Work Stuff
So I finished yesterday my first week on my new job.
So the Guy who brought me to my old job was my boss at a previous place, and when he was appointed branch head he talked to me and asked if I'd come work there. since it was the best thing I could do (I was unemployed at the time, after my brief, 4-months adventure at Baker Hughes), having not a lot of experience and moving through two places within a year, I obviously took it.
These were not easy 3 and a half years. He's a capricious man, with very high demands and a great ability to humiliate people around him. I also had a very low salary, and as time went by the organization began to struggle and the atmosphere became much more tense. I won't even get into the social stuff that went on, because, well, that's just too damn long.
Even so, I stayed for a long while, but with the dawning comprehension that I still had very little experience in actual ENGINEERING. I also had a very good relationship with my boss, who, despite what I've written above, still treated me as a protege and backed me up whenever I needed him to. He also said constantly that I was the best worker he ever had.
But in January he was let go (there was major drama there) and the branch was left in the hands of his second in command, which was a misogynistic prick with a grandeur complex and the inability to realize what was going on, so I lost my back. I had to struggle more and more with my work over that time, and things that should have been given attention were cast aside for the grand total of money. Quality, which was my baby project at the branch and the thing I loved the most, went away without someone to let me have the time to maintain it. The more i thought about it, the more I realized it was time to go.
I started looking for a new job in May, but as August approached as well as the yearly quality assessment, I understood that I wasn't going to find something any time soon and made the decision to leave without having found any other job.
I had a few reasons for that - the first was, well, that I simply started to cry every morning when I got up. I simply didn't want to go to work, and it was starting to influence my mental state. The second was that I knew that if I stayed, I could be lured back in with false promises of stability and I knew that was no place for me. I also knew that the organization was failing (management system which belongs in the 80's, really), and last - I wanted to leave them to deal with the quality mess they created. I simply wanted to let them fucking stew, and realize that their behavior, incompetence and mostly disregard in what I warned them about had a price.
So I handed in my notice and worked it out, and by September 1st, I was out.
I had time, since I left my old job, to rest and recuperate; to plan and execute my trip to the USA with my little brother; and also to let myself search in peace for my next job.
I had very few phone calls, even though I must have sent out hundreds of resumes. In the end, the job I found was the one I interviewed for back in May. They were very keen on me back then, but they had an earlier candidate which looked good on paper, so they hired him, only to discover, after some time, that he's absolutely no good. Hence - I got the call and I was thrilled. It's a great company, old enough and stable enough and with room to grow and learn, and the job description is right up my ally. Hell, I couldn't have written it better myself if they'd let me.
So I went through all the process, including two interviews, 3.5 hours of computerized testing, an English evaluation (that was amusing - I have better English than my all my managers) and finally I made it to having a contract in my hands and a start date.
The first week was a bit of a mess - I still have nowhere to sit (since the guy I'm replacing doesn't officially know he's leaving since he needs to teach me stuff, which he won't do) and no computer, and I 'm not yet, well, in business, but i did manage to learn quite a lot and do some stuff. My boss, who is a woman, has very similar way of thinking as I do, and we seem to understand each other really well. she's a quality person, through and through, and that's fun to have. The job is quality only, which is great. It's my favorite thing, and I used to do all i do know and more for half the money.
There's also food - God, I can't stress enough how much that's important. I have coffee, several types of tea, milk and even soy milk at the kitchenette. There's cookies and fruit and sandwiches and yogurts. There's lunch, in two different places (meat and dairy). I have access to the company parking lot. I have no traffic on the way to and from work.
Discovering all that was wonderful this past week. I really have no complaint whatsoever (well, yet - nothing's perfect, I'm sure there will be difficulty in the future).
The greatest thing this week? My reflection in the mirror in the mornings. There was a smile. There was hope. There was expectation. It felt wonderful.
Simply wonderful.
[and this icon is here because it's true - for good or for bad - and this time it's good - there's no fate but what we make for ourselves.]
So the Guy who brought me to my old job was my boss at a previous place, and when he was appointed branch head he talked to me and asked if I'd come work there. since it was the best thing I could do (I was unemployed at the time, after my brief, 4-months adventure at Baker Hughes), having not a lot of experience and moving through two places within a year, I obviously took it.
These were not easy 3 and a half years. He's a capricious man, with very high demands and a great ability to humiliate people around him. I also had a very low salary, and as time went by the organization began to struggle and the atmosphere became much more tense. I won't even get into the social stuff that went on, because, well, that's just too damn long.
Even so, I stayed for a long while, but with the dawning comprehension that I still had very little experience in actual ENGINEERING. I also had a very good relationship with my boss, who, despite what I've written above, still treated me as a protege and backed me up whenever I needed him to. He also said constantly that I was the best worker he ever had.
But in January he was let go (there was major drama there) and the branch was left in the hands of his second in command, which was a misogynistic prick with a grandeur complex and the inability to realize what was going on, so I lost my back. I had to struggle more and more with my work over that time, and things that should have been given attention were cast aside for the grand total of money. Quality, which was my baby project at the branch and the thing I loved the most, went away without someone to let me have the time to maintain it. The more i thought about it, the more I realized it was time to go.
I started looking for a new job in May, but as August approached as well as the yearly quality assessment, I understood that I wasn't going to find something any time soon and made the decision to leave without having found any other job.
I had a few reasons for that - the first was, well, that I simply started to cry every morning when I got up. I simply didn't want to go to work, and it was starting to influence my mental state. The second was that I knew that if I stayed, I could be lured back in with false promises of stability and I knew that was no place for me. I also knew that the organization was failing (management system which belongs in the 80's, really), and last - I wanted to leave them to deal with the quality mess they created. I simply wanted to let them fucking stew, and realize that their behavior, incompetence and mostly disregard in what I warned them about had a price.
So I handed in my notice and worked it out, and by September 1st, I was out.
I had time, since I left my old job, to rest and recuperate; to plan and execute my trip to the USA with my little brother; and also to let myself search in peace for my next job.
I had very few phone calls, even though I must have sent out hundreds of resumes. In the end, the job I found was the one I interviewed for back in May. They were very keen on me back then, but they had an earlier candidate which looked good on paper, so they hired him, only to discover, after some time, that he's absolutely no good. Hence - I got the call and I was thrilled. It's a great company, old enough and stable enough and with room to grow and learn, and the job description is right up my ally. Hell, I couldn't have written it better myself if they'd let me.
So I went through all the process, including two interviews, 3.5 hours of computerized testing, an English evaluation (that was amusing - I have better English than my all my managers) and finally I made it to having a contract in my hands and a start date.
The first week was a bit of a mess - I still have nowhere to sit (since the guy I'm replacing doesn't officially know he's leaving since he needs to teach me stuff, which he won't do) and no computer, and I 'm not yet, well, in business, but i did manage to learn quite a lot and do some stuff. My boss, who is a woman, has very similar way of thinking as I do, and we seem to understand each other really well. she's a quality person, through and through, and that's fun to have. The job is quality only, which is great. It's my favorite thing, and I used to do all i do know and more for half the money.
There's also food - God, I can't stress enough how much that's important. I have coffee, several types of tea, milk and even soy milk at the kitchenette. There's cookies and fruit and sandwiches and yogurts. There's lunch, in two different places (meat and dairy). I have access to the company parking lot. I have no traffic on the way to and from work.
Discovering all that was wonderful this past week. I really have no complaint whatsoever (well, yet - nothing's perfect, I'm sure there will be difficulty in the future).
The greatest thing this week? My reflection in the mirror in the mornings. There was a smile. There was hope. There was expectation. It felt wonderful.
Simply wonderful.
[and this icon is here because it's true - for good or for bad - and this time it's good - there's no fate but what we make for ourselves.]