A new dawn
Well, today was no ordinary Wednesday. It started with promise, but that soon dissipated. I got into work to see something like 200 emails in my inbox, which is always a good sign. Someone came over saying 'the site went live last night, but they cannot proceed through the checkout'. Great. Stupid story short, it wasn't my fault. Essentially it's pretty much the fault of my boss, really - or rather, it's his responsibility. So that was a good feeling in itself, that something considered major wasn't actually my wrongdoing.
So we get that fixed up, and the rest of the day is UAT changes for another system I'm working on. It was a slow day, at best. It's kind of at the stage now where it's the annoying little things that they consider showstoppers that really aren't so bad.
But the interesting part comes when I was supposed to have a meeting with my boss. This is the follow up to the last review meeting almost a month ago now, during which he made it clear that I was not 'committed' enough, which we've been trying to have for a few days now. Well, it had to be today, because he goes in for surgery tomorrow (oh hey, my boss has cancer). So, after being postponed, what, five times already this week, he decided a phone call would be satisfactory. Basically, he said that 'I haven't been around a lot, so I can't tell if you've improved or not, so I want to keep you on trial until I return [note: a month at best], plus two weeks so I can monitor the situation'. That totals over five and a half months of probation period, primarily because he's not here.
I really don't want to get started on how piss-poor he is as a manager to start with, but this is blatantly just unfair.
But, coincidentally, I've been looking for a new job. Whether or not he was happy with me today, I'm still being paid less that I deserve, and working more hours to boot. Not that I'm all about the money, but I want what's fair. My boss has said it to me (and to others) that I have much more skill than what they were looking for, and that they employed me to do (as in, they only really wanted a frontend web builder, but they got..me!), so they've got me doing much more than just building HTML templates. So, why am I not being remunerated to reflect this increase in responsibility - to me it's only fair - I have more skill, so I get more compensation, as opposed to them having to hire a number of people to do just what I do.
In any case, during my last review meeting, I was told I'd be given a new contract and a list of key areas to improve upon. Since then, I've seen and heard nothing (except for a "oh, I've been a bit busy, but I'll email you the documents this afternoon"). Only to be told today that he didn't "feel" (his word specifically, as he hadn't been there a lot to witness) that I'd made any improvement. Improve on what? Well.. stuff. You know. Work 'n' junk. But really, I have been putting in more effort. Honestly, I'd made an effort to be more courteous toward the same staff that demand the impossible time and time again. I have helped 'the new guy' a whooole lot to keep him on track, and I've fit a heap of other project work around my current major project. Granted, for the majority of the time I've been leaving at knock-off time, but that's why it's knock-off time. I don't see much sense in staying later than necessary, but never mind. I've been doing more billable hours than ever, too. Guh, it's just stupid. I did make a conscious effort to improve, despite wanting to leave. I guess there's a sense of pride and self-worth at stake, but really, if they're going to be stupid about it, then I'm happy to leave.
After I got off the phone, I let Tim talk for a good ten minutes to my new superior guy, as he explained the ins-and-outs of how he'd be in charge of me now, before I took my resignation letter to another Director. He was a bit taken back, and took me into a meeting room and kind of asked 'is there any reason for it?' and I explained how I feel that 'the trial period is to determine if I'm in or out - by Tim's effort and reaction, I'm certainly not in, so I'll make the decision - I'm out'. He stated that he doesn't know the full back-story, so he respected the decision, and was sorry that I was not happier in my position, and that was about it.
Fun!
So what am I walking into? I hope it's in general just a better managed office. It's, I suppose, a 'medium' sized company - it's no Megacorp Inc, but it's not bad. 37.5 hours a week, 9-5 styles. 30% more money. That's about it. Really, the work is likely to be less interesting (from all gut feelings), and possibly less 'satisfying' work, but I'm looking forward to the experience.
Oh, the ultimate kick in the nuts? They basically offered my job to the contractor that sits opposite me. He's not bad, but I've had to hold his hand a lot of the way. Insane. He's really not that they need right now. They need more than just one, too. I mean, given that the studio manager left yesterday, and the technical director leaves tomorrow for a month, and the 'main' developer is away for three more weeks. Their solution(s)? Essentially, just lump the work on the existing staff, on top of their daily duties. That doesn't make any sense at all. Stupid. Maybe it does make sense, whatever, that's why I'm not a Director.
In the end, I'd really like to be able to stay at Sputnik - there's a lot of talent there, and it's really good - it's just there's an alarmingly dangerous pattern of mismanagement. All of the 'cutting edge' projects (which is a big drawcard to working there) seem to go to the same people, over and over. Granted, they're good at them, but seriously, it's boring for the rest of us. Sigh. Word is that there are quite a few more people ready to leave. Not sure if that's just the advertising game, or if they're in trouble. I'm guessing they'll land entirely on their feet, though. We'll see.
So we get that fixed up, and the rest of the day is UAT changes for another system I'm working on. It was a slow day, at best. It's kind of at the stage now where it's the annoying little things that they consider showstoppers that really aren't so bad.
But the interesting part comes when I was supposed to have a meeting with my boss. This is the follow up to the last review meeting almost a month ago now, during which he made it clear that I was not 'committed' enough, which we've been trying to have for a few days now. Well, it had to be today, because he goes in for surgery tomorrow (oh hey, my boss has cancer). So, after being postponed, what, five times already this week, he decided a phone call would be satisfactory. Basically, he said that 'I haven't been around a lot, so I can't tell if you've improved or not, so I want to keep you on trial until I return [note: a month at best], plus two weeks so I can monitor the situation'. That totals over five and a half months of probation period, primarily because he's not here.
I really don't want to get started on how piss-poor he is as a manager to start with, but this is blatantly just unfair.
But, coincidentally, I've been looking for a new job. Whether or not he was happy with me today, I'm still being paid less that I deserve, and working more hours to boot. Not that I'm all about the money, but I want what's fair. My boss has said it to me (and to others) that I have much more skill than what they were looking for, and that they employed me to do (as in, they only really wanted a frontend web builder, but they got..me!), so they've got me doing much more than just building HTML templates. So, why am I not being remunerated to reflect this increase in responsibility - to me it's only fair - I have more skill, so I get more compensation, as opposed to them having to hire a number of people to do just what I do.
In any case, during my last review meeting, I was told I'd be given a new contract and a list of key areas to improve upon. Since then, I've seen and heard nothing (except for a "oh, I've been a bit busy, but I'll email you the documents this afternoon"). Only to be told today that he didn't "feel" (his word specifically, as he hadn't been there a lot to witness) that I'd made any improvement. Improve on what? Well.. stuff. You know. Work 'n' junk. But really, I have been putting in more effort. Honestly, I'd made an effort to be more courteous toward the same staff that demand the impossible time and time again. I have helped 'the new guy' a whooole lot to keep him on track, and I've fit a heap of other project work around my current major project. Granted, for the majority of the time I've been leaving at knock-off time, but that's why it's knock-off time. I don't see much sense in staying later than necessary, but never mind. I've been doing more billable hours than ever, too. Guh, it's just stupid. I did make a conscious effort to improve, despite wanting to leave. I guess there's a sense of pride and self-worth at stake, but really, if they're going to be stupid about it, then I'm happy to leave.
After I got off the phone, I let Tim talk for a good ten minutes to my new superior guy, as he explained the ins-and-outs of how he'd be in charge of me now, before I took my resignation letter to another Director. He was a bit taken back, and took me into a meeting room and kind of asked 'is there any reason for it?' and I explained how I feel that 'the trial period is to determine if I'm in or out - by Tim's effort and reaction, I'm certainly not in, so I'll make the decision - I'm out'. He stated that he doesn't know the full back-story, so he respected the decision, and was sorry that I was not happier in my position, and that was about it.
Fun!
So what am I walking into? I hope it's in general just a better managed office. It's, I suppose, a 'medium' sized company - it's no Megacorp Inc, but it's not bad. 37.5 hours a week, 9-5 styles. 30% more money. That's about it. Really, the work is likely to be less interesting (from all gut feelings), and possibly less 'satisfying' work, but I'm looking forward to the experience.
Oh, the ultimate kick in the nuts? They basically offered my job to the contractor that sits opposite me. He's not bad, but I've had to hold his hand a lot of the way. Insane. He's really not that they need right now. They need more than just one, too. I mean, given that the studio manager left yesterday, and the technical director leaves tomorrow for a month, and the 'main' developer is away for three more weeks. Their solution(s)? Essentially, just lump the work on the existing staff, on top of their daily duties. That doesn't make any sense at all. Stupid. Maybe it does make sense, whatever, that's why I'm not a Director.
In the end, I'd really like to be able to stay at Sputnik - there's a lot of talent there, and it's really good - it's just there's an alarmingly dangerous pattern of mismanagement. All of the 'cutting edge' projects (which is a big drawcard to working there) seem to go to the same people, over and over. Granted, they're good at them, but seriously, it's boring for the rest of us. Sigh. Word is that there are quite a few more people ready to leave. Not sure if that's just the advertising game, or if they're in trouble. I'm guessing they'll land entirely on their feet, though. We'll see.