i miss posting. so lemme get off the okaytherapy couch and talk about some other shit.

i'm officially old now. (early fifties). i think i posted in here when i got laid off after 24.5 years (never forget the .5) in an IT career for one of the biggest tech companies in the world.

i took a gap year trying to start my own company doing IT for small businesses. burned through my whole 401k (i only got 1 month severance from those motherf*ckers) supporting myself and family (6 kids, who were in various stages of school and adulting at the time, and trying to launch and relaunch). after a year, when that COBRA kicked in, i was like, i need a job job.

the homie from the previous job was working at a new place. financial industry or financial adjacent. there was an opening. it was like a subset of a subset of what i was doing before. pay was slightly less. but i ended up making the same because their benefits were sooo much better. (i didn't negotiate my salary -- when i tell you my confidence was low -- but almost did, retroactively, when i saw the insurance cost. until i read closer, and was like, this is how much i pay for insurance a YEAR? ). almost a grand a month savings in what i paid on premiums for my family vs old place.

plus we actually get bonuses here. so all good on that front.

i been here just over 4 years now. was talking to a friend that used to work here and left, but who still keeps in touch, and was telling him i had almost crippling imposter syndrome when i came in. he was like, 'no way, you knew more than everybody and busted your ass, and were creating all kindsa shit'. but it was serious.

at other place (3 letters, and they dig the color blue, although they ain't so big no more), i was one of the top technical resources in the whole company, and definitely one of the top Black technical resources. and in my field, which was niche, i was literally THE top person in the world. but it was niche.

anyway, i can put shit in perspective now. i came in in a weird hybrid role, split between two directors. but i like stuff like that, b/c i can figure out which direction i want more. quickly made a name for myself. went and chose the group that was a sliver of my previous job. they gave me the fucked up project with the high stress that nobody wanted. (my mgr and director said they were spending 30% of their time on it handling escalations, etc). i took it. killed it. shit was light work to me.

next year, they put me over the other big, complex project (along with the other). year after that, two more of the biggest joints added. mind you, i drill down to the technical but also handle the management stuff, so i've been working as a peer to directors and asst vps, basically the last 3 years. only time i've had to escalate to my vp was when this dude on a new project was jerking me around on my budget proposals for no reason. i did three iterations of the budget, strategy and plans, and he was doing asinine shit in the mtgs. i'm a read between the lines type dude. so i pulled my vp in (b/c he was an avp, i'm considered a mgr, and was going in w/ a dir). she sat in on the call, i did my pitch. other dude lied blatantly about what had transpired (i'd briefed her so she knew what was up), i got my budget plus more.

so i'm doing alright. also wrote a letter to the ceo that ended up kicking off a whole diversity thing within the company and within my svp's whole org, of which i'm co-chair. that's gone very well (as well as such things can go for a corp, i'll still tell someone in a minute that shit has gotten worse on the outside).

and it's occurred to me that i have been doing my director's whole job for the last 3yrs. definitely hte last two. everybody knows that. he been telling me that when the reorg come, our avp gonna move to vp. and he would take her slot, and i would slide up to director. i always took that w/ a grain of salt. i'm not hitching my career path to someone else. especially someone w/ a dubious rep in the org. so i been quietly working on my own plans.

we have a new cio/evp. huge reorg just happened. he explained new iteration of the corp strategy. his svp had another mtg to elaborate. i sent them a detailed email w/ the stuff that's not accounted for in the strategy, including some high level examples of exposures that we have. talked about what's improved during our recent transformation, and what has regressed.

svp invited me to a leadership mtg all vps and above to discuss and present, and extended the meeting to allow me time.

things might be about to get real.


anywho, i've done enough work work for the week. ask me shit about being in corporate america. early or mid career mentoring advice (including what not to do). whatever.





peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

15-ish years before being SS eligible

------
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

do i, at this big age, want a job or a career? b/c i could *easily* coast and do my bare min which puts me above the curve, and just chill.

or do i succumb to trying to fix all the shit i see, or use my creativity, etc., and risk climbing the mountain again?

>15-ish years before being SS eligible

yeah. and this company actually has a pension in addition to a decent 401k, and the aforementioned nice bonuses. i'm tryna get bumped up a level to get the good good bonuses, tho, and also not be so near the top of my salary band where the raises slow down, nahmean? and also because i'm doing the work.

but i also don't want the bullshit. i don't want to relocate. pandemic (this is an effed up statement out of context) was 'good' for me, workwise, in that i been working from home for a year and a half. our back to office got delayed to january.

** i know that's a really messed up thing to say and that everybody don't have that option, yadda yadda. i'm just being real. i don't see much benefit in being around people in the office, having a commute, smelling their lunches an shit. and i don't miss small talk and hearing whateverthefuk most of them did over the weekend. i *like* people, but i'll type to the ones i want to kick it with.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

big pharma company back in '09...i was in regulary affairs at the time and loved the job but those layoffs hit and shit went ham. i ended up getting a job in IT (my MA degree qualified me) at a local university (money is wack but the job stability is pretty solid along with a few other perks) and ive been here 8.5 years now.

ive decided that this is gonna be my last 9 to 5 gig man...just hit 50 this year and i have no desire to keep trying to climb the corporate ladder. during covid ive been learning this forex shit and ive gotten it down pretty good...i think when i make my next move im gonna give it a go full time at this trading shit.

ive been in the grind for double digit years and the cost is just too high (8 hours a day sacrificed, stress, etc etc) next move im betting on myself.

>big pharma company back in '09...i was in regulary affairs at
>the time and loved the job but those layoffs hit and shit went
>ham. i ended up getting a job in IT (my MA degree qualified
>me) at a local university (money is wack but the job stability
>is pretty solid along with a few other perks) and ive been
>here 8.5 years now.

*looks around*. yeah, there's a lot to be said for stability, these days, but i feel you.

>
>ive decided that this is gonna be my last 9 to 5 gig
>man...just hit 50 this year and i have no desire to keep
>trying to climb the corporate ladder. during covid ive been
>learning this forex shit and ive gotten it down pretty
>good...i think when i make my next move im gonna give it a go
>full time at this trading shit.

sounds tough, but there's people out here making it work. do you have a decision matrix set up? like, if i make xyz $$$ trading part time, i'm gonna make the move?


>ive been in the grind for double digit years and the cost is
>just too high (8 hours a day sacrificed, stress, etc etc) next
>move im betting on myself.

yeah. it's a whole damn lot. and when you count up the cost, a lot of times it begs the question of 'was it worth it?' cat that i started out my IT career with, we was just puppies in the game. we joked that since we were working 70-80 hrs a week, it was like we had twice the experience as our peers.

which was true. but thinking about that from perspective of a car, yo. if a car avg miles per year is 15k and you driving it 30k, what that do, over time?

i don't like contemplating that question too closely.

tryna figure out how i can drive sparingly and still get to where i wanna go.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

I took a remote CFO role last year, I honestly felt like it was aspirational application, but got the job.

The person that hired me was the CFO of OUR company (public accounting firm) She has a CPA, CMA, CGMA, MBA (and prolly some letters I'm forgetting here).

She basically hired me on the spot after a very intensive work based interview she was like "You saw things in these numbers even I missed."

My only note. I'd make the ask directly. Tell then you want a director role. IME I've found asking for what I want / need is far more effectively than depending on folks to recognize my worth and give them to me.

Or as my Mama used to say, "Closed mouths don't get fed."

********************************

Get Out The Room!
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller

>I took a remote CFO role last year, I honestly felt like it
>was aspirational application, but got the job.
>
>The person that hired me was the CFO of OUR company (public
>accounting firm) She has a CPA, CMA, CGMA, MBA (and prolly
>some letters I'm forgetting here).
>
>She basically hired me on the spot after a very intensive work
>based interview she was like "You saw things in these numbers
>even I missed."

that is dope! congrats! also, if she was your CFO before, of course she would know you had the chops to be CFO for her. that's great, though. happy for you.

>
>My only note. I'd make the ask directly. Tell then you want a
>director role. IME I've found asking for what I want / need is
>far more effectively than depending on folks to recognize my
>worth and give them to me.
>
>Or as my Mama used to say, "Closed mouths don't get fed."

all facts. and i did ask. or rather, plainly made my aspirations known to my director and my (now former) avp. was like, yeah, i'm moving up or moving on. looking at dir level positions. i'm already doing the work. either that or (random letters), which is the equivalent in pay grade, etc, but is more of a principal consultant / architect role (equivalent to the technical spot i was chasing at my last place).

prollem is, my avp been reorged away from me. i know the incoming one. but i've done corporate / been screwed to know how that typically goes down. it's usually, let's take advantage of this upheaval so we can put everybody's shit on hold for a year and then revisit. okay?

that's what i mean by i need to decide if i want a job or a career.

b/c getting what i deserve / have earned here might warrant leaving or waiting. honestly, part of the reorg was to 'flatten' the organization (ie, remove middle management), and a couple directors and avps got musical chaired out of a job. not the *best* time to get promoted into a directorship. the director-level consultant or technical strategist seems a safer play.

one of the things i did do, in prep, was talk to directors outside of my organization and let them know my interests, and sought feedback. this company be on some game of thrones shit as far as politics. i navigate it pretty well, for my level. but what i was NOT gon' do was ask someone in my own org who would be a potential peer (apart from my own mgr, which was more notice than fact finding) about how i could get to the point where i was competing w/ them.

some jewels i got was:

1 - follow the money. check. i'm on all the hot projects, and know enough not to go to dead end orgs or positions

2 - see how may direct reports i'd have. anything with less than 6 would be setting myself up for failure, because when reorgs or cutting comes, they look at who don't have a full roster.

that came in handy b/c i was helping this one director on the side, and she intimated that she was trying to move up, and if i worked for her, she could put me in place to get her spot. i was like, yeah, thanks, but i'm good. (she took the position as a favor to someone else, but it was over a suite of legacy apps, and investment is already a problem in her area. i'd be dead-ending myself if i went there).

fast forward a couple months, she pinged me to let me know she has two dream offers, externally. i'll keep the linkedin fresh, in case i do need to go outside. but even more glad i didn't take her offer within the company.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

This is the lesson I've learned time and time again. You see something you want, you gotta put your name out there to make it stick with the decision makers.

__________________________________________
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaboonday

R.I.P. Dilla 1974-2006

The prospect of possibly having to change jobs a couple more times before that happens scares the crap out of me. I mean we'll make it work, but pretty much all my elders worked jobs securely into retirement, whatever the career path. I honestly see the inability to do that today as a statement about how our social order really does not care about the individual. And it's wild seeing this new generation thinking this jumping jobs thing is an advantage.

I switched jo s during the pandemic without a gap so I'm real thankful for that. But also worked my ass off to make it happen. I was actually in the process of getting poached when the pandemic hit and they had to take back their offer (would have screwed me if it had gone through before too). I pretty much stopped working at my last one after they made me lay off 2/3rds of my team. That was rough.

There was a couple of months when I was just like whatever, camera off in meetings not saying or doing shit. Then there was a window open where another company reached out to poach. Took like three months but ended up coming through.

Now I'm in a pretty good place. They literally built the team for me and have been pretty accommodating in letting me shape it the way I want. My first external hire started this week and the momentum is strong.

But in the back of my mind I know in a few years I'll have to leave to stay upwardly mobile. I mean there's a couple of moves I could make internally but I'm not betting on those internal politics. Who knows where it all will pan out but I really just want to get to retirement and chill. It's been a long and weary road.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

>The prospect of possibly having to change jobs a couple more
>times before that happens scares the crap out of me. I mean
>we'll make it work, but pretty much all my elders worked jobs
>securely into retirement, whatever the career path. I honestly
>see the inability to do that today as a statement about how
>our social order really does not care about the individual.

bruh. when i was early career at other place, really making moves, my uncles on my dad and my mom's side were both dealing with this shit. like early 2ks. the one left ohio bell and did consulting. made big bank for a minute (developed a gambling addiction which wiped out all them gains). and then his job went bye bye. my other uncle (mom's side) was a technical consultant contractor for FAA for CSC. govt adjacent high tech work in a critical industry? shit was secure and safe till it wasn't. downside of niche. they decided to completely replace that antiquated legacy system, and, concurrently, all the people supporting it.

that was painful b/c i tried to get him on at my company, but i knew that my company had just screwed over all the old cats who were heroes and drove record profits by helping other companies get y2k proofed. they shitted on them cobol and pl1 programmers, rather than let them train in C and Java, so wasn't no way in hell my uncle was getting on and his knowledge was in some arcane assed language used for air traffic control. he tried to pivot to project management, got a couple lifeline projects here and there. but ultimately he ended up being a dude in his fifties who had the rug swept out from under him. that was painful to watch and i tried to learn from that by always keeping an eye on what i'm doing now, what's hot in the streets, and the few most adjacent technical escape hatches where i could parlay my shit and still make a living.

problem was i got screwed out of a position in my niche when a new cfo pulled the plug on the biggest IT project of all time, unceremoniously. dude who ended up in charge of the 'lights on' (contingent of technical folks to manage the system in barebones fashion until it spun up again) was a major asshole, who kept me from my right pay band, and who i had switched divisions to not be under, even while doing the same work. he screwed me and left me off the list of essential personnel, so i had to scramble and land another specialty.

ended up doing cloud managed services, which was ostensibly what the company was telling the market was it's future. did that for 3 years (principal consultant, svcs offering lead at our biggest client). and that's where i was when the layoff hit.

so i really got hit twice in 3 years hwen you think about it. and on the second one, i got layed off a year after my dad died. okay. typing this out, it makes sense, in retrospect, how i was feeling. and having a child in college, two young adults trying to make it, and the 3 younger ones still in h.s.

>And it's wild seeing this new generation thinking this jumping
>jobs thing is an advantage.

i think it's a great option for early career. after a while, not so much. and also depends upon your industry. but my middle son has his degree and cannot find a 'career' job. and it's wild frustrating all of these places with these outlandish assed requirements for 'entry level' positions. for folks in those situations where you need experience to get a job, but need a job to get experience, sometimes you gotta just have your eyes open, take a job that ain't paying that great, but offers experience. and be ready to bounce when your xp level gets high enough to get you something better / fairer.


>I switched jo s during the pandemic without a gap so I'm real
>thankful for that. But also worked my ass off to make it
>happen. I was actually in the process of getting poached when
>the pandemic hit and they had to take back their offer (would
>have screwed me if it had gone through before too). I pretty
>much stopped working at my last one after they made me lay off
>2/3rds of my team. That was rough.

damn. and damn. yeah. that timing worked out for you. depending upon how things go down i might gotta let people know i'm poachable.

>
>There was a couple of months when I was just like whatever,
>camera off in meetings not saying or doing shit. Then there
>was a window open where another company reached out to poach.
>Took like three months but ended up coming through.

laying off 2/3 of your staff would tend to do that. damn.

>
>Now I'm in a pretty good place. They literally built the team
>for me and have been pretty accommodating in letting me shape
>it the way I want. My first external hire started this week
>and the momentum is strong.

that is fantastic. letting you build your team is a good look in terms of how invested they are in your success. that's what's up.

>
>But in the back of my mind I know in a few years I'll have to
>leave to stay upwardly mobile. I mean there's a couple of
>moves I could make internally but I'm not betting on those
>internal politics. Who knows where it all will pan out but I
>really just want to get to retirement and chill. It's been a
>long and weary road.

right? at this point, i wanna just make moves that leave me options, and not having to depend on the grace of people or companies for my well-being.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

i'll tell 3 stories, myself and 2 other friends who all got new jobs w/in about 4 days of each other

myself: went from working w/ a family owned sports dealer as the top sales rep and generally just ran the place. to working for one of the biggest sports brands in the world (think golf/running and japan) in logistics. now while I excelled my last job was mentally abusive and i see that now. so i'm maybe 2 weeks in at the new gig and i get introduced in my first all hands meeting by my boss as "Brooklynwhat, comes from us from blah blah blah (groans all around because our rep was poor), I promise you he knows more than any of us so if you have questions, ask him." I told him later that if it was meant to give me calm, it did anything but that lol. It felt like he heaped a ton of pressure on me but I see now that I'm just not used to folks believing in me. essentially i am far overqualified for what I am actually doing and he planned all along that this logistics thing would be a short term stop for me to learn how their internal systems work. I'm essentially running our sales and production divisions after 3 months.

friend 1: works in accounting, used to work at a startup in NYC, now he works for an app that all of us use heavily. in his words "they say they are impressed but I can't help but feel like going to UNC-offbrand, they all think im a slack jawed yokel because my team is all from Stanford, UCLA, Harvard, etc, and come in from FAANG type joints"

friend 2: worked as a mechanic for most of our 20s and some parts delivery on the side. just finished up school and got a gig in Technical Writing and in his words "it doesn't feel like i'm doing honest work. i shouldnt be paid what I am to just sit up here comfortable and type all day. i feel like my father would be ashamed of me" (he wouldnt. he'd be so proud lol)

<--- Big Baller World Order

those of us who always are put in positions to have to prove our worth. it's a lot.

>i'll tell 3 stories, myself and 2 other friends who all got
>new jobs w/in about 4 days of each other
>
>myself: went from working w/ a family owned sports dealer as
>the top sales rep and generally just ran the place. to working
>for one of the biggest sports brands in the world (think
>golf/running and japan) in logistics. now while I excelled my
>last job was mentally abusive and i see that now. so i'm maybe
>2 weeks in at the new gig and i get introduced in my first all
>hands meeting by my boss as "Brooklynwhat, comes from us from
>blah blah blah (groans all around because our rep was poor), I
>promise you he knows more than any of us so if you have
>questions, ask him." I told him later that if it was meant to
>give me calm, it did anything but that lol. It felt like he
>heaped a ton of pressure on me but I see now that I'm just not
>used to folks believing in me. essentially i am far
>overqualified for what I am actually doing and he planned all
>along that this logistics thing would be a short term stop for
>me to learn how their internal systems work. I'm essentially
>running our sales and production divisions after 3 months.

that's dope. very smart of your boss to do it like, that, too. i see this situation lots of times with people who work for smaller businesses. this is my oldest daughter's situation. work for a place that's small, cheap, abusive, whatever, you end up doing waaaay more than what you should do b/c they won't get you the help or support you need. leave that situation and go to a 'regular' / sane gig, and you got superpowers, b/c you had off the books responsibilities far in excess of someone with similar tenure at a place where there was a reasonable workload distribution.


>friend 1: works in accounting, used to work at a startup in
>NYC, now he works for an app that all of us use heavily. in
>his words "they say they are impressed but I can't help but
>feel like going to UNC-offbrand, they all think im a slack
>jawed yokel because my team is all from Stanford, UCLA,
>Harvard, etc, and come in from FAANG type joints"

"it ain't where you from, it's where you at" (c) the famous philosopher Rakim


>friend 2: worked as a mechanic for most of our 20s and some
>parts delivery on the side. just finished up school and got a
>gig in Technical Writing and in his words "it doesn't feel
>like i'm doing honest work. i shouldnt be paid what I am to
>just sit up here comfortable and type all day. i feel like my
>father would be ashamed of me" (he wouldnt. he'd be so proud
>lol)

my uncle who ended up a consultant for the FAA was like that. he was a mechanic. had issues in h.s., got his GED. could fix any damn car. was looking at a manual one night prolly in his late 20s and was like, if i can understand all this shit, i can do more. he went to community college. got his associates. went to night school for computer science. got his b.s. , got his masters. got another masters. had a colossal chip on his shoulders to do more / better. would have had a phd if not for some bullshit w/ his advisor. he drawing social security now and plant the hell outta some vegetables. inspiring, what he did. but also some cautionary tales w/ it, in terms of how invested he was in his created / new identity (which made the blow more crushing when his career went the way of american corporate age discrimination).



peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>that's dope. very smart of your boss to do it like, that, too.
>i see this situation lots of times with people who work for
>smaller businesses. this is my oldest daughter's situation.
>work for a place that's small, cheap, abusive, whatever, you
>end up doing waaaay more than what you should do b/c they
>won't get you the help or support you need. leave that
>situation and go to a 'regular' / sane gig, and you got
>superpowers, b/c you had off the books responsibilities far in
>excess of someone with similar tenure at a place where there
>was a reasonable workload distribution.
>

This is the big thing for me. Just having working systems and processes in place, and the feeling that we are all pulling in the same direction. Now i am kicking myself for not making the move before the move was made for me. But maybe this is how it was meant to be. coming in on the end of a re-org as they prepare to hit the gas again.

Now I am in the odd position of my old job being a client. Their account manager quit so I got put on their account through the end of the year just to get them through the busy holiday period, since I'm familiar w/ the quirks of their operation. It's just such a different tone from them now and I can tell it burns them that they let me go only to 6 months later essentially be at my mercy. Management over there doesnt realize that most of the folks that still work there love and miss me and that I hear everything.

<--- Big Baller World Order

and I also came from a gig that was mentally abusive.

When I got this gig in cyber security, which I knew little about at the time, and looked at the paycheck and perks I felt like I was stealing.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

>and I also came from a gig that was mentally abusive.

i *just* got off the phone w/ my oldest son and daughter-in-law giving her, specifically, a pep talk on how to deal w/ that kind of ish. she 26, 6 mos into a job. killing it. but they stay bringing white folks in 2 levels above her that ain't doing a third of what she doing. i was like, you only got 6 mos experience. my son got another 6 mos experience in this job (his last job was hella abusive). but you ain't by yourself. between y'all, me and my wife, we got like 35+ yrs of corporate experience and hella chess moves and game theory. your mgmt ain't ready. gave her about 20 min of advice on how to play her situation.

>
>When I got this gig in cyber security, which I knew little
>about at the time, and looked at the paycheck and perks I felt
>like I was stealing.
>

prior to the reorg, a coworker who was dotted line to me had security. that was one of the things i was going to try to brush up on. anyone who has no preference, i steer them toward that, because that is automatic growth and money. my specialty is something else that i enjoy way better, so it's always in my mind as an 'in case of emergency' pivot.

that's dope for you, though. you can build and ride it out.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

> gave her about 20 min of advice on how
>to play her situation.
>

because that was something that'd always bug me. they'd bring in some guy that looked the part. every time it'd be a tall white guy that talked a good game when he could stick to his rehearsed points. but if you got him off book he was fucking useless. and it'd be obvious to us in 5 mins that the guy was a total idiot.

a few would have the good sense to know they didnt really know shit and fall in line accordingly. but the few that took that power and ran w/ it had a really rough go of it. nothing like being a dick, an idiot and a nepotism hire to really turn an office against you from the jump.

our last floor ops guy when i was there was actually super good about that. because he'd been around the block in life enough to know you dont swing your dick around when you dont know shit even when management has empowered you to do so. sit down, learn, observe and consult the experienced staff before you start making moves. i was really looking forward to working w/ him more because he got it and he got the reality of the company. we had some great ideas set to roll out before they laid me and some other folks off back in the spring.

the guy before him? complete opposite. smarmy little shit that hid behind his title. and folks from several departments told management like 3 or 4 days in "hey this is not the guy. idk where you all found him at but he is just not the right type of person to make this work. his attitude and the way he talks to people is just not acceptable." well turns out he is in this grad school class w/ one of the guys in management and he was just sooooo sooooo bright. supposedly had all these great ideas and thats all management could see. so management took our warning as us just being jealous of him. ridiculous shit. well he made it about 4 months and every week he had some blow up argument w/ somebody and it finally got around to me, and I'm the chillest person in the office. if you piss me off? you are just a piece of shit. i just blacked and told him HR be damned (our head of HR hated him too lol) lets hit the back parking lot and scrap it out if you want to talk wild to me. i promise you wont EVER act like this again if we do this one time. he went and snitched to the owner and I'm thinking hey the owner might not like me but he will absolutely pick me over you 10 times out of 10, because even he knows I dont get out of character like this. sure enough they told him to pack his shit. one of the funniest sights I've seen in a workplace is seeing this dude struggle to move a refrigerator out of his office solo, along w/ all of his other shit because he'd made an enemy out of everyone in there.

<--- Big Baller World Order

and the other siblings had to get her on a call and make sure she understood what her position really is

like...she has a bad boss who threatens threatens threatens....but has never actually fired anyone for anything. tons of experience in a position that's more important than she thinks, and way more leverage at her current job than she felt like

dealing with shit all day can break you down and make you think you're not what you actually are

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Tech school degree, turned wrenches for 12 years in both dealership and independent shops. ..flat rate and hourly. Ran shops, wrote service, sold work, did the work. Now I make more than I ever did at any point as a technician and just got a double digit raise out of the blue. Most days I sit around watching ESPN talk shows or shotgunning episodes of The Office, while pecking away on a keyboard, spending huge amounts of the company’s money. I been here almost 7 years and it still feels crazy, sometimes.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

>Tech school degree, turned wrenches for 12 years in both
>dealership and independent shops. ..flat rate and hourly. Ran
>shops, wrote service, sold work, did the work.


ain't nothing wrong w/ that wrench life. trades get paid. but a whole lot is riding on your physical health for much of that kind of work.

i worked that summer of construction while in college and was like, nope. not for the kid. i need to find me an air-condition and knee-friendly vocation.


Now I make
>more than I ever did at any point as a technician and just got
>a double digit raise out of the blue. Most days I sit around
>watching ESPN talk shows or shotgunning episodes of The
>Office, while pecking away on a keyboard, spending huge
>amounts of the company’s money. I been here almost 7 years
>and it still feels crazy, sometimes.

that's what's up. that's a great feeling.




peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

<--- Big Baller World Order

on the proverbial glass ceiling chasing titles and money I basically jumped off the corporate hamster wheel and settled into a mid-level govt job with average pay but great benefits and super low-key and I can literally cruise to retirement all while working growing my personal side hustles(tech & other) to the point where I don't need a "job"

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

>on the proverbial glass ceiling chasing titles and money I
>basically jumped off the corporate hamster wheel and settled
>into a mid-level govt job with average pay but great benefits
>and super low-key and I can literally cruise to retirement all
>while working growing my personal side hustles(tech & other)
>to the point where I don't need a "job"

that's great. w/ govt, you can also retire w/ a good plan and have time left for a second or bonus career. all the better if you building your side hustles along the way.

my plan was to coast in this job and hustle on the side. but i'm actually overachieving here, so now it's do i pursue getting to that next rung on the ladder since i'm already doing the work? or do i pull back. next 6 mos are gonna be pivotal for me in that regard.

shit. next week, since i'm mtg w/ the cio and svp on technical strategy. we'll see what it do.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

I work for one of the Big Dogs. Started up like 6 months before the covid lockdowns. Between me accepting the job and my actual start date, my shit got completely reorged into a totally different role. I walked into a hornet's nest from day one and had to figure it out while working remote. The team I managed was mad as hell and were very happy to box me out left and right. They were doubly mad to see my Black ass show up to tell them what to do. They pushed many of the problem employees on my lap with the ultimatum that I won't get backfills for any attrition. Some real bullshit.

The smartest thing I did was to go on leave right when things started to open back up around here. I really don't want to go back but the money is great. Might go back just long enough to earn my yearly bonus and then just take a gap year.

---
Love,
Nopayne

>I work for one of the Big Dogs. Started up like 6 months
>before the covid lockdowns. Between me accepting the job and
>my actual start date, my shit got completely reorged into a
>totally different role. I walked into a hornet's nest from
>day one and had to figure it out while working remote. The
>team I managed was mad as hell and were very happy to box me
>out left and right. They were doubly mad to see my Black ass
>show up to tell them what to do. They pushed many of the
>problem employees on my lap with the ultimatum that I won't
>get backfills for any attrition. Some real bullshit.
>

this shit is so typical, across industries, career types, etc. when my wife was in corporate america and got her overdue promotion to mgmt, they gave her the worst possible team (like a lottery draft except every team in the league got to give up their absolute worst, most problematic player) and told her spin that shit into gold. and she did it. but imagine how much she (or you) could do if simply given a reasonable team and not having to literally make up the stagger?


>The smartest thing I did was to go on leave right when things
>started to open back up around here. I really don't want to
>go back but the money is great. Might go back just long
>enough to earn my yearly bonus and then just take a gap year.
>

you finessed tf outta them and i love it. you building on the side or just recharging? good luck w/ that, either way.
>


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>>The smartest thing I did was to go on leave right when
>things
>>started to open back up around here. I really don't want to
>>go back but the money is great. Might go back just long
>>enough to earn my yearly bonus and then just take a gap
>year.
>>
>
>you finessed tf outta them and i love it. you building on the
>side or just recharging? good luck w/ that, either way.
>>


I wish I could take credit but it was actually their idea. Originally I straight up quit but they floated the idea of a 3 month unpaid leave instead. No strings attached. The only downside is I'll need to find a new role once I return to work.

---
Love,
Nopayne

been close to cyber, but directly. now, I'll be right in the thick of things. this should allow me to buy some more years with the company.

my job is making people leave for various reasons, all in the name of becoming more agile. my plan is to work in cyber for my company, one of the 3 big telcos. if I have to leave, I'll have their name and cyber on my paperwork. shouldn't be any job issues going forward.

this will also get me more cash. technically, I'm taking a step down level wise. however, cyber pays more even if the level is lower. if I get back to my current level, which should eventually happen, there's potential to approach some real cash. all, without having to manage people.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

after 15+ years in one place (not exactly one place, but it moved under me) and ten full time

I left

in my industry, solid jobs with benefits that pay decently aren't impossible to come by, but there are way more well-qualified people looking than there are positions. where I was, I liked the folks I worked with, I had a schedule and responsibilities I'd pretty much set myself, it worked

the security was nice, but I've been through a half dozen acquisitions and mergers, and I could see another one was coming up somehow someway. everyone who was a part of bringing me on and putting me in my position is long gone.

I don't know how justified it was, but I always had a feeling that sooner or later, someone in a board room in new york was going to look at a spreadsheet, see what they paid me next to the on-paper credentials I don't have, and figure they could find someone who looks better on paper, actually showed up at the office ever and that they could pay less.

so when my dude hit me up, again, as he had before, about joining up the place he'd started...I was ready to take a look this time. what I found that I really hadn't expected, is that once other people found out I was even thinking about leaving, there were WAY MORE PEOPLE who knew about me and what I do and were also interested, they just figured I was never leaving because I always said I wasn't

I can't lie, shit felt nice

so I made the move. now I'm in a role that isn't custom-fitted, at least not yet. I gotta manage people, and be responsible for decisions. it's early but I like it. first real hire seems to be working out well, and once I get everybody in position, I can really get to doing this the way I want to do it


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

that's about all I'll say. Been there for a good long while (over a decade), been promoted a couple times, but whenever I get a little too uppity, I get the anvil.

Hear a lot of promises but no action from their end. It's one VP in particular that I think is the roadblock. Mess around and I'll be the one who got away after all of this.

My mind has been mapping out 3-4 different scenarios and I'm putting together a plan for all of them.

Yes, I'm mad. Let's move on.

Jays | Cavs | Eagles | Sabres | Tarheels

PSN: Dr_Claw_77 | XBL: Dr Claw 077 | FB: drclaw077 | T: @drclaw77 | http://thepeoplesvault.wordpress.com

I'm being asked to consider the very same position, but I feel like I'm not qualified enough. If I'm being honest, it scares me to be responsible for another person's growth, outside of my kids. I hate conflict and will try to avoid it whenever possible. When we give year end reviews, I tend to ignore the requests from people who I feel performed poorly. I'll pull them to the side and tell them why I didn't do the review, but I'll never rat them out to management unless it's severe. I don't want to be a person who contributes to someone being fired.

Then I feel guilty for not stepping up because I could be the person I haven't seen in 20+ years, but I'm too chickenshit to do it. And I know Imposter Syndrome is a huge reason for this.

Left before I was showed the door. It was a hostile takeover and they showed 90% of home office the door. What's funny is they had to hire 30% back. I bounced around all 2019:

Pathology lab Sysadmin from February 2019 to September - fired due to the lab manager and I butting heads. COVID killed that lab - I'm grateful for that firing.

Out of work all of September - interviewed and burned through some savings. Thank you emergency fund/crypto for keeping me afloat.

MSP System Engineer from October 2019 - December 2019 - bouncing around the whole state in a very chaotic manner. They were surprised that I left - the paid was EXCELLENT. The management was scant, documentation non-existent and they fucked up my first check. You don't get a 2nd chance to fuck up my money.

Got my current job from a SEPTEMBER 2019 interview. Got hired 12/31/2019. Been here at a software company ever since. 2 years in January 2022 - most pay and benefits I've every received. It's obscene how much they pay me. I feel I can spend the rest of my 40s here and rack up more experience and certs. If not I have relationships with recruiters - active relationships. I will never get caught flat footed in IT. There are SO many jobs. So much infrastructure needs people to keep the lights on - on premise and cloud.

I don't want to manage people but if I want to move up I will have to. I can be a tech lead/CIO when I'm heading towards retirement. Corporate America is hard but it's that stability that keeps you in the mix. I just became eligible for bonuses this year. I hope I get one. I got an EXTRA check a year working at the Healthcare company - I miss that more than the place and the people LOL.

---
Stoicism and chill.
---
Stay +.
---

and I'm nervous as FUCK...
I definitely want the gig...

on paper I feel I can do this.. but that "imposter syndrome" is creeping in ....Mind you, I have colleagues who say that I'm more than qualified.. and it's a great opportunity ..

it's a big move for me because I've been in my current spot for over 20 years and I've hit my ceiling... this is a whole new organization ...


i have to go through the interview first but my mind is racing...

and look at all the people who are NOT GOOD at their job, or even any job, really

who are still winning

unless it's literally unsafe for me to take over there is no job I'm not qualified for

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I do see folks at the job "livin' it up".. but they do half ass work. Immediately you start to wonder how they get the job in the first place lol

There are so many black and brown and women in corporate America that are under paid and undervalued. If black people and women are being paid 50 on the dollar compared to white counterparts, why wouldn't a Manager just hire women and brown people and pay them 75 cents on the dollar? Seems like the win-win (kind of).



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

you could win on paper like that

but at some point you have to sell your project to an executive, or an investor.

and they'd rather see brad and jim from their alma mater, no matter how much you're paying them.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

---
Love,
Nopayne

I've definitely had varying levels of imposter syndrome over the years. I've been through several promotions at one company for over 15 years. In each position at my job I've felt like I don't know what I'm doing, but the people right above me have all the answers. And with each promotion, I found out that the people at that next level didn't have any special knowledge, they were just making things up.

I remember when I first got a management position. My team would come up with a new service to offer, and we'd do all kinds of analysis to come up with a price. We'd look at competitor pricing trends, our realized price, margins, potential value to customers, our fully loaded costs, sales and revenue for past services, sustainable pricing levels, etc. We'd present to our finance team, and stuff would typically get approved, but sometimes they'd make changes. As a new manager I figured there was some specific algorithms that Finance used in coming up with accurate pricing, or some knowledge they had. But once I got more experienced and joined the leadership team at a higher level, I saw that they didn't care about ANY of that - they'd make up pricing (or approve what we suggested) just based on the most random factors you could imagine.

Long story short, I've definitely learned that just having confidence in the experience you have, along with literal faking it until you make it, goes a LONG way in the corporate world.

mfers are just faking it.
nobody knows anything


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

been in meetings with the entire C-Suite. Folks completely make up everything, and we have entire departments dedicated to spinning the numbers to show "wins".

whatever they gotta be to justify the decision someone wants to make, those are the numbers you get

and if you can't juke the numbers, you move the goal posts

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I've seen it with my own eyes.

---
Stoicism and chill.
---
Stay +.
---

~10 years busting my butt on second shift in a mostly thankless high-stress, high demand, and low reward role managed by unusually awful people. i worked 11.5 hours last night and it was not a rarity. there was a period from 2016-2019 where i would clock in and i would have no idea when i would get off. could be 9 hours, could be 13. 8 hour days were extremely rare. it's still generally like that but the 8 hours days are less rare

the awful managers' final act appears to be making me forfeit five unscheduled (but requested) vacation days as i transfer from one department to another. really looking forward to getting away from this position and department and into a role where my skillset can be fully utilized. it's a significant increase in income and i get to relocate out west to be closer to my family. i finally get to rejoin the ranks of the living as i work 9-5 for the second time in my 20 years in the work force, the previous time being a short 9 month stint. i'm kind of worried that i won't be able to adjust waking up at 8 AM when currently i'm going to bed at 7 AM

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>~10 years busting my butt on second shift in a mostly
>thankless high-stress, high demand, and low reward role
>managed by unusually awful people. i worked 11.5 hours last
>night and it was not a rarity. there was a period from
>2016-2019 where i would clock in and i would have no idea when
>i would get off. could be 9 hours, could be 13. 8 hour days
>were extremely rare. it's still generally like that but the 8
>hours days are less rare
>
>the awful managers' final act appears to be making me forfeit
>five unscheduled (but requested) vacation days as i transfer
>from one department to another. really looking forward to
>getting away from this position and department and into a role
>where my skillset can be fully utilized. it's a significant
>increase in income and i get to relocate out west to be closer
>to my family. i finally get to rejoin the ranks of the living
>as i work 9-5 for the second time in my 20 years in the work
>force, the previous time being a short 9 month stint. i'm
>kind of worried that i won't be able to adjust waking up at 8
>AM when currently i'm going to bed at 7 AM

I worked swing shift for a minute not as long as you but when I came back to day shift people were like "are you a new employee?" naw mf's I been here lol...it was nice being off during the day to take care of personal shit but I became addicted to the nightlife after work so when I can back to days that was an adjustment

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

>I worked swing shift for a minute not as long as you but when
>I came back to day shift people were like "are you a new
>employee?" naw mf's I been here lol...it was nice being off
>during the day to take care of personal shit but I became
>addicted to the nightlife after work so when I can back to
>days that was an adjustment

have to schedule medical visits super early bc late morning appointments generally made me late for work. usually end up skipping sleep those days. i get woken up all the time due to maintenance or folks stomping around or blasting music as they wake up, noisy lawn workers once a week 7 AM - noon for 7 months straight, etc. nearly everything is closed by the time i get off (bible belt) even on the best days where i get off on time so there is no benefit on the tail end. best i can do for an easy takeout meal post-long stressful shift is taco bell or waffle house. it just sucks all around. a lot of this is location-based. if i lived in a real city and not a small town disguised as a mid-sized city it would probably be better. it is nice being up at 3 AM when the city is asleep but i can do that working 9-5

anyway 😅 glad to be off this hell shift. i will be able to get a nice meal from a decent restaurant after work for the first time in maybe a decade

I low key almost became an alcoholic, party all night, sleep all day, it was dangerous cycle

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

I've been at the same company for 16 years. Big energy company (but not the biggest) but the stock price has been leading the industry for years now, so it's been a good gig.

I'm not what most would consider a top performer - like I get top ranking every couple years and then above average to average most years.

So rather than progressing through the ranks, I've instead been more of a journeyman. Started off in web development, got some lead recognition for a bit. Then the company started shifting ALL of their technical roles to India and the Philippines (throught outsourcing and offshoring), so I moved on to a business analyst role because at the time the business-focused roles were the ones that were being retained.

Never got to learn much BA stuff because shortly after moving into the position it ended up turning into a tech lead role. And I learned quickly that leading offshore teams in application support was NOT my cup of tea. I was bored out of my mind in meetings, so I actually got to the point where I just stopped having meetings with the teams and communicated with them via email, reserving meetings for when we really needed to talk about something. I was hungry for technical work, so I started working on some of their work myself. And through this I learned a lot of systems admin stuff that I'd forgotten over the years, along with project and change management.

Well eventually my company realized they went overboard with offshoring and outsourcing, so they started opening up technical roles again. At the same time, there was a big push to move our infrastructure over to the cloud, and I was able to get in on the ground floor of that work and learned a lot about how to migrate and manage applications in Microsoft Azure.

So after doing that work for a year, my new supervisor recognized I was wasting my career by not diving head first into the cloud stuff, so he made it his mission to get me into a role where I could really get that popping.

So I move into a software engineering role and these people have no clue where to position me and get me started with the work needed for this team. I'm the ONLY software engineer on the team, and it's an operations team that partners with one of the corporate functions for project work, but most of the development work is handled by devs in the Philippines. So I'm trying to get in and do my thing, but get the feeling my team lead wasn't completely on board with bringing on a developer in the first place, so I'm also doing application support stuff just to try to stay busy.

Professionally this is probably the closest I've ever come to quitting, but God saw me through.

After toiling with this for a while I get an opportunity to work on a dedicated project, getting to use the Azure knowledge and C# programming skills I'd been developing. After doing that for almost two years, the company goes through a massive reorg that gets rid of a lot of middle management, and sets up the tech workforce in a platform/chapter model (apparently it's based on Spotify's tech organization). This new model gives us flexibility to move from project to project as our skills are required, rather than being dedicated to one project forever.

So after the reorg we get an email from the architect for our platform mentioning all the modernization and rationalization work needed. I read it and immediately email my new supervisor and let him know I'm interested in helping with these efforts. He discusses it with leadership and comes back and lets me know they want to move me out of the project I'd been working on and become an architect for another product line.

So that's where I'm at now.

I think the thing that helped him sell it to leadership is that I'm also working on an MS in Software Engineering, because each of the leaders I've talked to since then has mentioned that.

I tell you though, it's been a great gig, but I've definitely become jaded over time after going through so many reorgs and layoffs. I think I've been through 5 already. Thank God I haven't hit the chopping block yet, but my perspective on my career these days has a lot more to do with what's better for me than what's good for the company.

__________________________________________
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaboonday

R.I.P. Dilla 1974-2006

companies are finding out that going remote isn't nearly so easy, and no, you can't just get a team from wherever for 1/10th of the pay and expect everything to work out

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

my current mgr scrambling after the reorg b/c he feeling pressed.

i pulled an end around, as mentioned in the op, and have an audience w/ the svp and evp cios tomorrow afternoon.

my director did this thing where he's introducing our whole team to our new avp (asst vp - these ni&&as LOVE vps. how you gonna have 3 levels of VPs?)..

anyway, like i said, i got about 60-70% of the dept under me, as 'program lead', but i'm really the director. i work w/ peers and the mgr and dir in my group never have to do shit on my projects, b/c i handle it all.

anywho, we had 3 active service lines before, and 2 of them got split out into different groups after the reorg. but this means that my dir is feeling the pressure. of the one that remains, you could consider them a, b, c. a i don't deal with. b, i do 60-70% of the whole department, and c, i created, but it's not considered a mandatory function, so it's not funded, so it's been on an exception, PoC basis for over a year.

now he's going to a new avp, and he's exposed b/c everyone in the whole org knows he don't do shit. he's a nice guy, though. (also the ceo bro-in-law, but you ain't heard it from me).

so, in this pitch tomorrow to our new 'boss' (i hate that term, ain't nobody the boss of me but God), my mgr got me pitching on service line C, and keeps referring to it as, we could have done more with it if we had more people. (i had NO people and was going to do it on the side, but the major reason we haven't had but 2 engagements over the last year is because it is not funded. because it is not mandatory. and the company don't even want to pay for the mandatory shit). i've told dude this at least 6 times in the last 2 mos.

to make it worse, to other white bols in the dept (one, a peer mgr, good guy, been working there forever, basically only does the financials for the dept, and the other, who don't do shit, and works for me (just so i have someone to split the time between the two big, funded projects i manage), are speaking to service line b. cool. but then my dir mentions an area i specifically created, implemented and had the other dude track, as their project.

so, basically, in the mtg tomorrow, i, who do 70% of the actual day to day for the whole directorship (as acting director, tech lead, etc), and who has contributed around 75 - 80% of the innovation in the department, at a process and technical level, am going to be pitching as if i'm only responsible for about maybe 10% of our present revenue / recoveries.

smmfh.

yeah. moves need to be made.

i don't feel bad about not telling him about the mtg i have w/ all the execs tomorrow.

i might let him know after the fact. might not.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad