The year 2010 was special in one very important way: I landed my dream job. It rescued me just in time from the slowly maddening existence I had at my last job.
First off, let me say that the company I used to work at wasn’t all bad. In fact, it’s one of the top-ranked places to work in the country. There were bagels and fruit on weekday mornings and beer Friday afternoons. The benefits were good, too. All of that would’ve been great had I not been in the department I was in, where sweatshop-like schedules were the norm.
The work I had to do was often interesting. I enjoyed the advanced system administration that comes with running a 50,000 datacenter. I quickly devised new ways of automating the process of deploying systems. It was great to work with skilled coworkers who could show me tricks I didn’t know before. I learned a bit from everyone, and that was the great thing.
Then there was the work that was not so interesting. If anyone asks you to do “cable pulls,” run away as fast as you can. It may be the most mind-numbing thing I’ve ever done. Fortunately I didn’t do a lot of it but I did enough to know that it sucked. Royally.
For most of my time at this company I was a contractor. That meant I could work regular, 40 hour weeks. It also meant I was essentially ineligible to get any real training. While that would’ve been fine had I continued doing sysadmin work, instead I got bounced from one project to another every few months as the department reorganized. I was always expected to do work that I had never been properly trained to do. It was frustrating.
Morale suffered greatly, too. My coworkers sometimes worked 20 hour days but when performance reports were done and bonuses were handed out they got shafted. I watched all of this from the sidelines of a contractor, happy that I would not be subject to the same treatment, until my boss walked up to me one day and offered me a salaried position. Well, he really didn’t offer me a position as much as telling me if I didn’t take it my contract would be over. Though it was not a good offer I had no choice but to take it.
Things did not get better. Key people began drifting off to different departments, taking whatever exits were available. Grouching became the norm. The joy of learning and growing as a sysadmin was no longer there. It just wasn’t fun.
Then one day I happened to check my LinkedIn page and found a listing for a sales engineer. It was a small but rapidly growing company and it was in a field where I had lots of experience. I jumped at the chance to apply, responding that very hour to the position. After a round of interviews and a face-to-face meeting, I was offered the job.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I love my new job. I’m a sales engineer – a role I was meant to do. I have amazing coworkers. I sell an awesome product. And, I work some place that values my input. Plus I have no commute as I work from home. Instead of a stifling cubicle I overlook the large, bright windows of my home office.
Some people love the predictability and stability that working for a large company offers. The problem is that stability is an illusion. Large companies lay off workers just as small ones do, only they lay off more people. And they lay off more people with skills just like yours. So they flood the job market at the same time you’re struggling to find a job. At least with a smaller company, there will be no secrets about one’s success or failures, nor of the company’s.
I’m thriving on the excitement and it’s a feeling I don’t think I’ll ever lose. I was unbelievably fortunate last year to find a job that is perfect for me.