Re: Tool knowledge versus Task knowledge

[Michael Andrew Uhl <mikeuhl -at- MINDSPRING -dot- COM>]

Esteemed Colleagues;

There seems to be an underlying assumption that temps are inferior laborers and
that many of us are not temps and thus above them. These days, all employees are
temps. I'm happen to be a  well compensated, content  temp who keeps with my
customers very happy. They love me because of what I've done for them lately.
It's certainly
not my charming personality that does it. They will only find a temp for a lot
less if they look. They don't look because they're very happy to pay me to do
the job, because I do the job, the way they want it and very reliably.

I write *and* serve as the communication geek, though I don't get six figures.
;-(

I don't get defensive anymore about this writing versus technology issue. I'm a
worker bee: I write when they tell me to write and I'm a mechanic when they want
me to be a mechanic. That's how I stay happily employed. I'm not a poet or a
novelist, and I never pretend to be. My friend and colleague Michael Brown is a
better writer than me and an equally good mechanic. He writes wonderful short
stories, which are much more difficult to write than novels--the short stories
require so much more discipline. He works at Duke University for less pay than
me, but he works in an academic environment, where he likes it. I respect him
immensely for his decisions in this regard. I recently read the book of
Ecclesiastes in the Bible and Solomon gives excellent advice: life is fleeting,
so enjoy your work. Amen. ;-)

I detect that the older (read "mature") folks in our profession don't get much
worked up anymore about these kinds of issues. We just do our job, as we like
it, and go home at night to our real life: our spouse, our children, our
hobbies, and friends...

Cheers.

-Mike
--
Michael Andrew Uhl (mailto:mikeuhl -at- mindspring -dot- com)
Durham, North Carolina USA
http://www.epa.gov/vislab/




Weissman, Jessica wrote:

> It depends on the temp.  You can request, and pay extra for, temps with high
> levels of particular skills.
>
> For example, a few years ago a friend of mine made a fine living as the only
> temp in Washington DC who could work with tables in DOS Word Perfect 5.1.
> People requested her specifically, and she cleaned up.
>
>         ******
>
> >  No, a temp couldn't do that task. They tend to be less skilled with only
> > a
> > basic familiarity with the tool. The temp would have probably taken an
> > hour
> > to do the task Mike did in 5 minutes -- and probably foul up the job so
> > bad
> > that it would be impossible to edit on the next pass. Pay the temp less --
> > per hour, perhaps, but in terms of ultimate cost in productivity to the
> > corporation -- way more.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Linda Holder
> > Dallas, TX
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=