Saturday, October 3, 2009

Rough Times

"I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." -Duke Leto Atreites
Things have come to a head at the job. I've been told I have a month to find a job elsewhere. Such is the reward for a decade of working 60+ hour weeks. I am already interviewing, and have a few irons in the fire. I do need to move quickly, though. If the new employer finds out I'm out of a job, then they can lowball the offer, figuring I'll be desperate enough to take it.

It is my responsibility. I was too dense to see the truth of the working relationship between my inept manager and the higher levels of management. I have misread the relationship between my boss and the enterprise architect. Arguing with the architect is pointless, as my boss is drinking the magical kool-aid this guys' spouting. Regardless if I am 100% right, I should have been perceptive enough not to make these kinds of mistakes.

Now the company is going to have to break a whole lot of internal policies to fire me. I'm not sure why they don't just lay me off, other than they don't want to spend any money. I have an excellent case to collect unemployment if they do fire me because of these neglected HR procedures. I can easily demonstrate that this was a hostile workplace. If I quit I get nothing, and my Boss really, really wants me to quit. So since he might not be able to get rid of me, then I almost certainly have more than 4 weeks. It takes 1 year to fire someone where I work from normally.

My plan is to get out of there without lawsuits and everything else. The reason is there are only a few companies that can hire and pay IT guys of my level, so if a stink is raised, then they will catch wind and I might fuck myself out of a job. So I'm keeping quiet for now, but documenting EVERYTHING.

I had two interviews yesterday, one with a headhunter, and another with a company a friend works at. Both were "getting to know you" interviews, but at least I'm out there. I feel I made a good impression. I had to drop $1,000 on suits for interviews, a required expense for my salary bracket. I almost bought a stainless steel Savage in .308 for a hunting rifle on Sunday. Good thing I held off.

So I'm sorry I haven't been posting a much, but once I get settled somewhere else I will post more often. I almost have the next segment of the story done, and I want to talk a bit about the conspiracy craziness out there., and the American Police Force and who knows what else.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your job troubles. I hope you can hit the ground running somewhere else. Im looking forward to reading your next installment of what I call "The Natog Chronicles".

Mayberry said...

Good luck Natog. And you ain't alone in the "incompetent management" department....

Sunfighter said...

Make them fire you. But keep the job search in super high gear. I don't care how technical you are, the tech job market still blows.

I am glad I am retired from it. It's cut throat. Most managers in the tech field are simple minded little jerks.

Keep the search going strong because if you look when you become unemployed, it gets much harder to land a tech job. A few months and it get's almost impossible to get back in.

Play the fool and don't let the company play you. Lotsa luck.

Herbalpagan said...

Give us a call, hubby might know of something. Good luck!

Pete Smith said...

It's killer out there, so good luck. I decade of work and boom, that sucks man I wish you the best. Pete

http://patriotsagainstthenwo.blogspot.com/

Ryan said...

Sorry to hear about the job troubles. Good lock finding something elsewhere.

Ryan said...

Prolly a good thing you didn't get the rifle. When you get that first check from the new job it will be a nice treat!