Not the kindest topic, but you might agree after reading the post.<\/p>\n
Back in 2007 I spent quite possibly what was the happiest month of my career, upgrading Borland’s newly sprouting CodeGear from InstallShield to InstallAware<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It was a dream come true in every sense of the word – working with my heroes and legends, the people who made Delphi possible, who maintained it, and who kept it at the bleeding edge of Win32 programming technology.<\/p>\n These were people who were underpaid, overworked, underappreciated, and most definitely, miraculous in their abilities to keep Delphi afloat despite ever increasing uncertainty; and despite the relentless mismanagement of a legendary product and foundations so solid, that they still stand today despite all efforts to sink them from within and without.<\/p>\n It was a challenging month. Fortunately, InstallAware<\/strong> rose to the challenge, and at the end of the 30 day consulting contract, we delivered on schedule, and on budget.<\/p>\n Then I got pulled in to a room by Borland Human Resources. Yes, the same department responsible for letting Anders Hejlsberg go to Microsoft more than a decade ago (as of that time).<\/p>\n The lady who pulled me in had curious looks and manners, as if I was about to get fired.<\/p>\n She closed the door to her room and gingerly approached me, as if about to broach a matter of State Security.<\/p>\n She told me that she could not pay me, because I was an illegal resident in the US; having spent my last seven years in hiding after my work permits ran out…<\/p>\n To this day, I have no idea how she came up with this conclusion – and it is still hard for me to reflect charitably on this matter, as evidenced by the title of this post.<\/p>\n I explained to her that her company had just migrated to InstallAware<\/strong> Software, and that I was representing InstallAware<\/strong> Consulting Services; where I was legally employed.<\/p>\n In fact, I added that I had ample evidence contrary to her assertions; the most obvious being all those funny little stamps on my passport indicating my dates and ports of entry and exit to and from the US.<\/p>\n She was nonplussed.<\/p>\n I frankly do not recall how the meeting ended, other than my shock at how Borland HR was risking alienating a brand-new partner on the eve of such a critical software stack upgrade.<\/p>\n I never saw that lady again, but Borland did pay InstallAware<\/strong> for the Consulting Services its founder had personally rendered for a key partner on-site – after getting scans of my passport stamps.<\/p>\n Yes, turns out, they were serious with the charges they were making. I wonder how they ever let go of the suspicion that the passport and stamps may have been forged, which I’m sure must have crossed their brilliant minds.<\/p>\n In hindsight, it makes total sense that Borland ended up being acquired by a graveyard company. With HR like this, it is a miracle that Delphi survived them at all!<\/p>\n I suppose this could serve as a cautionary tale to other companies: Make sure you staff your HR department with the right people!<\/p>\n Lest they hire the wrong people, and suddenly, imbeciles run amok…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not the kindest topic, but you might agree after reading the post. Back in 2007 I spent quite possibly what was the happiest month of my career, upgrading Borland’s newly sprouting CodeGear from InstallShield to InstallAware. It was a dream come true in every sense of the word – working with my heroes and legends, … <\/p>\n