No offense taken. Although I did feel a bit put off by @Al128 asking my age and implying it was "too late for my career to look for a job a step up from mine. A job a step up from mine would be perfectly reasonable at my age.
let me offer apologies -
it really seems that in the classical (corporative) job market you turn 50 and you become invisible … but of course there are other avenues, like personal networks, etc…
the good news in the job market is … you just need ONE good job offer … not 10 or 20 … and you are golden …
but be aware that (unfortunately) we are an age cohort that gets net-unloaded in the job market
I suppose that’s the thing. I’ve had plenty of what I thought were “good job offers” and for one reason or another they didn’t seem to last more than a few years. So are they “good” offers or really “shit” offers disguised as good ones?
One of the worst aspects of changing jobs these days is the forced acquisition of a couple dozen new logins and passwords.
I’m not exaggerating, because I just counted. At my last two workplaces I had 18 and 19 sets of various credentials, and that’s not including pass codes to open doors and such. Then there’s the multi-factor nonsense, upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and special characters and changing passwords every 90 goddam days…
If I ever need to summon the nerve to off myself, this is what I’m going to think about. And I defy anyone to tell me it isn’t nonsense. I do business with a major financial institution that doesn’t go in for this crap and somehow remains manages to remain secure regardless.
Right now I’m trying to sign up for ONE class at a community college and it’s taking forever to set up my student account, email, other account for some other purpose, etc. I call them up and they tell me to wait until Wednesday for the system to perform whatever rain dance it is that will satisfy its cursed innards and permit further progress. I’m thinking of calling up tomorrow and demanding a “check out as guest” option.
All this to say - yeah, changing jobs sucks. And it feels like it’s getting worse, not better.
That’s just a sign of a terrible IT department, though. I have a single username/password at my workplace, and the password never expires. There is required 2-factor authentication using an app. The only minor annoyance is that we have two different 2FA apps right now, but only because we’re in the middle of a transition.
yes, it sucks, not only for the “known-unknowns” (new people, processes, culture and politics) but especially for the “unknown-unknowns” …e.g. the job where - 2 days in - you know its a crappy-ass-job-in-a-shucks-bolts-company
Leaning new passwords and logins is the least of my concerns.
What is infuriating to me is the feeling that all the work I’ve done for the past months was a complete waste of my professional time.
Like it would be one thing if our company “provided expert services in XYZ” (like we pretend to do). At least I would know that there would be some level of consistency or cohesiveness between what I do from project to project.
But instead I have about a month or so to find a “next” project, whatever it is, wherever it is. Which may actually have nothing to do with anything I’m interested in or have skills for. It would basically be whatever they jammed me into, after which I would be an “expert” and then quickly sought after for other projects and sales efforts, regardless of the long term viability.
There is also the issue of possibly having to return to the office (depending on my next client). Well I’ve been 100% remote since I started working there. I’ve managed to juggle work and taking my kids back and forth to school for 2.5 years just fine, but it’s a pretty big issue if I HAVE to be in the office.
The point being is if I have to look for a new project/client/job to work on, I might as well look outside the company and find one that’s a good fit for what I want / lifestyle requirements.
Isn’t this just selection bias? You’re a contractor, and as best I can tell your specialty is unfucking projects. Well-run companies don’t need your services. Poorly managed ones do, so it should be no surprise that you repeatedly find yourself at one. IMO, well-run companies don’t need contractors at all (within their core competencies), let alone ones to salvage off-the-rails projects.
I’m a bit more than a “contractor” in that I’m also a full-time employee of the consulting firm I am employed by. That is to say, much like an attorney or accounting or engineer, I continue to receive a salary and benefits, even if I am not working on a client (at least, for a time). I also have certain responsibilities within the firm such as managing performance reviews, sales, training, and other activities. And in theory, a client or customer isn’t just hiring me, they are hiring the entire firm with all our resources and thought leadership and whatnot to support me.
Which is where that all gets a bit fuzzy.
Like one would assume that when they hire a firm like mine, they are hiring for a particular service (let’s pick our Global Project Unfuckery Practice). But the client is still going to look a the resume and potentially interview any Project Unfuckery consultants we send them. Maybe law firms do the same with the lawyer leading a case. But a lot of times, it feels like we are just running a big staffing agency.
And quite often, I might not even lead a Project Unfuckery project. Maybe the Big Financial Systems Design Practice brought be in to lead their project because a) I’m an expert in running fucked projects and b) I happen to be available. But then next thing you know I’m now an expert in Big Financial Systems.
In any event, I think the selection bias comes in in that I seem to mostly land jobs where companies need something complex done once but usually aren’t sure if they will need to keep doing it over and over again.
Fortunately poorly run companies don’t seem to be a dwindling resource in Corporate America and well run companies still need consulting and other forms of contingency services.