Everyone has to start somewhere. For me it was Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia) where my parents were living in the bush, my father plying his trade as a geologist whilst my mother looked after my sister and I in a tent.
I went to school in Singapore at the United World College of South East Asia from 1975 to 1980. That makes me one of the class of 1980.
Many years on, University and College study done and dusted, I have now been working for twenty one years for the company I joined when I finished my Computer Science degree. It has changed names and owners several times in the last few years but is still essentially the same company with many of my co-workers having been around for nearly as long as I have. Only my boss has worked there longer.
When I started working the average time spent at one company or in one job in the computing industry was quoted at being about eighteen months. I wonder if that figure has changed at all. We recently started setting up a Bangalore office and most of the applicants had their career paths mapped out with promotions every year and changing jobs and companies openly discussed. Needless to say we didn't hire anyone that open about their future plans !!
We actually wanted to hire more developers in our local office in Canberra but because our new parent company has a large set of offices in Bangalore they decided they could hire technical support staff in India, we would then be able to spend all our time developing. So far the cost of setting up the Bangalore office, new computers, hiring people, relocating two people from Canberra to support the new employees, accommodation costs and training have cost more than hiring (and paying for several years) two new people locally would have done.
I went to school in Singapore at the United World College of South East Asia from 1975 to 1980. That makes me one of the class of 1980.
Many years on, University and College study done and dusted, I have now been working for twenty one years for the company I joined when I finished my Computer Science degree. It has changed names and owners several times in the last few years but is still essentially the same company with many of my co-workers having been around for nearly as long as I have. Only my boss has worked there longer.
When I started working the average time spent at one company or in one job in the computing industry was quoted at being about eighteen months. I wonder if that figure has changed at all. We recently started setting up a Bangalore office and most of the applicants had their career paths mapped out with promotions every year and changing jobs and companies openly discussed. Needless to say we didn't hire anyone that open about their future plans !!
We actually wanted to hire more developers in our local office in Canberra but because our new parent company has a large set of offices in Bangalore they decided they could hire technical support staff in India, we would then be able to spend all our time developing. So far the cost of setting up the Bangalore office, new computers, hiring people, relocating two people from Canberra to support the new employees, accommodation costs and training have cost more than hiring (and paying for several years) two new people locally would have done.
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