in reply to Re^2: Popularity of Perl vs. availability of Perl developers
in thread Popularity of Perl vs. availability of Perl developers

I wonder how the DBA tried to sell his $8k raise, what salary he started with, or how his annual raises progressed. Because it seems to me he had a dynamite job, and with the right sales pitch could have been making a six figure salary. And the company is now paying for trying to save a $4k raise.

A further part to the story, which will help explain it. The IT director, who'd been at the company for about 2 years to the DBA's 5, was the one who'd been quibbling over the $4k. The DBA's manager had been pushing for $65k, hoping to get $60k. When the DBA put his resignation in, the #2 in the company called him into his office and asked about why he was leaving. The DBA laid it out and the #2 said "I can give you $65k right now, no questions asked." The DBA refused, citing the IT director as the issue. The raise issue had been a test of the director's commitment to his people. He failed.

In the year since this happened (last November), I know of 4 people in the department of 20 that have left, including myself and the DBA. Last I heard, another 6 were looking. All have cited the director as a major reason for their decision. *shrugs*

My criteria for good software:
  1. Does it work?
  2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
  • Comment on Re^3: Popularity of Perl vs. availability of Perl developers

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Re^4: Popularity of Perl vs. availability of Perl developers
by talexb (Chancellor) on Sep 26, 2005 at 14:23 UTC

    Thanks for the update -- that helps flesh out the story a little better.

    I wonder, of course, why the company kept the IT Director on after that. And over $4k? $4k is nothing, for a company of that size.

    The IT Manager should probably have sold it as "The DBA wants $60k -- he's probably worth lots more, because of his history with the company; why not raise him to $60K and give him a $5k bonus?" That way he'd have been a hero to both the company and the DBA.

    Another quick story: my wife used to work at a company where she had a great manager and loved going to work. That manager moved on to something else and the Manager From Hell arrived. Morale plummeted, and the group started losing people.

    My question is, where is HR when all this is going on? When a group goes from normal attrition to All Hands Abandon Ship, doesn't it occur for HR to look into what recent changes have taken place? And what about exit interviews? That information is gold for an ogranization -- the soon-to-be ex-employee has nothing to lose and can unload (within reason, of course).

    Oh well. Stuff happens.

    Alex / talexb / Toronto

    "Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds

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