Thursday, January 24, 2008
Well, I didn't do it...
I did not quit my job today. Instead, I decided to plan a little before dropping the q-bomb at work. I was awake most of the night trying to think of what I'd rather be doing than what I'm currently doing (being a drone in a cubicle). Honestly, I don't know. I remember being a kid and wanting to be a scientist when I grew up. Or a marine biologist. Even an archaeologist. But, there is no way that I can do any of those things now. I mean, I can't go back to school... can I? College would be nice, but Dang! I want to live a little! Not be stuck in college for the next several years. So, anyway, I've decided that until I figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, that I'm going to travel as much as possible. I want to go to Brazil and Argentina. I want to see England and Ireland. I'd love to go to Japan and China! So, before I quit my job, I'm going to see what I can do about planning a year-long trip around the world! Heh, sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, we'll see. But, I still have a lot more planning to do. I'll keep you posted!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
I knew this moment was coming...
For years, I've known that one day I wouldn't be able to take it any more. The long, boring meetings. The stupid vision statements and mission objectives. The whole corporate clique of suit-wearing, networkers, pimping their MySpace and Facebook pages. Dull, lifeless days in a cubicle, staring for hours on end at boring-ass source code on a screen that's too small to do adequate work because, apparently, the size of your monitor indicates your importance and your monitor can't be bigger than the CEO's, the CIO's, the managers and supervisors. The dumb-ass end-users that just can't seem to grasp the most crystal clear instructions. Yeah, I'm sure I could go on and on but I'm not going to. Just thinking of all the crap I put up with for the sake of a paycheck is starting to make my head hurt.
My job as a programmer means that I sit at my desk and program all day. I write source code, test it, debug it, fine tune it, debug some more, refine some more for hours on end every day. This in itself isn't a bad thing. What gets me is the environment that I have to do it in. I can't listen to music, even with headphones because the big boss looks down on it as being 'unproductive'. I have to wear a nice dress shirt, tie, and slacks even though I spend every minute of my job sitting at my desk and I only interact with end users (that get to wear jeans to work) or a project manager. Why, oh WHY do I have to "gussy up" when all I do is sit in a cubicle where NO ONE SEES ME? God, I'd love to wear jeans and a comfy t-shirt to work, slap on some headphones, and really get some work done. They'd really see some productivity then.
Today, though, has really been the deal breaker for me. For years I've struggled with migraine headaches and the one thing that I've found that triggers them most of the time is fluorescent lights. And I have one right over my desk in such a spot that it is right over my monitor. So, when I look at my monitor, I am also being blinded by the buzzing, flickering fluorescent light. Now, I don't know about other programmers, but I would rather be in a dark room while working on the pc with a soft light coming from a desk lamp that is below eye level. But, since we can't have that here at work (cubicles are to be free of anything that would make you 'stand out') and since the fluorescent lights are never shut off, I have to work in a semi-blinding, flickering hell all day. But, I thought I had a solution for this one problem: I got some butcher paper (roll of brown paper) and stretched it from one side of my cubicle to the other side and taped it down. I did this right over the monitor so I had something almost like a shade over my monitor that kept the light from hitting my eyes. Oh my God, it was instant bliss. I could tell an immediate improvement when staring at my screen. My eyes didn't strain or twitch and I felt, well, calm while coding. Yep, pure bliss.
So, some manager walks by my cubicle and sees the paper stretched from one side to the other. Mind you, it's taped neatly and not obstructing anything.
"You can't do that," said the manager.
"Why not?" said I.
"Because it's against OSHA rules. Besides, it looks unprofressional."
"OSHA rules? How is blocking out a light that's blinding me and causing me headaches breaking OSHA rules?"
"I'm not sure of the exact rule, but I can find out. You'll have to take it down."
I can't believe it. The one thing that I've done to improve my cubicle, and it's against whatever fashion sense the corporation and OSHA have. I feel sick to my stomach.
Anyway, that small incident coupled with the fact that I have grown increasingly tired of working in stuffy-assed corporate environments has helped me to make up my mind.
Tomorrow, I am turning in my two-weeks notice. I am quitting. I don't have a job lined up and, frankly, I don't care. I'm tired of working/living like this. I'm tired of working my butt off with no recognition. I'm tired of being seen as a numbered resource instead of a living breathing person. I'm tired of trying to fit into a mold that I am not meant to be in. I'm tired of commuting two hours to work each way. I'm tired of losing valuable time that I'll never get back. I'm tired of people that have no clue telling me how to do my job when they clearly don't understand what goes into it.
So, wish me luck. Because, tomorrow I'm turning in my notice. If things go like they always do, I'll turn in a two-week notice, but they'll let me go that day since I work in IT. Seems there was an incident a few years ago when another programmer turned in their two week notice and they let him stay the entire two weeks. Because of whatever happened, they let most IT people go the day they turn their notice in, with a two-week severance paycheck. Sounds good to me. I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I'll spend the weekend figuring out exactly what I want out of my career and out of my life. Hopefully, I'll come up with something that allows the two to mesh easily. But, we'll see.
My job as a programmer means that I sit at my desk and program all day. I write source code, test it, debug it, fine tune it, debug some more, refine some more for hours on end every day. This in itself isn't a bad thing. What gets me is the environment that I have to do it in. I can't listen to music, even with headphones because the big boss looks down on it as being 'unproductive'. I have to wear a nice dress shirt, tie, and slacks even though I spend every minute of my job sitting at my desk and I only interact with end users (that get to wear jeans to work) or a project manager. Why, oh WHY do I have to "gussy up" when all I do is sit in a cubicle where NO ONE SEES ME? God, I'd love to wear jeans and a comfy t-shirt to work, slap on some headphones, and really get some work done. They'd really see some productivity then.
Today, though, has really been the deal breaker for me. For years I've struggled with migraine headaches and the one thing that I've found that triggers them most of the time is fluorescent lights. And I have one right over my desk in such a spot that it is right over my monitor. So, when I look at my monitor, I am also being blinded by the buzzing, flickering fluorescent light. Now, I don't know about other programmers, but I would rather be in a dark room while working on the pc with a soft light coming from a desk lamp that is below eye level. But, since we can't have that here at work (cubicles are to be free of anything that would make you 'stand out') and since the fluorescent lights are never shut off, I have to work in a semi-blinding, flickering hell all day. But, I thought I had a solution for this one problem: I got some butcher paper (roll of brown paper) and stretched it from one side of my cubicle to the other side and taped it down. I did this right over the monitor so I had something almost like a shade over my monitor that kept the light from hitting my eyes. Oh my God, it was instant bliss. I could tell an immediate improvement when staring at my screen. My eyes didn't strain or twitch and I felt, well, calm while coding. Yep, pure bliss.
So, some manager walks by my cubicle and sees the paper stretched from one side to the other. Mind you, it's taped neatly and not obstructing anything.
"You can't do that," said the manager.
"Why not?" said I.
"Because it's against OSHA rules. Besides, it looks unprofressional."
"OSHA rules? How is blocking out a light that's blinding me and causing me headaches breaking OSHA rules?"
"I'm not sure of the exact rule, but I can find out. You'll have to take it down."
I can't believe it. The one thing that I've done to improve my cubicle, and it's against whatever fashion sense the corporation and OSHA have. I feel sick to my stomach.
Anyway, that small incident coupled with the fact that I have grown increasingly tired of working in stuffy-assed corporate environments has helped me to make up my mind.
Tomorrow, I am turning in my two-weeks notice. I am quitting. I don't have a job lined up and, frankly, I don't care. I'm tired of working/living like this. I'm tired of working my butt off with no recognition. I'm tired of being seen as a numbered resource instead of a living breathing person. I'm tired of trying to fit into a mold that I am not meant to be in. I'm tired of commuting two hours to work each way. I'm tired of losing valuable time that I'll never get back. I'm tired of people that have no clue telling me how to do my job when they clearly don't understand what goes into it.
So, wish me luck. Because, tomorrow I'm turning in my notice. If things go like they always do, I'll turn in a two-week notice, but they'll let me go that day since I work in IT. Seems there was an incident a few years ago when another programmer turned in their two week notice and they let him stay the entire two weeks. Because of whatever happened, they let most IT people go the day they turn their notice in, with a two-week severance paycheck. Sounds good to me. I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I'll spend the weekend figuring out exactly what I want out of my career and out of my life. Hopefully, I'll come up with something that allows the two to mesh easily. But, we'll see.
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