eastowners

We are moving to new hosting over the next couple of weeks.  Please bear with us as we pull this off.  In the meantime, here’s something I sent to the geeklist after a twitter post.

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Marc brought up a good question on Twitter, asking if I knew what my
ideal job would be.  In fact, this is something I’ve considered as
there are parts of this job that I absolutely love along with the
generalized disdain.  First some background on exactly what I do,
because I don’t think most of you even really know (hell… sometimes
-I- don’t).

I have assumed the role of IT architect here at Dematic.  You know
that line that says “duties as assigned” in your job description?
Well… -that’s- my job.  I can’t even say I primarily do any one
thing anymore.  I’m a subject matter expert on just about everything
to do with enterprise IT at an engineering and manufacturing company,
up to and including the financial aspects of running a medium-sized
enterprise IT organization.

My highly opinionated, loud mouth gets me tagged for all sorts of
shit, but ya know… I’m not unhappy about that.

This includes project management, admin of all sorts (security, active
directory, sccm/sms, san, network, exchange, vmware, linux/unix, etc),
it system design and implementation, development, resource management
(including capacity planning), support, and education.

Not that I do this stuff alone.  We have a great team here who are
also generally highly opinionated and loud (except for Brandon, who is
just not loud).  :)

As an example of my varied life, my current task list includes
virtualizing a couple of servers that haven’t been yet, writing a new
PC database application (along with automating the data population by
writing a couple of client-side applications), recommending revisions
to the capital forecast for FY09 by restructuring project proposals,
and providing back office support that Brandon would otherwise be
doing if he were not off gallivanting around Mexico celebrating his
nuptials.  :)

I’m learning C# and Linq at the moment.

Of those four or five items, three or four are doing things that I
generally love.  One, the restructuring of the capital forecast, would
be fine if it weren’t for the way in which I have to do it and the
reasons why.  Basically, there’s an expectation that we provide
something for which we are given no resources and expected not to
fail. When we point out the stupidity, we are laughed at.  It’s
maddening.  So we’re left with trying to do things the “least worst”
way instead of doing things right.

It’s counter-productive, illogical, expensive, and frustrating as hell.

So you ask, what is my idea of the perfect job?  It’s exactly what I’m
doing now, except with expectations and funding that align a little
closer.  Oh yeah… and I’d like to get away from a place that cuts
raises and erodes benefits, resulting in a salary cut.  That would be
nice.

I’d love to not feel the need to complain so much.  I feel like I’m
being a drag to my friends and family by becoming what I’ve become
lately. I’m being way too consumed by this stupidity and I think it’s
taking it’s toll on my relationships with others.  I’m concerned about
that.  No job is worth becoming a hermit over.

Barring ABAP programming, AS/400 and mainframe, I can handle just
about any modern (and some not-so-modern) job in IT.  -That- is one of
the coolest things about working here.  No silos equals a pretty
impressive gamut of technologies to get your hands dirty in.

On a positive note, I really like my manager.  I really really like
the crew here.  Those two things, combined with the opportunity to
really get my hands on a lot of tech, are what keep me here.  I guess
I don’t really hate my job, just -how- I have to do it.

Failure is something that I have a huge mental problem with. When
failure is eminent, I can see it, and explain to someone how to avoid
it, but they keep on going anyway, it kills me inside. I do not like
it when something I touch fails, even if it’s outside my control. My
idea of success is probably a lot higher than others as well.

That’s probably really my issue.  I want a place where I feel like I’m
not being setup for failure.

I feel like I’m writing a lot about myself and that it’s pretty
self-centered.  Perhaps others of you would like to chime in on Marc’s
question about what would be your perfect job.  I’d certainly like to
know what others think of that question and my thoughts and comments.

Fire away!