Am I unqualified candidate, indeed?

[Alex]

Hello,

I am Applied Mathematician with University degree from Russia.
8 years of IT related working experience.
Currently I am working at Scientific Research and Design Institute as a
Scientist (IT area).

My responsibilities are:
Software development (GUI, middleware, DB access and data calculation), GIS
development, data analysis, articles and reports writing, presentation
design.

My skills:

- Operating systems
Windows 2000/NT, Windows 9x, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Linux Red Hat, MS DOS.

- Programming languages and libraries
C/C++, Avenue, SQL, HTML, POSIX/Korn/C/Born Shell scripts, ODBC, OCI,
Pascal, OSF-Motif, Modula 2, PL-1, Fortran, Assembler.

- Programming technologies
OOD/OOP, GIS, Processing applications, GUI, CGI, DB access, Berkeley
sockets/WinSock, Web.

- Software/Tools
Borland C++, gcc, Borland C++Builder, BDE, MS Visual C++, ArcView, OEM and
other Oracle DBA tools, Macromedia Flash 4/5, MS FrontPage.

- Databases
Oracle 7.3/8, Paradox, dBase.

- Hardware
PC x86/.../P4/AMD, NetServer HP LH Pro, IBM RISC/6000, Sun Workstation, HP
Visualize, IBM Power PC.

Relevant courses:

Aug. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in B1810S C++/Object-Oriented
Programming
Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 35130S ANSI C Programming
Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 50710S Programming with Unix
Systems Calls
Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in H5888S POSIX Shell
Programming
Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 51434S Fundamentals of the
Unix System
Nov. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX System Administration
Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX Networking
Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in Hardware Training
Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Fundamentals of ArcView
Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Avenue programming

Certifications

Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified C Programmer
Jul. 2000 - Brainbench certified C++ Programmer
Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified Unix Administrator

Salary expectation: $45,000+ annual.

So, explain, please:

1) Am I right in looking for a position of software developer, programmer,
software engineer, application programmer, programmer analyst?
2) Why can't I find any position in US or Canada with visa sponsorship
during 2 years?
I had sent thousands of resumes directly and using agencies flipgog.com,
monster.com, dice.com and a lot of others.
I had only 1 interview in face and 3 times by phone, last year.
What can you advise me?

With thanks in advance,
Alex.

[MarkN]

Hmm. Looks like you have good qualifications.

So some reasons (and things to work on) maybe why you haven't found anything.

1. You are here on Visa(or want to be) and with all the citizens looking
for work companies need to hire them first. (not much you can do)
2. Work seems to be scarce. (not much you can do)
3. I've worked with some Russians in the past and, although they were very
good, communication was a major issue. (If so, work on it - not saying anyone
is doing it or that it is right for them 'cause it ain't)
4. There isn't much GIS work. And most work is in VB, Java and .Net(replacing
VB and some C++) which you don't seem have. So learn Java or .Net. With
your background I would suggest Java.

Mark


"Alex" <mudak2@mail.ru> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I am Applied Mathematician with University degree from Russia.
>8 years of IT related working experience.
>Currently I am working at Scientific Research and Design Institute as a
>Scientist (IT area).
>
>My responsibilities are:
>Software development (GUI, middleware, DB access and data calculation),
GIS
>development, data analysis, articles and reports writing, presentation
>design.
>
>My skills:
>
>- Operating systems
>Windows 2000/NT, Windows 9x, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Linux Red Hat, MS DOS.
>
>- Programming languages and libraries
>C/C++, Avenue, SQL, HTML, POSIX/Korn/C/Born Shell scripts, ODBC, OCI,
>Pascal, OSF-Motif, Modula 2, PL-1, Fortran, Assembler.
>
>- Programming technologies
>OOD/OOP, GIS, Processing applications, GUI, CGI, DB access, Berkeley
>sockets/WinSock, Web.
>
>- Software/Tools
>Borland C++, gcc, Borland C++Builder, BDE, MS Visual C++, ArcView, OEM and
>other Oracle DBA tools, Macromedia Flash 4/5, MS FrontPage.
>
>- Databases
>Oracle 7.3/8, Paradox, dBase.
>
>- Hardware
>PC x86/.../P4/AMD, NetServer HP LH Pro, IBM RISC/6000, Sun Workstation,
HP
>Visualize, IBM Power PC.
>
>Relevant courses:
>
>Aug. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in B1810S C++/Object-Oriented
>Programming
>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 35130S ANSI C Programming
>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 50710S Programming with Unix
>Systems Calls
>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in H5888S POSIX Shell
>Programming
>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 51434S Fundamentals of the
>Unix System
>Nov. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX System Administration
>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX Networking
>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in Hardware Training
>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Fundamentals of ArcView
>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Avenue programming
>
>Certifications
>
>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified C Programmer
>Jul. 2000 - Brainbench certified C++ Programmer
>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified Unix Administrator
>
>Salary expectation: $45,000+ annual.
>
>So, explain, please:
>
>1) Am I right in looking for a position of software developer, programmer,
>software engineer, application programmer, programmer analyst?
>2) Why can't I find any position in US or Canada with visa sponsorship
>during 2 years?
> I had sent thousands of resumes directly and using agencies flipgog.com,
>monster.com, dice.com and a lot of others.
> I had only 1 interview in face and 3 times by phone, last year.
>What can you advise me?
>
>With thanks in advance,
> Alex.
>
>
>
>
>

[Kevin]

To throw my opinion in...

You have listed a lot of areas of knowledge. It would seem questionable that
you could master all of those in 8 years of experience. Some people may think
of you as the "jack of all trades, master of none". Maybe you should prioritize
some of your skills either by ones you know better or ones you want to work
in. List them as "Proficient in xxxx and xxxx, Familiar with xxxx and xxxx,
or something along those lines.

You have a lot of classes and certifications listed. You may want to balance
that with a list some actual applications you worked on, what they did and
your involvement in them to show some practical experience.

Related to the above, you would appear more on the academia side. Some companies
may frown on someone to academic. Companies want someone that can get the
job done, not someone who may go off on theoretical tangets on every project.

Companies want smart people that can get the job done. I think you have the
smart covered, you should do some more to prove the later.

Hope this helps you and good luck.
Kevin


"Alex" <mudak2@mail.ru> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I am Applied Mathematician with University degree from Russia.
>8 years of IT related working experience.
>Currently I am working at Scientific Research and Design Institute as a
>Scientist (IT area).
>
>My responsibilities are:
>Software development (GUI, middleware, DB access and data calculation),
GIS
>development, data analysis, articles and reports writing, presentation
>design.
>
>My skills:
>
>- Operating systems
>Windows 2000/NT, Windows 9x, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Linux Red Hat, MS DOS.
>
>- Programming languages and libraries
>C/C++, Avenue, SQL, HTML, POSIX/Korn/C/Born Shell scripts, ODBC, OCI,
>Pascal, OSF-Motif, Modula 2, PL-1, Fortran, Assembler.
>
>- Programming technologies
>OOD/OOP, GIS, Processing applications, GUI, CGI, DB access, Berkeley
>sockets/WinSock, Web.
>
>- Software/Tools
>Borland C++, gcc, Borland C++Builder, BDE, MS Visual C++, ArcView, OEM and
>other Oracle DBA tools, Macromedia Flash 4/5, MS FrontPage.
>
>- Databases
>Oracle 7.3/8, Paradox, dBase.
>
>- Hardware
>PC x86/.../P4/AMD, NetServer HP LH Pro, IBM RISC/6000, Sun Workstation,
HP
>Visualize, IBM Power PC.
>
>Relevant courses:
>
>Aug. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in B1810S C++/Object-Oriented
>Programming
>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 35130S ANSI C Programming
>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 50710S Programming with Unix
>Systems Calls
>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in H5888S POSIX Shell
>Programming
>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 51434S Fundamentals of the
>Unix System
>Nov. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX System Administration
>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX Networking
>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in Hardware Training
>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Fundamentals of ArcView
>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Avenue programming
>
>Certifications
>
>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified C Programmer
>Jul. 2000 - Brainbench certified C++ Programmer
>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified Unix Administrator
>
>Salary expectation: $45,000+ annual.
>
>So, explain, please:
>
>1) Am I right in looking for a position of software developer, programmer,
>software engineer, application programmer, programmer analyst?
>2) Why can't I find any position in US or Canada with visa sponsorship
>during 2 years?
> I had sent thousands of resumes directly and using agencies flipgog.com,
>monster.com, dice.com and a lot of others.
> I had only 1 interview in face and 3 times by phone, last year.
>What can you advise me?
>
>With thanks in advance,
> Alex.
>
>
>
>
>

[MarkN]

I think it is definitely possible to master these things in 8 years. There
actually are some pretty bright people who can learn things quickly. Guess
it depends on what you consider mastry to be. I don't think everyone needs
to be a guru. I think a well rounded knowledge of multiple areas is much
better than being something like a pure DBA. Someone may have 10 years experience
in lets say VB but it may just be 1 years worth of experience 10 times.
People who can learn and adapt quickly are typically more valuable than some
one who has many years of 'experience' on one thing. At the speed technology
currently changes who really can get many years of knowledge on one thing?

Anyway, I do agree on prioritization.

Mark
"Jack of all trades and master of at least a few."
BTW, I think I have more on my resume with less years.

"Kevin" <kevjv@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>To throw my opinion in...
>
>You have listed a lot of areas of knowledge. It would seem questionable
that
>you could master all of those in 8 years of experience. Some people may
think
>of you as the "jack of all trades, master of none". Maybe you should prioritize
>some of your skills either by ones you know better or ones you want to work
>in. List them as "Proficient in xxxx and xxxx, Familiar with xxxx and xxxx,
>or something along those lines.
>
>You have a lot of classes and certifications listed. You may want to balance
>that with a list some actual applications you worked on, what they did and
>your involvement in them to show some practical experience.
>
>Related to the above, you would appear more on the academia side. Some companies
>may frown on someone to academic. Companies want someone that can get the
>job done, not someone who may go off on theoretical tangets on every project.
>
>Companies want smart people that can get the job done. I think you have
the
>smart covered, you should do some more to prove the later.
>
>Hope this helps you and good luck.
>Kevin
>
>
>"Alex" <mudak2@mail.ru> wrote:
>>Hello,
>>
>>I am Applied Mathematician with University degree from Russia.
>>8 years of IT related working experience.
>>Currently I am working at Scientific Research and Design Institute as a
>>Scientist (IT area).
>>
>>My responsibilities are:
>>Software development (GUI, middleware, DB access and data calculation),
>GIS
>>development, data analysis, articles and reports writing, presentation
>>design.
>>
>>My skills:
>>
>>- Operating systems
>>Windows 2000/NT, Windows 9x, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Linux Red Hat, MS DOS.
>>
>>- Programming languages and libraries
>>C/C++, Avenue, SQL, HTML, POSIX/Korn/C/Born Shell scripts, ODBC, OCI,
>>Pascal, OSF-Motif, Modula 2, PL-1, Fortran, Assembler.
>>
>>- Programming technologies
>>OOD/OOP, GIS, Processing applications, GUI, CGI, DB access, Berkeley
>>sockets/WinSock, Web.
>>
>>- Software/Tools
>>Borland C++, gcc, Borland C++Builder, BDE, MS Visual C++, ArcView, OEM
and
>>other Oracle DBA tools, Macromedia Flash 4/5, MS FrontPage.
>>
>>- Databases
>>Oracle 7.3/8, Paradox, dBase.
>>
>>- Hardware
>>PC x86/.../P4/AMD, NetServer HP LH Pro, IBM RISC/6000, Sun Workstation,
>HP
>>Visualize, IBM Power PC.
>>
>>Relevant courses:
>>
>>Aug. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in B1810S C++/Object-Oriented
>>Programming
>>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 35130S ANSI C Programming
>>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 50710S Programming with
Unix
>>Systems Calls
>>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in H5888S POSIX Shell
>>Programming
>>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 51434S Fundamentals of the
>>Unix System
>>Nov. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX System Administration
>>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX Networking
>>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in Hardware Training
>>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Fundamentals of ArcView
>>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Avenue programming
>>
>>Certifications
>>
>>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified C Programmer
>>Jul. 2000 - Brainbench certified C++ Programmer
>>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified Unix Administrator
>>
>>Salary expectation: $45,000+ annual.
>>
>>So, explain, please:
>>
>>1) Am I right in looking for a position of software developer, programmer,
>>software engineer, application programmer, programmer analyst?
>>2) Why can't I find any position in US or Canada with visa sponsorship
>>during 2 years?
>> I had sent thousands of resumes directly and using agencies flipgog.com,
>>monster.com, dice.com and a lot of others.
>> I had only 1 interview in face and 3 times by phone, last year.
>>What can you advise me?
>>
>>With thanks in advance,
>> Alex.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

[Kevin]

I guess the word Skill needs to be defined in his case. A list of skills to
me means the person can be put into that environment and is able to function
at an intermediate level.

My way of looking at it is that he can be a system administrator in any of
8 operating systems, a programmer in any of 6 languages, an Oracle DBA in
two versions, a web designer, a hardware technician, a software architect
or a network programmer.

To be at that level and do it in eight years would take a very exceptional
person.


"MarkN" <m@N.com> wrote:
>
>I think it is definitely possible to master these things in 8 years. There
>actually are some pretty bright people who can learn things quickly. Guess
>it depends on what you consider mastry to be. I don't think everyone needs
>to be a guru. I think a well rounded knowledge of multiple areas is much
>better than being something like a pure DBA. Someone may have 10 years
experience
>in lets say VB but it may just be 1 years worth of experience 10 times.

>People who can learn and adapt quickly are typically more valuable than
some
>one who has many years of 'experience' on one thing. At the speed technology
>currently changes who really can get many years of knowledge on one thing?
>
>Anyway, I do agree on prioritization.
>
>Mark
>"Jack of all trades and master of at least a few."
>BTW, I think I have more on my resume with less years.
>
>"Kevin" <kevjv@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>To throw my opinion in...
>>
>>You have listed a lot of areas of knowledge. It would seem questionable
>that
>>you could master all of those in 8 years of experience. Some people may
>think
>>of you as the "jack of all trades, master of none". Maybe you should prioritize
>>some of your skills either by ones you know better or ones you want to
work
>>in. List them as "Proficient in xxxx and xxxx, Familiar with xxxx and xxxx,
>>or something along those lines.
>>
>>You have a lot of classes and certifications listed. You may want to balance
>>that with a list some actual applications you worked on, what they did
and
>>your involvement in them to show some practical experience.
>>
>>Related to the above, you would appear more on the academia side. Some
companies
>>may frown on someone to academic. Companies want someone that can get the
>>job done, not someone who may go off on theoretical tangets on every project.
>>
>>Companies want smart people that can get the job done. I think you have
>the
>>smart covered, you should do some more to prove the later.
>>
>>Hope this helps you and good luck.
>>Kevin
>>
>>
>>"Alex" <mudak2@mail.ru> wrote:
>>>Hello,
>>>
>>>I am Applied Mathematician with University degree from Russia.
>>>8 years of IT related working experience.
>>>Currently I am working at Scientific Research and Design Institute as
a
>>>Scientist (IT area).
>>>
>>>My responsibilities are:
>>>Software development (GUI, middleware, DB access and data calculation),
>>GIS
>>>development, data analysis, articles and reports writing, presentation
>>>design.
>>>
>>>My skills:
>>>
>>>- Operating systems
>>>Windows 2000/NT, Windows 9x, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Linux Red Hat, MS DOS.
>>>
>>>- Programming languages and libraries
>>>C/C++, Avenue, SQL, HTML, POSIX/Korn/C/Born Shell scripts, ODBC, OCI,
>>>Pascal, OSF-Motif, Modula 2, PL-1, Fortran, Assembler.
>>>
>>>- Programming technologies
>>>OOD/OOP, GIS, Processing applications, GUI, CGI, DB access, Berkeley
>>>sockets/WinSock, Web.
>>>
>>>- Software/Tools
>>>Borland C++, gcc, Borland C++Builder, BDE, MS Visual C++, ArcView, OEM
>and
>>>other Oracle DBA tools, Macromedia Flash 4/5, MS FrontPage.
>>>
>>>- Databases
>>>Oracle 7.3/8, Paradox, dBase.
>>>
>>>- Hardware
>>>PC x86/.../P4/AMD, NetServer HP LH Pro, IBM RISC/6000, Sun Workstation,
>>HP
>>>Visualize, IBM Power PC.
>>>
>>>Relevant courses:
>>>
>>>Aug. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in B1810S C++/Object-Oriented
>>>Programming
>>>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 35130S ANSI C Programming
>>>Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 50710S Programming with
>Unix
>>>Systems Calls
>>>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in H5888S POSIX Shell
>>>Programming
>>>Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 51434S Fundamentals of
the
>>>Unix System
>>>Nov. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX System Administration
>>>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX Networking
>>>Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in Hardware Training
>>>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Fundamentals of ArcView
>>>Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Avenue programming
>>>
>>>Certifications
>>>
>>>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified C Programmer
>>>Jul. 2000 - Brainbench certified C++ Programmer
>>>Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified Unix Administrator
>>>
>>>Salary expectation: $45,000+ annual.
>>>
>>>So, explain, please:
>>>
>>>1) Am I right in looking for a position of software developer, programmer,
>>>software engineer, application programmer, programmer analyst?
>>>2) Why can't I find any position in US or Canada with visa sponsorship
>>>during 2 years?
>>> I had sent thousands of resumes directly and using agencies flipgog.com,
>>>monster.com, dice.com and a lot of others.
>>> I had only 1 interview in face and 3 times by phone, last year.
>>>What can you advise me?
>>>
>>>With thanks in advance,
>>> Alex.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>

[Alex]

I suspected of this.
Of course I am not master with 8 years af all of these.
Now I'll restructure my resume by prioritization.

Thank you for advice.

Alex.

>
> To throw my opinion in...
>
> You have listed a lot of areas of knowledge. It would seem questionable
that
> you could master all of those in 8 years of experience. Some people may
think
> of you as the "jack of all trades, master of none". Maybe you should
prioritize
> some of your skills either by ones you know better or ones you want to
work
> in. List them as "Proficient in xxxx and xxxx, Familiar with xxxx and
xxxx,
> or something along those lines.
>
> You have a lot of classes and certifications listed. You may want to
balance
> that with a list some actual applications you worked on, what they did and
> your involvement in them to show some practical experience.
>
> Related to the above, you would appear more on the academia side. Some
companies
> may frown on someone to academic. Companies want someone that can get the
> job done, not someone who may go off on theoretical tangets on every
project.
>
> Companies want smart people that can get the job done. I think you have
the
> smart covered, you should do some more to prove the later.
>
> Hope this helps you and good luck.
> Kevin
>
>
> "Alex" <mudak2@mail.ru> wrote:
> >Hello,
> >
> >I am Applied Mathematician with University degree from Russia.
> >8 years of IT related working experience.
> >Currently I am working at Scientific Research and Design Institute as a
> >Scientist (IT area).
> >
> >My responsibilities are:
> >Software development (GUI, middleware, DB access and data calculation),
> GIS
> >development, data analysis, articles and reports writing, presentation
> >design.
> >
> >My skills:
> >
> >- Operating systems
> >Windows 2000/NT, Windows 9x, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Linux Red Hat, MS DOS.
> >
> >- Programming languages and libraries
> >C/C++, Avenue, SQL, HTML, POSIX/Korn/C/Born Shell scripts, ODBC, OCI,
> >Pascal, OSF-Motif, Modula 2, PL-1, Fortran, Assembler.
> >
> >- Programming technologies
> >OOD/OOP, GIS, Processing applications, GUI, CGI, DB access, Berkeley
> >sockets/WinSock, Web.
> >
> >- Software/Tools
> >Borland C++, gcc, Borland C++Builder, BDE, MS Visual C++, ArcView, OEM
and
> >other Oracle DBA tools, Macromedia Flash 4/5, MS FrontPage.
> >
> >- Databases
> >Oracle 7.3/8, Paradox, dBase.
> >
> >- Hardware
> >PC x86/.../P4/AMD, NetServer HP LH Pro, IBM RISC/6000, Sun Workstation,
> HP
> >Visualize, IBM Power PC.
> >
> >Relevant courses:
> >
> >Aug. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in B1810S C++/Object-Oriented
> >Programming
> >Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 35130S ANSI C Programming
> >Jul. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 50710S Programming with
Unix
> >Systems Calls
> >Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in H5888S POSIX Shell
> >Programming
> >Jun. 1997 - Hewlett Packard course of study in 51434S Fundamentals of the
> >Unix System
> >Nov. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX System Administration
> >Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in AIX Networking
> >Dec. 1998 - IBM course of study in Hardware Training
> >Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Fundamentals of ArcView
> >Sep. 2001 - ESRI course of study in Avenue programming
> >
> >Certifications
> >
> >Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified C Programmer
> >Jul. 2000 - Brainbench certified C++ Programmer
> >Jun. 2000 - Brainbench certified Unix Administrator
> >
> >Salary expectation: $45,000+ annual.
> >
> >So, explain, please:
> >
> >1) Am I right in looking for a position of software developer,
programmer,
> >software engineer, application programmer, programmer analyst?
> >2) Why can't I find any position in US or Canada with visa sponsorship
> >during 2 years?
> > I had sent thousands of resumes directly and using agencies
flipgog.com,
> >monster.com, dice.com and a lot of others.
> > I had only 1 interview in face and 3 times by phone, last year.
> >What can you advise me?
> >
> >With thanks in advance,
> > Alex.
> >
> >

[MarkN]

>My way of looking at it is that he can be a system administrator in any of
>8 operating systems, a programmer in any of 6 languages, an Oracle DBA in
>two versions, a web designer, a hardware technician, a software architect
>or a network programmer.

Well if you thought that, then I can understand. But no where did I see
him say that (did I miss something). He just put down the tools and platforms
he worked with. And in 8 years I can see him becoming knowledgeable enough
on all this. I can see myself doing it. Not just working 40hrs a week though.
And THAT is something many miss. Many people work more than 40hrs and counting
by years doesn't account for it. (BTW, that is why one should use hours
in a project schedule and not days or weeks)

Mark

>
>To be at that level and do it in eight years would take a very exceptional
>person.