Posted tagged ‘IBM’

Cubicle, Sweet Cubicle

May 16, 2012

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

Music on the way to work

May 15, 2012

I have about two more weeks to go before I retire from IBM/Sykes. One of the things about this job that has been really good has been the commute. It takes me about 20 minutes to drive from Billerica to Littleton. Many of my friends from the DEC/Compaq/HP days will recognize the building as LKG. It used to be a DEC building back in the day but now has been bought by IBM.

The twenty minutes is just long enough to get a good dose of classical music. I usually listen to SiriusXM Channel 75 on the radio. This morning they were playing the Overture to Tannheuser by Richard Wagner.

So without further ado, here is a version by Leonard Bernstein.

Put on the head phones and turn up the volume.

Joe