Thursday, January 20, 2005
being a knowledge worker in greece: reality and myth
yeah, we've heard it all: they say you got the skills, it's time you
put it into some good use: get a job, share what you know, trust your
mates, enjoy a nice and plesant working environment, save for those
days ahead you'll retire. that's part of the myth. what's the real
thing? well, the snip below was posted by fellow greek programmer linda liberopoulou on january 2, 2005:
My
five-day leave has come to an end, so I’m back to work tomorrow. It
wasn’t enough; I still need something like a month to really recover
from 2004. I was one of the worst years of my life especially as far as
my work goes. I can’t stand the overtime and weekends any more, the
impossible deadlines, the crappy working conditions, the shitty pay.
But what really can't stand even for a minute is the narrow-mindedness
and hypocrisy of my employers. The amount of B.S. I heard this year is
incredible even for Greek company standards. What on earth is going on
in these people (execs) heads is really beyond me. If anyone reading
this has ever worked for a Greek software company, you probably know
what I’m talking about. For the rest I will just say that after 5 years
working in the Greek software industry (yeh! whatever!) I have seen
enough to write a whole book about the mentalities of failure.
Self-delusion, greed, fear of anything original, constant intimidation
and exploitation of employees, amateurism of the worst kind and lack of
even the basic organization skills, the list is endless. What do they
teach them in those M.B.A’s? Bad taste in ties and how to suck up to
their clients? Needless to say that if things are not improving this
year I’m seriously thinking of switching my career to something less
stressful and more ethically rewording like a mercenary or a contract
killer.
P.S.
Hmm, nice title come to think of it, "The mentalities of failure: the
Greek software industry that never was", what do you think? |
linda got fired a day after - and no, she says her blogging had nothing to do with her being fired (alors, déjà vu?) - while other greek bloggers are all warmed up writing their own manifesto for technicians of the digital era, urging us to untite (i
don't mean any disrespect to the authors of the manifesto: i very much
share their feelings, yet greece's always left me a bitter taste when
it came down to the practical side of things).enough said.
2:51:37 AM 
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