Longview

[snoop101]

Does anyone work, have worked, or know someone who has worked at Longview here in Calgary.

I have a few questions.

[killramos]

Originally posted by snoop101
Does anyone work, have worked, or know someone who has worked at Longview here in Calgary.

I have a few questions.

A buddy of mine is there. (2 years) would like to get out because of the apparent lack of any advancement internally.

[01RedDX]

.

[snoop101]

Thank you for the input. I work for a VAR now, so I understand how they work. Was interested to know if people where happy or just work there because the pay is decent. Got to have a balance. Unfortunately where I work the people are great, the work is good, but the money part puts it out of balance.

[revelations]

I know lots of FORMER Longview residents - should say something about the place.

[snoop101]

Originally posted by revelations
I know lots of FORMER Longview residents - should say something about the place.

Well that ain't good.

Anyone know a respectable VAR that is looking for people?

[taemo]

I used to work with Longview for 5 years until the client hired me as their internal IT.

If you want good pay and bonus then don't go with MITS, otherwise all the other departments from what I hear are happy and getting great bonuses.

Regarding life balance, since I was dealing with only one client, it was a regular 7-4pm work day for me, if you're handling multiple clients or doing a projects then I can see you having to work through the evening/weekends.

[Mibz]

I also know a few former Longview people, none of which would go back.


Originally posted by snoop101
Anyone know a respectable VAR that is looking for people? What kind of people?

[snoop101]

Originally posted by Mibz
I also know a few former Longview people, none of which would go back.

What kind of people?

Right now i'm the IT team lead at a Gas company, but I have been doing a lot of server support (ie: windows, linux, backups, storage,etc), unfortunately i'm not EMC or Netapp certified (though I work with it daily. Another words i'm server generalist who has been pushing into being an SDM.

[nzwasp]

Sdm = service delivery manager? My work is looking for tonnes of them. I hear its the worst job in the world thpugh.

[GQBalla]

Worked for them for almost three years.

There is room for advancement but pay sucks. OT pay is horrible. Parties are good. I miss my friends I made there but that's about it

[revelations]

why
cant
i
delete
my
own
post

even when it says:


Delete? To delete this post, check the box to the left and then click the button to the right.
Note: deleting this post will result in the deletion of the entire thread if this post is the first post in the thread.

[revelations]

Originally posted by snoop101


Right now i'm the IT team lead at a Gas company, but I have been doing a lot of server support (ie: windows, linux, backups, storage,etc), unfortunately i'm not EMC or Netapp certified (though I work with it daily. Another words i'm server generalist who has been pushing into being an SDM.

Contract if you have skillz and contactz

[A790]

vagabond142 worked there for a while.

[Asian_defender]

Worked there before. People are wicked but pay sucked.

They hire a lot of noobs fresh out of school so turnover is high in some departments. I personally don't think they screen well enough as I worked with a lot of idoits, more than expected in a company that size.
I wouldn't go back unless it involved a substantial raise

[94CoRd]

Worked there for a couple years. Pay was not good. Overtime pay didn't seem worth the hit in "work/life balance" they preach as a core value.

also, they call their bonuses "Incentives" and is usually a small percentage of a very large number you as a consultant bring in to the company.

[DontBannMe]

longview is not so great, i was an employee on MITS.

i interview for a role/team and day i started they changed my team same role small scale.

Support to be at 1 cleint(big name, in calgary) to 3 jr oil and gas companys (penny picher clients) wanting to use exteranl hard drives for filers vs NAS solution.

had to work crazy hard everyday and was expected to deliver alot without OT pay, for potential bonus.

when the IT Market crashed i was layed off with 10-15 others

I give them a FAIL.

I now do what i love, my hobby that make money

sb

[Xtrema]

I would say Longview is similar to Metafore or Graycon but bigger. Way better than the big names like Telus, Compucom, HP, or IBM. Longview tends to be more willing to train their people, especially noobs. If you want experiences as a noob, it's not a bad place to start.

Unfortunately, you if want to get paid, these service providers are not the places to be unless you bring something to the table that is unique other than tech skills and experiences. If money is your goal, contracting is the only way to go.

Advancement is preached but not guaranteed. Just like any other companies in town, it's not about what you do but about who you know and get leverage along the way. In the end, corporate ladder is a pyramid and advancement will only come in term of expansion which lately, Longview's focus has been the US and not Canada.

Overall, I think many people are glad they escaped IBM, EDS, HP to Longview but there are equal amount of people that left Longview for others as well. As a lot of oil and gas companies can definitely pay higher (if they have not outsource these roles yet).

End of the day, if $ is important to you, contract.

[SmAcKpOo]

Originally posted by DontBannMe
longview is not so great, i was an employee on MITS.

i interview for a role/team and day i started they changed my team same role small scale.

Support to be at 1 cleint(big name, in calgary) to 3 jr oil and gas companys (penny picher clients) wanting to use exteranl hard drives for filers vs NAS solution.

had to work crazy hard everyday and was expected to deliver alot without OT pay, for potential bonus.

when the IT Market crashed i was layed off with 10-15 others

I give them a FAIL.

I now do what i love, my hobby that make money

sb

I would assume you were laid off since your writing skills are awful.


I wouldn't put Graycon in the same boat as Longview or Metafore as they are much smaller and focus more on the SMB market.

I haven't heard many good things about the big IT contractors in town, some small ones aren't much better though. *cough*.....sys........nevermind.

[carson blocks]

Originally posted by SmAcKpOo
I wouldn't put Graycon in the same boat as Longview or Metafore as they are much smaller and focus more on the SMB market.


Graycon are slimy pieces of shit in my opinion. I called Graycon in once when I was a sysadmin to help me out with a project. They thanked me by putting together a proposal to my boss to outsource my job and use their managed services. It didn't work but still.. Fuck Graycon.

That little move has cost them well in to the seven figures by now with just the projects/purchases I've sent elsewhere, nevermind everyone else I've told the story to over the years.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by SmAcKpOo
I haven't heard many good things about the big IT contractors in town, some small ones aren't much better though. *cough*.....sys........nevermind.

By the nature of the business, all service providers operates more or less the same. When you replace a $100K/yr resource that cost less and still have enough margins to keep all the executives and CEOs living a good life, you know what you are getting.

IMO, the best is being a contractor in this town. Get paid. No BS.

[Vagabond142]

Originally posted by A790
vagabond142 worked there for a while.

I worked for a year at Longview, starting in help desk (Tier 1 and Tier 2) for an on site O&G contractor. I also spent a good 4 months as part of the warranty services team... probably the most fun I had in the entire company, if that gives you any idea of the JOY that is help desk >_>

However, when the warranty services department was downsized and there were no readily available contractor spots at any clients, I got the "we are strategically realigning our resources" lay off, no warning, no attempt to fit me in to the S4 team (which I could have fit in) or the MITS team (which I could have fit in). Hell, I could have fit in the nightime services monitoring group, with my certifications and experience.

But nope. It was literally "here's your last paycheque, here's your severance, out the door you go."

I worked internally for another O&G downtown for a few months before that help desk was outsourced, and then said fuck it to working downtown. While where I work now isn't a career... it is fun! :thumbsup:

[nzwasp]

^^^You should come to Telus, job security all the way.

[snoop101]

Originally posted by nzwasp
^^^You should come to Telus, job security all the way.

thats a joke right? My friend works for Telus as a contractor and he said a lot of his coworkers are looking elsewhere because they have no idea when a cut back will come.

By the way about the Greycon thing, its 100% correct. I'll save you from a long sad story but lets just say their so called "infrastructure expert" had no idea what a data domain was and just "heard" of EMC. lol

[nzwasp]

Been at telus 2 1/2 years, no sign of cut backs in my department. Infact I think atleast in my team i have job security for atleast the next 5 years. I dont know if I want to be here that long. But for now its pretty good.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by snoop101
By the way about the Greycon thing, its 100% correct. I'll save you from a long sad story but lets just say their so called "infrastructure expert" had no idea what a data domain was and just "heard" of EMC. lol

Fake it til you learn it or get exposed. Graycon works with SMBs and has little to no enterprise customers. I don't expect their staff will get much exposure on SAN tech.

[syscal]

I was talking to a Longview employee this weekend and he wouldn't leave that place for anything. Loves it there.

[snoop101]

Originally posted by nzwasp
Been at telus 2 1/2 years, no sign of cut backs in my department. Infact I think at least in my team i have job security for at least the next 5 years. I dont know if I want to be here that long. But for now its pretty good.

I think it really depends which group you are in.

I worked for Telus when they had SPOC at the Len Werry building. All the internal support went to Manila and external which was what I was doing went to Montreal. It was kinda of sad time as they let go a lot of good people. A few of us came from EDS, which also go shipped off to India.

[nzwasp]

I guess that's why there are less than 20 people working in the building when they have fire drills. Thats my building too although I dont work from there.

[sabad66]

Staff IT positions at O&G are really good. That said, most of them are BA type roles so if you are looking for something very technical, staff positions are really hard to come by.

[carson blocks]

Originally posted by syscal
I was talking to a Longview employee this weekend and he wouldn't leave that place for anything. Loves it there.

I recently worked with a Longview guy who totally drank the Longview Kool-Aid. The rest of us non-Longview contractors were getting at least 2x the rate, but he was just thrilled to have 'free' training and talked about the development opportunities etc. I might be jaded and cynical, but just give me the full rate and I'll pay for my own courses and worry about my own career development.


Originally posted by sabad66
Staff IT positions at O&G are really good. That said, most of them are BA type roles so if you are looking for something very technical, staff positions are really hard to come by.

It seems like IT staff positions in O&G majors are a major pay cut from contract positions, even taking benefits and bonuses in to account.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by carson blocks
It seems like IT staff positions in O&G majors are a major pay cut from contract positions, even taking benefits and bonuses in to account.

Depends how you look at it.

Contractors right now can demand a lot due to shortage. So I would say compensation is close to or even over most tier 1 O&S staff.

Senior IT tech staff @ O&S should be around $140-$160K/yr with ~ 6 weeks off + bonus. Could be more if you are sent to Fort Mac.

A contractor at the same level at $100/hr working the same hours (~1800) should clear ~$180K/yr. More specialized can probably charge more but work may be less steady. If you are in the ERP field (JDE/SAP), you are stupid to be an employee.

Both have pros and cons.

[Mibz]

I feel like the level of experience/knowledge required to make $160k in a technical staff position is much higher than what's required to charge $100/hr as a contractor.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Mibz
I feel like the level of experience/knowledge required to make $160k in a technical staff position is much higher than what's required to charge $100/hr as a contractor.

I think you may be right tho.

Or fact that the staff would have knowledge that isn't marketable but crucial to the business.

[revelations]

Originally posted by Mibz
I feel like the level of experience/knowledge required to make $160k in a technical staff position is much higher than what's required to charge $100/hr as a contractor.

Absolutely.

160k for a network engineer perhaps?

[Mibz]

If you find a $160k network engineer position that isn't asking for 10 years experience and legacy-as-fuck knowledge, please let me know. I'd drop contracting for that kind of base pay.

[UndrgroundRider]

.

[nzwasp]

Originally posted by Mibz
If you find a $160k network engineer position that isn't asking for 10 years experience and legacy-as-fuck knowledge, please let me know. I'd drop contracting for that kind of base pay.


Well it wouldnt be a engineer would it, apegga would have your balls for that.

[revelations]

Originally posted by Mibz
If you find a $160k network engineer position that isn't asking for 10 years experience and legacy-as-fuck knowledge, please let me know. I'd drop contracting for that kind of base pay.

http://mh426.maxhire.net/cp/?E8586C361D43515B7B531C6539571A63062D334C55&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

90-120$ / hr :D

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Mibz
If you find a $160k network engineer position that isn't asking for 10 years experience and legacy-as-fuck knowledge, please let me know. I'd drop contracting for that kind of base pay.

So, if I have 10+ years experience in a network engineering role... what does legacy-as-fuck mean? Like knowing how to move around all sorts of network/software platforms?

[sabad66]

Originally posted by codetrap


So, if I have 10+ years experience in a network engineering role... what does legacy-as-fuck mean? Like knowing how to move around all sorts of network/software platforms?
legacy = old

lots of businesses out there using extremely old technology, and the supply of people that know older tech dwindles as time goes on. low supply + demand = high value skills

[GQBalla]

doesn't matter what company you work for.

If you have the skills and personality if they want you, they try to keep you.

[codetrap]

So, because I understand banyan vines and ATM I can get a better job vs doing enterprise BGP/MPLS on cutting edge stuff? Hmm... :P

Maybe it's time to break out the coax token finder. *giggle*

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by codetrap
So, because I understand banyan vines and ATM I can get a better job vs doing enterprise BGP/MPLS on cutting edge stuff? Hmm... :P

Maybe it's time to break out the coax token finder. *giggle*

Better paid, less opportunity.

When a technology is commoditized, the cost (skillset and hardware) is lower.

Lots of enterprise clients are slow to get off retired technology because the difficulty and high cost to do so. So you can indeed charge them a lot to keep old stuff running. Especially they are stupid enough to fire their staff who look after those stuff.

[carson blocks]

Originally posted by codetrap
So, because I understand banyan vines and ATM I can get a better job vs doing enterprise BGP/MPLS on cutting edge stuff? Hmm... :P

Maybe it's time to break out the coax token finder. *giggle*

IMO it doesn't pay to be a dinosaur either. If you have a solid understanding of the new AND legacy stuff though, you're often in demand to help bring some of these companies kicking and screaming in to the 21st century.