Avoid Stress, it could cause a life of crime

You may have seen the recent story of the ex-Microsoft program manager who has been sentenced to nearly two years in jail for embezzling around US$1million from the software giant (www.techpartner.news/?117486).

Carolyn Gudmundson, a Microsoft employee from 1987 to 2004, became a program manager at MSN in 2000, where she was responsible for acquiring, registering and renewing Internet domain names.

In that role she conned Microsoft out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in
a variety of scams.

In one scam she asked Microsoft to reimburse a company for domain names she claimed had been bought on Microsoft’s behalf, many of which Microsoft already owned.
She then pocketed the money by having the cheques sent to her mother’s address.

What really surprised me was her explanation to the judge.

“We had a huge undertaking of trying to secure domains related to our brand and business strategies ... Microsoft had over 10,000 domains globally. The team was me. I was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It began to take its toll,” she said in a presentencing letter to the judge overseeing her case.

I don’t doubt for one minute that working at Microsoft is a stressful task, most jobs in IT are.

However, she is clutching at straws to blame US$1million of theft on the pressures of working at the vendor.

I’m sure living the lifestyle of a millionairess eased some of the pressure of people calling her around the clock. Tell you what, give me her old number and US$1 million and I’ll see if I can starve off the stress.

To give Gudmundson the benefit of doubt, I thought I’d research just how much stress the good people of the IT industry are under.

During my research I found a website covering “Coping with the toxic stress in the IT environment”.

The authors of this masterpiece are Softpanorama, the Open Source Software Educational Society.

So yes, a hugely reliable source for stress management.

I simple could not resist passing on some of their advice for avoiding stress, after all, I don’t want any of CRN’s valued readers turning to a life of fraudulent crime.

Some steps include: “Maintain your sense of humour: This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. Watch a funny movie: the sillier the plot the better.”

Here was me thinking stress was rotting away at our industry, but all you need is a night in with some Will Ferrell films. Just the thought of that stresses me out.

“Buy boxing gloves and a punching bag. Punching the bag with the face of your boss on it for many people helps relieve micromanagement-induced stress.”

What? I can’t quite see how this would assist with stress relief and relaxation, along with sparking an unhealthy enjoyment for virtual pounding of your employer’s face.

However my favourite was: “If you feel stressed, after each talk with your boss walk the stars (sic). Stars are a great stress reliever.”

That isn’t a CRN typo, they put stars. I hope they mean stairs, otherwise that is a big ask, especially as most of us work during the day.

However, if I had to walk up the stairs after every chat with my boss, I’m never going to get my work done, alongside being branded the stairs-dwelling office lunatic.

I can see this stressing me out further.

There is better stress management advice out there and I suggest you seek it if required.

And remember.
Stay calm, stay out of prison.

a avoid cause could crime it life of software stress