• (cs)

    Sally's job, do want.

  • Ted (unregistered) in reply to Kempeth
    Kempeth:
    Sure she had an easy life but how long can you possibly milk such a gig?

    Easy. Until she gets married and becomes housewife

  • d00d (unregistered)

    Hmm, so this is the basis for Obama's unemployment policies.

  • d00d (unregistered) in reply to VRAndy
    VRAndy:
    If I had a job like this for 11 months, I'd like to think that I'd spend at least 10 months working on some awesome open-source project under a pseudonym.

    As an added bonus, at my next job interview, I can point to that project and tell them that I did it in "my spare time" and watch how impressed they were.

    Win

  • что? (unregistered)
    In addition to billing out fresh college graduates at obscenely high rates, the company developed obscenely expensive software for large enterprises.
    First clue that something was seriously wrong with the company.
  • Motor Roller (unregistered)

    I was brought in as one of about 300 contractors working on a big project for a big electronics firm. First day there, the more seasoned folks advised me it was common knowledge it takes 2 to 3 weeks to get a user ID set up. In the mean time... well... you can't even read manuals because they're all online... and... I'm too busy to show you anything... and... um...

    So you sit around and think about how your hourly rate is adding up much faster as a contractor than what you ever made as an employee... and you wait.

    Along with the other 20 people they brought in the same day as you.

    And the 20 more who show up the next week.

    Eventually, sure enough, three weeks in, you get an account and off you go. Meanwhile there's a steady pipeline of new recruits week after week, sitting on their hands.

    Why is the new user ID process so backed up? Because they can't afford to bring in the extra people to get caught up. And why can't they afford it? Because they're spending Mega$ on contractors.

    Oh, yes, and who are all these idle contractors? Sys admins mostly, any one of whom could have been put to work creating user accounts.

    Ahhh, it's lovely when some Very Large Government drops a billion dollars in your lap and says go make this thing for me, you needn't worry about being profitable...

  • Rich Wilson (unregistered) in reply to OldCoder

    If you mean SAP, then no. It was someone offering SAP consulting as one of their services, but probably not SAP itself.

  • Putzig (unregistered)

    Is Sally a code name for Wally (from Dilbert)

  • Some Jerk (unregistered)

    how do companies like that stay in business? Don't get me wrong... a turbo charged welfare system sounds nice... but how can any company afford to arbitrarily payroll people without producing some kind of income from their efforts?

  • (cs)

    Christ, have you people no imagination? This job wasn't "getting paid to do nothing". It was "getting paid to do (almost) anything you want".

    If you don't want to sit around watching Jerry Springer and playing WoW, you could use this job to get paid to work on open source, or remodel your house, or do charity work, or learn to play guitar, or ANYTHING. If that doesn't sound appealing to you...that's kind of sad, actually. The only thing you find fulfilling in life is having someone else tell you what to do, and without that, you're lost?

    That's TRWTF.

  • Felix (unregistered) in reply to blah

    Usually I read these articles and I feel bad for the person. This time I wish i had her job.

    You are telling me she is complaining about receiving paychecks for doing nothing? Jeeze...PLEASE consulting company...call me! I want this job! I'll be benched forever...no problem.

  • Stan (unregistered)

    Stage 1 ... Stage 2 ... Stage 3 Profit

  • stu (unregistered) in reply to thirster42
    thirster42:
    nah, the thing to have done was to wait about a month or so, then start looking around. get hired and have both jobs. then when they finally called for a job tell them you quit. that way you still get to collect 2 paychecks for a year.

    You got it wrong. Don't quit - request unpaid leave. That way, you can get back as soon as you're back doing nothing.

  • me_too (unregistered)

    Ahahaha that happened to me. Go Accenture!

  • Steve (unregistered) in reply to blah

    This is the best use of a project manager I've ever seen. Looks like a win win. She gets paid for doing nothing and doesn't interfere with anyone's important work.

  • th (unregistered)

    What is the name of the company, again?! Now, that my second son is born I could realy appreciate that job!

  • (cs) in reply to th
    th:
    What is the name of the company, again?! Now, that my second son is born I could realy appreciate that job!
    I don't think they'll hire an infant. Your son will have to wait till he graduates from college.
  • Michael (unregistered) in reply to blah

    I thought so too, at first. The real WTF is that the organization that she works for is a subtle, if very appealing, trap. What happens when, years down the line after you've grown content earning a paycheck for doing nothing, they decide that your services are no longer required? Now you have to go looking for a job again, but what are you going to put on your resume? Even if you've maintained the discipline to stay current on your working knowledge of current tech, you don't actually have any practical experience. It won't take long for subsequent interviewers to realize that you're just an empty suit. Good luck ever getting a paying job again.

  • Jack (unregistered) in reply to Michael
    Michael:
    It won't take long for subsequent interviewers to realize that you're just an empty suit.
    But isn't that the definition of a consultant?
  • что? (unregistered) in reply to Michael
    Michael:
    I thought so too, at first. The real WTF is that the organization that she works for is a subtle, if very appealing, trap. What happens when, years down the line after you've grown content earning a paycheck for doing nothing, they decide that your services are no longer required? Now you have to go looking for a job again, but what are you going to put on your resume? Even if you've maintained the discipline to stay current on your working knowledge of current tech, you don't actually have any practical experience. It won't take long for subsequent interviewers to realize that you're just an empty suit. Good luck ever getting a paying job again.
    Then that's your own fault for not doing anything on the side. You could do freelance. You could do other consulting work. Heck, if you have a year's worth of free time, you could develop your own product, sell it, and you won't even have to worry about getting a job. If it works out right, you'll be selling a successful product AND milking the company that (still) benches you.
  • (cs) in reply to что?
    что?:
    Michael:
    I thought so too, at first. The real WTF is that the organization that she works for is a subtle, if very appealing, trap. What happens when, years down the line after you've grown content earning a paycheck for doing nothing, they decide that your services are no longer required? Now you have to go looking for a job again, but what are you going to put on your resume? Even if you've maintained the discipline to stay current on your working knowledge of current tech, you don't actually have any practical experience. It won't take long for subsequent interviewers to realize that you're just an empty suit. Good luck ever getting a paying job again.
    Then that's your own fault for not doing anything on the side. You could do freelance. You could do other consulting work. Heck, if you have a year's worth of free time, you could develop your own product, sell it, and you won't even have to worry about getting a job. If it works out right, you'll be selling a successful product AND milking the company that (still) benches you.

    The problem is that you can't really do freelance stuff when you have a 'real' job which can demand that you start doing work for them within the hour. (Aka: We need you now, so please show up at the office).

    I think this was her real problem. She could not commit to an other project because she might not have the time, and it's very difficult to read up on project management because Project Management is really a thing you can only learn by doing.

  • Craig (unregistered)

    Sounds like my dream job. Just work on my own projects on the side (under my wifes name).

  • Craig (unregistered) in reply to Some Jerk

    It's called government. Or if not, the client is government.

  • The C Man (unregistered)

    I'm sorry but brushing up on her interviewing skills? Does this mean she's not satisfied with her job?

    Huge businesses like SAP are ridiculously wasteful. My friend works for Northrop Grumman and he knows several people who are completely terrible at their job and have been for many many years but they are still going strong at the company because the company believes (or maybe knows by fact?) that it's cheaper to keep a bad employee than risk a wrongful termination suit. Pretty unbelievable if you ask me.

  • envelope (unregistered) in reply to blah

    I agree, I kept reading looking for the downside, but I didn't see it. Paid to sit at home and do nothing? That's a job I could do pretty easily.

  • Tiger Wood (unregistered) in reply to Whiskey, Eh?
    Whiskey:
    When I read the article I kept thinking of Accenture.

    Being paid to do nothing only sounds like a dream job to those who haven't tried it. Sounds more like jail to me. I hate, hate, hate being bored.

    Yup. That's my experience of Accenture too. Paid to do nothing (especially in their 'consulting' arm)

  • (cs) in reply to blah
    blah:
    When did the site become "The Daily BTW" (Better Than Win)?

    But seriously, that has to be the first article I've ever read here where I thought, "Yeah, I could work for them". Especially amazing considering it's a consulting position, not a coding position.

    I wish TDBTW really existed, that would be an epic site.

  • DDR (unregistered) in reply to blah

    Strange... I'd only sort of love to have the job, it would feel odd to not actually do anything.

    On the other hand, free money.

  • Jeff Kemp (unregistered)

    I've been on the bench before. In the case of the consulting company I was working for, however, their rules stated that we wouldn't get paid unless we actually turned up to their office, 40 hours a week, doing nothing.

    I lasted two weeks - the first week, learning a new programming language while applying for jobs. The second week, waiting to start my new job.

    Learning a new language was fine, but I'd have gone crazy if that had gone on for months.

  • Graeme Hefner (unregistered)

    That's the best job ever. The real WTF is that she was working on getting a different one.

  • Consultant Zero (unregistered) in reply to Jack
    Jack:
    Michael:
    It won't take long for subsequent interviewers to realize that you're just an empty suit.
    But isn't that the definition of a consultant?

    No, and we are insulted you suggest such. We are highly skilled professionals who can, upon your written submitted request tell you the time with your watch, after having gone through the appropriate asset transfer process. Once we have an appropriate contract in place, of course.

  • Frank (unregistered)

    This sounds great... until one day someone finally figures out what's going on and lays her off. Then she what's she going to do in her next interview? And all this time when she should be learning a skill, she's learning nothing. In the long run this might be disastrous.

  • Consultant Zero (unregistered) in reply to The C Man
    The C Man:
    [S]everal people who are completely terrible at their job and have been for many many years but they are still going strong at the company because the company believes (or maybe knows by fact?) that it's cheaper to keep a bad employee than risk a wrongful termination suit. Pretty unbelievable if you ask me.

    Wrong, wrong, wrong. The magic words are "billable hours." Fired employees have none, and thus make no money for the company. Achieving objectives does not make money for the company. Contrapositives are not necessarily true - avoiding enough failure to prevent business loss is all that's required. Who knows why this complicated and difficult to understand technology project is failing? You and me, we get along just fine, and I've been hitting deliverables. Let's extend this contract another two years, waddayasay?

  • (cs) in reply to Frank
    Frank:
    This sounds great... until one day someone finally figures out what's going on and lays her off. Then she what's she going to do in her next interview? And all this time when she should be learning a skill, she's learning nothing. In the long run this might be disastrous.

    It sounds as if she was actually learning things by reading through books and such.

    If someone took a year long paid vacation and didn't use it to improve their skills they don't deserve to get another job.

    However if they were intelligent they could easily improve their skillset. Probably even more so than if they were 'properly' employed.

  • Finn (unregistered) in reply to Visage
    Visage:
    IBM?

    My company just brought them in as our exclusive IT vendor. Please, don't scare me like that.

  • Johnny (unregistered) in reply to blah

    it sounds like Accenture

  • Mike (unregistered) in reply to blah

    Whoa, why not start your own business while being paid?

  • Avyn (unregistered) in reply to blah

    It's WTF: Win iT Free. CAPTCHA: vulputate. sounds nasty . and dirty. and I think someone's gotten this before, so you might want to fix your captchas.

  • Richard@Home (unregistered) in reply to blah

    ^ this!

    Selflessly, I'd be willing to take over if she needs a break from her break!

  • Rodnas (unregistered)

    Sounds Great! Where can you find a job where you can play Team Fortress 2 all day, really suck at it and still get paid? I mean c'mon lousy software testing is still testing.

  • karp (unregistered)

    Wouldn't be too surprised if the company is SAP. Unbelievable expensive and highly paid consultants. Only thing is I believe its coded in Java, but alex might have changed that.

  • Neil (unregistered) in reply to Finn

    Haha! This must be your first job at a bank / insurance company, enjoy!

  • Keloran (unregistered)

    Yeah id def work for them, since i could then spend most of my day doing my own projects

  • tryde (unregistered) in reply to blah

    It's not actually better than win, because she has no other experience to show off on a resumé. Even though it's nice to get paid for nothing, she has lost one full year in her career and it will be harder to start over.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Avyn
    Avyn:
    It's WTF: Win iT Free. CAPTCHA: vulputate. sounds nasty . and dirty. and I think someone's gotten this before, so you might want to fix your captchas.
    You must be new here. There are only a dozen or so captcha words so you'll see them repeated - a lot.
  • Jimmy Jones (unregistered) in reply to Canthros

    Huh? Why would enybody call them and say "sorry I don't want to 'work' there any more. Start a small business to gain some extra income on the side if you're bored.

  • Brit Banking Contractor (unregistered)

    Hahahaha!!! I think I worked for that company - weren't HQ'd in Ann Arbor were they? They used the same terminology and had the same attitude to just sending people thousands (in my case 6500) of miles away whenever they saw fit.

    I'll laugh if it was them!!!

  • Tired SAP consultant (unregistered) in reply to Johnny
    Johnny:
    it sounds like Accenture
    I'd place my bets on Accenture too; I have enough buddies there and worked with their people in the past to recognize the lingo and the MO. The junior position salary can't have been that big to have her on reserve for that long - or maybe it's just a big HR wtf.

    Personally I expect my employer to get me billable work or training - any longer periods of doing nothing tend to get both parties looking for other options.

  • Anonymous Coward (ex-ACN) (unregistered)

    This sounds just like Accenture (or any number of other top tier, large, consulting firms).

    In really big consulting companies you do spend time on the bench (a year is a long time though). The company makes up for it by charging vast amounts for the people who are actually doing chargeable work ($1000-2000/day, depending on the seniority of the resource).

    Whilst on the bench you are expected to help with pre-sales, or doing internal training, or internal projects, or otherwise find a way to be chargeable. You don't get to sit at home and do nothing for a year.

    And expect to have to fly to <random place> at a day's notice. And live out of a carry-on for a week, for many months at a time. Definately not as glamorous as "up in the air"

  • Jack Codemonkey (unregistered) in reply to Plz Send Me The Code

    It sure beats spending a life - or even a day - doing monotonous grindwork for the bullying elitist asshats above me.

Leave a comment on “Benched”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article