employers

If you're a systems engineer who wonders whether you've chosen the right profession, I bring you good news.

Please take a deep breath, stand up, and be prepared to leap so high, you will touch the sky. Then you will, perhaps, want to touch the Skyy. For a survey has declared that systems engineer is the best job in America.

Focus.com, perhaps spurred on by the grumbling that can be heard from so many places of work in the world, performed this most important of tasks.

The site first looked at more than 7,000 jobs. It … Read more

Looking for a new job in the tech field? You may want to check out Fortune's list of the best companies to work for.

Among the technology firms that ended up on Fortune's list were SAS at No. 1, Google at No. 4, Cisco Systems at No. 16, Adobe Systems at No. 42, and Microsoft at No. 51. The firms scored points for a couple of different factors, including top pay and best perks. And with the job market still tight, Fortune also looked at the job growth for each company.

Grabbing the top spot was software company … Read more

It can't be easy being a policeman.

Every day you're forced to be in contact with some of the lower beings of the world. Sometimes you have to punch them or shoot them, when you'd rather be out with your lover or at least surfing the Web for a little fun.

As a matter of fact, I have just learned from the very learned Daily Mail that an average of nine police officers and support staff from every British police force have been fired or warned after transgressing the police's IT regulations.

In all, the Mail … Read more

(Updated at 1:56 p.m. PST, after I put down my own bottle of Lapin Kulta.)

If you've ever spent a long night drinking with Finns, you may have noted that after the 10th beer, they can become jolly, effusive, and positively inventive. Well, please hark the words of Martti Roth, an alleged employee of Intel Finland, who thought of something rather special while under the influence of alcohol.

I am not libeling him, truly. Because Roth says he really did come up with the notion, while at a bar, that he and his Intel friends should create … Read more

Playing fantasy sports can be as addictive as watching "The Biggest Loser."

My own lowest point was when I went to see the Golden State Warriors play the Los Angeles Clippers and cheered when the Clippers' Michael Olowakandi snagged his 10th rebound. I am a Warriors fan, but Olowokandi was in my NBA fantasy team.

It took a team of bullish psychiatrists and several wily girlfriends to remove me from this iniquitous pursuit, which is why I have some sympathy with Cameron Pettigrew and three of his fellow Fidelity Investments employees.

Actually, they are former Fidelity employees, as, … Read more

President Obama is gathering 100 leaders from across the U.S. for his jobs summit in Washington on Thursday to brainstorm how to create new jobs.

While the list of invitees is heavy on academics, labor unions, and business, it appears only two people from technology made an early invitation list: Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, and Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat.

FedEx. Yes. Nucor. Yes. But no Microsoft. No Oracle. No Salesforce.com. What gives?

Yes, Schmidt is a key advisor to Obama. But his invitation, along with Whitehurst's, could have a lot to do with the … Read more

Convention has a handshake like the Mafia.

Even when we resign from a job, even when we truly feel the people we worked with were weasels of the worst order, our idea of "the done thing" means we invite everyone for a painful beer in a local bar. We even buy them doughnuts.

Now one brave soul has perhaps not merely flouted convention, but, with one heartfelt e-mail, drop-kicked it to Hades.

According to The Chive.com, the e-mail was written by a senior media planner at a Chicago ad agency (I have a feeling I just might … Read more

Profit Loss Report Spreadsheet is an Excel spreadsheet that allows users to track small business expenses from month to month. It's nothing fancy, but it may be a good choice for users who, for whatever reason, don't want to use bookkeeping software.

The program's interface is simple, with a separate spreadsheet for each month, plus a report sheet and data sheet. Users add vendor names in the data spreadsheet, which are then available for selection in the other pages. Users then enter financial transactions much as they would in any other financial software, with the date, vendor, … Read more

Being an accountant is hard.

You have to deal, in general, with people who can't count, can't save receipts, and then expect you to bail them out from all their troubles.

So please consider the plight of Vicki Walker, an accountant with ProCare Health in Auckland, New Zealand.

According to the trusty New Zealand Herald, ProCare, in dismissing Walker, told her that her e-mail style had caused ripples of disturbance in the serene landscape of her fellow workers' minds.

Her sins, for there were reportedly several, were that she used capital letters, bold typefaces and, perish the mere … Read more