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mamajoanSo this week marks my fourth anniversary of working at this company. (I started out in the tech-support department in January '98, moved to engineering as the sole tech writer in January '99, and am now one of two tech writers.) Four years, whoa. In the software/dot-com business, that's like an eternity.
But it's basically meaningless, since the company is in a salary freeze right now. I'd like to be PC and say that what really matters is improving my performance and helping the company be the best that it can be, but that would be bullshit. I care about how the company is doing, but only insofar as it affects my future. And knowing that I won't be getting a raise, or in fact anything in recognition of four years of dedicated service, really makes it hard to give a crap about the place.
And as for my performance, knowing how I'm doing and all that ... I pretty much feel like I have a handle on that. My boss, and his boss, and many other people in the company (in positions of power and not), think that I am the goddess of technical writing, which I am. Certain other people here, in positions of power and not, think that I'm a lazy bum who spends more time surfing the 'net than working, which I also am. But after all this time, I probably know our product better than almost anyone here (not counting the guys in engineering who've been here as long as or longer than me). Add to that the fact that people who have both technical aptitude and writing skill -- people who really are technical writers -- are very rare, and I'm one of them. And then factor in the fact that there's already more work than Kevin (the other tech writer) and I can handle between us, and that it takes a long time to train someone on a product as complicated as ours (Kevin is still learning and he's been here nine months). It all adds up to me feeling pretty safe. I figure they'd be stupid to fire me, and they know that, so they won't.
Of course, I could be wrong. I could be in for a very unpleasant surprise. That would, like, suck. But I don't think so.
So now I spend most of my time at work surfing the web, live-journaling, chatting with friends on AIM, writing and reading email, etc. Every now and then I do a bit of actual work, and its utter flawlessness dazzles all who come in contact with it, so my boss is happy and his boss is happy and the people who are mad that I waste so much time get madder. Nyah! Take that, say I to them. Yeah, come talk to me after you've been at this company for four years and single-handedly turned the documentation set from an embarrassment into something actually somewhat useful. Hah.
If the job market weren't so crappy, of course, I'd probably be gone by now. It gives me a cruel, nasty thrill of pleasure to think about how totally fucked my boss would be if I went in there today and told him I was quitting. (Not that I want to be cruel to my boss per se. He's a perfectly nice guy and a decent boss. He's only been in charge of the technical documentation group (i.e. me and Kevin) for about six months. It's not HIS fault that they dumped in his lap a group that consisted of one utter newbie, one utterly disenchanted old-timer, and a huge pile of work.)
And yeah, I have attitude at work. I feel like I can get away with it (see above for reasons). I say what I think and don't give a fuck if it pisses people off. I snort at my coworkers who try to be more circumspect, who wait till we're in the car on the way to lunch before they start talking office gossip. When people come by to ask me to do stuff (especially if they're from marketing), I say no before I even hear what the request is. Okay, then I grin at them to show it's all a big joke, but really it's my little power game I'm playing. I gotta find my fun where I can, right? I talk back to my boss too, and he takes it, because he respects my work (what little there is of it) and knows that I know what I'm doing better than he does.
Oh. And the cubicle thing. That's a whole other issue, and this is getting long so maybe I'll go into it some other time. To sum up: I hate life in a cubicle. I'm thinking of getting a curtain to put over my doorway to create a little more feeling of privacy. I wonder how that'll go over....
But it's basically meaningless, since the company is in a salary freeze right now. I'd like to be PC and say that what really matters is improving my performance and helping the company be the best that it can be, but that would be bullshit. I care about how the company is doing, but only insofar as it affects my future. And knowing that I won't be getting a raise, or in fact anything in recognition of four years of dedicated service, really makes it hard to give a crap about the place.
And as for my performance, knowing how I'm doing and all that ... I pretty much feel like I have a handle on that. My boss, and his boss, and many other people in the company (in positions of power and not), think that I am the goddess of technical writing, which I am. Certain other people here, in positions of power and not, think that I'm a lazy bum who spends more time surfing the 'net than working, which I also am. But after all this time, I probably know our product better than almost anyone here (not counting the guys in engineering who've been here as long as or longer than me). Add to that the fact that people who have both technical aptitude and writing skill -- people who really are technical writers -- are very rare, and I'm one of them. And then factor in the fact that there's already more work than Kevin (the other tech writer) and I can handle between us, and that it takes a long time to train someone on a product as complicated as ours (Kevin is still learning and he's been here nine months). It all adds up to me feeling pretty safe. I figure they'd be stupid to fire me, and they know that, so they won't.
Of course, I could be wrong. I could be in for a very unpleasant surprise. That would, like, suck. But I don't think so.
So now I spend most of my time at work surfing the web, live-journaling, chatting with friends on AIM, writing and reading email, etc. Every now and then I do a bit of actual work, and its utter flawlessness dazzles all who come in contact with it, so my boss is happy and his boss is happy and the people who are mad that I waste so much time get madder. Nyah! Take that, say I to them. Yeah, come talk to me after you've been at this company for four years and single-handedly turned the documentation set from an embarrassment into something actually somewhat useful. Hah.
If the job market weren't so crappy, of course, I'd probably be gone by now. It gives me a cruel, nasty thrill of pleasure to think about how totally fucked my boss would be if I went in there today and told him I was quitting. (Not that I want to be cruel to my boss per se. He's a perfectly nice guy and a decent boss. He's only been in charge of the technical documentation group (i.e. me and Kevin) for about six months. It's not HIS fault that they dumped in his lap a group that consisted of one utter newbie, one utterly disenchanted old-timer, and a huge pile of work.)
And yeah, I have attitude at work. I feel like I can get away with it (see above for reasons). I say what I think and don't give a fuck if it pisses people off. I snort at my coworkers who try to be more circumspect, who wait till we're in the car on the way to lunch before they start talking office gossip. When people come by to ask me to do stuff (especially if they're from marketing), I say no before I even hear what the request is. Okay, then I grin at them to show it's all a big joke, but really it's my little power game I'm playing. I gotta find my fun where I can, right? I talk back to my boss too, and he takes it, because he respects my work (what little there is of it
Oh. And the cubicle thing. That's a whole other issue, and this is getting long so maybe I'll go into it some other time. To sum up: I hate life in a cubicle. I'm thinking of getting a curtain to put over my doorway to create a little more feeling of privacy. I wonder how that'll go over....
