4 posts tagged “technology”
As a computer science undergrad, one of my co-op terms was in web development for the faculty of arts. Initially hired to do some systems and web programming, I eventually stumbled onto web design. We used Macromedia Studio for designing sites for various departments in the heyday before CSS became as popular as it is today. Some of the more fashionable departments had used CSS but mainly for style rather than for structure. So more often than not, the core team of HTML-nuts used unclosed <p> tags, tables within tables, and lots of transparent spacers. And we loved it because we could trust that the majority of the browsers supported things like tables and images-- we didn't have to worry about shifting layouts across different browsers. Near the end of my term, some designers started using CSS and layers (in the Dreamweaver idiom). But I didn't really get it.
Then came graduate school.
A few years after emerging from the engine room of computer science, I found myself in need of a quick buck in a country with nary a software development firm in sight. So I fall back on my experience and skills as a web developer. Now, the first thing I do is open Dreamweaver, create a table 800 pixels wide and centre it. I whip up a set of vertical and horizontal spacers, add a few more tables for the header, nav bar, the content and the footer, and a couple of colspans later, I have the beginnings of a page. I was quite smug about it, actually. I had only vaguely heard about new (and continued) developments of the web while stuck in the stacks: XHTML, DOCTYPEs, blogs, Web 2.0, folksonomies, community-oriented, LAMP and dynamic, database-driven sites, .NET, Ruby on Rails and AJAX--but I figured the basics of displaying a web page were still there, right? GET and POST were still there, right? I had used many of the new technologies while surfing this or that site, but I only suspected that it was more of the same.
It *was* more of the same, and then some. The W3C had made huge strides in doing some standardization, and the proliferation of CSS/XHTML-based designs was a testament to that. This was led in large part by an adage that programmers always risk ignoring: separate logic from data. Or, separating structure from content.
A chief economist of IBM once told me that Microsoft is one of the only corporations they consider major competitors and visionaries of the tech landscape. Google, Yahoo and eBay were "flash[es] in the pan" he said. I get his point. But talented and determined people finally have tools and they can create.
So there I was hoping to get support for a work visa in J's office when he throws down: he wants to pay me US$700 a month (yes, that is seven hundred dollars) because I don't yet have an intimate working knowledge of his system. Not only that, he says I'm not an expert yet in Delphi and that if he were to pay me a livable wage, he would be paying for my training. I'm not an employee he continues, and neither am I a contractor. Oh, but if I want a contract, I'll have to write it up myself and tell him what I can offer his company. And nope, no support for a work visa either, because then he'd have to actually pay me. He'd rather pay well for someone local because what if I have to leave the country? The message: fuck you you tourist!
In that exchange, there is much that reveals the peculiarities of Barbados' attitude toward technology, skills and management. So let's begin:
- My lack of knowledge of the system. Seriously. Like EA, Google or Microsoft candidates know the intimate details of their systems and are paid any less than their salary because they are on probation. If they don't make the cut in 2 weeks or 3 months or whatever, then bye bye. In our discussions he went on to say that if he were to pay me more, then he'd be paying for my training. No shit sherlock. I'll learn the damn thing if I have a goal feature. Trouble is, he doesn't know what he wants and, as owner of the company, wants to monitor my progress because he used to be a "programmer"; he knows what's what. You used to be a programmer you say? Can you say "micromanager"? Ex-geeks are the worst managers most of the time.
- My lack of knowledge of Delphi. Um. Most programmers in the world know how to program, not how to program in some language. This aspect surprised me. I had told him my strongest language is C++, and he then proceeded to try to impress me with some Borland C++ 4.0 compiler (seriously!) he bought from eBay. In the one-week I worked (for free) with him (on probation), I had done my little module in Delphi, his language of choice. When he discovered that I had done so, he was surprised. He expected me to link up my C++ program to his Delphi system as if learning a new language just isn't done. How baroque! And he likes to say he used to be a "programmer"! True, I haven't yet learned how to create threads in Delphi, but neither do his other programmers.
- I have to write my own contract. Why? So he can cover his ass because he doesn't know what he wants. "You have to write your own contract so you can show me what services you offer that will benefit this company," he says in a belligerent tone. No buddy. That's not how it's done. I didn't come knocking on your door trying to sell you encyclopedias or drugs. You put an ad in the paper. This is your company and we negotiate a contract together for services you want. I'm just a developer, I'm not a consultant. I've laid out my skills in detail on my resume and in person and you spent three hours in our initial interview talking about the lack of talent in the country and would I be interested in implementing a 3D-engine for him in 6 months for $700US a month? If I don't have skills you want or you're too obtuse or greedy to see where they can be used (practically!) in your company, then don't waste my time and I won't waste yours. Tech jobs are thin here, I admit, but I ain't that desperate. I ain't greedy either; after all I left an excellent, well-paying job to be with C and to expand my repertoire of skills, so getting paid a competitive salary isn't my priority. I'm just not that stupid.
- I am not Bajan so I might leave him in the lurch. Again, that's not how it's done. We agree on a contract. I'll stay in Barbados to finish it if I have a work-visa. If I don't deliver in the time specified, then no money or take me to court.
Given all this, I give up on him and finding a developer job here. I'll stick to developing, consulting and teaching for a community centre, where while not prestigious, the job is nonetheless fulfilling.
Today women in Mayan villages still wear these brightly coloured textiles while the men more often than not have modern garb, though men in the high mountain villagers still wear the traditional short-pants calzones. In markets, you can buy a swath of woven textile; at first, I thought these were just decorative items to put on tables and such, but they are actually all-purpose, usually used as belts (when wrapped around the body, they look like a cummerbunds, with the folds as pockets), head coverings, basket covers, shawls, slings.
What I found intriguing is that the post-Hispanic technologies and resources didn't replace the indigenous Mayan culture, but actually enhanced the creation and design of an ancient art. This is something dangerously absent in all talks of "technology transfer" between developed and developing countries where, like the 100-dollar laptop project, computers become synonymous with technology and "older" modes of communication, labour and entertainment have to compete with new technologies. As many people have said about computer technologies, most of the time it is a solution in search of a problem.
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In the evening, we head up to Zone 4's two-block pedestrian strip of cafes, bookstores and restaurants and have dinner at an Italian restaurant, L'Osteria. I meet more delegates from Rwanda, Panama and Mexico and talk about video games, soccer and basketball. I find the conversations stilted at times because everyone is talking about work: donors, NGOs, policies, the Americans ... anything in the government/public sectors. I found it funny when some of them referred to the "private sector", as if it were this entirely magical world where lots of things get done quickly and efficiently. An endorsement of privatization and laissez-faire?
I met with a fellow former Yorkie and we yakked about the newest smart-phones, Enterprise Server, 3G and how damn ugly RIM's Blackberry is. We were in the back browsing gsmarena.com as some of the local school children were discussing the UNDP's Millennium Goals, and how the reduction of poverty "enabled" the other goals' success. This is not to say that we weren't interested; there was no sound being piped into the actual sound box in the back of the conference room, so we had to suffice with C's miming "Can you load NetAid's Millennium Goal quiz, and throw the splash page on the screen while you're doing that?". They had to suffice with us miming: "?"
And so, though we couldn't hear what the kids were discussing in the conference room, we knew what to do, how to help, and what was (and is) at stake.
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Today was a good day. C's office mates were genuine and very welcoming. Fading are the lingering fears that I will always be an outsider, won't find work, and that whatever altruistic sentiments and technical skills I possess will atrophy.
