The Chewer Work Thread - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBananaGrabber 

How, in the name of all that is good an holy, am I supposed to 'dumb down' the procedure to type in a username and password?

 

I am so burned out on IT, it's beyond parody.

Ah, I feel your pain.  Even though my work has improved immeasurably (primarily by reducing my interaction with users) you still get the occasional one slip through the cracks.

I was recently on the "shop floor" as it were on a site, and had to interact with the general public. (shudder).  Involved such issues like being asked "bro, bro, how do I search for the google?" (this was un-ironic).

I have the perfect job in the sense that I work from home, my colleagues and clients are really smart and cool, and what we do is really interesting to me. Only problem is the economics of our business are in a long term downtrend, and while we can survive if we re-invent ourselves, the Founder/CEO is stuck in the old way of doing business and won't accept that things have changed. Not sure if this gig will last out the year.

It never fails to astound me how people can apply for Digital TV assistance, arrange to have someone to come around and install decoder boxes and big satellite dishes to their house, and fail to take a note of anything involved in the process - not a single reference number, installation date, fuck, even the name of the assistance sheme they signed up to. Yet they call us and expect us to have all their details.

And then you have the Government departments themselves, who also expect us to have some kind of control over their business. I can't tell you how many Human Services idiots this week I've nearly bellowed "IT'S YOUR SCHEME, FUCKWIT!" at.

Ah, the joys of working on an information line. It's like we're holding the wet wipes and the whole fucking world just got their bot-bots messy.

Am I ok to mix up this thread with something positive?  So much negativity here, and I have plenty in my life.  I love my job- been there for ten years.  In that much time I have gained 140% in pay.  I don't mean to gloat, but I want to say it is stable, great benefits, extremely reliable company and pays quite well.  I am so sorry some of you are struggling.  I wish I could help somehow.  I'll keep y'all in my good thoughts and prayers.  Best of luck to all of you! 

Best of the luck with that MrBananaGrabber.  Long roads are the most fruitful :)
 

Oooh! What kind of career change are you looking at? I came to that crossroads a couple years ago when I got laid off (again). I had been a graphic designer for 14 years, but I was getting burned out just making junk mail all the time. My employer gave us three months notice (although that came out of the blue) and 3 months severance. Within the first two weeks I decided to take that long road, too, an opted for perfectly logical next step: Nursing school. Been a helluva slog, but even the clinical rotations are so much more rewarding than my previous 14 years.

Best of luck to you on your new career!

Apparently, a few years ago, the bank I'm employed at approved every goddamn loan they came across. Now all these loans are maturing, and 95% of the customers are upside down on their houses. Guess who gets to break the shitty news to them during the holidays? Sonuvabitch......

I was eyeing this thread because I received some work news earlier today that I wanted to share but didn't know where exactly to put it.

A large employer, 800+ employees, near my office has had as their insurance provider a company that I have been fighting with for over two years to correct a snafu in which I was removed from their preferred providers list.  This has been costing me an average of $1000/month in lost revenue based on the number of employees I currently treat.

This AM a patient told me they were leaving the aforementioned company and going to a BCBS(who I have had no such snafus with my contract) plan for these 800+ employees.  This will boost my revenue considerably for the patients I already treat and, I am hoping, bring in more clients based on the fact that if people go looking through their provider lists they will finally see me listed.

This is in addition to thousands of construction jobs over the next five years as this employer expands that I am trying to reap the benefits of treating the construction workforce.

The past two years have been extremely stressful for me for a variety of reasons and the moment this patient told me this news I informed him I was going to go back into my office and cry.  Fingers crossed that I can get off my stressed out, depressed ass and make the most out of this welcome change!

So I've been working as an accountant for a small business while trying out some other side stuff. I have had an eye on grad school with the goal of transitioning into teaching (humanities/history), but realistically I simply can't afford to go back to school. So the business I've been accounting for offered to promote me to what basically amounts to their CFO and put me on a salary that's about 20k more per year than I'm making right now, which will allow me to get my own place and pay off my student debt early. This work is boring, but it's tolerable, and I can transition to something more fulfilling in the future, but for now I'm super excited to live a little bit better and actually work fewer hours than I do now.

More money, and more time for my own creative stuff? Sounds good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamnDirtyApe 

Apparently, a few years ago, the bank I'm employed at approved every goddamn loan they came across. Now all these loans are maturing, and 95% of the customers are upside down on their houses. Guess who gets to break the shitty news to them during the holidays? Sonuvabitch......

Dislike. My wife is a Personal Banker and is getting inundated with loans right now.  Her bank is super strict though, so hopefully this will not happen to her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBananaGrabber 

Thinking of going from IT to Janitorial.  No, really.  

 

At least after I've cleaned something, I can tell that I've done a good job.  Also my IT degree is worthless.

 

I also do art, but that's a long way from being income, though it's on that path.

 

Fear in the office is HIGH today, and my employer likes to blindside people with layoffs.  How hard can I kick myself for not getting my bills completely paid off in the last year?  REALLY hard.

Damn.  Double damn.  

Have you ever read this?  May  at least entertain you and it has a VERY high wish fulfilment factor.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/data_centre/bofh/

A Sample:

The Director's printer, though, is a whole different kettle of rats. It's going to have to be fixed. Luckily that printer is a per-page rental unit, complete with management card which allows it to communicate errors, printer status, toner levels and waster toner levels to the printer company so that they can ship new consumables and engineers as needed.

That said, the PFY and I have started to suspect that the management interface concerned is simply a randomly blinking LED and that the printing company just ships toner cartridges at us every month or so and bills us some large amounts of pages. Whatever it's doing, the engineer only turns up when you call them...

"It's a driver problem," he says, pulling a crumpled piece of A3 out of the guts of the printer.

"It's NOT a driver problem," the PFY responds tersely.

"Yeah, it is. If they update their driver it'll sort it out."

I bloody hate talking to printer engineers.

"HOW can it be a bloody driver problem?" the PFY asks. "It only jams on A3."

"Oh. It's probably a humidity problem - your paper will be too damp. It curls," he responds.

"No, we tried that - we got new paper, put it straight in, and it jammed," the PFY lies

"Oh. Well it's a driver problem."

"IT'S NOT A F***ING DRIVER PROBLEM!" the PFY says, losing his rag.

"Look," the engineer says, tapping in the secret code that they only use for maintenance and pulling 'chicks'. Sad, sad 'chicks' who are impressed by photocopier stories.

>bip< >bip< >bip< >whirrrrrrrrrrrr<.

"See, perfect," he says, holding up an A3 test page. "And if you go Print a Test Page from your printer it'll work too. Just not this printout - because it's a driver problem."

"How can it possibly be a driver problem?" I ask.

"Well," he says, looking around carefully in case undercover agents from another printer company (did I already say "sad, sad 'chicks'"?) is listening in. "There's a 10 mil margin around the page that you can't print into, because the printer was designed around the Egyptian A3 standard."

"The Egyptian A3 standard?"

"Yes!" he replies with thinly disguised disgust. "The Egyptians invented paper - and the paper standards. The Egyptian A3 standard is slightly smaller than the common A3 standard - because it's metric."

"Have you ever heard the phrase: 'Don't bullshit a bullshitter?' I ask, pulling out the cattleprod with a newly upgraded inverter."

"I... What's that?" our engineer asks nervously.

"This? This is a management interface. You plug it in and push the button and you get told the state of things. Admittedly it's not guaranteed to work first time, but after four or five goes it usually pays for itself. Or someone pays you to stop using it. Either way, it's money well spent."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cylon Baby 

I have the perfect job in the sense that I work from home, my colleagues and clients are really smart and cool, and what we do is really interesting to me. Only problem is the economics of our business are in a long term downtrend, and while we can survive if we re-invent ourselves, the Founder/CEO is stuck in the old way of doing business and won't accept that things have changed. Not sure if this gig will last out the year.

Yep I was right. Back on the dole.

I've been struggling with my boss for the last year. He's in his late 70's and should be long retired, but he and his girlfriend were utterly careless with their money and ended up broke. So, he got himself hired as the office manager of this branch of a national advertising corporation, and did so with the fact that he started a successful direct mailer advertisement 30 years ago, and a couple of failed attempts since then.

So, he got himself this job and fired every administrator they hired him until they let him bring on his girlfriend who is in her late 70s as well. They're both woefully out of their depth and refuse to acknowledge that the entire world has changed since they last worked in an office. Several times a week, I deal with such crises as "I can't find the photos on my cellphone -- have you seen them anywhere?" and "D.T., the internet is broken." It was cute at first, but the fact that they're in their own bubble at all times has made them very arrogant and defensive over everything. We're barely making our budget every month, but they insist it's because of Obama, and not their own ineptitude in running this office and managing our sales people. Every meeting is a fight because the two of them share in this delusion that my boss is an infallible god of advertising, while many of our clients refuse to speak to the man. The two of them come in two hours late every day, and take a two hour lunch. I eat lunch at my desk every single day because I have to do their jobs while they're gone, on top of doing my own. People in corporate have lost their jobs because this man is so impossible to deal with, but I do it every day.

And I'm very good at my job. Several of my clients' businesses run entirely on the advertising campaigns I've designed, and I've helped one of our sales reps become the highest grosser in the company (which is 12 years old, and our branch was established only 2 years ago). The president of the company has said that he wants to groom me along, and he and I talk football all the time. My advertisements get used and referenced across the country. Knowing that I can do this job from anywhere, and knowing that I can design with my eyes closed for businesses in an area I've spent my entire life in, I decided I needed a change of scenery and asked the corporate headquarters if I could relocate to Colorado, and continue working for this branch from afar.

After a couple of weeks of deliberating, they've decided I have to stay where I'm at. They explicitly told me that they are thoroughly pleased with my dedication and work, have every confidence that I could do the job from another location, but they do not believe my boss can do his job without me.

Can someone please explain to me the fucking logic in this? And how they do not see it's backwards that my boss can't do his job if I'm not there to babysit him?

DT, if you have an "in" with the President of the company, you should say something. Not "that guy is an asshole", because it sounds like the Branch manager was his hire or at least has his support. But you can mention offhand that you didn't catch that game because you were doing the manager's work for him (nah even that is not subtle enough).

As for me, I've hooked up with a former colleague at a startup. Paid maybe 1/3 of what I made before but working with good people (for the first time!) at a company with a good product. If we succeed and make a real company I'll have real satisfaction plus maybe get paid!

The problem is, the company president hates my boss and has threatened to fire him multiple times. But, my boss went over his head and cried to the CEO/owner.

Everyone told the CEO that opening a branch here would be a disaster -- that the economy in this state is too far gone, and it's already too over-saturated with competition. Fact is, our company has a strong business model developed over 12 years of experience, and corporate backing and funding allowed us to come out swinging and send our competition running. We had a successful first year, but we've been treading water since -- my boss attributes this to Obama, the "depression" and most certainly not to the fact that after that initial surge, he has had absolutely no idea how to manage sales and produce growth.

But, because everyone told the CEO that launching here would be a disaster, my boss has been able to convince him that the only reason we've made it this far is because of his leadership and experience. Everyone in the corporate headquarters disagrees with this, but our CEO refuses to listen to reason. Fact is, if there was someone in close proximity who actually understood the market here and could keep closer tabs on my manager, this situation would have gone away a long time ago. But my boss has the luxury of having no one within 2,000 miles to keep tabs on him.

Yeah a friend of mine is in a similar position. CEO is buddies with this guy who is a total piece of shit on every level, yet gets the best territory in the company.

Hopefully my outrage will warm me.

It's currently about 26 degrees outside (outrageously cold by SE NC standards), I've got a cold, and even after my hour long commute I'm still half-asleep and pretty damn cold. So, being the first person in the office after a long weekend, I set the heater on, what I think is a conservative 70. "Oh, I'll have the office nice and warm when my co-workers arrive". I sit down to enjoy my putrid cup of Emergen-C, when the office manager arrives, and still wearing her long winter coat, walks over to the thermostat, fiddles with it, and I hear the tell-tell sound of the heater turning off. "But what about my hands!? If I can't feel my hands, how can I use a keyboard?!  It's so cold...", I think to myself. "But surely, she just adjusted it one degree, momentarily, we'll be back on track to a comfortable 69 degrees. I mean, I know some people prefer it a little colder, but not below 69...not today..." Time passes, vitamin C infused garbage water is consumed, the cold remains. 

Taking a moment to steady my now shivering hand, I take my orange stained styrofoam cup in hand and begin the short march to the water cooler...a cold destination on a cold day. On my journey, my cheeks are momentarily warmed by the now brewing coffee pot. "Could this be the solution to my ills?", I think. "NO. Coffee is for closers." My mantra, I musn't abandon it now.

Onward, I eventually neared the water cooler, and glancing to my left, I focus on the thermostat..."66"...

I pass, never breaking my stride, but confused and trying to comprehend the number I've just seen. "Was that the current temperature, or the thermostat setting?" In being casual about the whole affair, I'd not had time to focus on the tiny LCD screen. As I filled my cup with non-chilled water, I noticed, that even the room temperature water had been taken by the cold weekend. It was useless to my needs.

Still, the charade must go on, and began the walk back to my desk. Seizing a moment alone, I paused to examine the thermostat.  Current temperature: 66...Thermostat setting 66. "A conspiracy!" I thought. At long last, the HVAC and come to agreement with the cold. Cold had won the day to HVAC's ridiculous compromise.  From here on, no ground would be given, and none taken. They'd reached an agreed upon stalemate.

Momentarily defeated, I took my cup of cool water, and returned to my desk. The world must know of this outrage!  My friends and lover would be unsympathetic to my plight. At best they'd ignore my complaints and return to their warm slumber, quickly forgetting my troubles.  "Who can I reach out to?! Should I die here today, in the cold cubicle, who will tell my story?!" CHUD.

Know this friends, that on the last day of the year of our Lord two thousand and twelve, that one man sat shivering in a cubicle, and though he could've simply adjusted the thermostat to a more comfortable temperature, he chose to bitch about it online, taking solace in knowing his body would be well preserved for generations to come.

And to anyone reading this in the future. Should your sciences or magics find a way, please make effort to re-animate by body. I can offer a unique perspective on late 20th and early 21st century life that your archeologists or alien overlords might find fascinating.

Edit: Oops, nevermind. The thermostat's on a timer and it just reset itself till 8:30. Warming up now.

I've resolved myself to just riding out the next six months, and locking down a new job when I gear up to move to Colorado in June. There have been some new developments in my office that are equal parts maddening and hilarious, and I've given up dwelling on any of it. It's been a great learning experience, a huge resume/portfolio builder, and I'm headed for better things.

...anyone got any leads for a graphic design rock star in the greater Denver area?

December was pretty much a whirl-wind job wise. I found out on November 30 that the company I had worked at for almost 8 years was being sold at the end of the month, and that I would not be going with it. Having never been laid off from a job before I did the only natural thing...panic. I blanketed companies with my resume and cover letter. If the job sounded even remotely interesting I applied. All ego was out the window and I was considering anything and everything.

Long story short, tomorrow will be my fourth day at my new job. Everything happened very fast and they NEEDED me to start before the beginning of the year.  I'm scratching my head over the "needing me to start before 2013" bit since I've done nothing these first three days except a bit of filing, but mostly sitting behind a co-worker trying to watch as he works. Training seems to be very low on the priorities right now, since things there are exceptionally hectic. At least the boss is aware that things are moving at a snail's pace.

Bottom line: I hate change, and my first step into the large corporate world isn't impressing me at all.

I've got the opposite problem, too much work.  Was doing two huge migrations (old Windows to new SAN/ VMWare environment and Citrix XenApp) anyway which was major, then get landed an emergency "this needs to be done now" project detailing all the above, but an extra does of complexity and an already less than pleased customer.

Add to that the vagaries of when parts will arrive and it's almost impossible to get anything done in a planned, coherent manner.  It has to be, a few hours here, hit point of waiting, then a few hours here, hit same point, then a few hours here, a few hours doco... etc.

Not as "real life" stressful as having job stability worries, but a different type of low grade, constant stress.

And January is supposed to be a quiet month.

nm

New guy at work acted as if I'd recommended he do a line of asbestos dust, when I suggested he heat the water for his tea in the microwave.  That'll probably be our last non-work related interaction.

In fairness, microwaved stuff cools really fast compared to, in this case, actual boiling water.

If given the choice I would have politely declined the microwave offer.

I'd say to patch up your initial assessment  of him over a nice hot cup o tea !

I've been manager of a Rosetta Stone store (which are mostly all kiosks, not brick and mortar) for the past 4 yrs. Jan 2012 they announced closure of all but about 50 of their retail locations. 2 week notice, no severance offered.

After 10 months on (comfortable) unemployment they call me and ask if I'd care to work a seasonal store in the old location. I'd be a regular sales associate, not the boss (we'd be supervised by a local manager of a shop that didn't close, who is a cool fool) and the job would have an expiration date of Jan 15th. 2 other previous area managers were asked to fill out our staff, given the same close date of Jan 15th. Both of them had made plans to move on based on that date.

So Jan 15th comes along and late in the day they announce the store will stay open.

I'm kept on the schedule, as is the supervising manager. No one asked if I wanted to continue, they made no mention of it, just kept scheduling me. I asked who will be made manager as the other supervising manager realizes it's too much and tells company they need to establish a manager for my store. Supposedly the company needs to put out a help wanted for the job, fair trade or something, so email was sent out saying the job was open for applications. Only one other person applied, a new girl just hired to work here. Another manager told me in confidence that our big boss was gonna give this new girl (with no manager experience) the job. Was going to, but hadn't yet.

Then she puts in her 2 week notice saying she's taken a management job in NY for much more money.

There's no one else to give the job to, and despite my dislike of the big boss (I told him I was bitter about being laid off suddenly but it wouldn't effect/ hasn't effected my performance..and he's held this against me--wouldn't anybody feel badly about being suddenly out of a several year position?!) I would take back the job.

So he's gotta make the decision this week. What are my chances of being screwed a second time?

I'm currently spending much of my on-job time looking for a new job, just really looking forward to giving up this shop and leaving them hurting for staff.

We have a new marketing consultant (sales rep). He used to be partners with one of our biggest competitors but now has a grudge and came to us wanting to "destroy them". My boss, being the fucking idiot he is and having worked with the guy 30-odd years ago, immediately takes him in and says we have a new secret weapon with tons of inside information on this competitor.

Guy's "inside information" is just a bunch of phone numbers for clients we already have.

My boss keeps this guy on and gives him $20,000 in accounts from the rep he replaced. But, since he has a non-compete/confidentiality agreement with his former partner, he can't be officially on our records, so he creates a fake sole-proprietorship agency for all of the contracts and paperwork. If the legal issues and possible backfires aren't bad enough, what do we do if my boss pisses this guy off and he decides to walk, and takes those accounts to the next competitor?

And it's worth noting that the guy has anger issues, has lashed out at the other reps in the middle of meetings, unprovoked, and is an open racist who won't stop talking about his faith.

I think I'm just about done here.

All you guys need to move to Raleigh.  Tons of businesses here and everyone is hiring.

Which 'Raleigh' ? What state? There are a few Raleigh s.

North Carolina.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarleyQuinn22 

All you guys need to move to Raleigh.  Tons of businesses here and everyone is hiring.

Find me a company that'll hire a graphic designer full time with benefits at $40k or better, and hook a brother up.

I'll owe you beer for life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.T. 

 

Find me a company that'll hire a graphic designer full time with benefits at $40k or better, and hook a brother up.

 

I'll owe you beer for life.

Red Hat and IBM are the first two that come to mind, and believe me, there's more where that came from.  If you're serious, look up info about Research Triangle Park.  That's where all the tech jobs are concentrated, and those people make bank.  My friend who graduated with me works as a software engineer for Red Hat and pulls in almost 100,000 a year.

I just know I need to get out of Arizona. I've been looking at Colorado for several months now, but I'm not finding any employers who will look at out-of-state candidates. I really want to move there, but I can't risk going somewhere before I have a job secured.

Hey chaps, I'm in a pinch at work & I'm looking for some advice:

The situation: Ok, so 6 months ago I was a temp at this small but very upscale design company. 3 months into that, I was offered the position of Website Editor, taking care of all 3 of the company's websites. Fast forward to today & I've now ingratiated myself into the company as an important liaison between sectors, gaining a fast reputation as a big time problem solver. My daily duties go far beyond any established job description & I've exceeded any reasonable expectation my boss may have had.

Today, after much talk, I finally got an offer from the company as a permanent hire. I'd been making $11.50 hrly for basic office temp duties. For my new, ever expanding role I was offered the princely sum of $15 hrly. Considering the workload & daily investment, I was disappointed by that number.

I asked HR when they would need my response to their offer & I have the weekend. We smiled & parted ways amicably. I was bummed but I wanted to think about it for awhile.

An hour later, my boss calls me into his office and says, "I noticed that you weren't excited by our offer. I'm not sure if you want to work here". Suddenly, I'm on the defensive with this guy's oddly passive aggressive & disingenuous comment. I thought this was a terribly unprofessional move on his part but I was forced to make my case, which I did as soundly as I could in the moment (I said some stupid stuff along the way) He remained unconvinced that I might be worth more than their offer & seemed genuinely surprised that I wasn't flipping for joy that I got a job offer. We ended up talking for about an hour & I left his office unsure whether I'm gonna have a job in the morning.

Naturally, if he's not a complete prick & the offer is still good, I'm going to take it because it's SURVIVAL but fuckin' hell that is a low number. I'm just struggling to feel good about this job despite the low ball because it's a job I'm flourishing in in exciting ways.

Any thoughts?

Well, you have to consider what else you get from this job, besides fiscal benefits.

Is it a respected upscale design company?  Do you interact with any of their customers, or other designers.  In short can you get your name "out there" doing this job, especially if it's in a positive way? 

Are there opportunities for you to grow and develop your skill set?  Can you "upskill", while getting paid?

Are there any other benefits (health etc)?

Also, consider this: it's much more comfortable to look for another job, while you are employed.  You always have that safety net.

Finally, what are the people you work with like? Do you like working there, are there people you get on with, is the banter good?  My experience is that if you enjoy where you work it's much better than being paid a packet, but despising the people you work with.

Art, have you done research on what the average salary is for someone with your job? I know a lot of Web Master and programming jobs that went for Large Dollahs a few years ago have been commoditized. On the other hand, from your description it sounds like your boss is trying to intimidate you into accepting a low ball offer.

I'd look on eLance, LinkedIn Jobs, Craigslist and I'm sure there are other sources, and see what similar jobs go for. If you are getting screwed I'd let your boss know you know that and see what happens. And if you find your are at market Rate or better you can then decide if you want the position.

I interact with the VPs, the product managers, the marketing dept., sales reps countrywide, the designers - EVERYONE. And on a regular basis. I've grown in many ways personally & professionally and I've already begun to gain rep & get my name "out there" within the company. Hell, a few weeks ago I - a temp - met & "sold myself" to the company's CEO/Founder. She now knows who I am & that I can get shit done.

Yes, as far as I know, it's a very respected company.

Yes, I'm gaining quite a few new skills daily.

There are benefits but I haven't looked them over yet.

I'd asked around & people seem to genuinely like it there & the turnover is relatively below average, I'd guess. Everyone is very nice. Almost TOO nice.
 

I could easily see myself with this company at 40 but I'm sorely disappointed that I'm making such a low number & will continue to struggle financially. I coming to terms with that reality, considering the excruciatingly small size of the company but my conversation with my boss today was unnecessary, damaging all around, & I'm struggling to feel good about accepting their offer. Which I will, of course.

Plus, I'm surrounded by hot 20-something chicks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cylon Baby 

Art, have you done research on what the average salary is for someone with your job? I know a lot of Web Master and programming jobs that went for Large Dollahs a few years ago have been commoditized. On the other hand, from your description it sounds like your boss is trying to intimidate you into accepting a low ball offer.

 

I'd look on eLance, LinkedIn Jobs, Craigslist and I'm sure there are other sources, and see what similar jobs go for. If you are getting screwed I'd let your boss know you know that and see what happens. And if you find your are at market Rate or better you can then decide if you want the position.

That's the thing, I'd done my research & the average for a non-programmer Web Editor who maintains web content & works alongside product management & marketing is between 37k and 50k, depending on experience.

With this particular company, I saw a survey that detailed the averages earned by past & present employees and they appeared to pay well above the CA average. So why am I getting screwed? AM I getting screwed?

Keep in mind that I'm an ex-sound engineer with no BA who happened to be at the right place at the right time & learned website stuff/content editing on the fly but am now kicking ass at it.

My experience in the job market is that if you aren't at least keeping an iron in the fire as far as finding another job goes,  you're doing yourself a disservice. In ALL situations. 

Right now I'm only about 6 wks into my new job, but once I get 3-4 mos in, I'm going to update my resume and start nosing around to see what else might be out there. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 my conversation with my boss today was unnecessary, damaging all around, & I'm struggling to feel good about accepting their offer. Which I will, of course.

Plus, I'm surrounded by hot 20-something chicks.

yes, it's unfortunate that that had to occur before you could get your head around anything.  Maybe your boss was genuine in that bossly confusion.  BUt also any boss, anywhere, will try to get good people for a pittance.  Try not to dwell on it as there is nothing positive that can come from that.  Also, don;t feel that you are being judged by how much you're being offered. To being annoyingly quotey "it's not personal, it's just business"

Definately check on the going rate, and if it is substantially higher than you have been offered, take that to the table.  But there are any number of ways they can justify offering you less. I imagine they will point to lack of qualifications etc,a nd that since you are learning on the job it's good for you etc etc.

Is the 20-something hot chicks a good thing or a bad thing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Bain 

 

Is the 20-something hot chicks a good thing or a bad thing?

The bad: most of them are married.

The good: I'm the best looking guy in the office by a fucking mile...and I could care less about who's married or not. That said, I've got quite the crush on an un-married bird in the company (who I only see occasionally). She takes my breath away...and no girl has EVER done that to me before.

The going rate for Website Editor is around 40k. I'm not a trained Web guy though, I'm just a smart motivated guy who figured out Web stuff plus what I'm doing for the company beyond that exceeds their established job description because I'm filling needs/positions/creating new duties everyday. They want to pay me for 25% of what I do and want the rest for free.

I desperately want to feel good about accepting their offer & I'm struggling with it because I really love what I'm doing.

Guy sounds like a toolbox, is my largely unhelpful thought.  Sounds like he was this close to pulling out how he can have ten guys from India in here in five minutes who'll scrape the floor and wish "many blessings on your family, mem sahib" and try and talk him down to 13.50, or some similar deplorable stuff.

Wait and see if he has a modicum of human integrity I guess, but start calling what little of your new network you've managed to establish in the meantime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 I really love what I'm doing.

OK, then it's a case of looking if you can afford to taker this job.  If it's not enough to keep you afloat, and you can find a better paying job then I would suggest that's what you do.

However, if you can live on what's being offered at the moment then I'd take it.  Loving what you are doing is the most important thing beyond basic subsistence.

Although I'm not a great advocate of IT my start was as a systems admin at a place where I was temping.  I thought I could apply myself despite having no IT training.  They took me on, at a greatly reduced rate.  A year later I got a good payrise because I'd applied myself so well.  A few weeks beyond that I got poached by the company that made the software I was administering, because I'd impressed them in meetings and the projects I'd undertaken. 

A year later I was concerned I was cornering myself so I applied for, and got, a junior engineer role at Microsoft.  Again this was at a reduced rate, but it allowed me to learn the MS suite, something I had very little knowledge of, I basically got the job because of my general troubleshooting skills, which I'd honed in the previous jobs.

I learned and qualified up and this allowed me to get a job a job a year later, in NZ as a senior engineer, because I had MS on my CV and because of what I'd learned.  I then became a consultant for Small Businesses with a local company.

I've recently jumped again to a more junior role ina  National company, to learn more things.  But because I now have a very good name in the local area I'm on a good whack, better than I was in my previous role (which didn't pay very well because it was a small company).

So my point is, you have to look beyond what the pay is to what your future may offer you.  Apply yourself and the world is literally yours.  It's all about getting a good first step, and making the most of it.  And sometimes you have to take a finiancial hit to do that.  The key is to set your performance indicators, and if you hit them, make sure you are renumerated accordingly.  This could take a year, it may be less.  If it takes longer, take your good name and reputation and look around.

It sounds like you're doing really well Art.  Focus on that rather than your immediate knee jerk reaction to the financial offer.

(1) I never fail to be appalled by what you Yanks are given by way of hourly rates;

(2) Yes, check the current market rate and make a counter proposal to them. If they don't accept that or won't negotiate on their current offer, then see if you can work a raise into your contract after 3 months at the newly agreed rate.

I did that at my current job. The job ad offered sky-high salary, the actual offer made to me low-balled me to a disgusting degree, so I wangled them up to a $10k raise after my 3mth probation period finished, which they agreed to and wrote that into my contract. I got them to love me so much they actually gave me a $15K raise instead at the end of my probation (YAY!); but did however to screw me over big time at my next annual review (BOO!).

Overall though, it sounds like you've got a lot of non-monetary benefits with this job, and it sounds like a highly useful role to put on your CV for future prospects, so don't feel bad about accepting the offer if it stays as-is.

ETA: proper paragraphing (work computer does not allow same).