Programmer 'outsources' his own job to China to laze around at work - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Pooka · #31 01-19-2013, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean

Something like this right?

Before each meeting the room was swept for hidden mics. We also had a window that had an ultrasonic device wired into it so you could not pick up our conversations with a LASER bugging device.

The windows were also coated so they reflected a lot of light. This kept anyone from watching us with a telescope.

We also had a neat little device that would pick up disturbances in the air pressure around our meeting room to keep people from just walking up and putting their ear to the door.

And those are just the ones I knew about.

But the 'Get Smart' Cone? Yeah, that's where we got the name from. Some of the higher ups thought we were making fun of their efforts, but after they got to know us they found out we were considered the Wild Men of the company.

I think they even called us 'The Wild Ducks'. We asked them to change it to 'Geese', but they pretended to not know what we were talking about.

t walgamuth · #32 01-19-2013, 07:26 AM

This is one of those interesting little situations.

On a theoretical level one has to admire the cleverness of the idea.

We can only guess at the circumstances under which he was hired. Theoretically he may not have violated his terms of employment but most likely he did. If he did he deserved to be fired at minimum.

If he did not lie and did not violate the terms of his employment, I don't have a moral issue with it, but most likely he did lie and did violate his terms of employment.

cmbdiesel · #33 01-19-2013, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcyuhn

I used to work at a big telecom software shop on the north side of Dallas. We had literally thousands of software developers on site. All the global telecom suppliers were well represented in the area and it was quite common for employees to move between them to secure a raise or a better opportunity.

The work schedule had almost complete flexibilty because the "captive office" telephone switches used to test and debug software were scheduled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At one point we hired a guy from a competitor - I forget who - and he only came in after lunch and stayed into the evening. This was a bit unusual, but not enough to raise any real concern. Turns out he never quit his previous job - he just worked there in the mornings. Eventually we found out and fired him. Also called friends over at the other employer and they fired him too. But he got away with it for a month or two. It's amazing what people try to get away with.

I wonder if the Verizon guy spent any time on peachparts!

What's wrong with having two jobs??

Was his work deficient? If employees routinely moved from company to company, there could not have been a serious security breach.

Why did someone feel the need to call his other job? Sounds very petty and mean to me.

I would have advanced a guy like that and paid him enough to work only one job. He sounds like a very motivated self-starter.....

Bet the bosses who fired him like to whine about productivity too....

This story is a microcosm of why US business is falling behind.

cmbdiesel · #34 01-19-2013, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air&Road

You don't like the idea of employers and employees being truthful with each other?

How did you come up with that???

Pooka · #35 01-19-2013, 05:05 PM

I knew a fellow once that held a highly technical job with a large oil company. He then picked up a part time job doing the same thing with a smaller oil company.

This lasted for a few weeks, but when he was called in due to an emergency at one company or another he was found out. Neither company wanted to lose him, so they both made him a new job offer. Yeah, he was that good. He could have easily wound up being fired by both companies, so don't try this at home.

It all came down to how could he not take tech info from one company and put it to use at another?

Neither company had a policy of not working another job, but you needed the permission of your Supervisor to take the other job. This rule was in place to prevent situations like the one I just listed.

Air&Road · #36 01-19-2013, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

What's wrong with having two jobs??

Was his work deficient? If employees routinely moved from company to company, there could not have been a serious security breach.

Why did someone feel the need to call his other job? Sounds very petty and mean to me.

I would have advanced a guy like that and paid him enough to work only one job. He sounds like a very motivated self-starter.....

Bet the bosses who fired him like to whine about productivity too....

This story is a microcosm of why US business is falling behind.

In the telecom business I fully expect that what Jim was talking about was the guy sharing info/technology from one company with the other. Do you see an ethical problem with that.

jcyuhn · #37 01-20-2013, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

What's wrong with having two jobs??

Was his work deficient? If employees routinely moved from company to company, there could not have been a serious security breach.

Why did someone feel the need to call his other job? Sounds very petty and mean to me.

I would have advanced a guy like that and paid him enough to work only one job. He sounds like a very motivated self-starter.....

Bet the bosses who fired him like to whine about productivity too....

This story is a microcosm of why US business is falling behind.

Wow, you sure know how to take a story and run it out to left field.

The guy very clearly violated the conflict of Interest clause of his employment agreement, which explicitly stated that he could not work for a competitor in the industry. His performance was below average; he worked less than 40 hours a week at our shop and I presume the same at the other. Obviously they did not find him stellar enough to overlook his issues.

Karma being what it is, the manager who found him out took a job in Florida a few months later to be near family and found himself managing this same guy. Never heard how that ended.

So you'd promote an employee that was stealing from you? Guessing you haven't done much people management in your career.

jcyuhn · #38 01-20-2013, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-Benz

Many years ago...before outsourcing and before workstations had the speed and massive memory availability they do now:

A large corporation I worked for fired a contractor who developed and maintained an entire general ledger application for a different client on the company mainframe!

We once had an employee use our servers to develop a game for his own business. He got fired. Doing so was a clear violation of employment policy and ethics; company equipment is for performing company business.

Diesel911 · #39 01-20-2013, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Air&Road

When you pay someone to write code it is understood that they will know the code to a point where they can modify and support it. The code is not like handing over the blueprint to a toaster. The code may "live" and require support for a long time.

Do you not expect employers and employees to be truthful with each other?

On all of the Blue Collar type jobs I have worked at the Supervisors I have had at one time or another have lied about something concerning the Job; so I can't say that I expected My Supervisors to be truthful.
If listen to a couple of Business Owners sitting in a Bar or at Dinner you will find they don’t trust there Employees; at least that is the talk I have listened to.

However, I have not had the same Experience with Supervisors in the Medical profession; likely do to the liability that can be incurred when someone screws up in that type of job.

The Point I was trying to make is I don't know status He was hired under.

I was hired once as sort of an outside Contractor when I was a Mechanic.

If I had brought an Assistant that I paid for Myself the Company that paid Me would not have cared if the Assistant did the work or Myself because I was responsible for the outcome of the Job.

To Me the really bad thing He did was the Security Violation.