• Blah (unregistered) in reply to convicted felon
    convicted felon:
    Me:
    Dirk Diggler:
    If left unchecked every LAN tech, DBA, or System Administrator eventually turns into a martinet.

    True, but only because we have to continually deal with schmucks like you who "can manage their own computer" until a problem occurs and is made worse due to your inability or unwillingness to read log files, proactively deal with problems, patch, backup, etc, and then you just dump the problem off on us. As a bonus, we get to deal with your whining about how important your work and data is.

    My work and data is the reason you have a job.

    IT is a service industry. If you aren't willing to serve your customers, you shouldn't be in the industry.

    Really? I run the e-commerce site that sells the products. Therefore my data and work are the reason YOU have a job. So you're the service to me.

    Clearly this is a chicken-egg problem, and the real solution is to not be a dick and treat everyone with as much respect as you can muster, and not assume that your job is more important (or we'll replace you with robots).

  • LEGO (unregistered) in reply to lern2read
    lern2read:
    Mark:
    cod3_complete:
    If you really are an accountant then why do you lack the capability to subtract? Oh well I'm glad you don't work for my company since you're so dense. The equation clearly shows that COSTS AND PROFITS ARE CONNECTED! GET A CLUE!!!!

    Yes they're connected. Meanwhile you have yet to disprove my statement that Sales brings in revenue and IT is a cost center. In fact, you just proved my point.

    Well, let' see. I wonder why we have to record all the hours we work even though we are exempt and it doesn't affect our paycheck? Oh yeah, because our customers get billed for every hour we work, at a rate higher than we are paid.

    Using your advanced mathmatical accounting techniques, does this difference between the rate charged customers and the rate we are paid in any way relate to the company's profit?

    I eagerly await your accounting wisdom.

    Nah, you're still not quite there. A profit center is responsible for generating revenue. Revenue > Cost = profit. Revenue < Cost = -Profit (generally accepted as a bad thing) :-).

    Unless you are generating revenue, sales dept for example, you are a cost center. Accounting dept = cost center, manufacturing = cost center (in this case cost of goods sold), IT = cost center, even if it is creating product to sell in which case it would be cost of goods sold.

    Lets take your example, I assume you are referring to a contracting firm who rents out their personnel to other companies. In this case the time you spend at a client location is the product being sold. The amount you are paid, irrespective of how much the client is billed, is the cost of goods sold. The amount the contracting firm bills the client is revenue, which is generally greater than the cost of goods sold, in this case your salary/wages. So in this example the contracting firm is the profit center but, sadly, you are still a cost center.

    Sorry but that is just the way it is. Hopefully this will not have an overly negative effect on the self image of IT employees.

    -Lego

  • funkenstein (unregistered) in reply to christian
    christian:
    convicted felon:
    My work and data is the reason you have a job.

    IT is a service industry. If you aren't willing to serve your customers, you shouldn't be in the industry.

    I think it's more accurate to say that we generally all need each other, like a soccer team needs offense and defense. Sales without produce development has nothing to sell. Programmers without sales have no income. Without an IT person/people, the programmers waste time configuring the PBX rather than developing product. In a healthy company, all kinds of jobs benefit everyone, either directly or indirectly.

    Kum-by-ya, Kum-by-ya ...

  • furnstein (unregistered) in reply to grammernarzee
    grammernarzee:
    Just Some Guy:
    I worked with Ralph's brother once. There are certain advantages to being 6 feet tall and un-scrawny (real-life question presented to me: "are you a football player?"):

    Ralph's brother: Do it this (stupid, illogical) way or else. Me, standing up: Or else what, little man? Ralph's brother: [remembers that he's urgently needed somewhere]

    That wasn't our first go-round and I decided I'd had enough.

    Right. So you do business by bullying, do you? Ok I'm sure Ralph's brother was a twat. Fine. But "proving" you're right just by being taller/fatter than him is pretty sad. Perhaps this extends to your home life? Do you "convince" your wife and kids of your wisdom by giving them a good kicking?

    Only when they need it - or when I want to.

  • furnstein (unregistered) in reply to Jake Grey
    Jake Grey:
    Can we please stop using Asperger's Syndrome as an excuse for being a jerk? I understand that some people have a hard time reading other people and figuring out what's the correct response in social situations. It may not come intuitively, but this stuff *is* learnable to some extent.
    You're preaching to the choir here, mate; I've got Asperger's, official diagnosis and all. Still, mental illness is not a lifestyle choice.

    Unless you want it to be!

  • JB (unregistered)

    Who put the "Anal" in "Anal Retentive"? RALPH!

  • ASM826 (unregistered) in reply to erissian

    Wasn't angry, no I wasn't. I was gleefully scribbling. All of you just didn't want to use my system because it was better.

  • ArchAngelSTL (unregistered)

    Doesn't anyone have a spine anymore? When a neanderthal like Ralph goes off on you, do you simply stand there and cry like a baby? Reason with him? Buncha Obamababies aincha?

    Guys like Ralph need to be taken round back and beaten to within an inch of their lives... If you get taken to task by Ralph and you don't punch his lights out, you deserve what you get!!!

    ArchAngel out.

  • Capt. Obvious (unregistered) in reply to shinobu
    shinobu:
    Mac Gyver most likely dies in 2030 Luke Skywalker in 2031 Knight Rider in 2032 Mr. T in 2032
    Do your acctuary tables take into account wealth? Access to health care? Standard of fitness (they are all public figures, should be easy to find out?)
  • Capt. Obvious (unregistered) in reply to shinobu
    shinobu:
    Mac Gyver most likely dies in 2030 Luke Skywalker in 2031 Knight Rider in 2032 Mr. T in 2032
    Do your acctuary tables take into account wealth? Access to health care? Standard of fitness (they are all public figures, should be easy to find out?)
  • Capt. Obvious (unregistered) in reply to cod3_complete

    [quote user="cod3_complete"So from your own words and mine about how good programmers can decrease a companies operational costs then from the equation we can conclude that a smaller cost leads to increased profit. So yes good programmers are a profit center; this is a fact not a opinion.[/quote]To be a profit center, the term "profit" has to make sense. IT does not have revenues, so it cannot be a profit center. It's a cost that the other profit centers pay for. Internal development is also not a profit center.

    Developers that bill clients by the hour or project, on the other hand, are a profit center.

  • ipekpromosyon (unregistered)

    Excellent. If only all sites did advertising this way.

  • group buy seo tools (unregistered)

    good day, your internet site is cheap. I do many thanks for succeed group buy seo tools

  • (nodebb) in reply to bongai

    Mr. T. still alive.

Leave a comment on “The Ralph Code”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article