I don’t absolutely love my job, but I do really really like it. My office is located in Northern Lancaster County, PA - Amish country, but our company has offices around the Eastern half of the state and I regularly travel to those places to meet with users and their managers (I work in IT). My job is project oriented, so I have a lot of leeway on how I approach it both long term and on a daily basis.
There are some things I don’t like - my primary location is 30 minutes from home, and the drive can be a drag sometimes. The company itself struggles with it’s own age (over 100 years) as we attempt to be more nimble and less wasteful. Let’s just say I lost track of the number of processes I’ve anylized only to find people don’t really understand why they do the things they do. Not everyone accepts change well, and not every manager encourages their employees to do so, and I sometimes feel like I’m doing their dirty work. Notable chunks of my budget often get dumped into other bins with short notice by the powers that be and my whole focus shifts immediately. Last year, I worked with an team for 3 weeks doing (already spending thousands of dollars) on an preliminary spec for a project that got canned because another department needed our funds to compensate for poor planning. Now (actually just last week) that same department is asking why we waited so long to start that original project, which still hasn’t started. Ugh.
Oh, and one more thing I struggle with at work. SOX. Can anyone relate?
But, I do really like what I do - I feel like I accomplish real tasks, and provide solutions. I feel like I “add value” to the company, and I try to do so in a way that fosters respect and comradary. Or at least I should say - I don’t drain money from the company and rarely make enemies.
That being said, people have asked me why I’m not working in Philly or it’s burbs where there’s more bucks to be made. I did work in that area once, and ended up stationed out of town (once even out of the country) 3 Easters in a row, which would be impossible in my current job. I’m not saying there’s anything inherently wrong with working in or near Philly, just setting you up for why old fashioned Lancaster County is a great place to work.
What’s all this have to do with being CJ’s Daddy? This was my boss’s email response when I told her of our upcoming trip…
“My goal is to have you leave and devote your full focus on your new daughter!!! We want to bother you as little as possible during this time with your new family.”
-nuff said!
Posted on February 29th, 2008 by CJs Daddy
Filed under: Thoughts
Awwwwww that is AWESOME. :0) Angel