task rotation, remote distributed work. By having both in-house projects and contract placement, we have flex room. If you're placed somewhere, and then your contract ends, you can work on tasks for in-house projects until we get you a new placement. Because it is democratic and worker-owned, no more of the hierarchy keeping secrets from each other. Everyone knows about all the money, which makes fraud next to impossible. Bad manager? Follow the rules of order to vote them out of the co-op and elect a new one. We still employ some people, perhaps worker-owners or perhaps contractors, to manage things like H.R. and payroll. The difference is, we are their bosses, and the co-op would have to vote along certain rules to confirm recommendations to hire, fire, promote and discipline. We would need a few C-shares to get started from someone who has been more financially successful than me. Then we exploit the general discontent of workers in hierarchical businesses who have nonsensical managers and get sick of the highschoolish personality dominance games prevalent in the industry. We use the coolness factor of a real co-operative, to run a crowd funding campaign for additional cash to fund the recruiters and marketers and start growing the business. I have studied a little of this law and I know I can put together a workable set of bylaws. It's not socialist, to all the dumb doublespeak propagandists out there. No one forces anyone to buy your bits from our co-op, and it would be a private company of a small group of individuals, not an organ of the state. In this industry, I think worker co-ops would be more competitive than corporations, if we could get over the initial hurdles. Other groups are certainly free to form their own cooperatives and compete with different rules and preferences. The market would decide which set of people and decision frameworks would be most successful. Read L?on Walras, founder of capatalist analytic theory. He was a big advocate of co-operatives because he did not see any actual reason why the same person couldn't be capitalist, entrepreneur and laborer to some degree. Those were just number sinks or sources in his analytic theory, not any objective criteria that made them social class boundaries that individuals were limited to. Think of it like an Athenian Forum. (Just don't try to run Melos without giving them votes.) If it works for grocery stores, coders could make co-ops work more efficiently and profitably. So yeah, that's my dream job, as far as tech goes. If anyone's interested, let's talk. We can't do it alone. (And that's the whole point.) Mark (310) 487-7123 http://formdata.biz -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Mon May 25 20:58:58 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 20:58:58 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: <5563E7D6.2040501@psdt.com> References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> <5563E7D6.2040501@psdt.com> Message-ID: On May 25, 2015 8:26 PM, "Peter Scott" wrote: > > On 5/25/15 8:16 PM, Mark Hedges wrote: >> >> >> Right, I'd be a W-2 employee of a contracting agency. No benefits. The agency takes like 35-45% of the income. >> > Is this a job or indentured servitude? Are you required to shop at a company store? > > I've had an intermediate contractor that I subbed through to avoid dealing with onerous paperwork from the prime. Not an employer, but yours doesn't sound much like one either. They skimmed 10% for the service of turning a monthly invoice into a check. I thought that was excessive. I would tend to doubt that they actually told you the truth about that. Probably what you were told, technically, was that the recruiter who found you the job got 10%. And they got nothing else, no base salary. Entry-level recruiters have a hard time of it. But what was actually happening was the company was taking a lion's share of an additional 20-30%, all hush hush. I'd bet you signed something saying you would not ask the end company how much they were paying, and that the end company signed a contract agreeing to not ask you how much you were making. That is usually how they play this game. Mark -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From peter at psdt.com Mon May 25 21:06:49 2015 From: peter at psdt.com (Peter Scott) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 21:06:49 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> <5563E7D6.2040501@psdt.com> Message-ID: > On May 25, 2015, at 8:58 PM, Mark Hedges wrote: > > I would tend to doubt that they actually told you the truth about that. > > Probably what you were told, technically, was that the recruiter who found you the job got 10%. And they got nothing else, no base salary. Entry-level recruiters have a hard time of it. But what was actually happening was the company was taking a lion's share of an additional 20-30%, all hush hush. I'd bet you signed something saying you would not ask the end company how much they were paying, and that the end company signed a contract agreeing to not ask you how much you were making. That is usually how they play this game. > Nope, they didn't get me the job, I already had it and the prime forwarded me to the sub. And I found out the overhead from contacts at the prime, who were my main points of contact for all tasks. Didn't sign any clause like you described either. This sub was just there to avoid government paperwork. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From drew at drewtaylor.com Mon May 25 23:19:33 2015 From: drew at drewtaylor.com (Drew Taylor) Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 23:19:33 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> Message-ID: The agency takes 35-45%.... So really you're making more like $31/hr. No one with *any* kind of experience should be working for those wages. I've done a little research in the past and the umbrella corps tend to take more like 10-15% to handle all the paperwork. 35% sounds like highway robbery, especially considering you're getting essentially nothing for that money. Ugh! Drew On Mon, May 25, 2015 at 8:16 PM, Mark Hedges wrote: > > On May 25, 2015 5:52 PM, "Randal L. Schwartz" > wrote: > > > > >>>>> "Jeremy" == Jeremy Leader writes: > > > > Jeremy> I'd guess that means you're a W-2 employee of a contracting > > Jeremy> company who's hiring you out to a company that needs work done > > Jeremy> but doesn't want to hire an employee. In theory, when the work > > Jeremy> runs out the contracting company should try to find another > > Jeremy> contract for you. In practice it can be the worst of both > > Jeremy> worlds; you've got the uncertainty of contracting, but with the > > Jeremy> contracting company taking a (sometimes sizeable) chunk of your > > Jeremy> fee. If they're providing decent benefits it might make sense. > > > > Exactly. > > > > And if your contract "runs out", the company who is W-2'ing you better > > f'ing provide unemployment, or there are a lot of laws broken. > > Right, I'd be a W-2 employee of a contracting agency. No benefits. The > agency takes like 35-45% of the income. > > The times I really start to wonder are when there are TWO companies > between me and the actual employer. So much cash has gotta be going down > the drain, it makes one wonder how many drains there are and whose pockets > they lead to. I have heard of schemes like that where the third party > kicks back to second party managers who kick back to first party managers > under the table so they can tap their budgets tax-free, but that would add > up so fast it's probably some kind of money laundering. > > They'll withold state unemployment insurance, but if I get out there and > don't have enough time before they pull the rug out from under me, I won't > qualify for a claim. At least, that's the way it works in California. > > It doesn't add up. > > Mark > > _______________________________________________ > Losangeles-pm mailing list > Losangeles-pm at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/losangeles-pm > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mark.hedges.data at gmail.com Tue May 26 15:04:54 2015 From: mark.hedges.data at gmail.com (Mark Hedges) Date: Tue, 26 May 2015 15:04:54 -0700 Subject: [LA.pm] advice about contracting In-Reply-To: References: <5d718f4b-fdb1-4e6d-a988-c469d0816487@email.android.com> <86y4kcf9e1.fsf@red.stonehenge.com> Message-ID: On May 25, 2015 11:19 PM, "Drew Taylor" wrote: > > The agency takes 35-45%.... So really you're making more like $31/hr. No one with *any* kind of experience should be working for those wages. I've done a little research in the past and the umbrella corps tend to take more like 10-15% to handle all the paperwork. 35% sounds like highway robbery, especially considering you're getting essentially nothing for that money. Ugh! > Oh yeah, just to clarify I would have been getting $57/hr, which means the company would have been paying out like $90 to $100 per hour. That's all the hush hush part in these arrangements. I don't understand the business rationalization for this since payroll and benefits setup are pretty much automated and outsourced these days. Unless they see tbemselves as protected from liability? but are there really that many lawsuits to justify that cost? So if you have to look for a profit motive, I'd tend to suspect tax fraud kickbacks and embezzlement as the primary motivator to perpetuate this subculture of inefficient use of shareholder funds. Mark -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: