Comment On The Next Big Thing, "The Best" Interview, & Too Primitive for COBOL

Oh yeah? Well I met your mother in South Africa. Woulda done her too but she was too old and primitive.

Seriously, guy doesn't even recognise the capital city of South Africa!

Oh wait, or is that Johannesburg...?






(hee hee)

Sec Ces:

Oh yeah? Well I met your mother in South Africa. Woulda done her too but she was too old and primitive.

Which might've sounded a bit odd, coming from 'Jill'...

When I was in my 20s, I had this long list of attributes I was looking for in a woman.

By the time I was 30, that list was down to one item: sane.

Now that I am 40, I'm looking for the same thing in a supervisor.

WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...oh well, I've lived through worse. Upon hearing my country of origin, certain people were expecting a to see a dark-skinned, Muslim guy, only to see another white, Christian guy :-D

The blogging guy too...met a lot of those over ambitious guys that don't really know what their idea implies or if it has already been implemented. I even almost worked for one of them, once.

About "The Best"...heh...self-confidence and relentlessness gone very, very wrong.

Captcha: nimis.

Oh, and fritz ;-)

Mel:

Sec Ces:

Oh yeah? Well I met your mother in South Africa. Woulda done her too but she was too old and primitive.

Which might've sounded a bit HOT, coming from 'Jill'...

FTFY

campkev:

Mel:

Sec Ces:

Oh yeah? Well I met your mother in South Africa. Woulda done her too but she was too old and primitive.

Which might've sounded a bit HOT, coming from 'Jill'...

FTFY

Actually when someone's mom gets together with 'Jill', I kinda like 'em primitive.

I'll call the phone number thats blacked out ... 555-1234

Troy:

Hey guys, are we turning tricks for pennies today?

Yeah sure, why not.

C4I_Officer:

The blogging guy too...met a lot of those over ambitious guys that don't really know what their idea implies or if it has already been implemented. I even almost worked for one of them, once.

One of my favourite sitcoms has a scene where the loser son tells his dad that he's finally got a great lead on work. He's going to become a "dot com millionaire".

His dad responds with "You have to have a great idea first" to which the son says, "That is a great idea... dot come millionaire"

Fade to the next scene where he's asking his tech saavy younger brother where the "dot" key is on the keyboard. When shown the next question is, of course, "now, where's the com key".

Love it!

Captcha: augue - Charlie Brown's been reading these posts too.

Apparently CPound has remembered one of the first things they teach you about contracts: a verbal contract is worth the paper it's written on.

BLOG-GING guy:

"Yeah, I'll take the job, and I'll start working from home 'cuz I have internet access there."

Then just kick back and install some open source blogging package. Oh, and get another real job, too.

C4I_Officer:

WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...oh well, I've lived through worse. Upon hearing my country of origin, certain people were expecting a to see a dark-skinned, Muslim guy, only to see another white, Christian guy :-D

Oh, you're from Minneapolis?

Charles Bond:

When I was in my 20s, I had this long list of attributes I was looking for in a woman.

By the time I was 30, that list was down to one item: sane.

Now that I am 40, I'm looking for the same thing in a supervisor.

I'm 48 your standards are too high.

Scott:

campkev:

Mel:

Sec Ces:

Oh yeah? Well I met your mother in South Africa. Woulda done her too but she was too old and primitive.

Which might've sounded a bit HOT, coming from 'Jill'...

FTFY

Actually when someone's mom gets together with 'Jill', I kinda like 'em primitive.

Dude, that's uncool. You're talking about his mom.

The first interviewer - would that be Jeff, by any chance? After the MMO project failed?

come on boys and girls!
that's made up, right?
that never happened.
did it?
come on! please - this can't be true!
...
I want to cry.

Post:

“Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

fail-ing

Once in Aberdeen I was in a taxi heading to a client. The taxi driver asked me what I was doing, I said I was going to fix a computer...

At that point he slammed on the brakes and exclaimed "There's no computers where you're going!"

Turns out he had misheard the address, but to this day I wonder where he was originally taking me.

IT Girl:

C4I_Officer:

The blogging guy too...met a lot of those over ambitious guys that don't really know what their idea implies or if it has already been implemented. I even almost worked for one of them, once.

One of my favourite sitcoms has a scene where the loser son tells his dad that he's finally got a great lead on work. He's going to become a "dot com millionaire".

His dad responds with "You have to have a great idea first" to which the son says, "That is a great idea... dot come millionaire"

Fade to the next scene where he's asking his tech saavy younger brother where the "dot" key is on the keyboard. When shown the next question is, of course, "now, where's the com key".

Love it!

Captcha: augue - Charlie Brown's been reading these posts too.

I remember that... It's from an episode of My Family, isn't it?

People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

Jaco:

People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

But are you a COBOL programming? We still haven't proven if Cape Town is cool enough for COBOL.

Charles400:

Post:

“Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

Now just a frakking centon ...

Interview WTF's are my favorite, they have so much entertainment value.

Jaco:

I remember that... It's from an episode of My Family, isn't it?

People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

It is.

And the only reason I didn't comment on the Cape Town interview is because my jaw hurt from hitting the desk. The incredible ignorance of some people astounds me. I mean, seriously what makes him think there are Cobol programmers in Scotland? Ridiculous...

Scott:

Actually when someone's mom gets together with 'Jill', I kinda like 'em primitive.

Google "Robert Crumb's Angelfood McSpade".

it's awesome that cape town now does a large portion of offshore coding for backwards places like the united states

captcha: distineo
i don't know what it is, but it sounds awesome

Scotland is supposed to be primitive according to some. I used to work for an Edinburgh based software house. On a business trip to Athens I shared a taxi with two American girls. They asked what I did and when I told them I was a computer programmer in Scotland they replied "You have all that over there?"

Sheesh.

C4I_Officer:

Upon hearing my country of origin, certain people were expecting a to see a dark-skinned, Muslim guy, only to see another white, Christian guy :-D

My college math professor was from South Africa. A sixty-something white female who spoke with a crisp British accent. Or at least, it was what I would call "British". Obviously, it was actually a "South African accent". She would assign certain problems from the textbook as homework, and finish up with, "So do that lot, and see you tomorreau."

Charles400:

Post:

“Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

We buried them there for good reason! Would you idiots please stop digging them up?

C4I_Officer:

WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...

Not to excuse him or imply that it's OK, but the story opens with "Nearly twenty-five years ago...", so hopefully the person in the story isn't indicative of today's society. Or he's become more enlightened since then.

Or he's dead. That would work, too.

Bruce W:

Jaco:

People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

But are you a COBOL programming? We still haven't proven if Cape Town is cool enough for COBOL.

The most popular payroll package in SA was developed by Cape Town-based company in COBOL...

IT Girl:

And the only reason I didn't comment on the Cape Town interview is because my jaw hurt from hitting the desk. The incredible ignorance of some people astounds me. I mean, seriously what makes him think there are Cobol programmers in Scotland? Ridiculous...

This is totally off topic, but have you by any chance ever worked at M-Web?

Captcha: ingenium

Bruce W:

But are you a COBOL programming?

Sorry, which language is that in?

T-Biscuit:

Interview WTF's are my favorite, they have so much entertainment value.

Yeah they're easily my favorites, too. I would love to go on one of these interviews where you walk away thinking the company is a complete disaster. Or in the case of "blog-ging" guy, an abortion aspiring to be a disaster.

C4I_Officer:

WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...oh well, I've lived through worse. Upon hearing my country of origin, certain people were expecting a to see a dark-skinned, Muslim guy, only to see another white, Christian guy :-D

The blogging guy too...met a lot of those over ambitious guys that don't really know what their idea implies or if it has already been implemented. I even almost worked for one of them, once.

About "The Best"...heh...self-confidence and relentlessness gone very, very wrong.

Captcha: nimis.

Oh, and fritz ;-)

We have a programmer from South Africa here at work. He's the weirdest-looking African American I have ever seen...

Same here!

The iPhone does have a .com key on its virtual keyboard, at least in some entry modes (where you're typing an Internet address).

Code Dependent:

C4I_Officer:

Upon hearing my country of origin, certain people were expecting a to see a dark-skinned, Muslim guy, only to see another white, Christian guy :-D

My college math professor was from South Africa. A sixty-something white female who spoke with a crisp British accent. Or at least, it was what I would call "British". Obviously, it was actually a "South African accent". She would assign certain problems from the textbook as homework, and finish up with, "So do that lot, and see you tomorreau."

One of my English teachers at Secondary School was South African; she was fond of saying "You lie!".

Nice lady; she and her husband quit South Africa because they refused to live in a country with apartheid.

Also, their accent is nothing like ours :P

Rich:

Seriously, guy doesn't even recognise the capital city of South Africa!

Oh wait, or is that Johannesburg...?

South Africa has three (count 'em, three) capitals.

One of them is, indeed, Cape Town.

None of them are Jo'burg, though.

jobrahms:

We have a programmer from South Africa here at work. He's the weirdest-looking African American I have ever seen...

Reminds me of the overly-PC TV interviewer:
"So, Mr. Mandela, how does this issue affect you as an African American ?"

Jaco:

IT Girl:

And the only reason I didn't comment on the Cape Town interview is because my jaw hurt from hitting the desk. The incredible ignorance of some people astounds me. I mean, seriously what makes him think there are Cobol programmers in Scotland? Ridiculous...

This is totally off topic, but have you by any chance ever worked at M-Web?

Captcha: ingenium

Jaco - I'm not IT girl, but I worked there :) back in the beginning of 2000...

Is it just me or have we seen the first one before?

C4I_Officer:

WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer

I think ignorant covers it pretty well, since he didn't indicate intolerance or feelings of superiority (some communities in some African countries have primitive cultures with low levels of technology; that's a fact) in his statement. When we throw the "racist" label around just because an unpopular or ignorant statement was made involving non-white people, it trivializes the suffering caused by true racism.

Dan T.:

The iPhone does have a .com key on its virtual keyboard, at least in some entry modes (where you're typing an Internet address).

As does the Tablet PC input panel.

Hey, I think I've worked with The Best at more than a few places.

operagost:

When we throw the "racist" label around just because an unpopular or ignorant statement was made involving non-white people, it trivializes the suffering caused by true racism.

I heard that racism was a myth perpetrated by the government to keep the white man down.

hikari:

One of my English teachers at Secondary School was South African; she was fond of saying "You lie!".

Nice lady; she and her husband quit South Africa because they refused to live in a country with apartheid.

..and then, after apartheid ended in '94, they moved back?

I think someone listened a bit too much to a certain Tina Turner song

I wonder if there's ANY country in the world today where there aren't at least some computers around. I mean, even in the poorest, most primitive country, there must be some number of relatively wealthy people who have nice houses and all the modern conveniences. Powered by a generator in the basement if necessary.

I recall years ago talking to a woman who was a missionary in, umm, Cote D'Ivoire I think, in a place remote from any modern civilization. But she had solar panels on the roof of her house that provided enough power to run lights and a small refrigerator.