Experiences at ObjectBuilders

"Depression and You: How to cope"

Someone on my first day saying to me "I'm sorry you got hired."

1. Wires hanging from the ceiling
2. Wires along the floor
3. The doorway that leads to the hallway where the windows are
4. The stapler at the front desk. I really mean, THE stapler. No other ones exist in the entire office.
5. Shattered hopes and dreams, regret, despair, my own tears

Go home immediately and log back into Monster.com

Three things? Here's 20.

1. Needing to hunt down the bathroom key in order to use the lavatory.
2. Getting underpaid by at LEAST 50% (no exaggeration).
3. Not permitted to have my cell phone turned on while on the job.
4. Having "Jeans Friday" revoked.
5. Using Objective-C as a core development language -- a language that is extraordinarily sparse in the

marketplace
6. Having to take out my own trash to the dumpster.
7. Having no cleaning service to at least occasionally vacuum, dust, etc.
8. Having to use my supervisor's phone to make business calls.
9. Having my computer locked down with no administrative privileges whatsoever WHILE trying do develop

software applications.
10. Having to transfer files via flash drive because the computer network frequently crashed.
11. Only receiving 5 vacation days after working six months, then gaining five more days after one

year, and maxing out at 10 vacation days per year (no sick/personal time).
12. When having no work to do, being required to log time against a customer so we can bill them for

development/maintenance time when I'm actually sitting at my desk being told to surf the Internet.
13. Using pirated software (this is illegal, by the way) for the entire development life cycle.
14. Being told that I must work a minimum of 55 hours per week in order to be considered "successful"

in the eyes of the management staff.
15. Not having all of my taxes taken out of my check so that I have to pay out money when tax time

rolls around.
16. Not having my medical co-pay taken out of my check pre-tax (so that I have to pay more in taxes).
17. Not receiving my W-2 in the mail until after I've sent complaints several times over e-mail.
18. Watching relatives of the company's silent investors get hired, who sit there and do nothing,

receive a paycheck, while others on staff work their butts off and live in constant fear that they

could be fired at a moments notice.
19. Being told every other week that we're relocating to a more professional facility in a few short months, but after a few short months go by we're still doing business out of the Valley Forge Towers lobby.
20. Having quarterly meetings in the owner's backyard so we can see the fruits of our hard work....

Being completely serious here - There is NOTHING that I WOULDN'T change at ObjectBuilders. This includes the location, the computers, the servers, the network, the people, the mentality of upper mgmt...EVERYthing.

Oh, where to begin. Let's see, well, if your LUCKY enough to work in the main office, you'll have a semi-walled cube with an old ricketty desk, lavashly laced with dust mites and bacteria. The office is ALWAYS too cold or too hot, and is probably cleaned once every year. If you're assigned to work in the office down the hall, you'll be greeted every morning by the wonderful fragrance of a moldy kitchen, and your "workspace" will consist of a folding table and a chair (no cube walls)....

In all seriousness, the lunches are awesome. Everyone talks about how miserable they are working there; I'd compare it to a bunch of old war time hero's commiserating over battles they once fought together.

When I went into work on one morning and didn't go home until noon the next day. Seriously. It was real funny.

1.) Leaving at the end of the day
2.) Lunch
3.) Quitting