Offtopic: January 2006 Archives

Did I mention that my company updated their education assistance policy? After 5 years of allowing people to leave freely the second their company paid for degree was obtained, after I've been taking classes for two years, now in the final year of my degree they have changed the program so that if I leave within one year of them giving me money for a class, they will demand reimbursement.

Now most people think two things about this. The first is that I'm trying to shock by using the phrase indentured servant. I think they have confused the phrase 'indentured servant' with 'wage slave.' I'm not making a comparison to slavery. That would be incredibly insensitive. No I am using the phrase indentured servant correctly. Websters defines an indentured servant as a person who is bonded or contracted to work for another for a specified time, in exchange for learning a trade. This is exactly the contract I have been forced to accept. I would like to not accept the company money, but I know the odds are I'll stay where I am forever anyway so I might as well take the money.

The second reaction people have is that the company is Just in requiring people to stick around for a year after accepting money for school. I think that these people are not looking at it from my point of view. To frame the argument in a way they can understand, I ask, what if the company's matching funds for your retirement fund only fully vested after you stayed for an additional year after each deposit. Many companies have a vesting period. Perhaps we should have that also so we the employee don't skip out the door after taking the retirement money.

The bottom line for me is that I have increased my worth to the company through self-study, obtaining certifications and working on this degree. Under corporate policy its not possible for them to increase my pay at the same rate at which I have increased my value. So now in the moment where I have the upper hand, the velvet handcuffs that were the company benefits have become steel.

This is why I have a countdown to my Freedom day on the front page of this blog.

Starting the last semester at school. I've got two classes one in Secure Operations and one in Forensics.

The Secure Operations class info looks like fun.
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course a student will:
Justify configuration choices, using the principles of secure operation
Justify choices of intrusion detection strategies, using principles of intrusion detection
Justify security incident response strategies, using principles of response
Design a secure configuration for a host operating system, firewall, or Internet
Have experience with penetration testing of a computer system
Have experience administering a computer system and performing intrusion detection and response on it

Still waiting for the syllabuse for the other class. Classes start on Monday.

Here are my wishes for you all to have a great 2006. That you'll meet new friends, and stay in touch with old friends. That you'll grow professionally. That you'll stay healthy or improve your health where necessary. And that your'll get right with God.

Best wishes for the coming year

Roger