Managing a Career: How
Very frustrated here, so bare with me. 10 years total work in the Data Warehouse/BI community. The last 6 at a large corporation in their R&D. Initially, I and my colleagues were brought in as consultants, then made perm after 1.5 years. Things were looking up. I was given some control/responsibility and wanted to grow with the company. Over the next 4.5 years: *A reorganization almost every 2 years. So much so that I no longer work for or with the same people that hired me. *No local management for the datawarehousing effort, so often times being in the US I was overlooked for promotion. *All US team members were eventually let go *Final reorganization was political. A lot of nepotism and not by anyone I worked for or with has left the company with no DW/BI initiative and reduced my role to DB support. I've tried to fit in and make a case for the work I've done for the last 6 years, but it falls on deaf ears. I'm now faced with either: 1)Work at the company until I get my severance 2)Take a lucrative contract Either one feels like a setback. If I stay, I lose some valuable skillsets. If I go, I'll get those skillsets back but will have to find something more permanent eventually. I guess staving off unemployment is what I should be worried about, but I can't help but wonder what happened here to make all this go bad. What happened was a change in the corporate mindset to elevate PROFIT over PEOPLE!! It's that simple. Most corporate executives have forgotten, if they ever knew, that companies operate and grow based on the work and loyalty of the employees. In the 80s you had newly minted MBAs with NO real world business experience taking over companies. The results are plain for all to see. You need to evaluate your financial options and make decisions based on keeping yourself as solvent as possible. The situation you're in is not your fault and there's nothing you could have done to prevent it. I've been downsized numerous times and used to drive myself crazy wondering "what I do I do wrong?" There's so much bad advice around and it all makes us feel like we've screwed up. Unless you honestly know that you did, the fault lies with a business philosophy that allows its educated, experience workers to be tossed out like yesterday's newspaper. So shake off the blame and figure out what makes the most sense in your situation. The older your are the more important it is to have financial security. Do a pros and cons list on each option and go from there. Good luck.
Thanks, needed to hear that. I guess after being there for so long, I keep trying to justify a reason to stay. The market here sucks for IT jobs, where just 5 years ago it was a vast sea of opportunities. With all the overseas competition, constant reorganizations, and technology shifts...its impossible to manage a career in IT. I stuck around this long because just last year, I finally had a boss for longer than 12 months that recognized my potential. For 4 months, he built me up as his successor and began giving me responsibility and grooming. All I needed was 1 to 2 years of leadership and I could have gone anywhere and stepped up from development/support roles. But...reorg...he gets canned and technology shifts away from DW/BI. Sigh! | |
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Career Tips
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