A Working Aniversary

On June 30^th 1992 I started my career in information technology. That means for 19 years I have been slaving away for the man working full time. When I was “growing up” I would have never guessed this would be what I would be doing for a living. Let me state right up front, that I am very fortunate to have landed in a field where I have been able to stay employed for nineteen years. There have been many ups and downs. I have had great bosses and some brutal ones. I have seen this industry change right before my eyes.

My first day and “real” job was at IRI. It is where I would learn my craft and pay many a due. I have written many different times about my days at IRI. It was a wild place to work. It was a place where if you were thirty you were considered old. In retrospect it was a great first job. Sure, I didn’t make any money but I learned a hell of a lot and gained invaluable experience.

After IRI I put on my red pumps and short skirt and headed out on the corner and started consulting. I was a consultant for only two short years but it sure felt longer. I worked in four different offices in those two years. As someone who was never good at dealing with change, all that movement would wind up being extremely beneficial.

I finally landed a full time gig at Harris Bank. I owe a lot to Harris. I met my wife there. I met my current boss there as well. I spent nearly five years at the bank in total and I have to say all things considered it was probably my favorite spot of all the spots I have been at. I often said when I worked there that I was going to retire here. I would have if I hadn’t been outsourced to EDS. I worked for EDS for six months. They were six very long months. As much as I loved Harris Bank, once EDS took over it wasn’t the same. I had to move on. It wasn’t an easy decision but I could only take so much.

My next job was at Bank One. I was warned by my friend Chuck who got me the job. He told me friends don’t let friends work for Bank One. I should have listened. I was there three years and I was never really happy. I met some incredibly talented and super people. That is about the only nice thing I can say. The culture was negative. You never felt secure in your employment. The upper management of IT was the worst and laziest I have ever seen. It was all numbers which were easy to manipulate and in the end meant nothing. I supported the investment bankers who thought they were above everyone else in the world and treated the rest of society like shit. Bank One was bought out by JP Morgan Chase and that just ramped up the bullshit to the tenth power. After a year I started thinking of leaving. The fact that I made it three is really a minor miracle. There is no rule saying you have to love your job, but you have to be able to tolerate it and I really didn’t at Chase.

From Chase, I got lucky and had the exact opposite experience at my current job at CWT. I was hired at TQ3 Navigant by my old boss from my Harris days that I just happened to run into on lunch one day. We talked and from that conversation, in an alley in the Loop it led to my current job. I was at Navigant one whole solid month before we were bought out by Carlson. It hasn’t always been a bed of roses but, overall I like my job. I don’t dread going into the office.

I worked downtown with CWT until 2009 then the bomb was dropped that we were merging with our office in Downers Grove. About the only aspect of my job I dislike is the location. I miss terribly working in the loop. It should speak volumes about how much I like my current gig for as much as I hate the location. I miss taking the train, Venice Café, Perry’s Deli, walking to lunch in the summer, the hustle and bustle. But, in my five years here I haven’t really seriously thought about leaving. When we were first moving to the burbs I will admit to having some trepidation but after having worked for good management and poor management, I know that having a good boss trumps almost everything else. If you can’t stand the person you work for it affects everything else. So, that is why I stay here even if I have to make the trek to Blandsville, strip mall, USA, I mean Downers Grove.

A couple of things have got me through all these years with the moderate success I have had in this field. One is a lesson I learned from my Dad at a very young age. He was explaining to me and my brother that no matter what request a teacher had I should do it. I apply that to bosses. No matter how much I may disagree or think a request may be ludicrous, I do it. I may ask a question but, I would never undermine authority. Now privately I may wonder just what the hell a superior is thinking, but you won’t get anywhere in the world being openly rebellious. If you think your boss is that harebrained, change jobs or transfer to another department. I have had to do this on more than once occasion. Pleasing your direct superior is the best way to maintain job security.

Another trait that has helped me is focusing on the customer. I learned this from my Kmart years. Now, when I was at Kmart I have to admit I didn’t always practice the customer first philosophy. But, I was young and being so of course felt I was above any shopper who would choose to hit a Kmart. I didn’t know shit about shit of course but, at the time I felt I did and therefore spent most of my years there hitting on checkout girls and shooting the shit with my co-workers instead of what I was paid to do.

As I have gotten older though the focus on the customer mantra that was driven home to me by bosses like Mr. White has taken hold. You will never go wrong going out of your way to help a client. Sure, sometimes I get treated badly or I will be dealing with someone I just want to tell to take a flying jump. But, what good would that do? If I deem someone to be an asshole (and trust me at every job I have ever worked at I have had to deal with assholes, they are everywhere) I just make a mental note and put them from a priority standpoint down on my list. Or I will kill them with kindness and try to make them if they have a conscience feel like shit for treating me badly.

Lastly, you will never hear me say, that isn’t my job. At my current employment I have to wear a number of different hats, which I dig. Maybe from time to time I will have to do something that may be perceived as being beneath my education and training, but, so what? To me doing the supposed non IT functions are what breaks up the monotony of a day. If I was doing the same job function all the time, I would at a certain point want to hang myself out of boredom. So sometimes, I have to sweep up the server room or do some other manual labor. Big deal, last I checked it said CWT on the door and I was paid to work there. Maybe a certain task does not fall under my job description but what good would it be pointing that out? Just do the work, don’t complain about it and you will be surprised at the results.

I have had some real dumb asses for bosses and I have also had some of the best in the business. One thing I am not good at is being micromanaged. I thrive being able to do my job my way without having to explain every little detail. I work much better when I am on my own doing my own thing. You let me work this way you will get great results. I realize some people need to be given more direction. From my experience a good manager treats their employees on individual basis and molds to them and their personality. They don’t make everyone mold to their management philosophy. That is lazy and usually produces bad results.

I started at IRI as a wet behind the ears twenty three year old making $7 an hour in a PC Lab. This is how old I am, my job along with my co-workers was to ensure that every desk in the company had a computer on it. Most everyone was working on dumb terminals. It was before the internet and before e-mail if you can believe it. You could still smoke at your desk and company picnics and Christmas Parties were still prevalent. I remember walking out of my interviews and back to the train after being told I could start on Monday and realizing my life would never be the same. It was when I became a real adult, and that started real responsibilities. Sure, I fantasize like everyone does about going back in time and doing things differently. But, in the end I really don’t have much to bitch about. How many people can say that at forty two years old?