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I've been looking at vacation cottages on Sebago Lake in Maine. If we come across $5k (cottage rental for a week, airfare, rental car, jetski rental, food, shopping) before next summer, we're *so* doing this. If not next summer, then probably 2007, since we want to go to Hawaii in 2006. Gee, we have a rough life, huh? ~grin~
I'm grateful for air conditioning in this friggin' state. It's not supposed to be below 105 all week.
I wanted to take Calvin to see a game of the Arena Football playoffs, but tickets are $55 each, and we're flat broke.
Calvin's Father's Day present should be ready this week. I know I'm not going to wait until the 20th to give it to him. I suck at holding back surprises.
Nothing at the moment, though "The Final Countdown" was playing on the radio when I came back from meeting Calvin for lunch today.
2003 - I was on my Sabbatical. *sob*
2002 - I was planning a wedding.
2001 - I was learning about microprocessor architecture.
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June 7, 2004
Pivot!
In the nine (!) years that I've worked at AcronymCo, I've held five positions but haven't changed jobs once. Without trying to make it sound like I think that life at AcronymCo revolves around me, it does seem that I have been playing the role of a pivot point - a fulcrum, if you will - and everything is shifting around as I stay in place.
It's pretty much understood that, as employees of AcronymCo, we're expected to change positions every eighteen months or so. We "own our own employability", and in order to further that employability, having experience and understanding in a vast amount of disciplines and areas is highly desirable. Pretty much, the more departments you've worked for and the more pies you've had your fingers in, the more people think that you know what you're doing, and will hire you to do their shit. I've been lucky in my management and mentors, and the positions that I have filled have come in the form of opportunities offered to me by my management, instead of the formal apply/interview/hire process. They just said, "Hey, you're doing this now," and changed my title/grade accordingly.
Of course, the one time I did try to go through the formal process, which was, I might add, for my own current job, except as a salaried (instead of hourly) employee, they chose someone else. Because hiring a new person, instead of promoting me and then still needing another person, was a good deal for management. And then I trained the new guy. To do my job. That they said I wasn't qualified for (no degree!), but kept me in anyway, just not at the grade/salary that I wanted. And still deserve.
Okay, so, not going to rehash that fun time again.
Anyway. When I first started working at AcronymCo, it was as an "admin" - basically, a secretary. I got the feel for the place, kept my eyes and ears open, and eventually my manager hired another person for the admin position and started calling me her "Project Coordinator". Which meant that I basically turned my hand to whatever eccentric and whimsical task my erratic boss wanted to put me to. During that time, I expanded my "network", gained a couple of mentors, and worked on some projects for a wider variety of people. When a new department was created, the manager wanted me to be a part of it. So, I changed my title and grade, reported to a different person, and forged a brand new position out of a need that had always been present, but never fulfilled. My manager changed a couple of times while I was in that position, and after about a year and a half, I started asking to do something different. Organizational structures came and went, and my whining coincided with an org change that would enable me to change responsibilities. It was something of a leap of faith for my manager to put me in a technical position when all of my experience up to that point had been more oriented toward business processes. But I got some good training, worked a lot of hours, asked fifteen million questions, and over the course of two years really OWNED what I was doing.
And so. Here I am today, doing a job I enjoy and interacting with people that, for the most part, don't suck. I'm comfortable, confident in my knowledge and skillset, and feeling like I've got a handle on things.
So of course, things can't stay that way. Time to shake things up again!
There's been mutterings of a "reorganization" of our department (about forty people) since November of last year. We did some experimental shifting of responsibilities to try to get a feel for how things should shake out in the end. My boss took another position, leaving our group with an interim boss to handle things until the details of the reorg were finalized. My new manager is a lovely, laid back lady, and very easy to work with (and, incidentally, is the seventh? eighth? manager I've had - yeah, a different manager every year sounds about right). She's been telling me for the past several months that I would likely be one of folks that is the least impacted, once the structure finalized.
Queue the foreshadowing music.
We had an "all hands" meeting last Friday, to finally hear about how our department was to be structured. And lo, I am not only affected, I am one of the MOST affected. It's basically a "stop what you're doing and do something completely different" kind of thing. Instead of focussing my attention on one particular segment of the manufacturing line, I'll now be taking on projects and initiatives that have a global effect on the entire factory ("Shop Floor Controls"). Essentially, microvision-to-macrovision. Which puzzled the heck out of me, because in all the other areas of the manufacturing line, the folks that were overseeing them before the reorg will be continuing to oversee them in the new organization. They're just putting someone new in "my" area.
So I puzzled, and puzzled, till my puzzler was sore... or until the end of the meeting, anyway. As everyone was filing out, I went up to my boss' boss, the person who delivered the message. I wanted to make sure that my performance wasn't the reason that I was being assigned to a new area. I'd gotten a good message during my review just a few months ago, so if it WAS a performance issue, it would shock the hell outta me. But that wasn't it - he said that I was "discussed extensively" (oy) and it was decided that they wanted to apply the "benefit of my skills" to a "broader spectrum of influence" (whatever that means). That it was the very fact that I am performing well, that they wanted to move me. Because the group I'm going into is newly created, and they want a "strong foundation of skillsets", which I something I would help provide.
I'm not sure whether to be happy or disappointed, or suspect that I just had a warm-fuzzy blown up my ass. Regardless, the next several months will prove to be QUITE interesting while I offload my current projects and train the new guy that's taking over, and create/learn my new position. It just goes to prove the continuing trend of employment around here - just as you reach a settled point, they go and shake things up again.
Ah, well. It's just good to be gainfully employed.
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