BlogThree by ThoughtFix

Uh-huh. Suuuure.

From: "david appiah" <david_appiah06@hotmail.com>
Reply To: "attn_davidappiah111@yahoo.co.in"

Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 6:27 AM

Subject: I appreiciate your response and pls call me.

Dear Friend,

I am Mr.David Appiah;a bank manager with International Commercial Bank here
in Ghana West Africa.I contacted you becuase i believed you can be of
assistance to me.I write you this letter in good faith after getting your
contact information through a personal search.I have a transaction of Six
Million, Seven hundred and Fifty Thousand US dollars ($6,750,000.00) and I
realized this fund from my branch as excess profit when i was in service as
a branch manager.

I deposited this fund in an Escrow call account were nobody will have access
to it;Even my bank does not have access to this account because it cannot be
used for any transaction;I did not declare this fund to the bank before my
retirement. I am contacting you, to stand as the beneficiary of this fund
because only a foreigner can stand as the beneficiary.Can I trust you to
hold this money for me until I come to your country after the transfer for
my share?

All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund and
provide an account where this money will be transferred into.There are
practically no risks involved because it will be a bank to bank transfer
which will not take us more than three banking working days.

I will give you 40% of the money as gratification,If you accept my offer;You
can contact me only on my private phone number 00233243525624.

I will appreciate your timely response as soon as you receive this mail.

With regards,
Mr.David Appiah

Posted by thoughtfix at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments  

It's no secret that I was disappointed with Vista. I was ready and willing to try something different. On Feb 10 and $1,500 later, I had my new iMac at home. It's fast and the next-gen operating system was RIGHT around the corner, or so Apple had me to believe.

Today, news is that Leopard is being pushed back to October. While existing Apple fans were disappointed, I feel positively duped. The purpose of the Spring release date was not reality, but rather an intent to get Vista "disgruntled" consumers like me to buy a Mac instead of buying a new PC to get the latest next-gen operating system.

Had I bought a new Vista PC with similar specs and Vista Ultimate, I'd have saved around $500 even after the cost of the LCD. I went with Apple because I was ready to try something new. Now I feel betrayed.

Posted by thoughtfix at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments  

Most of the complaints about offshoring service jobs center around the lower quality of service received. When a customer and a customer support representative have a language or accent barrier, the experience is already swinging into the negative. While this is a valid concern, there are more backlashes to offshoring than thick accents.

I'm going to tell a story of a young man with no experience and no degree. Through basic computer knowledge and motivation alone, he started out as a level 1 tech support representative for a big modem company. This was a placement through a contract job and when a bigger networking company bought the modem company, the contract ended. (Later, the whole Skokie, Illinois building was sold and support was moved.)

From there, he got several other fortunate contract placements that built his resume and experience significantly. From Level 1 tech support, he grew up through higher technical positions, then low to middle management positions, and mid-level to high-level engineering roles. Over a decade later, he's doing well for himself as a systems engineer for a very stable internet services company. While the lack of formal training and education have held him back a couple times, employers found his on-the-job skills and real-world experience to be very valuable.

He's also a blogger. In fact, he's writing this post.

I am sure I am not the only example of someone whose success is wholly attributed to "climbing the ranks." A decade later, there are more computers, gadgets, and connectivity systems than ever and it would be a great breeding ground the next generation of engineers... Except for one thing: There's no ground level. Entry-level CSR positions are now overseas, so anyone attempting to get into this industry must go into debt for a college degree. Four years and $80,000 later, they have to hope they can land one of the few remaining positions in the tech industry without any real-world experience. From there, it's a long, hard road to the higher positions.

And what of the higher positions? What happens when the engineers do not have the experience and history of "face time" with end users? Do the designers know what the people want? Is there some fundamental disconnect that happens when engineers and developers are so far removed from customers? If you ever dealt with Windows Vista's security center, you may know.

If corporations continue to destroy the ground floor of the technology base, we will have no more American engineers. Please, tech companies, bring the technical support and entry-level jobs back to America. It shows loyalty to your consumer base, dedication to quality service, and most importantly, a logical path for career growth for the next generation of geeks.

Posted by thoughtfix at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments