BlueVM and the great labor rights of exploiting labor

[MannDude]

You worked long hours for me when I owned URPad and I am thankful for that. Which I tried my best to compensate with Vegas trips and Tropical vacations. 

True... but I worked 7 days a week from wake up to lights out. It was rough but I can't say I didn't enjoy getting out of dodge and going to the Bahamas and stuff. But even then, we still buckled down and did about 4-6 hours of work daily and doing tickets. (okay maybe one or two hours)

Compensation wise... it wasn't that bad. But it's rare in the industry for a company in the lowend market to be able to provide for many people, especially like that. Certainly appreciative of being able to go on work-vacations, one benefit of the industry is you can work remotely anywhere in the world with a stable internet connection.

Then again I supposedly get 3 weeks of vacation time a year from my existing job but I have to pay for the flight myself... Haha.

 

[ChrisM]

I don't think he's knocking you on that, but I think we can both agree on what he's saying.


When you're only making $100/month profit per node (many aren't doing that), you're talking about having to have


a lot of nodes to have some bank roll, cover some sort of wages, & cover yourself.


It's the crutch of the budget markets. Burstnet is going through a rough patch right now with having to raise some


prices as well as the whole Dallas crap. I'm sure if they weren't charging pennies for bandwidth that they would


have simply eaten the price hike (assuming the Dallas issue was a billing dispute) and just renegotiated later.


I'm all for giving a good deal to the customer but where is a provider going to have their OHSHIT fund?


Francisco

Oh I know he's not knocking me, I was just throwing out some compensation idea's.

As for the "Oh shit fund" as an example of that is I always had 6 month total disaster fund which covered every aspect of the business and grew when we expanded. 

True... but I worked 7 days a week from wake up to lights out. It was rough but I can't say I didn't enjoy getting out of dodge and going to the Bahamas and stuff. But even then, we still buckled down and did about 4-6 hours of work daily and doing tickets. (okay maybe one or two hours)

Compensation wise... it wasn't that bad. But it's rare in the industry for a company in the lowend market to be able to provide for many people, especially like that. Certainly appreciative of being able to go on work-vacations, one benefit of the industry is you can work remotely anywhere in the world with a stable internet connection.

Then again I supposedly get 3 weeks of vacation time a year from my existing job but I have to pay for the flight myself... Haha.

Haha yeah. We could have done without the Ddos attacks and hardware failures. 

 

[drmike]

Dang man, it's a BlueVM Saturday... not for any good reason...

May 2012 – January 2014: BlueVM Communications LLC.
Responsible for ensuring availability and security for 30+ servers distributed across 8 distinct locations

So there we have it..  30+ real servers at BlueVM.... 

 

[WebSearchingPro]

Dang man, it's a BlueVM Saturday... not for any good reason...

May 2012 – January 2014: BlueVM Communications LLC.


Responsible for ensuring availability and security for 30+ servers distributed across 8 distinct locations

So there we have it..  30+ real servers at BlueVM.... 

Hm, that is interesting. @BlueVM had said they had around 90-120 servers/nodes if I recall correctly...

Where did you source this? 

 

[drmike]

Hm, that is interesting. @BlueVM had said they had around 90-120 servers/nodes if I recall correctly...

Where did you source this? 

My good friend Rallias.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y0fGEJEsLo708gTflFPrD8TPkX6u1hQUXjlEOxIyGI0/edit?usp=sharing

Personal Email - Professional Email - Resume - Available for services setup (website, vps node)

Noticed it via his current thread:

"Slabbing 4 Dummies (really semi-experts, but who's counting?)"

 

[MartinD]

Did he agree to having his personal information being splashed on the forum?

 

[WebSearchingPro]

Did he agree to having his personal information being splashed on the forum?

I checked out that slabbing link (I thought he was joking when me mentioned it) 

http://lowendtalk.com/discussion/22701/slabbing-4-dummies-really-semi-experts-but-who-s-counting#latest

The resume is in the sig it seems. 

 

[MannDude]

Did he agree to having his personal information being splashed on the forum?

Was my concern too but Rallias has the link to his resume in his LET signature.

 

[Francisco]

Oh I know he's not knocking me, I was just throwing out some compensation idea's.

As for the "Oh shit fund" as an example of that is I always had 6 month total disaster fund which covered every aspect of the business and grew when we expanded. 

Haha yeah. We could have done without the Ddos attacks and hardware failures.

Then you were smart in how you operated.

So few hosts have any sort of exit plan or float incase slow months/issues come up.

Francisco

 

[ChrisM]

Then you were smart in how you operated.


So few hosts have any sort of exit plan or float incase slow months/issues come up.


Francisco

Thanks!

I have to agree on that, almost a couple times of the month you see hosts that have issues such as a hack or their DataCenter shoving them out the door. Dropping off the face of the earth because they have no way to rebuild. Which could have been prevented with the proper planning mainly in the financial department. 

 

[Francisco]

Thanks!

I have to agree on that, almost a couple times of the month you see hosts that have issues such as a hack or their DataCenter shoving them out the door. Dropping off the face of the earth because they have no way to rebuild. Which could have been prevented with the proper planning mainly in the financial department.

We're going way off topic so if the mods want to split this into something else go for it.

 

[DomainBop]

I have to agree on that, almost a couple times of the month you see hosts that have issues such as a hack or their DataCenter shoving them out the door. Dropping off the face of the earth because they have no way to rebuild. Which could have been prevented with the proper planning mainly in the financial department.

The average child low end startup host who rents a server from DataShack/ColoCrossing/etc and a copy of Solus/WHMCS is completely lacking in any business experience and has a business plan that consists of little more than "rent cheap server and Solus, post offer on LET/WHT, make money" (which is why one of my favorite links to post on LET was always this one --> http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business/starting-business/how-write-business-plan )

 

[KuJoe]

I get offers all of the time for people who want to volunteer at SD for free just to get the experience. Currently all 2 of us at SD are volunteers who put in at least 40 hours a week, but we don't mind because the money we could be getting paid is being used to build the company so we're happy going 3+ years without compensation because we're more concerned with building the company for the future than making money.

 

[drmike]

I get offers all of the time for people who want to volunteer at SD for free just to get the experience. Currently all 2 of us at SD are volunteers who put in at least 40 hours a week, but we don't mind because the money we could be getting paid is being used to build the company so we're happy going 3+ years without compensation because we're more concerned with building the company for the future than making money.

Well I am cool with that, you and other person ideally are partners in the business and that's how it works.

Really unrealistic covering 24/7/365 with 4 people.  With 2 people, meh, impossible for more than fits here and there.

Makes me feel better about SecureDragon, knowing there aren't juvenile delinquents running around pilfering things and shopping in my data.

 

[Nick_A]

Yeah definitely not letting volunteers into WHMCS.

 

[SPINIKR-RO]

Yeah definitely not letting volunteers into WHMCS.

^

Specially seeing the staff priv escalations found in several bill platforms recently thanks to Rack911.

 

[DomainBop]

Makes me feel better about SecureDragon, knowing there aren't juvenile delinquents running around pilfering things and shopping in my data.

If you're worried about juvenile delinquents then you should avoid buying from any New York State businesses.  Since 2009 NY law has required my company to hire convicted ax murderers (if the job doesn't entail handling axes) because not hiring them would be a violation of their human rights.

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/COR/23-A/752 "Unfair discrimination against persons previously convicted of one or more criminal offenses prohibited"

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/COR/23-A "Licensure And Employment Of Persons Previously Convicted Of One Or More Criminal Offenses"

edited to add: Thankfully there is a nice brightly colored guide to help employers comply with the law.  

http://www.jobsfirstnyc.org/docs/Article_23A_Hiring_Guide__111711.pdf

 

[raindog308]

@drmike - We have interns and volunteers because it makes it easier to manage some of our hours. Virtually every LEB/LET host has at least one volunteer or has had a volunteer at some point in time. 

I can think of at least three high-quality LEB providers off the top of my head where this is not true.

 

[raindog308]

I get offers all of the time for people who want to volunteer at SD for free just to get the experience. Currently all 2 of us at SD are volunteers who put in at least 40 hours a week, but we don't mind because the money we could be getting paid is being used to build the company so we're happy going 3+ years without compensation because we're more concerned with building the company for the future than making money.

Yeah, SD, BuyVM, and Hostigation were the three I was thinking of.

 

[Coastercraze]

Oh I know he's not knocking me, I was just throwing out some compensation idea's.

As for the "Oh shit fund" as an example of that is I always had 6 month total disaster fund which covered every aspect of the business and grew when we expanded. 

Haha yeah. We could have done without the Ddos attacks and hardware failures. 

A must have for any serious host. Always have a backup fund and of course an exit strategy.

As for volunteers, well I currently volunteer in my business mainly because I would rather see it grow. I do pay everyone else, however.