back to article Do you want to become a vulture? Now's your chance to join The Register's news desk

Ever wanted to fly with the vultures in the editorial department at your favourite daily tech publication? The Register is seeking a full-time journalist to cover the world of free and open-source software, from its development and curation to its orchestration and deployment as a service in the cloud. A successful applicant …

  1. Danny 14

    I would want free dental and healthcare. must cover chainsmoking and heavy drinking.

    Does el reg have a petty cash fund for working lunches? Im more than happy to work from home.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      .. or the pub!

      1. bpfh
        Pint

        Chainsmoking and heavy drinking

        Come back Chris Hitchens! We have the perfect role for you!

      2. cookieMonster Silver badge

        same thing?

      3. NoneSuch Silver badge
        Coffee/keyboard

        Nope...

        There's no way my body could take the rock star lifestyle of working as a Reg hack. The Foie Gras & champagne breakfasts, the dozen Tequila slammer lunches plus dinners with whiskey, port and cigars at private clubs after midnight. Not to mention the women (and quite a few men) calling at all hours pleading, nay begging, for a taste of the high life. Even James Bond would see it as an excessive lifestyle.

        Imagine pushing a pair of exhausted supermodels off you at 5:30 am to force yourself to write 2,500 coherent words every single day. That's simply not cricket.

        1. jake Silver badge

          Re: Nope...

          Yeah, the Reg Hacks are lightweights, aren't they.

  2. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    The dirty secret of FOSS

    Perhaps he or she should also write how FOSS developers are being exploited by big corporations.

    Many contributors don't get compensated for their work and at the same time those corporations that use the software report billions in "profits" (in quotation marks, because profits get turned into costs, so they are not subject to tax).

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: The dirty secret of FOSS

      I would not consider that "exploitation" but rather 'participation'. FOSS development is usually voluntary, and I know I've volunteered here and there with various submissions, patches, etc.. [I think of it as 'giving back' or 'my license fee' for all of the FOSS stuff I use daily]. I'm sure that corporations also pay people to do the same thing for the same reasons, especially if they are staking some of their income on a particular project.

      I think you may have an inaccurate perspective on the concepts of revenue, cost, profit, and loss. Perhaps a few years doing data analysis and reports for the accounting staff at a large company might help you get a better perspective (weekly internal financial reports, excess and obsolete inventory analyses, and ad-hoc cost reduction analyses, for example - how much DOES that engineering change cost and when is the best time to re-tool or switch out parts - that sort of thing).

      1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

        Re: The dirty secret of FOSS

        However you call it, vast majority of developers who participate in FOSS don't get paid.

        They pump a lot of money to manipulate developers into giving away their work for free by making various promises - for example, if you have FOSS contributions on your CV, you'll more likely to be hired or make you believe that you can feed your family from all the exposure you get as a contributor.

        If you create a project with more restrictive license, chances are that nobody is going to use it, but there are always going to be developers who drank the kool-aid and will create a similar project that these corporations will be free to exploit.

        Appropriating a mature open source project is always cheaper than writing it from scratch - company at least saves R&D costs and salaries. If they feel guilty enough about it, they might dedicate one of the teams to contribute some code back or hire one of the few select contributors and try to turn some good PR.

        Developers are the most exploited group in the tech world after factory workers - sure, they get paid relatively well, but nowhere near the level of value they produce.

        You also need to take into account that developers get paid once, but company profits for as long their code runs.

        1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

          Re: The dirty secret of FOSS which makes it so endearing and wonderfully appealing

          However you call it, vast majority of developers who participate in FOSS don't get paid. ......elsergiovolador

          Which can result in them not being bought and selling out for thirty pieces of silver, elsergiovolador.

          Exclusive elite proprietary systems find that sort of competition whenever overwhelmingly effective in opposition, hellish problematical and more than just a tad maddening.

  3. Admiral Grace Hopper

    Tempting

    I like the idea of flexing my career from pure IT to IT journalism, but having given up drinking I'd never get an NUJ card.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Tempting

      (re: commentard's name 'Admiral Grace Hopper')

      I actually saw (the original) Grace Hopper when she was a Captain, at the Orlando RTC [she was in charge of the recruit training base as they trained the women there and it made sense]. Didn't say hello but may have saluted her (can't recall exactly).

      Thinking of commentards, El Reg _could_ review some of the better ones and see if any of those tend towards meeting their selection criteria. No doubt there are zillions of examples. Or maybe they did already and none were deemed 'worthy' enough for a job offer in an e-mail

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Trollface

        Re: Tempting

        > Thinking of commentards, El Reg _could_ review some of the better ones

        One key skill for any new journalist would be understanding how the caps lock key works. :-p

        1. FlippingGerman

          Re: Tempting

          Doesn't the "_" indicate italics?

          1. katrinab Silver badge
            Paris Hilton

            Re: Tempting

            As far as I'm aware, it is

            *bold*

            /italic/

            _underline_

            1. jake Silver badge

              Re: Tempting

              I always thought it was

              *emphasis*

              /emphasis/

              _emphasis_

              with most authorities recommending not bothering for the most part.

              When I was learning to set hot lead, my teacher recommended not using italics, bold or underline unless I had a damn good reason to do so[0]. English, when written properly, has no real need for such crutches (or so she claimed).

              [0] Meaning unless somebody was paying me to produce it.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Tempting

                <b>bold</b>

                <u><u>underline</u></u>

                <i>italic</i>

                1. katrinab Silver badge
                  Trollface

                  Re: Tempting

                  < strong > bold < /strong>

                  < em > italic < /em >

                  < span style="text-decoration: underline;" > underline < /span >

                  1. jake Silver badge

                    Re: Tempting

                    It's all RaNsoMe NoTe to me ...

            2. heyrick Silver badge

              Re: Tempting

              It's _italic_ in Textile and YouTube comments. God knows how they do underlined...

          2. TimMaher Silver badge
            Happy

            Re: Tempting

            I always thought it was bold.

          3. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Tempting

            I think it was a GENTLE dig at BOB over some of HIS POSTS where it seems his CAPS-LOCK KEY GETS STUCK.

  4. Apprentice Human

    Choose no life ...

    Hmm, sounds a lot like most of my previous roles:

    Work to deadlines.

    Daily reports, in depth monthly reports.

    Cover a variety of technologies and give an in-depth report after investigation.

    I think I'll stay where I am and retire in a few more years and leave this for a younger generation and continue to wonder what sort of masochist becomes a journalist. It makes the credo of alt.sysadmin.recovery look like a step up to easy street.

  5. Warm Braw

    Their writing must be clear, accurate, fair, and submitted on time

    Not expecting many calls from Fleet Street, then...

    1. Bitsminer Silver badge

      Re: Their writing must be clear, accurate, fair, and submitted on time

      And, true to IT form, "submitted on time" is the last priority.

      Sounds about right.

  6. oiseau
    WTF?

    Not a vuture ...

    Hmmm ....

    @Paul Kunert, please get your shit in order.

    The photo (you?) selected for your article is not a vulture.

    Deeply offended .... 8^/

    O.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: Not a vuture ...

      :-) Please get your shit in order, oiseau. WTF is a vuture?

      Est-ce un nouvel oiseau? :-)

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: Not a vuture ...

        A "vuture" is vapo(u)rware as sold by high-end VR goggle startups.

        It'll work RealSoonNow[tm], honest!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not a vuture ...

        C'est une voiture du futur.

      3. oiseau
        Facepalm

        Re: Not a vuture ...

        ... WTF is a vuture?

        Sorry.

        My bad, careless spelling ...

        In my defence, I can only say that I was very upset.

        O.

  7. Grunchy Silver badge

    I abhor “the cloud”

    You guys should see if Van Smith would ever talk to you again. He might be able to not abhor “the cloud”.

  8. teknopaul

    drunken rants

    Judging by the number of my drunken rants that get moderated into the trashcan, I fear the only editor that will trust me is vim.

  9. heyrick Silver badge
    Happy

    Job offer?

    I know bugger all, I have a great imagination and can make up lots of bollocks. Being wrong has never stopped me having an opinion. And I can write plenty of irrelevant gibberish on all sorts of topics.

    Not looking for a political writer are you? I think I'm appropriately qualified.

  10. Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells Silver badge

    Why is El Reg auto-playing sound when I load the page?

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