Friday, May 19, 2006

Warning: growing experience ahead

It looks like it is official. I had a terrible experience several years ago working for two certain people in my department. In order for me to be a productive, happy employee I require a few simple things- responsibility and inclusion in the project. It is one of my biggest weaknesses, but I have to feel like what I am doing matters or I don't do it well.

It was 10 months of misery for me which was a downward spiral ending with me being completely unproductive and unsure of my abilities. And now they want me to work for one of the culprits. He is a control freak who redoes anything anyone else does. It is NEVER done to his standard of excellence. Every number must match to the thousandth decimal place, every 'i' dotted, and every 't' crossed. I understand that I am an engineer and I work with engineers and we do engineering, but it is not an exact science. We are estimating and using engineering judgment. That precision of accuracy adds nothing but introduces more room for error when you're redoing and redoing just to get it perfect.

So, I basically told the department that I will quit if I have to report to this person again. I am told I will be insulated, but I am preparing my resume.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

it will be okay

Anonymous said...

I would really be interested to know who although I think I might be able to guess. This kind of brings to mind a term that Ann told me. "AFGO" How could I ever forget her or that. You know you would be welcomed here. Just say the word and I will put in far more than just a good recommendation for you.

Anonymous said...

Odd though and I am sure yours is probably not the only complaint against this individual yet they keep returning him/her to the same position. I see they still haven't learned.

Courtney said...

Oh, there are too many to name. I don't believe he was here when you worked here. And no, they still haven't learned. But good engineering managers are hard to find. 'Engineering manager' is an oxymoron.