"Toxic environments will change you, before you can change them."
I left my last job. It involved multiple HR meetings and a coworker threatening to punch me for calling him on his racism. My manager was no longer employed the next week(not related to racism but certainly a cause for my leaving). The best friend of our VP left after 6 years with basically a rage quit. Another coworker joined me out the door. It wasn't good.
I took the first opportunity that came along. It is contract work again which is scary. I knew nothing about the company but a 30 minute phone call convinced the team lead I was the right person. I hoped they were right.
The first weeks were tough. They have massive technical debt and that will never go away. I can make some changes but a manufacturing company will always have that debt. In fact after my first 3 days I bet I'd see Conficker. I was right by Friday.
The Infra team has been through a lot. 2005 their manager cut the entire team from 64 down to 5. It grew a bit but most of the dev halted then. We have hundreds of half finished products. The lawsuit against the manager for absconding with a $2.4 million in money and stolen tech is still pending. They need help.
I'm the only security person. My direct supervisor is network focused/ VM. Security is a firewall for him. That has posed some problems. His boss (whom I sit next to in the dungeon) is extremely gruff but shares good views on security and wants to fix it.
I figured I could use this place to sharpen my basics and learn some new skills.
I got depressed and down with it mid week last week. (Contract means no PTO which means I make up every lost hour and when sick that sucks).
I decided to leave and made some calls. My contract was going to cause a problem with one of them so I backed off. An hour later my team lead grabs me by the shirt pocket and pulls me into the back room. "How are you liking it here?"
My guilt flared up instantly. Turns out, I wasn't being fired, I was being hired. One of our guys was leaving and if I wanted to stick around they would guarantee me a conversion to FTE in 6 months. Excellent, especially as by then I'll have them heavily invested in tech and I can be in a better position to negotiate. Manager mentioned that they had a limited head count...so I wasn't going to be converted otherwise? Makes me worried for down the line but for now I'm here.
More adventures to come from here.
I left my last job. It involved multiple HR meetings and a coworker threatening to punch me for calling him on his racism. My manager was no longer employed the next week(not related to racism but certainly a cause for my leaving). The best friend of our VP left after 6 years with basically a rage quit. Another coworker joined me out the door. It wasn't good.
I took the first opportunity that came along. It is contract work again which is scary. I knew nothing about the company but a 30 minute phone call convinced the team lead I was the right person. I hoped they were right.
The first weeks were tough. They have massive technical debt and that will never go away. I can make some changes but a manufacturing company will always have that debt. In fact after my first 3 days I bet I'd see Conficker. I was right by Friday.
The Infra team has been through a lot. 2005 their manager cut the entire team from 64 down to 5. It grew a bit but most of the dev halted then. We have hundreds of half finished products. The lawsuit against the manager for absconding with a $2.4 million in money and stolen tech is still pending. They need help.
I'm the only security person. My direct supervisor is network focused/ VM. Security is a firewall for him. That has posed some problems. His boss (whom I sit next to in the dungeon) is extremely gruff but shares good views on security and wants to fix it.
I figured I could use this place to sharpen my basics and learn some new skills.
I got depressed and down with it mid week last week. (Contract means no PTO which means I make up every lost hour and when sick that sucks).
I decided to leave and made some calls. My contract was going to cause a problem with one of them so I backed off. An hour later my team lead grabs me by the shirt pocket and pulls me into the back room. "How are you liking it here?"
My guilt flared up instantly. Turns out, I wasn't being fired, I was being hired. One of our guys was leaving and if I wanted to stick around they would guarantee me a conversion to FTE in 6 months. Excellent, especially as by then I'll have them heavily invested in tech and I can be in a better position to negotiate. Manager mentioned that they had a limited head count...so I wasn't going to be converted otherwise? Makes me worried for down the line but for now I'm here.
More adventures to come from here.
