Use Your Career To Fuel Your Obsession With Tech Gadgets

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/cubicleculture/20041015-cubicle.html">http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/cubicleculture/20041015-cubicle.html</a><br /><br /><i>"When Andrew Zaeh was a photography agent a few years back, he begged his boss for a new Palm hand-held organizer. "Isn't it important that I have the contact numbers for every creative director, art director and art buyer with me at all times?" he asked her. Mr. Zaeh recalls he was "foaming at the mouth" with desire for the device, daydreaming about its ability to synchronize and transmit photos wirelessly. At first, his boss told him no. But when he bought one himself and produced a receipt, she suggested he "just slip it in" to accounting."</i><br /><br />And how many here in the business world haven't had their Pocket PC or other tech gadget paid for, at least in part, by their business? :D

[CEGiven]

There's an upside to buying your own technology. When I purchased my laptop I also bought two docking stations: one for work and another for home. I probably could have convinced them to buy me a laptop, but not the configuration that would be useful. I couldn't have an integrated in-box, have games, or any non-sanctioned software on my laptop if they'd bought it. The same would have been the same for my PDA.

But since it's my personal property, all I needed was a special dispensation to give me network access. Maintaining a personal versus a business calendar makes no sense. Now I can plan vacations around project dates, and vice versus. Plus coworkers can see blocked-off times and my delegates/backups can access details of appointments of both types.

When I'm on a business trip I can play a game in the evening without violating company policies. While flying to a training class, I can load a movie on my PDA to watch on my 1Gb SD card (try to justify that to the purchasing department :) ). I can use the powerful PocketBreeze and PocketInformant calendar functions on my iPAQ despite the corporate standard of only using the built-in calendar. And then I turn in my weekly Status Report printed out of ListPro rather than a klunky MS Word document that everyone else is stuck with.

It's definitely more expensive doing it yourself. But you get what you want and need.

[Ken Mattern]

One of the great joys of my job is that I don't have to pay for my tools. Pocket PCs are my tools. At present count I have three Pocket PCs paid for by my employer or my government contract. I have two that I paid for myself and one that was donated by HP.

What a life :D

[Don Tolson]

My company (Fujitsu Consulting) have actually been very supportive of my 'techie gadget' status. They provide $100 toward the purchase of a PDA (although I'm one of the few, but growing #'s using Pocket PC-based devices) each few years. I've been 'helped' twice this way, now.

Because of my 'early adopter' approach to technologies and sales background in a previous life, they've also given me a 'convertible laptop/tablet' as my work machine. Of course, I'm expected to show this off frequently in informal presentations at the clients and the office.

[Fishie]

Not a PPC but a handheld PC like 7 years ago.
My handhelds adiction started there and then.

[Kati Compton]

I ordered my X50v through my university account. But I do use my PPC a lot for work as well as entertainment. More for work, in fact.

[Darius Wey]

My current h1940 was purchased purely for the purposes of work and PIM. And then it became one lovely entertainment tool as well! So now I use it for both work and entertainment purposes.

I was reading an interesting article in my local paper about a month ago where a specialist technology university in my city was granted a "scholarship" by HP to incorporate the use of iPAQs as a standard learning tool. And being a specialist technology university, I'm sure they put it to good use. Basically, a lot of lucky first year university students are able to lay their hands on these devices and allow it to become a standard part of their lives. Now aren't they lucky! ;)

[JvanEkris]

My boss paid my previous PocketPC. He knew i had an extremely busy schedule and a traveltime of more than 5 hours a day at that moment in time, so it was either giving me a PocketPC or i would go nuts and start biting customers :devilboy:

Jaap

[LarDude]

There's an upside to buying your own technology....I couldn't have an integrated in-box, have games, or any non-sanctioned software on my laptop if they'd bought it. The same would have been the same for my PDA.

I completely agree with CEGiven. I don't want some administrator telling me what I could or couldn't install on my laptop or PDA, and I sure wouldn't want to have to carry around 2 laptops and 2 PDAs.

[Kathy_Harris]

If I left it up to my organzation, I would have had to switch from my ipaq to a handspring visor! No offense but yuck....

I'll buy my own PDA anyday and have complete control over it.

[szamot]

Let's see, Palm Pro, Palm Pro, Palm III, Palm III Palm Vx, Palm 505, Ipaq 3850, HP 740, Axim X5, HP 5540.......yeah evey single one was a business purchase - got to love it.

[jpaq]

I own my company.
So, yes the company bought it, but it's my company!!!!

:D

[Kati Compton]

There's an upside to buying your own technology....I couldn't have an integrated in-box, have games, or any non-sanctioned software on my laptop if they'd bought it. The same would have been the same for my PDA.

I completely agree with CEGiven. I don't want some administrator telling me what I could or couldn't install on my laptop or PDA, and I sure wouldn't want to have to carry around 2 laptops and 2 PDAs.
This is a benefit of academia. Of course, the downside is the (relatively) lower salary than I could get in industry.

[Deemo]

I own my company.
So, yes the company bought it, but it's my company!!!!

:D

Ditto! :D

[wrightca]

In the military, we are scared of these devices. I've purchased my own, but I can't take it to half the places on my base for fear of having it confiscated and smashed. I can't carry a PPC into a classified vault, but I can carry as many laptops as I can hold. I never understood that. Ohh, and my 512MB USB flash drive is okay too.

There are too many stupid rules even if the gubment would buy me one. If I sync with my work computer, I can't sync with my home computer too. I just bought my own. I use it for all personal stuff and select work stuff.

[powder2000]

I've done both. When I first started, I bought my own. Once I figured them out, I bought an ipaq 3135 and convinced my work to buy it, since I used it for work and all. Since then, there have been a slew of employees getting dell ppc's. I would like to take credit for the initial convincing conversation with our tech. guy. I currentyl use personally bought ppc's, maybe I can convince my work to get me a new vga ppc. :lol:

[SteveHoward999]

[quote=CEGiven]
I completely agree with CEGiven. I don't want some administrator telling me what I could or couldn't install on my laptop or PDA, and I sure wouldn't want to have to carry around 2 laptops and 2 PDAs.


My boss tells me what PDA, PC and laptop to buy. He pays for it. He tells me what configuration I must have, and what software I have to install.

Oh - did I mention that I am my own boss? :-)

[Damion Chaplin]

My company would and did buy me my first PDA. Thing was, they wouldn't justify spending more than the base-model Palm. I has that Palm for about 3 months before dumping my own money into the first iPAQ. They wouldn't buy me a laptop at all, even though I was the company's IT person at the time. I had to buy that as well.

The good thing about buying my own equipment: If I quit or am fired, I get to take it all with me! Not to mention I don't have to obsess so much about not dropping it.

[Ed@Brighthand]

My job has gotten me all but the very first handheld I've used... but then I'm in an unusual line of work. :wink:

[jeisner]

I had always paid for my own in the past, my most recent pda (XDA II) was supplied by work, but they didn't pay for it either it was a perk from our telecommunications supplier (well we got three and they went to IT department), major advantage is as work didn't actually buy it I can keep it if I leave....

[wigglesworth]

When i used to work for Staples, HP had a program called HP Infolab
Basically you register and complete mini learning moduels, as you complete them you earn points which can be redeemed towards HP product.

Normally, new my Jornada 568 would have cost me close to a 1000.00 CDN, with the HP info points ( US $), staff discount and other vendor coupons I actually made 128.00 CDN just by buying the product.

Follow the link to register if you work for any of the following companies
http://www.hpinfolab.com/

Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUsa, Costco, Frys, Future shop, Micro Center, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Radio Shack, Rent-A-Center, Sears, Staples, Staples Canada, Target or Wal-Mart

Enjoy!!

[maximus]

Got a loox 600 and XDA2 from my current company. The loox 600 only lasted 3 days, while the XDA2 is running perfectly.

I also got a company issued laptop, which I lost during one of my flights. Since then I have been refusing the offer to get another company laptop which is usually came from an overpriced brand, with mediocre specs.

So I have been lugging around my personal laptop for both business and entertainment. The downsides are, annually, I have to renew my license to connect a personal item (the laptop) into the company's network. I also have to install company issued antivirus and monitoring softwares. So be it.

[Ed Hansberry]

My job has gotten me all but the very first handheld I've used... but then I'm in an unusual line of work. :wink: :rotfl:

PDA site editors don't count! :lol:

[Darius Wey]

My job has gotten me all but the very first handheld I've used... but then I'm in an unusual line of work. :wink: :rotfl:

PDA site editors don't count! :lol:

Oh you've really skewed the poll results this time Mr. Brighthand. :P

[Gremmie]

Smith Barney will only support Palms

[bradolson]

I own my own business, so while I have to pay for it myself, the tax deduction makes it much cheaper than it would be otherwise :)

[Jonathan1]

Yah right. My employer's collective hole becomes tighter then a snare drum at the mention of a purchase. I’m lucky that I even have a cell phone with 400 minutes on it. I go over that and its out of my pocket.

[jimski]

My employer purchases a new laptop for me (to my specs) whenever I ask for one, which is usually about every 18 months. Experience shows my hard drives crash between 20-24 months (it gets lots of use) so I would rather setup a new machine than setup a new hard drive in an old machine. I also currently have a tablet (purchased by employer) as a sort of test and backup machine.

As an early adopter I decided a while back that I would purchase my own PDA's, although my employer would have no issues with reimbursing me if I asked. They know how much use I get out of them. A few years back in my Sony days, I went through four different devices in six months (when they were putting out a new model every month) and did not think it would be fair to ask for reimbursement. I sell my retired devices to others in the company, usually at deep discounts, to help get them into the PDA mindset.

[lhauser]

My employer paid for my current Axim X5 and for my Dell laptop. Of course, I have to conform to the system administrator's rules about how I can use these devices. Fortunately, I'm the system administrator! My employer is reasonably frugal, but I get a new laptop every 2-3 years, and he knows I use it and the PPC for both work and personal use. We're pretty relaxed like that around here...

My previous two PPCs were personal purchases, because until then the firm supported only Palms (which we still do). But we now have two or three other users with PPCs. I still have my older PPC, it's kept around as a backup.