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garfieldesque

Monday morning, 10:07 am... and I am already so FUCKING over this week. T_T

the wheels on the bus go

One hour. Twenty adults.  Dimly lit conference room at least ten degrees too warm for even the most frigid of receptionists.

Agenda:  We will now sit nearly comatose as the meeting leader reads, word-for-word, a virtually meaningless document that each of us has already reviewed and signed off on.  The document in question shall be filled with gross generalities and ambiguous details, while any actual, specific content is fully obvious to anyone who has worked here for more than one week.

Agenda Update:  Before we get started, why don't we all go around the room and introduce ourselves and our job titles to people we've worked with daily for at least two years.

Maybe next time we can all take turns reading a paragraph at a time.  I hope there's chocolate milk today.

(in other news, this post was brought to you using ScribeFire, which totally kicks hella ass)

re-org

So, I have a new boss... sort of.  I still kind of have the old boss, too, but not technically.  My old boss isn't being replaced, though... just shifted onto other projects.  My new boss is still a tier above where the old boss was on the management ladder, so they are basically eliminating a middle-man.  So, three programmers under high-level management with no real idea of what we do.  Peachy keen.  We may get a "team lead" in the future... "in the future" apparently meaning that I will take on all responsibilities of a team lead (code reviews, assigning work, project management) without having the actual title.

I guess when I told them that "team lead" was not the direction I wanted to take my career, it translated into "just give me all that responsibility anyway, but I'm cool with my current title and salary."  I love how they dole out this restructuring news in little fun-size bites that make everything seem to be in your favor.

Isn't this why I left my old job?  From what I can tell so far, the entire idea of a technical-side career path in the IT industry is a myth... all roads lead to middle management.  For those still left wondering why I never strive to excel, here's your answer:  all it ever does is drive me faster down a road I don't want to be on.

a pack mule's lament

I can't really blame it on my current employer, but I've come to the gradual realization that I just don't like my career... at least not in any way that I've experienced it.  Part of that involves remaining at the bottom of the chain... a position I seem to be destined for unless I want to take responsibility for other people, which I don't.  I've never really known what to say when managers ask me "So, where do you see yourself in 5 years?" but I've always known that the answer wasn't management.  I don't mind power and responsibility... I'd love to be part of the decision-making and strategic maneuvering, but I don't want to manage people directly.  Is that really such a strange desire?

Anyway, a few months back, I'd have told you things were on the up-spin.  I was working for my favorite boss out of any that I've had, and felt like we were making real progress... impacting our workspace in a positive and permanent manner.  Then, she left on maternity leave, and I watched everything we'd built for 2 years crumble away at the hands of an interim replacement who's just not up to the task.  It's not that he's a bad guy, he's just incapable of doing the job he's been given.  I'm not saying that I AM capable, and I certainly don't want the job even if I am, but it is incredibly important to work under someone you respect.

Yesterday, said boss returned from maternity leave, along with the (dreaded) announcement that she'd be moving on to other projects, and the interim replacement would become permanent.  Not that any of use who'd been affected were asked for our thoughts on how this "trial" had gone.

I do harbor some tiny speck of hope that I may be pulled along to something else in the wake of this restructuring, but the weight of experience makes for a very dim speck indeed.  For now, I will sift through the ruins of that castle in the sky that we were building, and hope ever so much harder that I'm capable of making a living from something that doesn't leave me dreading sleep from the knowledge of where I'll have to go when I awake.

Man, that was one hell of a run-on sentence.

On a slightly more positive note: this week also brings news of the resignation of the woman who causes 90% of our biggest problems.  It seems that they won't be promoting the perfectly competent person underneath her, so god knows what new horror they will find to fill the void... perhaps some kind of superhuman ultra-executive.

Official Pet-Peeve of the Day:  People who do not understand the difference between Reply and Reply to All.