Utah Tech Jobs - Latest Comments in General

Re: Utah Tries Four Day Work-Week

robertmerrill — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:44:42 -0000

My main question/concern about this is that there's NO FREE LUNCH. What are the downsides the government already predicts, but hasn't told us they know about yet?

I think its a great idea... tell us what to expect that we'll need to get used to.

Re: Utah Tries Four Day Work-Week

robertmerrill — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:09:41 -0000

KUER.org's Radio West just did a show about this topic TODAY. If you missed it, check it out online as a free download: 7/2/08: Working a 4-Day Week

Re: LinkedIn Link-Love

robertmerrill — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:28:03 -0000

Ryan, I don't know the outcome of the trial.

Re: LinkedIn Link-Love

Ryan Nagy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:33:22 -0000

Slightly scary to be sure. But the court did not tell him to get rid of, or stop using his LinkedIn contacts, right?

Re: LinkedIn Link-Love

robertmerrill — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:18:33 -0000

Thats a good point, Richard... of course, LinkedIn is a little harder to be found on...

Re: LinkedIn Link-Love

Richard — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:14:43 -0000

About.com just updated their top 10 job board list..linkedin is added to it. Considering 3 are agregators, this leaves 7 job boards to recruit from:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/joblistings/tp/jo...

If you really want to find a job you should be on all of them.

Re: Are You An Experience?

BuzzClothing — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:56:18 -0000

As a service provider, creating an experience that greatly impacts your customer positively, is a not tremendous effort when you are always attuned to what your clients needs and wants. In doing so, you are delivering an outstanding, real time support to them.

Re: Upgrade to Wordpress 2.5

robertmerrill — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:39:39 -0000

GREAT to hear! Take care.

Re: Upgrade to Wordpress 2.5

ThinkingSerious — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:44:58 -0000

Thanks! I just ran into this problem and you saved the day!

Re: Upgrade to Wordpress 2.5

robertmerrill — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:53:36 -0000

@fernando Your HTACCESS file (search wikipedia for it) helps your website know more about what to do about certain inbound requests to your website.

Wordpress edits your HTACCESS file, which is standard for tools like this, to help configure your site. HOWEVER, the way they did it this time didn't format the file right, so your webserver misunderstood it, and served up a 500 error.

Hope that helps.

Re: Upgrade to Wordpress 2.5

Fernando — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:29:07 -0000

I've run into the same problem. However, can you please tell me what the problem really is? Why does Wordpress keep corrupting my HTACCESS file?

Re: LinkedIn Link-Love

photodude — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:23:34 -0000

Linked-in is a great tool, but it's just that a tool. Like all tools if you don't know how to use it the tool does not help you, and can be more of a distration then an asset.

This also applies to other social networking sites like facebook or myspace, etc. We are in an age when some employers google employees, find social networking profiles, and use that information in connection with resumes and interviews.

what is scary is the prospect of who own's the social network, the court ruleing in England suggests employers own the contacts, and maybe the profile. I hope such a case never happens in the USA. I would never want an employer to steal my contacts or profile through court action, resulting in the loss of thousands of my hours put into networking and building a social network.

Re: Don’t Be A Know-It-All

robertmerrill — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:13:21 -0000

@photodude You're welcome... its funny that we are told in life to be the best all the time... sometimes being "the best" usually means you know how to GET answers... not knowing THE answer...

Re: Don’t Be A Know-It-All

photodude — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:10:33 -0000

Thanks for the great insite

Re: Don’t Be A Know-It-All

robertmerrill — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:30:30 -0000

@sheri bigelow Right. Al Gore has an amazing, *amazing* resume (per-se), yet he consistently seemed to claim a little more than he really did.

Re: Don’t Be A Know-It-All

Sheri Bigelow — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:30:17 -0000

Funny that "don't lie" seems so obvious but needs to be said. It's sort of like the advice to "wear deodorant." Heh. In addition to interviews, the advice should also be extended to resume writing: "don't lie on your resume."

Re: Wanted: Real, CREATIVE ways to cut commute costs. NOW.

robertmerrill — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:18:16 -0000

@rolandksmith I always appreciate your insights! The math is obvious that it would cut 20% of commuting costs.

But, working 40 hours over 4 days isn't too hard already... would people end up just working from home on their days off, anyway?

Re: Wanted: Real, CREATIVE ways to cut commute costs. NOW.

robertmerrill — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:16:35 -0000

@kevin Interesting point. I am sure legal departments would have to get themselves involved, to make sure the workplace and providing housing for people aren't getting confused... but wait Isn't Google building employee housing?

Now the company says it will build up to 1.2 million square feet of offices, research and development space, company housing, recreation - and possibly even retail shops for Google employees - on 42 acres of the former Moffett Field property [Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9481279 ]

Good ideas though. If you're asking your employees to make irregular work hours, you should give your employees irregular options/benefits, too!

Re: Wanted: Real, CREATIVE ways to cut commute costs. NOW.

rolandksmith — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:13:03 -0000

One of the fastest ways to cut 20% from commuting costs is to move to 4-day workweeks. Four ten-hour days is eight commutes a week rather than ten commutes a week. A few years ago when I was working for an aerospace and defense contractor we did a three-month test of the four-day workweek. Everyone liked the result ... except for NASA who couldn't grasp the concept that someone might not be immediately reachable because it was their day off.

Re: Wanted: Real, CREATIVE ways to cut commute costs. NOW.

Kevin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:25:46 -0000

There should be bunks at work. I once had a job where I did 16 hours on Saturday, 16 on Sunday and 8 on Friday. Yes, I had all the shifts no-one else would work. Getting a whole work week done in three days was great. I just wish I could have bunked at work during the two gaps I had for sleeping. Instead, I had to pedal my bike five miles home, then back to work.

Scheduling work so that people had shifts separated by 8 hour sleeping gaps would give people larger blocks of free time and could get rid of two commutes.

If you had bunks where people could sleep at work, then you save your employees a ton of cash. If not businesses could have an account with a local hotel. Staying at a hotel next to work can save two commutes.

Re: Don’t Be A Know-It-All

robertmerrill — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:53:41 -0000

@rebecca no problem. You're doing good things out there. Keep it up.

Re: Don’t Be A Know-It-All

Rebecca — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:36:02 -0000

That's great advice. Employers generally look better upon you if you admit you don't know something, but are resourceful. Thanks for the shout-out!

Re: Job Posting: PHP/MySQL Programmers. Symfony, RAD experience needed

robertmerrill — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:35:10 -0000

Update: Relocation is provided for the right candidate.

Re: Four-Day Workweek Gaining US Popularity?

robertmerrill — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:32:14 -0000

@clay Just because its far away may not be the point. In a hot hiring market (like Utah), these are the tipping points that could help people make a move where they otherwise wouldn't. Furthermore, if its coordinated, the company could save $$ by closing shop for a day a week.

Finally, our global workforce is seeing less and less of clock-punching employees. That makes less and less sense anymore anyway. Hire people that can DO THE WORK, and let them determine WHEN/WHERE they do it.

Re: Four-Day Workweek Gaining US Popularity?

Clay — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:11:28 -0000

It's interesting that they are adopting this, but it makes perfect sense. One of my clients actually allows their employees to work from home twice a week if they want. It think that is a great idea. I would love to work from home, but live only three miles from the office.