Three Stressful Weeks + Random Thoughts
These past three weeks have been... stressful.
Last, last week:
Monday, Tuesday and Friday I was supposed to be on CDO (compensatory day off) to study for my Oracle exam but I couldn't totally take out checking emails because of demanding customers. Tuesday I have had to go meet a customer face-to-face because there was this special measure for my application that we've been talking about in emails and phone calls with our technical SPOC for the past days and he just has difficulties understanding and the more we answer, the more questions he comes up with. Frustrating. Wednesday I attended a whole day training but the second part on Thursday got cancelled due to the typhoon. Thursday gave me a break, because the typhoon took away the electricity so I wasn't forced to work. Friday, I thanked God I passed my Oracle exam - Introduction to SQL :-) I don't have a certification yet because I need one more exam, but just taking it one step at a time...
Last week:
Hell week on our duty manager (DM) week. One box totally slowed to turtle-pace so all our jobs couldn't meet their timeliness targets, and eventually the box gave up and crashed. Then when the box was a bit ok though still slow, controlm (what we use for monitoring jobs) on two other boxes went down. Our team lead attended meetings with the big bosses almost every day, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning. Our team was really in full force. I got called up Sunday at around 2am to help a colleague who was drowning in issues. I worked til 4am when the issues subsided and she told me I could go back to sleep. Like I said, our team was in full force - united in crisis! I left my laptop connected in case issues poured again but she didn't call me again. I only learned the next day that issues did come pouring again but she didn't call me anymore. :p In the afternoon the DM also called for help from another teammate. But we managed the hell week by utilizing our team's available resources. It was a feat accomplished.
This week:
Busy with writing feedbacks for eight people as PPR season is here again. Attended one training; Prepared for and held two application trainings for new hires. Gathering results for my continuous improvement initiative. Answered emails and chats about my application. Attended two meetings. Checked and answered emails - which can be time-consuming when there are a lot. ETC.
I am on compensatory day off today but I'm on duty for three hours because we committed to working on an ADW shift on our non-DM week, and I've been so busy these past days that this is the only day I have the time to do the three-hour shift - on my day off.
Now for some random thoughts:
Officemates get the impression I'm happy. But I don't know if I am truly happy. I mean, all I asked for was a non-programming IT job, and that's what I got. So I don't know why I can't say wholeheartedly that I am truly, madly happy with my work. I guess it's the stress. They don't read my rants in LJ or see my fill a bucket with tears at home when there are frustrating issues or too demanding customers or too much to work piling up. But no, I'm not thinking of resigning yet. What's to say that if I move to another company I won't experience the same thing? It's a cutthroat industry for sure.
windang wrote in an earlier post "work-life balance is a choice". I do remember hearing that a few times before in HP trainings/talks and I understand where it's coming from. But right now with the stress I just think, if I have so many deliverables in tight deadlines, do I really have a choice? Can I afford not to work extended hours or sacrifice day offs to finish the tasks I need to deliver?
There are a lot of people in our team (not my DM team but the bigger team I'm part of) going to business trips abroad this year. A lot. People have been to Boston, China, Toronto, Cincinnati, Japan and of course the common destination - Poland. Mostly it's the additional work that's coming to us that's enabling us to go out. Two years ago people would never have dreamed it possible. Anyway I usually learn about people traveling when I hear it being discussed or when they ask me about travel requirements. But there were a few cases I would have wanted to hear it firsthand but didn't. Oh well, just teaches me to adjust expectations. *shrug*
On a happier note, my birthday's coming up at month-end. It falls on my DM week though, but my teammates have agreed not to give me duty that day. And though I'll be doing night shift that week, at least I'll be working from my Iloilo home.
Last, last week:
Monday, Tuesday and Friday I was supposed to be on CDO (compensatory day off) to study for my Oracle exam but I couldn't totally take out checking emails because of demanding customers. Tuesday I have had to go meet a customer face-to-face because there was this special measure for my application that we've been talking about in emails and phone calls with our technical SPOC for the past days and he just has difficulties understanding and the more we answer, the more questions he comes up with. Frustrating. Wednesday I attended a whole day training but the second part on Thursday got cancelled due to the typhoon. Thursday gave me a break, because the typhoon took away the electricity so I wasn't forced to work. Friday, I thanked God I passed my Oracle exam - Introduction to SQL :-) I don't have a certification yet because I need one more exam, but just taking it one step at a time...
Last week:
Hell week on our duty manager (DM) week. One box totally slowed to turtle-pace so all our jobs couldn't meet their timeliness targets, and eventually the box gave up and crashed. Then when the box was a bit ok though still slow, controlm (what we use for monitoring jobs) on two other boxes went down. Our team lead attended meetings with the big bosses almost every day, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning. Our team was really in full force. I got called up Sunday at around 2am to help a colleague who was drowning in issues. I worked til 4am when the issues subsided and she told me I could go back to sleep. Like I said, our team was in full force - united in crisis! I left my laptop connected in case issues poured again but she didn't call me again. I only learned the next day that issues did come pouring again but she didn't call me anymore. :p In the afternoon the DM also called for help from another teammate. But we managed the hell week by utilizing our team's available resources. It was a feat accomplished.
This week:
Busy with writing feedbacks for eight people as PPR season is here again. Attended one training; Prepared for and held two application trainings for new hires. Gathering results for my continuous improvement initiative. Answered emails and chats about my application. Attended two meetings. Checked and answered emails - which can be time-consuming when there are a lot. ETC.
I am on compensatory day off today but I'm on duty for three hours because we committed to working on an ADW shift on our non-DM week, and I've been so busy these past days that this is the only day I have the time to do the three-hour shift - on my day off.
Now for some random thoughts:
Officemates get the impression I'm happy. But I don't know if I am truly happy. I mean, all I asked for was a non-programming IT job, and that's what I got. So I don't know why I can't say wholeheartedly that I am truly, madly happy with my work. I guess it's the stress. They don't read my rants in LJ or see my fill a bucket with tears at home when there are frustrating issues or too demanding customers or too much to work piling up. But no, I'm not thinking of resigning yet. What's to say that if I move to another company I won't experience the same thing? It's a cutthroat industry for sure.
windang wrote in an earlier post "work-life balance is a choice". I do remember hearing that a few times before in HP trainings/talks and I understand where it's coming from. But right now with the stress I just think, if I have so many deliverables in tight deadlines, do I really have a choice? Can I afford not to work extended hours or sacrifice day offs to finish the tasks I need to deliver?
There are a lot of people in our team (not my DM team but the bigger team I'm part of) going to business trips abroad this year. A lot. People have been to Boston, China, Toronto, Cincinnati, Japan and of course the common destination - Poland. Mostly it's the additional work that's coming to us that's enabling us to go out. Two years ago people would never have dreamed it possible. Anyway I usually learn about people traveling when I hear it being discussed or when they ask me about travel requirements. But there were a few cases I would have wanted to hear it firsthand but didn't. Oh well, just teaches me to adjust expectations. *shrug*
On a happier note, my birthday's coming up at month-end. It falls on my DM week though, but my teammates have agreed not to give me duty that day. And though I'll be doing night shift that week, at least I'll be working from my Iloilo home.