The End of a Chapter
I can haz a new job. It seems to mark the end of a chapter in my life - or perhaps a stanza or some such. I'll be doing really the same thing in the new job as this one, but the fact is I'll be doing it for (and with) different people.
It has been an interesting lead-up to today over the last four weeks. Ever since I handed my resignation notice in, it's been somewhat of a lottery every day wondering if today was the day that the directors would let people know that I was leaving. See, there was a girl at my work that left just a week or two ago. She gave at least four weeks notice, but the directors didn't announce it until within a week of her leaving - but by this stage, everyone (that cared) already knew that she was going. The directors weren't fooling anyone. Anyway, today had come, and still very few people knew that I was leaving.
It got interesting when I was asked by Alex if I'd be able to do some work for her some time over the next couple of days. I told her I couldn't, she asked why I couldn't, I told her that I wouldn't be here, she asked where I was going to be, and I told her that I put my four weeks notice in four weeks ago. She was pretty shocked in general, and was even more stunned that no one had told her. It was quite honestly the most awkward moment I've had at Sputnik. It's certainly not my role to tell all of the staff that I was leaving. This moment alone is complete testement to why I'm leaving in the first place.
So after that, somehow word got around a little bit more that I was leaving, and I guess the directors then realised that today was indeed the day. A bit of a scurry later, Neil (the guy managing the project I've been focussing on over the last couple of months), had a chat to Go, and came to talk to me. He was pretty worried, and Go was super-stressed in general - half a day surely wasn't enough time to initiate the handover that was really, really necessary.
So whilst at lunch, I missed a call from a number I didn't recognise. When I got back to the office, Rob (a director) caught me as he was heading out. He asked me what my availability was like for the remainder of the week, and if it was possible that I'd be able to stick around until the end of the week because "we forgot to be super organised" about my departure. I told him that I was available, and I let him scurry out. Seriously though, how many weeks of notice do I need to give for a company to get organised? How hard is it to plan a hand-over?
On top of this, Rob emailed me a few weeks ago asking when my last day was going to be. I told him it'd be the thirteenth, but I was willing to see out the week if required/desired (as my current boss is away ill - I'd help out with the transition as much as possible in his absence). In reply to that email, I got nothing at all. The ball was entirely in their court, but it was ignored. I don't know if they made assumptions from that, but I was never in the loop. All I needed was a quick reply saying 'okay, cool, if you stayed the whole week, that'd be good'.
So after Rob left, I realised that we didn't really discuss much at all about how it was to pan out. So I drafted an email to Rob basically saying that I'm finishing up today, if I came back tomorrow, it'd be as a freelancer, and I want $95 an hour to do it. I also said that I wasn't sure that I'd need to be there for the entire two days, but it seemed that some documentation was needed, so I'd focus on that, and if necessary/desired, I could complete some programming asks that were outstanding.
Some time then elapsed, and Rob took a while to return to the office. When he did, he pulled me aside to have a chat about what I put forward to him. First, he started by saying that from the conversation we had, he was implying they'd just extend my employment by a couple more days - meaning I'd be on my already average pay-rate until Friday. I told him that today was the end of my notice period, and four weeks is plenty of time to organise what they wanted, and that if I were to return, it'd be as a freelancer. He then asked how much I wanted to work for, so I told him $95 (just as in the email). He wasn't too impressed, I guess, and asked if that was my best/final/something offer. I told him I'm willing to listen if he wanted to negotiate, so he then actually had the stupidity/balls to ask what I would actually work for. Again, I told him $95. He made a comment that $95 an hour is significantly higher than my current rate, and I told him that I hadn't anticipated on being at work for the next two days, so it'd need to be worth my while to come in. I figured that was fair - if I get paid the right money, and he needs a bit of work done, it's mutually beneficial, right? Of course not! He then asked again if that was final figure, and asked again the exact dollar value of what I was willing to work for, so I again told him that it's $95, and that if he had another figure in his mind, this is the part of negotiation where he puts forward his ideas. Instead of negotiating (which was his idea in the first place?), he stated that "I'm not playing this game", told me that we were done, and walked off.
Really, I think it was a bit of a stubborn move on their behalf, and a bit of a bold one. In reality, I was willing to work for much less than that, but he wouldn't even engage me at all, so it's lose/lose for them. See, all of the documentation and hand-over stuff hasn't been done at all. Nothing. So even half a day at $95/hr for me would likely save them that much money quite easily. Instead, they'll take someone else off their project (already with pressing deadlines) to spend a day trying to work out how it works, make the minor changes, and then get back to their project again. No deadlines will move back at all, just that someone's going to have to work a whole lot more in order to make up the time. So yeah, they still have my phone number and my hourly rate. I'm willing to help them out, but it's gotta be worthwhile for me. But Jesus, they had four entire weeks to do this. Instead, they got nothing. Sucks to be them.
So, when Cummo was leaving, he shook my hand and told me not to be a stranger and to drop by some time, and that I knew where the beer fridge is. I kinda paused and told him "yeah, but I totally don't drink". Haha, it was kind of amusing, just how little they really knew me, you know? But yeah, I'm appreciative anyway, it's a nice gesture. I'll probably take them p on it some time.
But on a soppier note, I'm really going to miss the dudes there. Lunchtimes will likely never be as humorous, and day-to-day musings will likely never be quite so quirky. There are a lot of really talented, interesting people at Sputnik. It's just the (lack of) management that's ruining the experience for everyone. It wouldn't have taken much at all, and I'd still be moderately happily working for them. They'd have a decent worker for a relatively decent pay rate.
So yes, I'm thankful for my time there, but I'm out there rolling the dice to see what the next phase of life has in store for me. The future is still surely bright, but I'll really miss being there. Thanks for the good times and the smiles and the mutual dissatisfaction and the free beer (that I never drank) and everything else that was good. I'll be in touch, for sure.
I can has a stick.
It has been an interesting lead-up to today over the last four weeks. Ever since I handed my resignation notice in, it's been somewhat of a lottery every day wondering if today was the day that the directors would let people know that I was leaving. See, there was a girl at my work that left just a week or two ago. She gave at least four weeks notice, but the directors didn't announce it until within a week of her leaving - but by this stage, everyone (that cared) already knew that she was going. The directors weren't fooling anyone. Anyway, today had come, and still very few people knew that I was leaving.
It got interesting when I was asked by Alex if I'd be able to do some work for her some time over the next couple of days. I told her I couldn't, she asked why I couldn't, I told her that I wouldn't be here, she asked where I was going to be, and I told her that I put my four weeks notice in four weeks ago. She was pretty shocked in general, and was even more stunned that no one had told her. It was quite honestly the most awkward moment I've had at Sputnik. It's certainly not my role to tell all of the staff that I was leaving. This moment alone is complete testement to why I'm leaving in the first place.
So after that, somehow word got around a little bit more that I was leaving, and I guess the directors then realised that today was indeed the day. A bit of a scurry later, Neil (the guy managing the project I've been focussing on over the last couple of months), had a chat to Go, and came to talk to me. He was pretty worried, and Go was super-stressed in general - half a day surely wasn't enough time to initiate the handover that was really, really necessary.
So whilst at lunch, I missed a call from a number I didn't recognise. When I got back to the office, Rob (a director) caught me as he was heading out. He asked me what my availability was like for the remainder of the week, and if it was possible that I'd be able to stick around until the end of the week because "we forgot to be super organised" about my departure. I told him that I was available, and I let him scurry out. Seriously though, how many weeks of notice do I need to give for a company to get organised? How hard is it to plan a hand-over?
On top of this, Rob emailed me a few weeks ago asking when my last day was going to be. I told him it'd be the thirteenth, but I was willing to see out the week if required/desired (as my current boss is away ill - I'd help out with the transition as much as possible in his absence). In reply to that email, I got nothing at all. The ball was entirely in their court, but it was ignored. I don't know if they made assumptions from that, but I was never in the loop. All I needed was a quick reply saying 'okay, cool, if you stayed the whole week, that'd be good'.
So after Rob left, I realised that we didn't really discuss much at all about how it was to pan out. So I drafted an email to Rob basically saying that I'm finishing up today, if I came back tomorrow, it'd be as a freelancer, and I want $95 an hour to do it. I also said that I wasn't sure that I'd need to be there for the entire two days, but it seemed that some documentation was needed, so I'd focus on that, and if necessary/desired, I could complete some programming asks that were outstanding.
Some time then elapsed, and Rob took a while to return to the office. When he did, he pulled me aside to have a chat about what I put forward to him. First, he started by saying that from the conversation we had, he was implying they'd just extend my employment by a couple more days - meaning I'd be on my already average pay-rate until Friday. I told him that today was the end of my notice period, and four weeks is plenty of time to organise what they wanted, and that if I were to return, it'd be as a freelancer. He then asked how much I wanted to work for, so I told him $95 (just as in the email). He wasn't too impressed, I guess, and asked if that was my best/final/something offer. I told him I'm willing to listen if he wanted to negotiate, so he then actually had the stupidity/balls to ask what I would actually work for. Again, I told him $95. He made a comment that $95 an hour is significantly higher than my current rate, and I told him that I hadn't anticipated on being at work for the next two days, so it'd need to be worth my while to come in. I figured that was fair - if I get paid the right money, and he needs a bit of work done, it's mutually beneficial, right? Of course not! He then asked again if that was final figure, and asked again the exact dollar value of what I was willing to work for, so I again told him that it's $95, and that if he had another figure in his mind, this is the part of negotiation where he puts forward his ideas. Instead of negotiating (which was his idea in the first place?), he stated that "I'm not playing this game", told me that we were done, and walked off.
Really, I think it was a bit of a stubborn move on their behalf, and a bit of a bold one. In reality, I was willing to work for much less than that, but he wouldn't even engage me at all, so it's lose/lose for them. See, all of the documentation and hand-over stuff hasn't been done at all. Nothing. So even half a day at $95/hr for me would likely save them that much money quite easily. Instead, they'll take someone else off their project (already with pressing deadlines) to spend a day trying to work out how it works, make the minor changes, and then get back to their project again. No deadlines will move back at all, just that someone's going to have to work a whole lot more in order to make up the time. So yeah, they still have my phone number and my hourly rate. I'm willing to help them out, but it's gotta be worthwhile for me. But Jesus, they had four entire weeks to do this. Instead, they got nothing. Sucks to be them.
So, when Cummo was leaving, he shook my hand and told me not to be a stranger and to drop by some time, and that I knew where the beer fridge is. I kinda paused and told him "yeah, but I totally don't drink". Haha, it was kind of amusing, just how little they really knew me, you know? But yeah, I'm appreciative anyway, it's a nice gesture. I'll probably take them p on it some time.
But on a soppier note, I'm really going to miss the dudes there. Lunchtimes will likely never be as humorous, and day-to-day musings will likely never be quite so quirky. There are a lot of really talented, interesting people at Sputnik. It's just the (lack of) management that's ruining the experience for everyone. It wouldn't have taken much at all, and I'd still be moderately happily working for them. They'd have a decent worker for a relatively decent pay rate.
So yes, I'm thankful for my time there, but I'm out there rolling the dice to see what the next phase of life has in store for me. The future is still surely bright, but I'll really miss being there. Thanks for the good times and the smiles and the mutual dissatisfaction and the free beer (that I never drank) and everything else that was good. I'll be in touch, for sure.
I can has a stick.
symfony! It makes me happy and it makes me smile. I've been a pretty big advocate of symfony for over a year now, and I really enjoy every chance I get to play with it. From simple mockups to more advanced development, I find symfony to speed me up soo much. Woo woo! symf-vangelist number one!