promo-what?
I am no longer the 'software and solutions specialist' - which turns out to be a REAL job description from a formal dusty book this organization has. I am now the Assistant Director.
I discovered all of this in a passing conversation and went to administration with probing questions to get to the bottom of it.
As it turns out, what I can earn increases, but they are not describing any accompaying pay increase with the title change at this point.
That's ok, because I'm quite content to now have a shorter signature line in my email.
It's always nice to indirectly find you've been promoted.
All this on the same day my boss leaves for a 2 month 2 week sabatical-vacation and i had to work late to milk his brain for every last drop before he disappears. Oh yea, and we get 3 new employees who of course will need computers and training and what not, and had a hard drive fail in a work station. See ya boss. I got this.
I hope.
I discovered all of this in a passing conversation and went to administration with probing questions to get to the bottom of it.
As it turns out, what I can earn increases, but they are not describing any accompaying pay increase with the title change at this point.
That's ok, because I'm quite content to now have a shorter signature line in my email.
It's always nice to indirectly find you've been promoted.
All this on the same day my boss leaves for a 2 month 2 week sabatical-vacation and i had to work late to milk his brain for every last drop before he disappears. Oh yea, and we get 3 new employees who of course will need computers and training and what not, and had a hard drive fail in a work station. See ya boss. I got this.
I hope.
posted by forkev at 7/26/2006 04:25:00 PM
6 Comments:
dude, thats awesome! run a tight ship why the boss is gone and prove you can replace him when he choose to vacation-sebatical for good.
i truly wish I could smile real big and say that is my plan.
politics are more complicated than that.
I've been having an ongong conversation with a good coworker who really considers himself the underdog and that no one really appreciates him. He made an interesting observation yesterday:
"we are either understaffed, doing to much, or unorganized. we simply do not have enough time to meet expectations" and then he went on to discuss that he feels it's an ethical delima to only do his job 'so it barly scrapes by' and that as a christian, he feels his product should be better then that. I argue that I do the best I can for the bosses, and if stuff falls through the cracks, i'll take it up with them. I also put forth that i'm concerned, because thus far when management has had to choose between keeping some piddly project happy, and the infastructure secure and maintained, they choose the project. why? becuase the little people always scream louder, and the big guys just quietly remind us every now and again 'hey, you were helping us, right? how long is this gonig to take?'
I setout yesteday to do about 2 hours of feature programming on a new web program. I got about 15 minutes and spent the rest of the day firefighting. ya know, even for people that aren't even in my emediate organization.
My boss has spent YEARS (count them, 23) setting up a corporate culture where we are a team and help those in need. our department is a resouce for those at the end of their rope and people can count on us in a pinch. the problem is, when you stick you neck out there for everyone, the only people you end up spending most of your time with are those in crisis mode as they discover we run a last in fist out shop. why? that was the last person that had a need. and most of our reoccuring needs are peole that did not pay attention last time becasue expectations are low in our corporate culture for retention on 'technical issues' you know, like printing to a 2300$ xerox printer with 2 up and duplexing. I've spent up to 15 hours a week helping people with projects on that one machine... well, i digress.
Therefore, i'd absolutely LOVE to change things, but when the little people start going to the bosses with observations i'm not available on a moments notice, i'm in deep doodoo. I've been told in non-ambigious terms that I am to be available for anyone at the drop of a hat because our organizations success depends on it and THAT is why I was hired.
Sooo.... you think I should rebuild server backups (we only have 3TB) or help setup 3 new workstations with only a days notice?
I am pretty sure if I close my door and do the things that need doing it'll put an irreconcileable difference between me and management. Yet if I just wait around for core stuff to destroy it's self, that is bound to cost me my job. I can also work 60 hours a week, and snap at the little guy so they don't come around as often and try to kill 2 birds with one huge stone while watching my marital relationship flounder because i've prioritized work over family.
I think I see some more smoke. gotta go.
** grabs ax, a chainsaw, and his windows scripting book, and continues to use his day off at 8am to pick up where he left off programming***
2300$ should be $23,000.00 xerox multi function color laser scanner printer. complete with accounts printed out and slapped on the front, and the 3 xerox 1-800 help numbers laminated on the front. But of course, kevin is easier because he's closer then the phone.
ho ho ho. it's a great day.
i just found out a 'fix' i performed on may 17 was never tested per my request by the people demanding it. apparently it was not near as important as they led me to beleive as they just emailed me today, yes, on my day off, and said it was not working and they needed it fixed now.
hey, it's only been a few months, i'm on it. the customer is always right.
I have found that tracking systems really take time to use, but in the long run realy get you credit where credit is do. if you have everyone log a request to your department (large or small) it will allow you see real time what your project spread is. for anything that needs less than 2 hr resonse, it has to get cleared by a manager. then... when you get a request, and you solve in in less than 2 hours, you drop it in the sytem, and you can see what was priority and what was not. in the end, you could have good justification to hire a $7/hour temp to do all the crap work while you hold down the fort on the big projects.
ohhh....... and the departments (IT) that have implemented this type of system REFUSE to do ANY WORK until you enter a case. it took some getting use to, but once you enter a case, you know it has visibility and know it will get worked sooner or later.
our system is a case is entered, usually over the web by the end user, and then somoene assigns it to a resident expert. who then signs it off when it is completed, or writes to the oriigonal author to get more info.
It does not matter to IS until there is a clear quest case submitted... They they will look at it... Oh and for little stuff (like you get your secure id out of sync) they staff a 24/7 tech suppoort team.
I'm somewhat of a resource in my current job and probably spend about 20-30% of my time answering questions... The good thing is that by the time the questions get to me, only the really interesting ones are left... Well that is great, but when someone drops by to ask a question and you know it would take you a week to answer it fully it is a little frustrating. There are points where I have a line of people outside my cube waiting to ask questions... It is kinda fun, but I have to focus to stay ahead of the curve.
I figure I'm paid to be there as much as anything and my supervisor and manager know how I spend my time so whatever doesn't get done isn't my problem. I don't feel that is necessary to work overtime due to inadequate staffing. Ultimately schedules get pushed out and that's just the way things are. I often wander why we don't hire more engineers, but I think GOOD engineers (like many other professions) are difficult to find.
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