Category Archives: WORK

BUSINESS, JUST SAYING, RANDOMIZER9.COM, WHATS GOING ON, WORK

So Long, And Thanks For All the Laughs

Today is the last day at my job.  This is usually a cause for celebration, but in this case I’m not one hundred percent sure that I will be going into a better situation next week.

On paper, everything sounds better: a chance to start over in my preferred field, more money, and the opportunity to work with some good people I worked with in the past.

As much as I like to harp on the fact that I have never worked in a workplace where software development was done “the right way,” I am just as much to blame for my atrophied skills.  While I have dabbled in programming after-hours here and there, I never really dived into it as much as I probably should have.

Despite years of programming experience, I will be starting my job next week as an entry-level programmer.  In fact, the possibility exists that I might be reporting to some of the guys I was ‘above’ in the past.  That doesn’t bother me much; it could be argued I have been starting over every few years with each new job that I’ve jumped to.

My experience has always been that people who say “money doesn’t matter” either have more than enough of it or not enough.  I’ve been in both situations, and while I won’t be making quite as much as I did last year, the ends will have an easier time meeting now.

The company I will be working for is a subsidiary of one I used to work for (and absolutely hated). Both companies share the same office space, so I will see some of folks that I used to work with in the past.  I’m looking forward to that, but on the flipside, some of the folks that I didn’t get along with are still there too.  I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

What sucks is that the only bad thing about the job I’m leaving was the job itself The temporary thing sucked too, but I can’t begrudge them for that.  I leave behind the best boss I have EVER worked for, and I’m not just saying that because I’ve had a bunch of crappy ones in the past.  Unlike the taskmasters, micromanagers and bullies I’ve dealt with, Susanne sees the human side more than anyone that I have ever worked for.  That sounds like an odd thing to say, but trust me, there are too many managers out there that see everything (including people) as numbers and nothing else.  Frankly, I’d rather be “that guy that brings in cookies every so often” than Employee #867640-2.

My co-workers are a bag of mixed nuts which is a very good thing.  Too often, people get ‘assimilated’ into their workplace to the point where they start to act alike, turning the workplace  into a weird cross of 1984 and The Stepford Wives.  I try to buck the trend wherever I go.  Its not like I can stop being me for 40 hours a week, or even want to.  The workplace I am leaving has a great bunch of folks that aren’t afraid to be themselves and a boss that lets them do just that.  As crazy as it sounds, they are real people and I will miss them dearly.

Best of luck to all y’all.

It was fun.

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BUSINESS, WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT, WORK

Waiting For A Living

Back in late November, I got an email from a recruiter who had a client that needed a programmer as soon as possible.  I sent back a resume and quickly got a reply asking if I could show up at a local community college for an interview that afternoon.  This was at about midday, so I figured that they must really be in a hurry.  I showed up a few hours later for the interview, and it went well.  The job was a six-month contract that paid well, and they wanted me to start the following week.

I was glad to be getting back to work, and I excitedly told my parents and friends that I had a new job that I would be starting soon.  Everyone wished me good luck, and I was raring to go.

That Friday, I got an e-mail from the recruiter saying that the job would have to wait another few weeks until late December.  I wasn’t happy about having to wait, but what the hey, it had already been a few months so it wasn’t be a big deal.

Two days before the new start date, I get another email with more wonderful news: the job was going to be delayed until late January because of a higher priority project.  I grit my teeth and say okay, I can wait, but I’m starting to get worried about the situation.  I enjoy the holidays and try not to worry too much about things as I move into a new apartment with the anticipation that I will have a job soon to pay rent and keep the lights on.

The Friday before the new-new start date, I get pinged from the recruiter, who tells me that we haven’t gotten a final answer for the folks at the college.  I wonder if I should pull a George Costanza and just show up, but I don’t.  It takes the folks at the school until Wednesday to touch base.  According to them, the job is funded, but there the higher priority project is running late.  They don’t bother to provide a new possible start date, so I’m left now with a “job” that has no start date.

I’m searching again in earnest for a new job (I’ve continued to search this whole time) but honestly, this is no way to do business.  If they get in touch with me before something else comes up, I’ll take the gig, but I really don’t know how much I can trust those people now.  The way they’ve been jerking me around this whole time has left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I wonder if there is something going on that I’m not being told.

Regardless, its a hell of a way to run a taco stand.

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JUST SAYING, TECH, WORK

Had To Be Aggies…

From the TTI-TDS Department of Texas A&M University:

“Thank you for your interest in the Senior Web Applications Developer position within the TTI – TDS Department. The response to the posting included many qualified individuals with documented relevant education and experience.  After an extensive review, it was determined that another candidate would more closely satisfy our immediate need.”

Sheesh, and I thought I was wordy.

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JUST SAYING, TECH, WORK

Bye-Polar

“I would like to withdraw from being considered for a developer position and instead want to be considered for a support position.  Thank you.”

I sighed as I clicked the “Send” button.  The email was going to an HR person at a local company that I had interviewed with earlier that day. We had been talking about a programming job, and I made the mistake of griping about having worked in under less-than ideal conditions at my last few jobs.  After hearing that diatribe, she asked me if I would instead be interested in a support job.  I said “no” out of reflex, but I think it was more likely because I wanted the higher salary that the programming job would command.

I was deluding myself, though.  I’m done with programming as a career.  From a mental standpoint, it probably was over months ago, but I just didn’t want to admit it.  Instead I chose to hang in there in the hope that things would somehow get better, but they didn’t, and so here I am.

I have always wanted to work with computers, and programming seemed to be a logical career choice. As time went on I gradually grew disenfranchised with it, though.  It did not help that I have never worked in a place where things were done “right.”  Instead, proper procedure and best practices were sacrificed to what I like to call The Altar of the Almighty Deadline.

I was chatting online with a friend about the whole situation shortly after the interview and during the conversation I had an interesting epiphany.  I started to wonder if my disinterest in programming as a job was related to my newfound interest in creative endeavors.  After all, I only really dove into creative things like writing, blogging and podcasting just over a year and a half ago.

I’m too lazy to look back through old blog entries and see if the two match up, but it raises an interesting question: am I starting to become more right-brained?  If so, does it have something to do with my desire to get away from programming?  The fact that I have also thrown my hat into the ring for technical writer jobs is also a telling sign.

Maybe I’m tired of being isolated all day at work and want to do something that involves contact with people, even if it is just over the phone or e-mail.  I worked with some great folks at my last tech support job, and heck, if the company had not hit a rough patch and started laying off, I might still be there today.  Or maybe its something more basic than that.  Maybe I just want to be as happy at work as I am outside of it.

Whatever the reason, I’m look forward to embracing a different side of the IT field, and some opportunities are starting to open up, so we shall see!

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RANDOMIZER9.COM, WORK

MEMORANDUM

To:  Me

From:  Recently Unemployed Me

Re:  Being Unemployed

Okay, so you lost your job.  It isn’t the first time, and while it may be comforting to think it will be the last, you never know.  You dug yourself into this hole, and you are going to be the one to dig yourself out of it.  Remember these things:

  • It is not the end of the world.  Yes, it is easy for me to tell you this from where I am sitting, but you have a plan and it is time to execute it
  • You have been here before.  Remember the mistakes you made last time and do not repeat them.
  • Always be pessimistic in your planning: hope for the best, but assume the worst.
  • You are not alone: you have friends and family that want to help.  Let them.  This is not the time to retreat into a cave and shut everyone out.
  • Smile.  Have fun.  Enjoy life.
  • To survive, you will have to sacrifice and you will have to suffer.  Deal with it.  When you are back on your feet you will appreciate the things you had to do without even more.
  • The only truly bad job is having none at all.  Try something new.
  • Do the things you said you would do “if you had the time.”  You now have the time.
  • You will get angry, you will get frustrated, and you will get upset.  Don’t bottle it up.  Get it out of your system and move on.
  • Above all else, do not fall into despair.  Have faith in yourself and keep moving forward.

Good luck.

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CREATIVE, WORK

Feeding The Ego

It’s Tuesday morning and I am sitting at my desk just absolutely full of piss and vinegar.  I was forced to go home on Monday, using up one of my few days off by the head guy in our department because I came in just a little too sick.  Then,  I come in today to find the hag who is our second-in-command had my old chair removed, never mind that I can’t get comfortable in the stupid new overpriced “ergonomic” chairs.  To top it all off, the idiot sitting next to me keeps on harping about how I made everyone else in the office sick, never mind that he could have sent me home last week when he was in charge, and doesn’t go home himself to recover.  Everyone in the office is hacking and coughing, but I have to be the one sent home.

All that combined made me feel about two-foot small, and all I wanted to do for the rest of the day was sit at my desk, fester like a mushroom until quitting time and then unload at home with some good old fashioned videogame violence or Rock Band.  I fired up my laptop, put on some headphones, and turned up some Smashmouth, hoping it would drown out the constant cacophony of ringing phones, conferences and meetings that I have to work through.  It almost does the job.

As I sat at my desk seething while my PC took forever-and-a-day to download a new security update, I heard a chirp from my cell phone.  I picked it up, expecting to see an IM from one of my friends, but instead I saw a Twitter update.  Hm, I didn’t know it did that.  Neato.  The tweet read:  “Thanks to randomizer9 for making an ‘unofficial’ San Japan :3 commercial for us.  Now featured on our YouTube page”

As I read the screen, I smiled and felt so much better.  Putting something before the monkey house that is the Internet is always asking for trouble.  As a budding voice-over artist, I wasn’t sure how my latest effort would be received.  I have gotten very little feedback from strangers on all the podcasts, blog posts and articles I have thrown to the slippery walls of the Internet so far.   Knowing that The Guys In Charge Of San Japan liked it was very encouraging, and gave me a little ego-boost when I really needed it.

I like to think that I have a small ego, but the fact of the matter is that it is still there, and it likes to be thrown a bone every so often.  As a computer programmer, I am accustomed to being on the bottom of the totem pole.  As odd as it sounds; I actually like it there, because that is where the fun stuff is.  I read Dilbert and MyCage and joke about the people in charge just like everyone else, but being constantly stepped on does get old after awhile and I wonder if this is the “epiphany” telling me that I need to get out of Dodge.

But, you know what?  That angst can wait until I fire up Borderlands tonight and pump everything that moves full of hot lead or start up Rock Band and cue up some punk songs.  I’ll gladly ride this little ego-boost through the rest of my crappy workday and give it another shot tomorrow…after sending some resumes out tonight, of course!

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RANDOMIZER9.COM, WORK

Flu Part Deux

Back in May, I had a pretty good laugh over the swine flu hype.  I got sick, went to the doctor, had to wear a mask while waiting and took a funny picture of it with my cell phone camera.  Everything ended up okay, and eventually all the swine flu hype died down somewhat.

Fast-forward to last Tuesday, when a coworker comes in sick.  I’ll be honest, I’ve been “that guy” and its no fun when you become Patient Zero and end up infecting the whole office.  For some reason, nobody wants to sit next to you at lunch anymore!  The woman who sits next to Patient Zero starts to feel sick the next day, and I go home Thursday after lunch and start popping cough syrup and acetaminophen because I am getting worse as the evening rolls on.

I wake up on Friday running a 102-degree fever and feeling like crap.  Despite this, I manage to drag my tail to HEB to get some groceries for what I figure is going to be a rough next few days.  I spend the rest of Friday either in bed or on the couch, feeling crappy the whole time.  Despite this, I figure I’ll ride it out and decide to not go to the doctor.

Yes, I know.  Bad Idea. I’ve already heard it from both my parents, both my brothers, and a couple of friends.  ANYWAY…

That evening, a friend drops by to pick up a hard drive enclosure because his computer has gone to binary heaven.  He wisely decides to not enter the apartment.  Frankly, I can’t say I blame him, because I looked like hell and sounded worse when I answered the door.  We jaw for a bit, and then he goes on his merry way to do some PC-fixing.

I wake up on Saturday feeling a lot better.  The fever is down to 100 degrees, and I feel good enough to do laundry and a little shopping.  I’m clearly not running on all eight cylinders yet, because by mid-afternoon I’m feeling tired.  I decide to take a nap before the First Storm Manga coffee shop meeting that evening.

I arrive at the coffee shop and place my order.  The guy behind the counter notices I’m not quite myself, and asks how I’m feeling.  I tell him I’m getting over a bug.  He asks if its the swine flu, and I remark: “Well, if it is, I’m not impressed, because I’m already getting over it.”

I’ll take “Asking For It” for $200, Alex.

The meeting is going well as the evening progress, mainly because there really isn’t much to discuss.  We spend more time shooting the breeze than anything else.  At just past eight o’clock, my phone rings.  I spend a few seconds wondering why my boss would be calling me on a Saturday night before answering.  He tells me that a third person at work got sick and went home on Friday.  After running a 102-degree fever himself, he went to the E.R. (“Puss” I thought to myself) and there it was discovered that he had swine flu.

Up until that point, I had not even thought about it.  As nutty as it sounds, catching the flu isn’t that big of a deal to me, because I usually get a pretty nasty case at least every other year or so.  I become miserable for a few days, miss a few days of work, maybe see the Doctor, take some meds and life goes on.

I tell the guys, and I’m all but ready to pack up my Netbook, go home and quarantine myself for the next few days.  One of our members, who happens to be a 4th-year pharmacy student, just shrugs and says, “its not that big a deal.”  The guy that was using my PSP at the time, however, spent a good fifteen minutes in the men’s room washing his hands but not until after he completely drained its battery playing God of War.

Now THAT’S  hardcore.

I’m still sick, mind you, so I take off an hour later once the acetaminophen starts to wear off.  I get home and sit on the couch to rest for a bit.  I remember the guy I lent the enclosure to…and his wife and kid.  Fark.  I call him and let him know he might have a nice warm box of H1N1 sitting in his computer room, and even he seems pretty nonplussed about the whole situation.

I figure they’re fine, so who am I to get freaked out?  I stayed at home on Sunday (temp now 99 and change), and enjoyed some football as the new season began.  I woke up this morning with no temperature but I’m hacking and coughing all over the place, so I take a second day off so that I don’t end up literally spreading it all over the office.  The boss tells me that the other two folks are out as well, so I don’t feel too bad.

I will be at work tomorrow morning, but whether I stay at work is another matter entirely.  I will probably still be coughing a bit, but whether that will be enough to get me tossed out of the office remains to be seen.

If it seems like I’m brushing it off, then yeah, I suppose I am.  In my defense, I don’t know if I even have the swine flu.  The guy that did test positive for it does sit within arm’s length of me, but that doesn’t prove anything.  If it is the swine flu, then its pretty damn mild compared to some week-long nasty bugs I’ve had in the past, so Praise the Lord and pass the chicken soup.

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JUST SAYING, WORK

There’s No Place Like Home Sweet Cube

We were supposed to move to a new area at work recently.  Of course, everyone got excited and went to the new area to stake their claim…I picked out my new cube, and was looking forward to the move.  Things were looking up at work.   I soon took to going down to my future cube whenever I needed some quiet time.  I quickly adjusted the seat to the way that I liked it, and mentally placed my PC, whiteboard, and comics in their appropriate locations as I sat in My New Home and soaked in the newness of it all.  I smiled when I first saw the “Future Desk of Eduardo Soliz” sign taped to the desktop.

A few days later, we found out that we would not be moving to the new area; it had already been assigned to another team.  (Insert joke about bureaucracy here)   Instead, we will be moving to a different area with “open seating,” which sounds like a big ball of SUCK.  I felt disappointed.  The next day I went down to my former-future work home and sighed upon seeing that my “Future Desk” sign was gone, replaced with some random stranger’s name.

I’m not sure why was I disappointed, or even excited, in the first place.  After all, a cube is a cube; a box exactly like all the other boxes on the floor where I sit for 40 hours a week and make my living.  It doesn’t sound like something to get emotionally attached to, but yet I did.  Perhaps, despite its utility, a cubicle is a home-away-from home.  There, I not only make my living, but I also do some living as well; talking with friends, receiving occasional phone calls from family, and getting things accomplished at work.

On a normal week, those forty hours represent about twenty-three percent of my week, which is a not much less than the time I spend asleep in my bed at night.  When guests stay overnight, I like to tell them about how comfortable the bed is and how much they will enjoy sleeping in it.  (in the Soliz household, it is a tradition to give guests your bed)  Thus, it would be a fair statement to say that I am emotionally attached to my bed.  Perhaps, then, being attached to one’s workspace isn’t the big stretch it appears to be.

Work life might be boring, mundane, and many other unpleasant adjectives, but for what its worth, it it is still life nonetheless…

Or maybe I just need a new job. 😛

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