My limited time working with Asurion (Sprint)

Working in the "gig" economy is a nice way of saying that you basically roam and seek employment for contract/temporary work and that you're a member of the "precariate" working class. In other words, you find work when you need to. You finish the job and then you move on to find other work. Basically, when you work in a failing economic system that doesn't meet the basic needs of those that work in it you'll hear very curious terms like "precariate" working class or "gig economy".

What this means is that the people that work in this system are being screwed by a very small but powerful and wealthy group of individuals that bascially control everything. With that out of the way (stated for context and to assist in driving home the point I'm going to make), I'll move to the topic at hand.

Asurion the cellphone insurance company. You may have had the displeasure of dealing with them if you've had an issue with your cellphone and needed to have it repaired or replaced if your phone carrier is Sprint, Verizon, etc. My experience comes from working at Sprint stores as a Technical Consultant via Asurion so that's the lense I'll be looking at this from. I'll be very honest about my observations that I've witnessed while working at these sites. Their customers don't really understand how insurance works for mobile devices (they do when it comes to cars or medical coverage), the Management is incompetent at best and their policies are very contradictory. There are ways of addressing issues that customers have that the Asurion Technicians are trained to handle a certain way that at times are ridiculous and frustrating for everyone involved. For example someone could have a cracked front display and come in to have it fixed. If it is repairable in store then it is repaired in store. If the parts are unavailable then it is mailed off to a repair facility for it to be repaired. However, if there is one other issue such as having a cracked camera lens while having a cracked front display then it is an automatic insurance claim. The Technicians are not authorized to touch the device. Recently this has changed slightly. My manager has filled me in about having a little more room for being flexible about customer filing insurance claims for certain issues. But I'll explain this to mirror how it was explained to me for the purpose of this blog.

If the device has liquid damage no matter how much nor how little, the customer must file an insurance claim with Asurion insurance. If the device is bent and there is anything that doesn't work or is failing with the device then it is an insurance claim. If the device has cracks on the back and the software glitches, insurance claim. It makes sense to most people that having liquid damage or a bent device (due to the fact that the logic boards/motherboard may be damaged) but having any two issues seems that are unrelated and that being an automatic insurance claim seems a little odd. If the speaker suddenly stops working and there are add pop ups, insurance claim. If the volume button isn't flush with the housing and battery doesn't hold a charge, insurance claim.

Of course, there are times when the customer is just being ridiculous and wants you to troubleshoot or repair an obviously hopeless device. "My internet stopped working suddenly two days ago", a customer told me once. The device's litmus papers were triggered (litmus papers are an easy indicator for liquid contact versus relying on visible corrosion in the device) and the device was so bent from the customer sitting on it, it was shaped more or less like a sickle.

In addition to all of this there are certain metrics that are evaluated for something called SPS. SPS is a bunch of various factors (which are very convoluted and makes no sense as to why it is counted) that Sprint has come up with to attempt to measure the quality of the service being provided. A part of this is from feedback from surveys after a repair or other technical service interaction has been made. This is where things get interesting.

The feedback from surveys may have nothing to do with the repair or technical service interaction but is still counted as part of this metric without any filtering out surveys that are expressly and obviously not about repair or technical service interactions. For example, a customer may have had connection issues due to them having a faulty SIM card installed in their device. The SIM card is then replaced with a working SIM card. A survey is triggered by this interaction. The customer scores a 4 (the scoring itself is interesting as well) and states that they scored the interaction as such due to the fact that Sprint doesn't have "talking while texting" features. Now that entire team is effected even though their frustration or disapproval has nothing to do with the interaction.

This being a survey, however, it is entirely subjective as well. A customer could have been extremetly rude, threaten other customers, staff, employees but it is strictly counted by the number given from that survey. The measurement scale itself reads something like (I am not exactly sure about this but I'll get to as accurate as I can remember) a 1-5 is a "Detractor", a 6-8 is neutral and 9-10 is what they call a "Promoter". Aside from the jargon that is used, no one that I've actually talked to yet, from typical employee to management, can actually make any real sense of how this is all calculated, whether this is accurate (I question how accurate a subjective survey response can be accurate about anything, especially when the people taking the survey are responding solely on how they feel how their experience was) or why it is measure in such manner.

If I don't know how to use all of the useful features of a mobile device such as using the back up features to back up contact numbers, etc. to the cloud and one day the device starts freezing/locking up, has battery or connection issues then decide it is in my best interest to take my device into a store to get technical service. I'll probably be upset if my information was lost (had a customer recently lose hundreds of contact information because she didn't know how to back up her information to the cloud) and may even blame technical support that my information was lost out of anger or frustration.

All in all I believe these metrics are used for upper management to hide incompetence within the upper eschelons of management. I have recently lost confidence in their ability to add anything of use to the company (be it Asurion or Sprint side of things) and will be looking to exit the company soon. To be honest, I look forward to the day that all technical based companies are ran by the workers in a worker cooperative, capitalist based economy versus a hierarchical capitalist based economy (I hope Spain and Italy paves the way for worker cooperative based companies to thrive and become the norm).

After my dealings with several large companies and the obvious incompetence that I have witnessed, I no longer believe that top-down capitalist systems work and have put my faith into the workers that actually do the work to run the companies successfully. You may not see it on television but some of these worker cooperatives are as old as some traditionally run companies and do much better at running the companies.

Enough of my rant about larger economic systems for today but I will update this blog as I encounter more information.


http://democracyatwork.info

http://rdwolff.com

A hidden vault of idiocy

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chuck-elliott/0/5ba/884

More to come later...

The Neo Conservative/Republican desire to control the direction of everything

What a strange conundrum.  I have been working in the Computer Software Engineering field for a couple of decades now and in doing so, living in various places, I get to meet so many diverse personalities.  Currently I live in the South of the United States and only moved here due to cheap land and because there's a need for people with certain skillsets that some companies want to hire.  For the most part, my time here has been peaceful and very enjoyable.  However, I have noticed a trend that is most disturbing.

Alot of the people that I have worked with while living in the South are not qualified to hold the positions they currently occupy.  I find this to be very odd.  While I do believe that people should be afforded the opportunity to grow and learn, what I have seen here is very disturbing.

I have noticed that certain favored people with certain political, ideological viewpoints are 'groomed' for 'Leadership' and the rest of the populace, regardless of ability, education, experience, and/or skillset are brushed aside.  Personally, I have witnessed countless unqualified individuals obtain employment with very impressive job titles but only survive in those positions by taking credit for other contributor's work and/or by being apart of a good 'ol boys network (in many cases being part of a religious, ethnic or ideological group).

Ofcourse, this happens in many different kinds of jobs but this should not be the case when the jobs are high skilled or subject to specific knowlege (Software Development, Mathematics, etc).  I assume that the reasons are obvious, since these can affect companies at a much larger scale due to the sensitivity of the knowledge required.

My only hope is that transparency illumines the unelightened and that our lopsided society can actually be competive again.  In doing so, we won't be able to afford putting incompetent people that are well connected in places that hurt the economy, the people with the actual credentials for those jobs and the rest of the entire society at large.

What I gather from this mindset is that they appear not only to be hypocrites but they also suffer from some sort of 'small man complex.'  In short, they display indicators of being either sociopathic and/or anxious and/or insecure about themselves and/or have a desire to display control uneccesarily and/or all of the previously mentioned criteria.

The Perception of Competency

What I have noticed in this company is that people give the appearance of competency while not really knowing or understanding the fundamentals of what they’re doing. Since our last ‘real’ Engineer in Mobiles left to Dell, I have noticed a trend in what the other ‘Software Engineers’ as well as ‘Hardware Engineers’ actually do. It seems that they get by without any real responsibility for their actions simply because they are backed by the Management/Staff or are apart of a governing/powerful group within the company.

However, what I see from this unofficial hierarchy is the extension of racism and favoritism. The way this works is simple. Those in favor will be promoted over others regardless of knowledge or ability and the rest stagnate or fight over the scraps left that they think might position themselves into a position of power.

In reality, the job titles have little to do with what is really going on. They are simply for show and to show that they are just in a favored position.

I have been collecting evidence for a lawsuit and will continue to collect information in order to show my lawyer evidence of unfair treatment of employees/contractors. It saddens me how a few can spoil the bunch but in this case too many of the bunch either do not say anything about these injustices and/or actually feel that this is what should happen. Therefore my hand is forced to right these injustices myself.

Even company emails sent are very questionable in their materials (such are pictures or what the content may imply) and I will scrutinize them as well before handing them over for legal counsel.

The more that changes, the more things stay the same

Life can be such a wonderful thing. To live happy and be happy. To learn and grow as life carries on. To develop a sense of self, what is real and what is not. I haven’t spent much time thinking deeply or wallowing in long isolated periods of self reflection as of late since I am forced to deal with many unnecessary outside forces.
However, I have learned many things about the artificial system that has been constructed, in which we are forced to live in. I have learned during my time in Corporate America how the bureaucracy of Management works.
What happens, in short, is that (from the top, down) those in places of authority hire subordinates and lower level staff/Managers that will replicate not only the will and values of the organization but more importantly, the attitudes (whether good or bad) and perceptions of morality, what is fair, what is just, what is business and what is considered not.
In this system there are many different players but where I work, I have come to realize that as many things change, things remain the same. This is not a good thing. Life is constantly evolving, changing and as humans we are apart of that cycle of change. However, there are always those that will want to perpetuate a broken system either because they benefit from that system and fear a perceived loss of power or incorrectly believe that what they believe in is genuinely correct.
An artificial system based on artificial tools will only create a more artificial system. What I’m talking about is the very system that benefits a few and actively destroys growth of the natural human social climate as well as the physical, emotional and psychological areas of the amazing, intrinsic human spheres of development.
What is destroying us as people is Capitalism, ie. human greed and the answer is not necessarily socialism but a Capitalistic socialism.
If the natural minerals, fruit & vegetables, oil in the ground and everything else in the lands, oceans off the coasts, in the rivers and waterways as well as in the air belong to the people of that country, then every dollar made from production, refinement or sale of those goods should be taxed from the company that produces those goods to the people (even if they are the customers of the product) of that country.
It doesn’t make much sense that only a small percentage of the population (usually already privileged), benefit from the natural resources that belongs to the people. I actually believe that it is robbing the people of that country. There should never be a system in place where the people of a country are at the mercy of a privileged class of people. That is what we call tyranny.
I think most people would understand and agree with that. What most people don’t probably realize is that, that is exactly what’s going on in the business world within the bureaucracy of Management in regards to its hiring processes and criteria of how they ‘select’ qualified candidates.
I’m going to be completely honest here and I’m not going to be politically correct about it. The Corporate system is a self serving, racist, neo conservative, dictatorial, tyrannical and pathological system. And if the people of the countries of the world don’t crush them now then they deserve what they’re in for in the future.
I can honestly state that hiring managers at HP, most especially at the director level, are racist, soulless, pathological halfwits. The level of reason exercised is that of a socially decrepit high school nerd that bases the world in a complete logical fallacy on steroids. Most of the people that are hired are done so out of favoritism or artificial, imagined freshly constructed grandeur (oh <insert name of favored individual> is great! Don't you know what he/she is capable of!?).
I have met many smart people during my travels around the world while here and abroad but I now realize that these people are so low they hire certain White college graduates without interviews, hire White people in general above everyone else without regard to skillset or ability and I have witnessed even a White Manager hire a newly contracted White contractor as a permanent member that doesn’t show any real talent, ability and most definitely, any more knowledge than any of the other contractors.
Let me be clear there is obviously something going on here.
I also have no problem putting their names into the public sphere and will gladly do so.
At Hewlett-Packard, in Houston, Texas at 11445 Compaq drive, the hiring Managers Gunnar Seaburg, Chuck Elliott as well as their higher up, Stan Gordon (Personal Systems Group, Supply Chain or PSG, SC) have questionable hiring practices.
If you have doubts about it then I challenge you to question Chris Evers (newly hired college graduate) about his hiring process and Matt Lohr (newly contracted contractor hired permanent, was told to interview for his position without anyone else knowing) about his hiring process. Of course, there are emails about how wonderfully they have performed but it was at the expense and knowledge of everyone else showing them what to do. This is a falsely constructed system to aid in falsely deserving positions of power.
What is most mind blowing is that all of their permanent new hires are all male and White. All of them. I don’t think it is plausible that this is just coincidence.

I just realized that the management of my company is completely backwards in their logic.

I work with and for people that appear to put the weakest people in positions of influence and the strongest people are overlooked and I see why.

Something I learned about while in the military. It’s a very simple concept. It’s called poor leadership. A leader’s strong points is to always know his/her people’s strengths and to best utilize them accordingly. A leader that doesn’t understand this basic concept of leadership cannot effectively lead and would most likely get everyone killed in action.

I always hope for the best and plan for the worst in most situations but honestly this one takes the cake. I honestly rather work fulltime starting my own business and finishing up my other degree during the evenings rather than sit here and watch this chaos.

There is usually a lesson to be learned in mistakes but I’ve been past that point for the last few months already. It’s time to demean this crap via the internet and let people know just how ridiculous things are.

I have absolutely no confidence in the technological ability of any manager from the South of North America nor from the North nor from the East nor from the West.

In the future, my contacts will only be foreign based because the idiots here are now in the actual practice of insanity. To keep doing the same crap that doesn’t work and expecting a different outcome.

I’m confident Corporate America is done for unless a complete dumping of everyone age 35 and above is imminent. We don’t have the technological creativity to drive us from the black abyss that we’re in. It’s just not there.

My best advice is to leave the country and move to somewhere safe in Asia……and be sure to take your money and all your assets with you.

Corporate America is a joke

 

I am constantly surprised by what I see in this place on a daily basis.  I thought lack of technical ability was a weakness here but I’m wrong.  I think the real deficit is due to plain stupidity.  I honestly believe these people bought their degrees rather than earned them.

If I was to put some of these guys against high school kids, I’d wager the high school kids would give them a run for their money.  To be honest, I am an average skilled worker.  Nothing special.  I know that no one is perfect but what I see is fellow degreed Engineers that have to be trained in their profession, rather than trained about internal processes.

However, this is my last post about this topic.  I long for the day to save enough money to start my own software company and leave this god forsaken place.

Incompetence in Corporate America

In previous posts I might have been giving the benefit of the doubt or beating around the bush about what I’ve see and the personalities I’ve dealt with in the Corporate State that we live in.  Now I’m going to be brutally honest.

 

Our businesses (as well as a lot of our government) is being run by complete idiots.  In all my experiences I have never seen such levels of incompetence and stupidity as I do now.  Not even during my time in the military.  I have worked with Software Engineers that might have been a little lost or needed some guidance before while in the military but I have never come across anything like what I have seen in Corporate America.  I feel as though there are a handful of intelligent people and the rest have just ‘bought’ a degree from somewhere and somehow were able to claim the titles that they have.

 

I have never before in my life worked with anyone with a Software Engineer title and they didn’t know how to use the most basic of business software.  I have never in my life worked in a industry leading computer distribution company and the managers (not the current area I work in) have no clue about the hardware or software that they supposedly are managing.  Did I just walk into the twilight zone?  If so, then this all makes sense.  Up is down and down is up.

 

I have lost all confidence where I work.  I no longer feel anything for the work I do nor do I think that the people in charge are worth listening to.  Of course, I will continue to do my job but in my head I’ll be coding my next software project at home while these imbeciles blab away and continue to solidify my lack of confidence in their leadership.  The only thing I look forward to is finishing my home projects so I can publish them (overseas) and make enough money to walk away from this place.

 

I honestly wonder what would Software Engineers and Developers would say back in my home state if they saw what I see.  They’d probably have a fit and let everyone know about it.  Companies lose talent by being unattractive to those that can help them make money….one can only wonder…

Hewlett Packard - The place where….shit sucks?

I guess my frustration with this place is beginning to get to me. I honestly think the management of this place is going to kill the company.

I’m not just talking about the executives.  I mean upper management, middle management, lower management, supervisors, staff and all other areas of ‘management’ personnel.

The level of bureaucracy and dumbing down of everything is absolutely ridiculous and pathetic.  My only hope out of being here is to just stay employed while I hone my skills on my hobbies at home.  There isn’t much this place can offer most people with half a brain and are self motivated after being here a few years.

I think the Corporations in Western countries are going to end up destroying civilization as a whole.  The level of creativity in this place sucks, the software…sucks, the vast majority of most of anything this place makes even in the hardware now sucks.

Since working here I have seen the most horrendous business practices, horrendous Engineering practices and pure absolute incompetence or a lack of intestinal fortitude overall to say anything about such practices, even by people with direct responsibility to challenge it.

I truly hope that another decent opportunity opens up for me.  I really want to get more into the Software Development side of things and make good products.

Dealing with incompetence in the Engineering field

 

Recently there has been a re-organization in my area of corporate America.  I have a new manager (a really down to earth guy and seems like a real good guy to work for), and a new contract Software Developer is coming in Monday.  However, I have to say that I do feel disappointed.  There are many others that I work with that I do like personally, but they do lack very much in the technical areas that they are supposed to be proficient in.

Since I’ve been working with this group I have had the glorious honor of watching someone with a Master’s Degree in Engineering come in and ask me the most basic of questions about his job (I actually trained him for a while) and was completely clueless until after months of supervision, he finally began to ‘get it.’

Another Engineer that showed up a month or two after I joined the group doesn’t know even the most basic of things but he somehow has been working within the company for a number of years.  This is very alarming to me.  Unless this Engineer has been sitting behind a desk doing nothing more than administrative work the entire time he’s been with the company (that is still not an excuse), there is no reason for him to be here.  A Software Engineer that doesn’t know anything about software.  And no, I’m not joking.

However, I find this to be typical in Corporate America and most especially in the areas of Engineering that I work in.  I would be more understanding if it was just that the Engineer was new to the internal process or something like that but it’s nothing like that at all.  They just don’t seem to know anything about the subject in general.  Granted, the MS Degreed Engineer had a bachelor’s in a similar area of study (Electrical Magnetism), his MS in Engineering should have done away with any question to his level of proficiency.

A co-worker that happened to join the group a few months after I joined is less educated and had a very big learning curve but at least he is showing progress.  The MS Degreed Engineer is getting better but the other Software Engineer really needs to take classes over again.  What is the most ridiculous of all of this is that the Software Engineer was supposed to be a President of some sort of club and some think that somehow validates his intellect.  I have nothing against the guy personally but I think that it wasn’t his ability that got him the job.

I also happen to work with a Network Administrator/Hardware Engineer that means well but is no better than the other Engineers.  Now, let’s be clear.  I’m not an expert of software or hardware and don’t expect anyone else to be but you’d have to actually see what I’m talking about to believe it.  This Hardware Engineer seems to somehow manage to lie about most things he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t appear to understand very much beyond what he sees in front of himself.  In other words, (I’ve learned this the hard way) if he tells you something about a particular piece of hardware or software, chances are you’d better research the information yourself.

After several years working for Corporate America, I feel that these people are able to hide behind the ridiculous cover of the Corporation in order to hide their obvious lack of ability.  To be honest, I have met many in the particular corporation I work for to be complete idiots.  A few years back I worked with an Engineer that couldn’t spell the country of Canada.  This guy worked in a position that dealt with international clients.  Good thing this guy never had to actually write anything to anyone other than his boss.

Over the years working here I have met plenty of really great people as well and I have nothing but the utmost respect for most of them.  However, this continuing trend that I see in the company I work for will continue to bother me.  I really do hope that this is a trend that ends sooner rather than later.