work laid off more people, part of our new merger. the choices were the correct ones, as i’ve noticed our layoffs often are, between the competence and the relevance and the irreplaceability and compatibility. It makes you continue to value remaining valuable, if you are only clever enough to see the patterns before you.
Or lucky enough. People interpret differnt things different ways. Vehement fights over the stress of the new house and the old house and the children with my wife who i know is smart and steady and capable and tenacious…proof that confidence without crippling doubt is precious and elusive.
Post merger, we are the 3rd largest ecommerce company in the world. I alone must protect The Shopping Cart. I doubt it is that different at Microsoft. To be effective, you must keep an edge, every employee up to the top needs motivation. You need to be faster than the slowest guy, and smarter than the dinosaur, and specialize.
I am better than average. I installed a new router, built a java keystore, and upgraded the backup plugin on my website while tracking the McNabb trades on espn and learning about SiteShield. i can now answer the night’s email while still cozy in bed, and surf for porn from my balcony at blazing fast speeds. Project #5 was interrupted by Project #6. Upon returning to Projet #5, I will be immersed in a world of filters, forwarding and blacklists that I know little about. In a week I will be smarter and more marketable, during the next week I will be angst-ridden and ulcerated.
Last week I drove to the old home at rush hour, talked to the neighbors, went to veggies stand, gym, grocery store, then all the way out to scottsdale. It was trippy. i pick up my kids from school in a bike, while parents in suits and lexus’ look askance. i dont want them overscheduled, and i dont want me overscheduled, and i dont want to pay for square footage only to park in my garage. I enjoy my work, and would be doing it even if i wasn’t working. is the rat racing if he enjoys the exercise and the cheese?
I hear ya brother! no race.. just life in the world of tech. Received one of those ‘Customer Letters’ the other day (opposite of a ‘Dear John’ letter) from our biggest customer. It went straight to the managers, VP’s and execs that needed to see/hear it. In this day and age, dropping names and direct emails (from time to time) are the way I have to roll. We’re all ‘salesmen’ in some shape or form.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was the same way when the third caveman joined the second caveman in working for the first caveman. It was certainly that way in every company I ever worked for. The one at the bottom is always vulnerable when it comes time to tighten up the ship. There is no absolute way to insure survival except to own the company, and then you have to make sure the company stays in business. And to do that, unless you are a one-person operation, you have to make sure you have good people working for you. And that requires you to winnow out the bad (or less good, if you will) ones. And the beat goes on . . . Meanwhile, keep making yourself useful and as indispensable as possible; that leads to survival and, if you are fortunate, enjoyment (see next paragraph).
As to the other question, it really isn’t “working” if you’re enjoying what you do. It’s “fulfilling” – whatever that means to you, and you feel useful and enjoy what you are doing. You may have heard me say that one of the reasons I left my last job was that “it had stopped being fun” and I really meant it, or I could have stayed a few more years and filled a spot behind a desk while I built credits towards a pension. But the fun was over and it was time to move on, even if that meant foregoing a pension and not “working” at all. Since then, as you know,I have found “not working,” i.e. being retired to be extremely “fulfilling” and lots of fun. So, keep enjoying both life and the work – you’ll be better, happier,more fulfilled, etc. for it.
In a similar vein, Mom and I are getting a kick out of the current brouhaha between the public school teachers and our state legislature. The legislature, partially as a cost-cutting measure and partially in an attempt to improve the quality of teaching in our schools , has come up with the insane notion of doing away with tenure, grading teachers on the performance of their students, and paying them according to that grade instead of paying for longevity and academic degrees held. Did you ever hear of such a ridiculous and radical concept? Pay for performance. Wow! And this is the mentality of our teachers. To make matters even more inane, the “future teachers” (i.e., students still in college) are bombarding the legislature with petitions and planning to strike to retain the “good old, tried and true” way of doing things. How many of these place-holders and potential place-holders would it take to ruin your company?
— DAD
Man I love the attitude! Viva la resistance!