A job? that's right. A job.
Things have been busy the past couple of weeks, as I have finally landed a job. A real one, with decent pay!
For most of my life, I've worked in positions where I was the absolute low man on the totum pole. My first job out of school was in development with a private school in Culver City (there's probably a post about this somewhere). At this school there were five administrators, and each of them had an assistant. At holidays the admins would disappear for anywhere between one and three weeks (no kids in the school, after all). And all of the assistants would have to go up to work - even though there was nothing for us to do. Not many cut hours, not many days off. Just sitting around staring at each other. It was fun sometimes, granted. I really liked the other girls who were assistants. We cracked jokes about our servitude at the wealthy school, laughed at the fact that while all the admins were white Jewish women, the assistants were three four black women, a Cuban girl, and me. At Christmas one of the other girls referred to us as "The Happy Time Plantation."
It wasn't the most horrible job I could have, but there was a clear line dividing me from any of the important people. I tended to do things like stuff envelopes and drive around town looking for stamps (I KNOW there's a post about that somewhere). At my next job, I worked the front desk. Busier. More fun. But still, I was definitely the servant. I loved the other people in my office. But I didn't love the feeling of having all the extra work dumped in my lap. Even though I worked hard, a lot of my tasks felt silly. I didn't feel like I had a "real" job with official responsibilities.
Finally, I've found a position that feels like a good fit. I still hate Texas, granted, but I love this new job. I'm working for Hitachi (actually for a subsidiary, but I'll spare you the complicated details) doing database management. My department consists of myself and only two other people, and instead of one of us being the grunt worker, we divide the work equally across the board. It's a situation where each person has clear strengths and weaknesses, and we're actually working TOGETHER to get things done, as opposed to dumping work on any one person. And to top it all off, the job actually makes me feel useful and smart, as opposed to silly and inexperienced. It's a good feeling.
Plus, I get to take public transportation! I'm living in Ft. Worth now, and the job is in downtown Dallas (on the 36th floor of a pretty building with a nice view). The drive is about an hour, and my car is in bad shape, so everyday I take the train from one city to the other. I've always wanted to live in a city where I could take a train. I was always jealous of Ryan's brother, who lived in San Francisco and could take the Bart everywhere. Now I've gotten my wish. Plus I got a shiny new work laptop, and next week I'm getting a Blackberry. I feel very silly being excited about stuff like that, but it's fun to feel professional for once. And the best part is, I can work some days from home! yay!
More updates to come, as I think this will be an experience worth documenting - even if it's only to talk about the weird people on the train.
For most of my life, I've worked in positions where I was the absolute low man on the totum pole. My first job out of school was in development with a private school in Culver City (there's probably a post about this somewhere). At this school there were five administrators, and each of them had an assistant. At holidays the admins would disappear for anywhere between one and three weeks (no kids in the school, after all). And all of the assistants would have to go up to work - even though there was nothing for us to do. Not many cut hours, not many days off. Just sitting around staring at each other. It was fun sometimes, granted. I really liked the other girls who were assistants. We cracked jokes about our servitude at the wealthy school, laughed at the fact that while all the admins were white Jewish women, the assistants were three four black women, a Cuban girl, and me. At Christmas one of the other girls referred to us as "The Happy Time Plantation."
It wasn't the most horrible job I could have, but there was a clear line dividing me from any of the important people. I tended to do things like stuff envelopes and drive around town looking for stamps (I KNOW there's a post about that somewhere). At my next job, I worked the front desk. Busier. More fun. But still, I was definitely the servant. I loved the other people in my office. But I didn't love the feeling of having all the extra work dumped in my lap. Even though I worked hard, a lot of my tasks felt silly. I didn't feel like I had a "real" job with official responsibilities.
Finally, I've found a position that feels like a good fit. I still hate Texas, granted, but I love this new job. I'm working for Hitachi (actually for a subsidiary, but I'll spare you the complicated details) doing database management. My department consists of myself and only two other people, and instead of one of us being the grunt worker, we divide the work equally across the board. It's a situation where each person has clear strengths and weaknesses, and we're actually working TOGETHER to get things done, as opposed to dumping work on any one person. And to top it all off, the job actually makes me feel useful and smart, as opposed to silly and inexperienced. It's a good feeling.
Plus, I get to take public transportation! I'm living in Ft. Worth now, and the job is in downtown Dallas (on the 36th floor of a pretty building with a nice view). The drive is about an hour, and my car is in bad shape, so everyday I take the train from one city to the other. I've always wanted to live in a city where I could take a train. I was always jealous of Ryan's brother, who lived in San Francisco and could take the Bart everywhere. Now I've gotten my wish. Plus I got a shiny new work laptop, and next week I'm getting a Blackberry. I feel very silly being excited about stuff like that, but it's fun to feel professional for once. And the best part is, I can work some days from home! yay!
More updates to come, as I think this will be an experience worth documenting - even if it's only to talk about the weird people on the train.