[BC] it's engineers...

[Broadcast List USER]

It all depends on what you want out of life, and what you want to do  
for a living.

I live in the eastern hub of Internet connectivity.  Internet peering  
and hosting facilities have some pretty severe security procedures.   
If all you have is a few dozen servers in a shared rack, it generally  
isn't cost effective for you to service your own stuff.  So, you call  
the company where your broken computer is located and bring them a  
replacement.  They have a RACK MONKEY come take your replacement,  
remove your broken unit, replace it, and deliver the broken unit to  
you in the "lobby."

Rack Monkeys make in excess of $60k a year, and much more with "on  
call" overtime.

Now, you have to ask yourself, do you want to have a job where all  
you do is remove and re-rack equipment?  I would have to take up  
HEAVY drinking, or even other drugs.

BUT, there are CEs making less, and there are staff positions with  
half the pay which have about the same satisfaction.

These are very stable jobs.  If you show up for your shift, work at  
50 to 60% of the output of a motivated person, and you answer most  
out of hours pages, you will never be fired.

As sad as the job of a Rack Monkey is, it isn't as bad as some radio  
"engineering" jobs.

I am NOT writing that all radio jobs are bad.  I have had many very  
good ones.  However, I see what some of my friends and acquaintances  
put up with, and some of those on this list -- I cannot even  
imagine.  I would rather work as a stocker at Wal-Mart.

On May 5, 2008, at 7:23 PM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 7
> Date: Mon, 05 May 2008 11:23:57 -0700
> From: Xmitters at aol.com
> Subject: [BC] it's engineers...
> To: broadcast at radiolists.net
> Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20080505112327.0432ea18 at oldradio.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>> ...
> I hope for the sake of our business that you are wrong. However, I  
> tend to
> tink along similar lines as you.
>
> BTW if you tan think of something that would be more stable in the  
> way of a
> career, please let us know :-)  I have not been able to come up  
> with much,
> given the state of our economy. I think most people are going to hang
> on to what
> they have unless their situation forces them to do othrwise.
>
> The state of radio and a lot of other businesses is truly sad. Only  
> thing
> worse would be if I were working for one of the airlines.
>
>
> Jeff Glass, BSEE CSRE
> Chief Engineer
> WNIU WNIJ
> Northern Illinois University