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TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS!

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Renegade:
You might think that's hyperbole, or that it's yelling, but it's understating the pure awesomeness of this fellow!

http://www.tgdaily.com/software-brief/68815-us-programmer-outsources-his-own-job-to-china

US programmer outsources his own job to China
--- End quote ---

Does that get yer attenshun? ;D IT ONLY GETS BETTER!!!

Verizon says it uncovered the scam when it was hired by the man's unnamed employer, which suspected a security breach. It had discovered that a VPN connection had been opened between its systems and China almost every day for months - sometimes staying open for the whole of the working day.

"They're a US critical infrastructure company, and it was an unauthorized VPN connection from CHINA. The implications were severe and could not be overstated," says Verizon's Andrew Valentine.

"The company implemented two-factor authentication for these VPN connection. The second factor being a rotating token RSA key fob. If this security mechanism had been negotiated by an attacker, again, the implications were alarming."

To make matters worse, he says, the developer whose credentials were being used was sitting at his desk in the office at the time.

Verizon staff leapt into action, recovering as many files as possible from the affected workstation - and discovered hundreds of .pdf invoices from a third party contractor/developer in Shenyang, China.

"As it turns out, Bob had simply outsourced his own job to a Chinese consulting firm. Bob spent less that one fifth of his six-figure salary for a Chinese firm to do his job for him," says Valentine.

"Authentication was no problem, he physically FedExed his RSA token to China so that the third-party contractor could log-in under his credentials during the workday."

So what was this man of leisure actually doing with his day? Verizon staff checked his web browsing history to find out. Apparently, he was engaged in a gruellling round of surfing Reddit and Ebay, watching cat videos and checking Facebook, before submitting end of day update e-mail to management.

Worse, it seems that this wasn't his only job: the man had the same scam going across several different companies in the area, and was making a profit of several hundred thousand dollars a year.

"The best part?" says Valentine. "Investigators had the opportunity to read through his performance reviews while working alongside HR. For the last several years in a row he received excellent remarks. His code was clean, well written, and submitted in a timely fashion. Quarter after quarter, his performance review noted him as the best developer in the building."

--- End quote ---

(Love the Orwellian newspeak about the "scam". It's ok when WE do it, but just not you.)

But seriously, gotta give the guy props! He's obviously very good at managing developers~! ;D :P

 :Thmbsup:

TaoPhoenix:
Heh - yeah Helmut and 40hz are discussing much the same thing the next thread over. : )

Stoic Joker:
Gave me a good laugh this morning when I heard it on the radio. Nice kick in the teeth to the corporation.

40hz:
We can probably thank Tim Harris and his book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. It's a faintly poisonous variation on the "other people's money" and "how to succeed without really trying" school of thought.

Most of it is the traditional "approach your employer with this idea" and "get rich starting your own corporation" stuff you've seen or read about before.

But the real "new idea" he has is the recommendation you outsource as much of your work life as possible to offshore 'boiler-room' business service and manufacturing firms. He recommends India very highly. Nothing really new here. Major corporations have been doing this for the last two decades. But Tim's 'contribution' to making the world a slightly darker place is how he shows where it's possible (although not as easy as he makes it sound) for individuals living in wealthier, well-connected countries to do the same.

Guess Tim's "big idea" is slowly making it's way into the mainstream corporate world, huh? ;D

The only problem is I can see a scenario where the larger corporate world just might come to embrace this practice.

Consider - why go through the hassle of having the mother ship qualify and manage subcontractors on a project basis? Hire somebody (under the usual employment contract) and allow him/her get the job done any way they can. If they need additional help or resources, don't come begging to daddy for additional money or help. Go hire or get whatever you need. "Out of your paycheck, mate! That's what you're getting paid for. You said you could do it - so you'd better deliver! Remember, you signed an employment agreement with us...unless of course you just want to pack up...and also pay back what we've paid you to date...."

Maybe a little far fetched today.

But they said the same thing about people working from home, pumping their own gas, ringing up their own groceries, home-schooling, and finding and paying for their own medical insurance plan not too long ago.

Yup...I can see it coming. No more managerial employees or traditional white collar jobs. Everybody either a contractor or subcontractor.

The securities analysts and corporate attorneys will positively salivate at the "opportunities for increased flexibility" this would make possible.

Please... Don't anybody suggest it to them. ;D



 :Thmbsup:

Renegade:
This has cemented in my mind an idea that I've had for a long time:

If you live in the West, DO NOT GO INTO MANUFACTURING OR IP. EVER.

The only jobs in the West are in services, e.g. hostess, waiter, grocery store clerk, plumber, electrician, etc. You cannot get someone in Brazil to pour a cup of coffee for you if you're in Boston. You cannot get a mechanic in India to fix your car. You cannot get someone in the Philippines to fix your toilet.

The only jobs left in the West are in services. Everything else is dead.

Long live our corporate overloads, the globalist elite, and consolidated capital interests! :P (That was sarcasm.)

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