Career Opportunities

My boss dropped a fatty bombshell on us yesterday. He’s accepted a new position in the company and we will be getting someone new as our boss.

Normally when someone tells us they’ve gotten a new position, we’re ecstatic for them. It’s not easy getting a new job, whether it’s inside or outside the company. Moving on is a fantastic thing. But with Jamal, we have all had totally mixed feelings.

Even with the random acts of boss boneheadedness, he has still been a really groovy guy to work for. We know that nine times out of ten, he’s got our back. Once he has the whole picture, he fights a really good battle. He’s also a riot to hang out with after work and he’s able to let loose a little. There’s just this great vibe going on that I guess we’ve all taken for granted. With the announcement of his promotion yesterday, we saw our lives drastically changing right before our eyes. Jamal’s boss is…well…he’s a turd. To be quite frank. And it’s Jamal’s boss who will be making the decision on who to replace Jamal with. We know full and well that it’s going to be someone who is a total straight-up businessman. Someone who doesn’t know or understand our part of the big picture and will try to run this department like a police state. Or worse. It’s going to be a struggle just to make it through the next month, waiting to find out who the new guy is going to be.

There’s already talk of retirement or new employment floating throughout our team. As much as my job bores me sometimes (well, most of the time really), I really am quite happy and comfy where I am. I have no problem being a low-level cubemonkey for now. But if this new boss is going to be the kind of thorn in my side that Jamie’s new boss has turned out to be for him…well. I may be either posting for a new job in the company, or leaving the company entirely. I’m too old and yet too young to sit here and put up with crap. I’ve seen too many instances over the past year where they’ve put new, unqualified businessmen in delicate IT supervisory positions, only to muck up what was once a smooth-running operation. I don’t want to be thrown into chaos. Things work well as they are and having someone standing in my way telling me I need to change everything twice over…it’s just not what I want to deal with.

So! Looks like I might be making a career move in the next few months. Coworker Sean has already applied for jobs outside the company. Coworker Tom doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. And the guys in the field are murmuring about retirement. It could become quite messy and costly for this company if the wrong person is put in charge of our team. Jumping ship doesn’t sound like too bad an idea. But talk about daunting. I don’t know that I’m ready or willing to start over…