June 12, 2000

7:15 PM

Designer-programmer-actor-model-waiter?Finally, someone giving one or more fingers to Toronto's tightarsed, outdated nouveaux-médias hiring practices. How would you like to be on call 24 hours a day as an interactive-TV manager for the Weather Network way the fork out in Mississauga? Lila Feng worship isn't enough of a payoff, kids.
posted by joeclark (7 comments total)

The thing is, for some of us, that's a dream job. Although I do agree with the designer-programmer argument posted in the talkback. I'm a programmer, and have demonstrated numerous times my complete inability to design more than the occasional table.

(of course, that's why it's a dream. :-)
posted by cCranium at 7:21 PM on June 12, 2000

I'm sorry, but I have to draw the line at the Weather Channel. For God's sake, it's weather. You aren't supposed to get it from TV, you are supposed to go outside and experience it. The only reason to watch the Weather Channel is to find out what the weather will be tomorrow. Then you turn it off.

Am I crazy? Well, okay, but am I crazy on this subject?
posted by Ezrael at 9:33 PM on June 12, 2000

My favorite was an ad to run the library web site at Miss. State U. from last year. The requirements included (though by no means were limited to): "graphic design ability with working experience in Photoshop, Flash, Real Audio, Shockwave (or similar) HTML ability, Perl, FrontPage, ASP, CGI, Java, Javascript, Netscape Navigator and MS Internet Explorer; ...[familiarity] with Windows NT Workstation, NT Server, and Internet Information Server ver. 4 (IIS4); ...knowledgeable in the use of applications including Corel Suite 8, Microsoft Office Suite and FileMaker Pro."

They were offering 30k "minimum". Preference, the ad concluded, would be given to those familiar with "C++ and MS Visual Basic".
posted by leo at 9:34 PM on June 12, 2000

I'm sure they don't expect an expert programmer mixed with an expert designer, but rather someone with decent skills at both. I don't see what's so bad about it.

("way the fork out in Mississauga? ") :

You know, some of us actually live in Mississauga.
posted by mkn at 11:42 PM on June 12, 2000

The ones asking for "10 years web experience" crack me up, too.

Let's face it, though, "requirements" means "ability to bluff in".
posted by holgate at 5:14 AM on June 13, 2000

Mississauga's not that bad. Nice fast growing community... surely better than living in Scarborough (ooh.. gonna take some flak for that)...

As for the requirements, I think HR departments tend to put more on the job descriptions than is really necessary to make sure they don't get some fraud who doesn't know "any of the above".. Unfortunately, it's rather counter-intuitive since everybody ends up lying.

On a brighter note, I put up my virtual resumé on Monster.ca and got a call from a headhunter asking if I'd be interested in a Senior Java Programmer position in Vancouver or Calgary. LOL... I'm still a co-op student at the University of Waterloo
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 7:28 AM on June 13, 2000

Am I crazy? Well, okay, but am I crazy on this subject?

Yes.

Sometimes you can't just step outside and know what the weather at the camp grounds 5 hours away is going to be like, or whether or not a storm is brewing and you should bring an umbrella to work.

Sure, most days you can tell if the sky's grey and cloudy and if it "feels" like rain, but then there are the days (and since this conversation is drawing out the southern ontarians, all you folk should know what I'm talking about :-) that are bright, sunny and warm in the morning (~7am) raining by the time you get to work (~8am) dry but gloomy for lunch (~12pm) thunderstorming in the mid-afternoon (~3pm) and dry and sunny by the time you get home for dinner that night. (~8pm).

Sometimes it's nice to have the advanced forecast.

On the other hand, I've programmed my TV to block the Weather Channel when I'm flicking for mind-numbing entertainment. :-)

posted by cCranium at 10:13 AM on June 13, 2000