Re: "Some" Ada jobs in the Chicago area

[tannend@source.asset.com (David M. Tannen)]

Nick,
>Since I was the original poster for the "Some  Ada jobs in Chicago"
>note, I think I'll reply to this. My reply:
>Remarkable!
>Something tells me that the costs incurred above were passed along to the
>customer, the American taxpayer. No wonder the American military's
>degree of readiness is slipping while DoD consumes $265 billion per year.
Bzzz.  US military readiness can be directly related to budget spent on
training and literally bullets spent on the range.  That is something I
learned from AF and Army Cols at my first job.  The US
Congress/Taxpayers/Adminstration likes to spend DoD $ on big ticket
things (B-2, Nuclear Aircraft carrier task groups, etc) because they
bring in jobs.  No one is interested in training and bullets.

And before someone like Nick blasts me, most of my career has been spent
designing training systems (or systems that enhance an existing system).

>And this while defense electronics is downsizing and retooling ;) and
>thousands of other private-sector programmers and engineers are losing
>their jobs. 
HUH?  Good software engineers are not lossing their jobs.  You might
have to move.  You might have to change your career path (ie embedded ->
application -> embedded).  You might even have to give up your favorite
language bias (Ada -> C -> Smalltalk -> Ada).  But I seriously doubt
that thousands of private sector programmers are lossing their jobs.

I say this after having moved 3 times in the last 6.5 years.  Every time
I have had nice (sometimes amazing) moving benefits, salary increases
and sometimes nice title changes.  I attribute this to a couple of
factors, the first being God's amazing grace.  The second being our
(myself and my wife) being willing to move to strange and unknown parts
of the US. 


So Nick either you haven't been working in the field for very long or
you have been very isolated for a long long time.  Try reading Dilbert
and if your life is like his its time to start looking for a new job and
in a new state - it can improve your viewpoint.


-- 
David Tannen (tannend@source.asset.com)                 TeamAda Member
Christian Acronyms: B.I.B.L.E.=Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
                    G.R.A.C.E.=God's Redemption At Christ's Expense
                    F.A.I.T.H.=Forsaking all, I trust Him