minute

Just want some more minutes to talk... but I cannot have it like I used to...

QuE SeRa SeRa

Peace of mind... What a nice feeling...

"Just because everything's changing
doesn't mean it's never been this way before."

Modern-day "bugaw" really sucks

I got a news from one of my QA friends deployed at ADB today and I cannot keep myself from expressing this particular feeling of anger and disappointment despite the fact that it is nearly Christmas...

Years of experience made me wise indeed plus the fact that I keep changing jobs once every two years at the least. I have ups and downs and more disappointments that I already lost count. I had three employers this year... There are things that I have learned that I want to share with my fellow IT friends...

Who said that "Bugaws" only exist in the street? When we say the term "Bugaw" the first thing that comes to our minds is "those who sell prostitutes to clients and in turn have a cut to the earnings"

Well folks, it seems that bugaw now exists in the IT world. Yes, I call them "MODERN-DAY BUGAW" in the form of Agencies, Consultancy Firms, Executive Search. They have a cut in the salaries. Say for example a client pays 100k-150k for a particular position, usually an agency gets 30-50 percent from this. So, the employee only gets 50k or less while the agency gets the most out of it... It really sucks right???

Well for those who receive calls from so-called "headhunters" here are some of the major tips I could keep to avoid getting fooled...

• Ask whether it is a direct hire or not. If its a direct hire than go for it. If not drop it
• If its for a contractual/project-based employment, ask the salary package. If its contractual, dude, ask big sum of money. If its project-based, ask how long wlll the project last.
• If you are choosing between regular and consultancy, go for the regular

IT recruitment is becoming as dirty as prostitution...

A REPOST: A Few Good Programmers

I am browsing through friendster blogs when I stumbled upon this specific "I am Nerd" blog. His/her post is quite cool so I thought I repost it here. I am not taking the credit, just reposting... =) (http://daqwolf.blog.friendster.com/2009/12/a-few-good-programmers/)

This is a portion of dialogue I got from A Few Good Men, this is the famous You Can’t Handle the Truth Rant by Jack Nicholson. Stressed as I am, I came up with a stressed users/programmers version of this:

User: Programmer, did you crash this server?!

Manager: You don’t have to answer that question!

Programmer: I’ll answer the question. You want answers?

User: I think I’m entitled.

Programmer: You want answers?

User: I want the truth!

Programmer:

You can’t handle the truth! We live in a world with faulty applications, and those apps have to be fixed by smart people who program. Who’s gonna do it? You, Mr. User? You, Mr. Manager? I have a greater responsibility than you can fathom. You weep for your little project and you curse our team. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that this project’s failure, while tragic, probably saves programmer’s lives. That my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, probably saves programmers’ lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that server! You need me on that server! We use words like Patch, Deploy, Test. We use these words as the backbone of a job spent programming something. You use them as a punchline! I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who surfs and transacts under the blanket of the very application that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said “Thank you” and gave me a day off. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a keyboard, and program a module. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!

User: Did you crash this server?!

Programmer: I did my job…

User: DID YOU CRASH THIS SERVER?!

Programmer :YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!

Weekend @ Star City

It has been a long time since I went to Star City. Yesterday, I got the chance to return to that amusement park. The place has improved quite a lot! It is already very affordable for the cost of 450 per head, which is already a VIP pass and includes Ride-all-you-can, Snow World and Dino Island. The place is so crowded due to long weekend. Here are some of the photos:

Winter Wonderland in the Philippines

Its a long weekend and we had so much fun yesterday at Star City. The crowd is so huge due to extended weekend but nonetheless, it was so much fun. We saw happy people with their families spending their time togather on a holiday...

We went to Snow World and it is so SULIT! Its a good thing we brought our socks. Geezz but we do not have gloves (too bad, we could have spent more time inside the wonderland if we have those).

Even if it is just a simple replica of the real snow world in those countries with winter season, it is good enough for us. I mean, it is soooo cold inside, the ice sculptures are amazing! Just don't touch them because any small damage costs 5000! We slide on the ice. I think we only spent 15 minutes inside. Too bad, our gadgets cannot be used inside. But its a good thing there is someone there to take some photos just for souvenir. Its a nice thing that we have something like this in the Philippines! Nice to experience such "Cold" "weather" even for a couple of minutes :)

2012

We have seen 2012's premiere awhile ago at SM Megamall Cinema 6. Hmmmm.. what can I say???

Well, many people will probably hate me for this but I really prefer "The Day After Tomorrow".

Okay, given, the visual effects are much better in 2012. But I'd say that the acting is a bit exaggerating and there are dull moments (really, I was yawning several times especially during some personal moments among the characters). And I find it weird that despite all those drastic and whooaaahhh calamities (with land mass shifting positions), GPRS is still working??? There is still signal? That must be a state-of-the-art modern day NOAH's ARK in which only the mighty, rich and powerful are allowed??? If you don't have a what? Billion dollars, you won't get a pass to get inside it and be saved???

The movie also depicts how dirty governments are... I mean, what's with all the lying about everything is fine whereas the earth's crust is already at its edge??? And geez, that government official (I don't know what his name is) who is obviously a power tripper even at the very end... I was saying during the movie "Can somebody punch that stupid man?" Really, our world is surrounded by crocodiles... No wonder these events might happen.

Racism... It sucks!!! Really... I hate it!

The movie lacks certain emotions and humanity. And well, sorry to say, some are even overacting.

The climax is not well plotted. Okay, so if the engine won't start they will hit Mt. Everest and that would be the end of mankind...

But this movie made me look back at my Sibika at Kultura subject when I was in elementary. Seems true somehow. I remembered the history about plate tectonics and how land mass shifted. Before, there is only one continent and those earthquakes molded what our current Earth has now.

Hmmmm... We were just joking after the movie and trying to decipher where Philippines is in the new globe/earth shown at the end of the film...

Still, its a must-see movie :) Sorry for the spoilers folks! I might forget about all these tomorrow so I have to post it now :)