Today is my ten year anniversary at work. Hmm. Ten years ago I was completely naive about the corporate lifestyle. Just a mere couple of weeks prior to boarding the Mothership I was scooping beans like crazy. I had an apartment with my best friend and was having a pretty good time just being a twenty five year old twenty year old. I wasn't sure what I was doing when I boarded the Mothership but it was big and shiny and offered promises of a better life. That's what I was working for in school anyway right? My focus up until that point was gaining personal self esteem and focusing on getting through school so I could stop going. Plus, bean scooping was getting old so the allure of the Mothership was strong in that there were no beans for me to scoop there. Other than that the idea of a family was pretty far from my realm of comprehension, literally.
Fast forward ten years and much has changed while much remains the same. The allure of the Mothership is still there. I may not be the least bit impressed with it and the shine has certainly worn off, the promise of a better life has been fulfilling in that the financial benefits are tough to ignore or take for granted. That's where the allure lies still today. No, I don't really like sitting in a stupid cubical under fluorescent lighting. No, I don't like being asked to drink the Koolaid again and again. Watching a few useless people skate through their jobs and get promoted along the way is difficult to stomach. The politics are above me in that I'm not good at it. I find it difficult to act differently than how I feel. I'm not good at kissing ass either. And while I have my moments I often lack the professionalism to "get ahead". I've recently realized that there are those that can effectively channel all their energy and potential into their work at the Motehrship (I'm sure this applies everywhere). I'm not one of those people. I'm typically operating at about 60% of my potential. That's just a guess. I've often wondered what would happen if I just tried to reach 90% or so but I can't seem to sustain that for more than twenty minutes or so. Anyway, there is plenty to complain about but there is much to be thankful for and appreciative of as well.
The money and benefits are very important to me at this point in my life. My job gives me a lot of flexibility and I feel respected and trusted in my role. I'm currently managing a very large project and am responsible for a large portion of the corporate e-mail infrastructure, supporting over 100,000 users all over the world and routing over 5 millions e-mail messages a day. Unlike some of the positions I've had in the past I can clearly see where I'm helping keep the Mothership on course. There is the corporate ladder that continuously taunts me but for the most part the current rung on which I stand suits me well. The work can be tedious at times but it changes just enough to keep me interested and I do feel like I have the freedom to customize parts of my job. So I complain and occasionally entertain taking the escape pod but I do like my job overall.
What has changed outside of work this past few year? Obviously a lot has changed and it's all good. I have a beautiful family and am so lucky to have such a fantastic wife and little boy. My priorities have changed a great deal since I've been married and had a baby. In some ways work is more important because I want good things for my family and in more ways it's less important because I'd rather be with my family than at work. Me and everybody else, right? What's to come of my journey with the Mothership? My guess is that another ten years would look pretty similar to the first ten years. Of course I can always be picked off at the next round of layoffs or the layoff after that or the one after that. I used to worry so much about that and somehow it's not as important to me as it used to be. I can get another job. There are other Motherships and even different ways to go all together. Time will tell.
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