calherewecome

For the past 18 months, I have been working as a storage specialist at IBM. My job has been to manage much of the data storage infrastructure at IBM’s Mass Lab facility in Littleton.

I actually don’t work directly for IBM. I work as a contractor for Sykes Enterprise Inc. There are two kinds of IT contractors. They are commonly called W2 and 1099 contractors. A W2 contractor actually works for a company that provides the specialists to staff a data center operation. I am a W2 contractor. I submit timecards to Sykes and receive a paycheck from Sykes. Sykes in turn bills IBM for my services.

A 1099 contractor would bill the company directly. Each contractor would have keep track of billing and accounts receivable. At the end of the year, one would have to calculate one’s taxes as a small business. One major downside of 1099 contracting is no unemployment compensation benefits.

So here’s a picture of my cubicle. Tools of my trade are a laptop, telephone, flashlight, screwdriver and box-cutter. I need the box-cutter to open boxes that contain replacement parts shipped to me to fix stuff the breaks. My job in a nutshell is to monitor all of the storage, and when stuff breaks I get it fixed in a timely fashion.

And finally, here’s a view from outside my cubicle.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Littleton, MA