RE: The relevance of COMMON (was Penton to buy Duke - New

[Buck Calabro <buck.calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Eric Delong wrote:

>To me, it seems the decision makers 
>would rather send themselves (even 
>though they are out of programming) 
>than send the kid. Why invest in my 
>education, when they can take a little 
>vacation on the company's dime. 
>They know I work hard to stay current 
>on my own time, so why should they 
>pay for it. 
>     
>Those who have the power/time/$$$ 
>don't want to give it up. They DON'T 
>want me networking (I might find a 
>better opportunity). They're not even 
>going to pay for LUG fees (for the 
>same reasons). This has been the 
>attitude at EVERY job I've worked 
>for the last 15+ years. I've come to 
>expect this attitude, even though I 
>certainly don't agree with it. 

Gary Patterson added:
>It is just a tough decision to make if it is your
>money.

I have always worked for small companies until now.  My previous employers
sent me to exactly 2 technical conferences in 17 years (and none so far 4
years into this job.)  As always, cost is the overriding factor for a small
budget.  It's way too easy to see the cost and much harder to see the
ensuing benefit.  

I seriously thought about going this year (my first time!) but it would be
out of my personal budget and based on the Technical Conferences I decided
that there wasn't enough benefit for me to go.  (About the only sessions I
rate as "Just Right" are John Sears'.  The rest are "Not Technical Enough.")


It may indeed be a huge career mistake on my part not to "network" with my
peers and prospective future employers.  I've thought about that quite a lot
of late, and have come to the conclusion that a regional group would be more
effective in that regard.  Alas, there aren't any User Groups closer than 2
hours drive.  Maybe it's just rationalisation on my part.

Does COMMON represent me and my interests?  Thoughtfully, I don't think so.
Small shops are woefully under-represented in any and every AS/400 forum, be
it COMMON, IBM internal "working groups", trade publications, book
publishers, Internet mailing lists, Newsgroups, Bulletin boards, phone
solicitors... the list goes on.  

Is it COMMON's fault?  A difficult question.  Most small shops are very
insular and there are a mind-numbing number of shops that do not know that
there are ANY trade publications at all for the Midrange community.  Could
COMMON reach out more?  Maybe.  But for the small shop, price is a major,
major factor.  In my old shop, an attendance price tag of US$2000.00 would
have seen the advertisement immediately thrown out as being extravagant.

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"We are what we repeatedly do.
 Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." --Aristotle


Billing Concepts Corp., a NASDAQ Listed Company, Symbol: BILL
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