New Job

Learning new stuff...totally different from what I was doing before....brain hurt, skull expanding to try to accomodate more info.....cerebelum liquifying melt down imminent.

I got the Job.

Completely new type of job for me starting on the 22nd. I am looking forward to something new and a little ... nervous I guess is the word about something completely new. I am moving out of a support and engineering type role and into a testing and documenting role. I will need to do some serious improving to my writing skill. I had planned on taking a technical writing course this semester, but decided to take a break between the AS and BS phase of my formal education. I did find out that I have the equivalent of a BS EE from my Navy career and now have an AS in Technology Studies and will work towards a BS in Information Systems Management.

I guess if I want to make any more significant increases to my income, I will have to consider at some point moving into management, however I may not do that before I retire at my planned retirement age of 56, of course when I say retirement it is a relative term, I'll definitely want to switch to a lower stress, more fun but probably a less lucrative job to keep myself occupied.

Next Step.

Well the interviews are done, I did well, as usual.
I would feel good about my chances even if I hadn't already been
told to get ready to move (figuratively) and that I should be
contacted next week. Pays the same, I get to keep all my accrued
benefits and time to retirement....but the Job will be as big a change in
paradigm as I have ever made in my working career.

Big Changes

Major Career happenings in the works for me. Things will be slow here (for a bit longer), but not dead or forgotten. Don't ya just hate that feeling before plunging head first into something risky and utterly new?

Time for a change

Over the last little while I have been noticing that I fell into a trap where I let work become all and life almost nothing. I noticed that while I was working I was fighting the system and ramming my head into brick walls (metaphorically) over and over again trying to halt what I see is a downward spiral in my department and when I was not working, I was thinking about work. This situation leads to a build up of stress that can make one angry and irritable and one has to step back and ask. "For what?" With these thoughts in my mind, I decided that I needed a change. Many times I thought I would do some job hunting to find a different place to work and time after time I found that all I would be doing is trading in one headache for another. From what I can see, it appears that the American Technology Industry is looking like a pack of lemmings. I see Managers and Senior managers who have no experience with technology trying to lead, but their vision of leadership is to ignore the very experts they hire to advise them. It is as if they want to do the exact opposite of what their hired professionals tell them needs done. It also seems as if an expert from outside the company is automatically more knowledgeable than anyone who was silly enough to become an actual employee of said company.

I decided a week ago after talking to a friend in a different department that maybe if I cannot seem to find a good fit at another company, perhaps I can make a direction shift within my own.
To that end, yesterday I officially applied for a different position in my company, which still IT related would take me out of the hardcore technical side of things and put me more into the leadership and management side of things. Inside sources lead me to believe I would be a perfect win win for that group, however there are political issues centered on geographical location that may throw a wrench into my plans. I look at it as a "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" type of thing. I have always enjoyed being a "Technical Expert" and advising management, but now that "Management" does not appear to trust nor want advice from those they hired to do the advising...it may well be time for me to move on to a new phase. One thing I AM sure of, is that under no circumstances will I relocate to California.

Now, all I need to do is manage to make my brain shut off when I'm not working so I can focus on having a life again. I know it is possible, but like all worth wile things, it takes some work.

Oh and anyone who knows of anyone who is in need of a very experienced UNIX System Admin who has years of leadership experience feel free drop a line to immagikman@gmail.com.
Salary and Location negotiable as long as it is not in NY, IL, CA or MA ;)