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New San Diego Central Library hosts first board meeting
As a previous eleven-and-a-half-year resident of downtown San Diego I love to keep up with the changes and progress there. First off, congratulations for the latest gem of Sun Diego, the new Central Library! No doubt it will be the highlight of many city tours. Now for four questions: 1. With $196.7 million spent on the new Central Library, why the extremely limited operating hours? 2. With miles of shelf space, will there still be a "stacks department" in the basement? 3. Will the library still show foreign films like DIVA? 4. Where did the popular Lee's Cafe, of the Gaslamp Quarter relocate? Asked on behalf of my San Diego friends, Coby Taylor— November 3, 2013 10:48 a.m.
Tech grads: job search will worsen dramatically if immigration bill passes
The employment agency is also guilty of mass mailings. For a tech post, they mistakenly think any technically trained person should be capable of handling any tech position. This can result in an Electronics Technician being offered an ad that is looking for an Optical Lens Polisher or a Systems Enclosure Packaging Engineer being offered a cardboard box CAD Designer job. So now the candidate’s in-basket is swamped with useless ads to weed through, including offers for far away posts, even when one does not wish to relocate. The deluge of useless input only increases with social media and networking. The problem is amplified here in San Diego by having so many medical companies and military contractors. They are being crippled with their fanatical adherence to only hiring workers with previous experience in those fields; resulting in no new blood. They just hire an ever-aging workforce by stealing workers from each other. Those little filter boxes labeled FDA, ISO, DOD, Mil spec, and SolidWorks are keeping good people away. They are just regulations and software as flavor-of-the-month. Knowing those bits does not make one a good engineer. It is not impossible to simply offer a little training to a real tech worker to get an exceptional employee. They need to start thinking of people as software rather than hardware and fix the broken hiring system. Signed, Out of work engineer and not alone. (Name withheld by request.)— September 23, 2013 8:59 a.m.
Tech grads: job search will worsen dramatically if immigration bill passes
Sadly, those pigeon-hole requirements don’t address the duties of the actual job. Is the person organized, works well with others, able to spot impending trouble and solves issues efficiently? Gone is the main ingredient of character. Is the person a leader, honest and trustworthy? Will interest in the betterment of the company come before self-interest? Is the person in the moment or thinks long-term? All the things that the filters look for can be trained into a person capable of learning. How can any person know (or even afford) the particular software knowledge for all the various ones that are out there? Should one study one thing with the hopes of getting matched to the company that happens to have that particular prerequisite? There still won’t be a match to all the other requirements that are in the ad. Companies really need to start thinking along the lines of continuous training for the workers by hiring people that are flexible-minded enough to adapt, rather than finding just the right person to put the round peg in the round hole. Age is incorrectly factored in. Engineers don’t typically want to retire and their experience is proof they can adapt. What does one’s level of college education matter after being in the work force for 30 years? The stereotype of slowing down to the point of just wanting to tell old stories doesn’t represent all (and they are easy to spot in the hiring process anyway). Worse yet, the very people that should be weeded out play the game the best and succeed the most in getting hired. This lack of attention during the interview process lets them slip through. What seems to be good aggressive management behavior can come from the corporate psychopath, the narcissist, or the egotist that results in destructive contamination. The problem is further compounded when businesses go “lean” and trim the workforce to the bone. Everyone is overworked and little attention is put into the hiring process. They offer fancy titles (Senior Specialist!) and yet compensate with less than the national average for pay. In the rare occasion where training is involved, they advertise the job as an internship position to get away with little pay and no benefits, while enjoying the labor of a technically experienced worker. They move on to the next person after the probationary or contract period is over. (continued in next comment)— September 23, 2013 8:59 a.m.
Tech grads: job search will worsen dramatically if immigration bill passes
The H1-B visa program isn't the only reason American tech jobs are in peril. The entire employment system is broken. Everyone knows it but it is not being fixed. Tried and true methods for finding suitable employment have been replaced with what used to be marginal criteria. Many businesses won’t give a job seeker a moment’s notice unless one is a veteran, a minority, a previous corporate employee, or knows someone within the company. How did the exceptions become the rule? What used to be factors that tipped the scale at final choice now become the main factors. Companies, or the employment agencies they sign up with, are inundated with countless resumes that clog the system. The unemployed mass-mail to jobs they should not be applying for in the hope that something gets through. Computers have made this too easy. Companies cannot have a staffed personnel office large enough to weed through the incoming deluge to find the worthy applicants. So they fight fire with fire by having their own software filters that search for keywords within the resume that match the requirements. The unemployed respond by simply copying the ad into the resume. This means a separate resume of lies for each job applied for, leaving the real work history all but ignored. And simply playing along with this futile game doesn’t work either if one can’t pass the fringe filters of who-you-know. Now that the human is totally taken out of the equation, no one sees the experience and potential the candidate really has to offer. The employment agencies add to the problem. San Diego has a wonderful collection of tech companies that need to hire the best and the brightest. To accomplish this, they mistakenly hire employment agencies to find those tech candidates with little communication involved in defining the real needs. For a technical position, the ad is often written by a non-tech person that grabbed a boiler-plate description from a Bing or Google search based on the job title. This often includes specific software knowledge, perhaps some professional certification, a high level of education, and familiarity with industry standards and practices including safety procedures. The agency is loath to understand what is actually necessary and modify the ad accordingly, leaving obscure requirements intact. Can you imagine chooising a great artist that way? Would the filters look for Italian origin, Photoshop skills, familiarity with the health and safety data sheets of the paints used, certified in wood frame construction, and has at least 6 years of higher education? (continued in next comment)— September 23, 2013 8:57 a.m.
Manning supporters rally in wake of verdict
If you have even heard of Bradley Manning, it isn't time to give yourself a pat on your own shoulder. He was arrested and held in custody for more than 3 years. During that time, for national security reasons, or more bad press for the Obama administration, there was a virtual news blackout for Specialist Manning. Now if it isn't news to you that the judge ruled Manning was held in conditions deemed torture? If you know she granted Manning 122 Days off his sentence...not for good behavior, but for bad behavior, by the Government, then you should be writing letters too! He gets 122 days off a 35 year sentence. For being tortured. By our military. In custody. And you know what our fathers think? He got off light!! In WWII, they would have hung him! Aiding the enemy or whatever? String him up! At Nuremberg, Germany, in the trials after the war, we did string them up, war criminals whose defense was they "were only following orders." The US, led by that generation, Truman and Eisenhower, declared the policy of the United States is soldiers can't claim they were just following orders as an excuse to commit or cover up war crimes: and we hanged them to make that point. Fast forward to the X-Gen warriors, George Bush sends among others, young Bradley Manning, to war in a non-updated moral context. Bradley Manning reasonably believed his superior officers covered up war crimes and those with the guns committed them! The world knows now the officers in the PR department lied and otherwise covered up a Reuters News reporter had been gunned down by a helicopter flying so high above it could not be heard by those about to be killed. Bradley saw and heard these killings on official films and action reports. He thought these films must be made available to the public. AND a thinking person, such as young Bradley, might possibly think he would be liable, on penalty of hanging, if he did not do so!! He followed the only course of action prescribed by the lessons of Nuremberg. How could Bradley Manning know that President Obama, as his predessor, George the II before him, wished that war crimes stay covered up, for political reasons? And making this available to the US public, President Obama, commander-in-chief of the US military, allowed Bradley Manning to recieve torture, at the hands of the US military, because Bradley revealed murders and torture of our military in other lands. End Transmission 12647: drone unable to locate for elimination. Please return to your usual Daily indoctrination. Erica Jordan— August 26, 2013 10:28 a.m.
Mattress Man picks up and delivers to Mexico
You profiled this man, who saves mattresses ETC from landfills and delivers them to needy folks in Tijuana. But there is no contact information for him. Do you know how I can reach him? I have a bed (at least) which I wish to donate. Please help! Thanx. JimC— August 16, 2013 10:44 a.m.
Will and I got married for the extra $1452 Navy pay
I read Maggie Young's article about being accused of fraud, due to her marriage. I was particularly interested in this, because I am married to a Navy Seal who was using Craig's List to solicit men and women for sex. I contacted Navy Fleet and Family services, even took my husband to four counseling session that were a complete joke. Long story short, he refused to stop seeing a particular girl he met online and asked me to leave after cleaning out the bank accounts. When I contacted Navy JAG, they refused to get involved and his command told me they couldn't do anything except make him pay $300 a month in child support. I moved out and he moved his girlfriend in two days later. I was surprised the Navy went after Maggie Young, but does nothing about adultery. I would like to see this changed. Thanks, Maggie, for shedding light on problems in the Navy.— August 1, 2013 8:40 a.m.
Papa Doug apparently too late for Boston Globe
What a terrible thing to happen to what has been a terrific newspaper. I sincerely hope that they are not successful, although I understand that the Koch brothers are either backing them or are in contention to buy it, too.— July 27, 2013 12:43 p.m.
Election day in Tijuana brings irregularities
Dear Sirs: A large group of concerned citizens and businessman developed a net of observers during the local election day in Tijuana. No mayor report was made to us, besides minor incidents. Needles to say that the loosing party- PRI- is making these false allegations Thanks your attention Roberto Quijano— July 14, 2013 10:22 a.m.
Week in review: Sweetwater Union High School District
Alliant International University is a not-for-profit university with longstanding commitments to community engagement, diversity, and education with a practical focus. We serve some 4,000 students in six California cities and three international locations. We are pleased to be working with the Sweetwater District to bring four-year college programs to a location in the South County that we hope will be convenient for students who may not have the time or resources to attend classes farther away. Superintended Ed Brand's personal connections to our university are distant and indirect; he received a degree from one of our predecessor institutions 30 years ago. Alliant works with educators, practitioners and organizations around the world based on shared interests in serving students. The proposed collaboration with the Sweetwater District is an innovative approach to expanding access to higher education. We look forward to working with all of the District's educational professionals on this important project and would be happy to provide additional information about the project, our mission and our range of educational programs to anyone who is interested. Sincerely, Geoffrey M. Cox, PhD President, Alliant International University— July 8, 2013 9:05 a.m.