Thoughts and Ramblings

General things I find of interest.

Why I Hate Microsoft Software

So, I occasionally get asked why I hate Microsoft software so much, and today was a great example of my rationale.

I was working with a tremendous amount of data within Excel. Due to how the data was generated, I actually needed the transpose of the data in the spreadsheet. I spent nearly an hour trying to find the transpose function which used to be in the “Paste Special” function, but now appears to have been removed. I searched the help, and found nothing helpful. Google’s results pointed to the “Paste Special” function which I know no longer contains a transpose.


Digital TV Delay

As I am sure many are aware, the digital TV changeover has been delayed. Several broadcasters elected to change to their digital transmissions on Feb 17th anyway, while others delayed. So what are the results of this delay?

While I was at my parents’ in the country, I did a quick scan of the analog and digital transmissions. My parents are about an hour or hour and a half drive away from two large cities, and before Feb 17th, they could only receive one station in digital (because it was more local). I discovered that the remaining stations fell into one of three categories:


Bad DVD Packaging

The Simpsons has packaged their season DVDs in unusual ways before, but the eleventh season takes the cake in being both cheap and destructive to the media. The DVDs are wedged in between two pieces of cardboard so tightly that one has to pinch it with two fingers to pull it out, scratching the disk’s surface in the process. What possessed these people to be so callous with delicate media? Do they secretly hope you destroy the disk and have to buy a new one? So, if anyone out there buys this set, get some DVD cases as well, so that you do not destroy the media over the years with this package.


Fighting with Sync by Microsoft

My Grandfather just bought a new pickup, which he enjoyed showing to the rest of the family. Since Ford spent months trying to fulfill his order, he was about to give up when the dealership found a vehicle similar to what he wanted, but included several features he did not want, and thus didn’t pay for. (With behavior like this, no wonder the auto companies are failing, but that’s another discussion). One such item was Sync, by Microsoft.


How to Not Recruit

A few weeks ago, the Student Engineers’ Council held their Career Fair, which they do every semester. Basically, hundreds of companies reserve a table in an attempt to find people to fill their positions. In the many career fairs I have attended, I have notice a few different method of recruitment.

  1. Collect as many resumes as possible, moving on to the next person as quickly as possible.
  2. Direct the person to apply for a job on their website.
  3. Actively seek particular people to fill the exact need you have.

The first strategy effectively a scatter shot approach. It has the disadvantage of leaving the recruiter a large stack of resumes to process in order to select which applicants they wish to interview. I can see how this is a tempting approach, because the more you collect, the more likely that the best person is in that stack somewhere. The issue is they are in there somewhere, and you still have to find them. While it is possible, this leaves a very low likelihood that a tired recruiter is going to find the best applicant in the stack within the time frame required for the upcoming on-campus interviews. The second strategy is, in my humble opinion, the lazy approach. I have seen too many companies take this stance, and I have to wonder how well it works. Make no doubt about it, they are spending thousands to send their recruiters here, and if all they do is tell people to apply on their website, I have to wonder why they bother at all. I suppose it gives some name recognition, but it can’t be worth that much compared to other approaches. Personally, I have never gone to such a company’s website, nor have any of my friends told me they’ve done the same. I have only looked at companies who have actually shown genuine interest. The third strategy is definitely the most work. I could count on my hands the number I have seen take this approach, but that number is obviously limited to those interested in my field. This can range from calling people out of the crowd at a career fair, to recruiting in the buildings where they attend class, to contacting professors wishing to talk to their students. I’ve seen posts on Slashdot by employers asking how they can attract the people who are really good in their field. They recognize the fact that some employees are capable of doing the work of 2, 3, or more. Employing such a person is very beneficial, even if they have to be compensated considerably more than other employees. Of the approaches I listed above, only the third would attract them to such a company, where the first two are likely to turn them off. So, in response to this, I’ve decided to only seek employers who really care to find someone to fit a need. I went to the career fair in shorts, t-shirt, and sandals, and I didn’t give out my resume unless I was asked. The end result: the recruiters didn’t care what I was wearing (if they did, I wouldn’t want to work for them anyway), and I remembered everyone I talked to. This time around, I spoke to very few recruiters, but I don’t doubt that I spoke to those who best fit what I was looking for.