| OH PUL-EASEEEEE......... The Talent at AT&T? That left a LONG time ago. Figure about 1984. Management? Yes AT&T Management is still what it always has been - MANAGEMENT - not leadership.
Management is more worried about protecting their bonuses and cash cow network. Since 1984 our network infrastructure has slipped from being the best in the world to something second class (to be kind).
A lobbyist is more valuable today than any engineer or network guru. Look at the cuts at all the companies. Network engineers and technical sales people? Long gone either by layoffs or attrition. Lobbyists? Hey protect that network. Easier to influence and legislate locked in profits than try to innovate and create a better fiber-based network. (cheaper cost too)
As to dress and demeanor - The was a time when everyone dressed for Success - blue and gray suits. No casual clothes. No slobs.
You want to be treated like a professional - act and dress like a professional. That was Arch McGill's influence in the early 1980s. If you remember him.
As for dress - Casual doesn't mean Homeless. Unfortunately some people dressed like slobs on the jobs so you reaped what you sow.
As to education - The Bell System used to train people to a point that if you could add up the classes - you had a PhD in Networking & Telecommunications. Courses were two to three weeks of solid knowledge, not like some of these paper certificates from the vendors.
At Bell Labs - you got ALL the Yourdon courses and had telephony courses at WECO's Princeton Facility among other things. If you were in that special technical marketing area in the operating companies - you went to MIT for grad courses to learn about IBM SNA and all their products.
Today's investment in people? A joke. The technical talent? A joke.
And those criticizing from a non-Bell System education - you have no idea how much training some people got. No one invested in people as the old Bell System. No ONE. Certificates today - are a joke. Sorry to burst your bubble.
No company has a corner on all the talent anymore.
As to whining about the Right-wing tone or the step backwatds = the pendulum swings both ways. Too many slackers (at every level - mid management too), creates the need to tighten the screws. I remember some account executives that were also Real Estate Agents as they "telecommuted" from home. How deep were they committed to AT&T? As some said, it's about time they get rid of the slackers - that is something more companies have to do because the way I see it, the talent is not at the companies anymore, it's on the street. |
