Category: Career

I wanted to let you know how my pursuit of teaching is going.

I have decided to take the MTELs early next year so I can have my preliminary license by the end of my MBA.

I have been picking my sister-in-law’s brain on the school system and the profession, and I am not turned off yet. I have learned a lot about how it all works, and how I really might not be able to apply for jobs at all next year because I will need a license on hand in order to do so. For this reason, I am setting myself up for the expectation of teaching at college or private school to start with. Once I get my license and some experience under my belt, I will be able to switch to the public school system and maybe get my own classroom.

I have also decided to start a new blog called “Teaching Inanutshelll” to talk about my experiences from the moment of the decision to pursue teaching onwards, so I will start blogging there starting today, if you wanted to keep up with my new career path. Find the new blog here: http://teachinginanutshelll.wordpress.com

Thanks for listening so far. I’ll keep posting my thoughts on this blog, so I’m happy to have you read here.

ina

The past few days have been very emotionally draining for me. I wish I could tell you I handled it all well and confidently. Wish I could tell you I was strong and didn’t spend hours crying and feeling bad about myself. But I can’t.

What I CAN tell you is that this externally-influenced period of self-deprecation only lasted 30 hours (yay).

Things turned around when I decided that SOMETHING has to change… VERY soon. As soon as I had this “epiphany” (more of a realization, really, but a very emotional one), I started looking into what it would take to get a teacher’s license.

Now, I know that teaching is a far cry from the corporate world (in terms of salary), but it’s time to try a different career for size. Let’s evaluate this option:

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind about anything and everything on this post at any time!

Why I think I would ENJOY teaching:

• I am dynamic and full of energy
• I have always loved the spotlight (from theater to karaoke to work and school presentations)
• I keep on coming up with ideas to make teaching fun and effective — ever since I saw that episode where Miss Bliss had the students participate in a game-show style activity to study for a test 😉
• I would love for my day to end in the middle of the afternoon
• Full creative power in the classroom
• Each year is a fresh start (love constant change)
• Summers off, ’nuff said

Why I think I would be GOOD at teaching

• I give a MEAN presentation
• My funny side tends to come out when I’m in the spotlight
• I have thought of really cool classroom management techniques (to keep kids in line and the class moving forward)
• I am a caring person
• Energy Energy Energy
• I know stuff

Ever since this idea came to mind as a serious prospect, I have been giddy. More importantly, it has given me something to look forward to, and I really can’t wait to continue my research on this.

Are you a teacher or know someone who is one? Do you have any tips for me? Or are you considering a career change? To what?

ina

You’ve all heard the expression “It’s a Catch-22,” right? In case you haven’t, it refers to the book “Catch-22,” and the expression is said when you are in a no-win situation: you have an end goal, but the attempt to achieve it gets you farther away from the goal itself.

That is what is happening to me at work right now. I call it the Bitch-22. Here’s what happened:

Disclaimer: All the events and opinions on this blog represent the views of the blogger alone, not of the company referred to as “the company.”

I had a project that basically summed up my deliverables for the year, until the leadership decided to put a halt on it one month before go-live. They had their reasons. My issue? They consciously and explicitly excluded me from that discussion.

Why do I think I was left out: I strongly suspect that my coworkers (who actually work and reside in a different state from me) think of me as “emotional” and “aggressive”, and thought my presence in the meeting would hinder their strategy session because I would waste their time defending my project, as opposed to thinking ahead to the future.

I have struggled with this image, because I consider myself an intelligent person and an asset to the team. I get things done like no other, and that’s pretty much the most important thing that my Type-A personality brings to the table. I know my area better than anybody else, and it made absolutely no sense to exclude me from that discussion.

What do I wish I could do about it? I wish I could get the Big Kahoona on the phone and tell him about how this team left me out, which made me feel discriminated against for personal reasons. I want to say I am not happy about the lack of support and this is an unacceptable situation. I could be helping the team, but they choose to put me in the corner. If I am not valued, then we are both wasting our times.

What message would that send? Ina is too aggressive, overbearing and emotional.

So what will I end up doing? I will phrase my concerns to my immidiate manager with a low voice and a tone that is not accusatory.

What message do I HOPE that will send? “Wow, Ina really is getting a raw deal. This should be addressed.”

What message will it probably end up sending? Ina is too emotional and has problems letting go of work issues. Would not make a good leader.

So what if I didn’t say anything at all? I’ll eventually implode of frustration and leave the company.

What message would that send, if I left? “Wow, Ina really had issues. Why couldn’t she talk about them with us? We would have listened and maybe would have been able to keep her talent in the company.” I know that’s the reaction because that’s pretty much the standard reaction to people leaving… or at least that’s what they keep telling us.

In conclusion: no-win situation.

Hence, the Bitch-22: treat an employee as an emotional wreck, and you will spark emotional reaction, feeding back into the original perception. Any attempt at breaking the cycle will get you farther away from being perceived in a different light.

When a company wants to retain talent, how can they foster an atmosphere for it to be acceptable, welcome and comfortable for employees to voice out their concerns, such that they are taken seriously?

Are you stuck in a Bitch-22?

ina

So what is going on with my career? I bet this is a question on many a 20-something young professional’s mind.

Before I bore you with the nitty-gritty details of my bitterness towards my career, let me illustrate my actual career path versus my needs and wants ever since I had half a brain to start thinking about my future:

As you can see, my career has been a steady-stream of “whatever.” I never took a risk or actually followed my needs/wants, and always had a very convenient excuse not to do anything about it. I don’t blame anyone for my career choices. They have been MY choices, they have not “happened” to me, I have accepted them every step of the way.

Throughout the years I have spent my free time volunteering and doing things on the side to find out what my true passion is (without much success). My wanting to start a business could be more of an attempt at escaping the world of bosses and hierarchies, rather than dream fulfillment.

Truth is that I have no idea what I want to do in my life. I have grown increasingly frustrated with myself for wanting something different a the drop of a hat, and knowing that, if I just wait it out for a couple of weeks, my current passion will dissolve into nothingness, leaving me wandering aimlessly yet again.

At this point, I KNOW that my current job is not my life calling. I am trying to break into the software engineering world (see previous posts), but I can tell that it’s going to be very difficult without any actual software engineering experience under my belt. Even if I actually accomplished to switch fields, what’s to say I’ll be happy there? Like I said, this fad may fade just like all the others. The worst thing that could happen is that I do not get a new job, and I’ll just stay in the current one until I finish the MBA (in August 2010). At that point my “Why not change?” box will be empty of excuses, and I will have to really face the question of what to do with my career.

My absolute worst fear is retiring from my current company. My life wasted away out of fear of not getting a steady paycheck.

Do any of you feel the same way? I wonder what your “chronology of an unsatisfying career” table would look like and what you think is holding you back from making a change.

ina

Just met with the hiring manager (over the phone, of course). I think I came off as confident in my abilities, but definitely showed a handicap for not having programmed in a professional setting before. But apparently I was able to convince him enough to send me through to phone interviews with the architects and designers.

I’m starting to freak out a little bit… the technical people can be quite cocky and might want to show off their knowledge by asking me the tough questions.

I guess it’s study time!!!

ina

I have a meeting tomorrow about a position as a software engineer in my company. I strongly suspect that I am not qualified for it (I have not done development since my college days, and getting back into it will take considerable amount of brain power), but I have 1 hour to convince myself that I am perfect for the job, so I can convince the hiring manager that I am the best pick. So here’s my self-pep-talk:

Background
My background is in Computer Science. I have been programming since high school, and my main language is Java. I graduated college Cum Laude and joined an IT leadership program at my company, where I was trained on project management (tollgates, timelines, voice of the customer, checklists, getting things done). I have managed technical teams ranging from 1 to 5 resources, mostly remotely (teams in India, and most recently 2 resources in the Mid West). I have had six years of experience in leading application development, creating documentation, and creating and implementing test plans. I have led the implementation of applications in IVR, Oracle ERP, Lotus Notes, SQL, Identity Management and Mercury ITG workbench. I have had exposure to php, asp, SQL, C#, C++, javascript, Visual Basic and Pascal, while my background is mostly in console and visual Java programming. I am familiar with Design Patterns. My clients are usually internal: CIO/CTO levels, or employees as the main stakeholders. I have excellent presentation and communication skills (oral and written) and I would be comfortable working with clients and asking the right questions to get accurate VOCs. I have experience in cost-benefit analysis and especially cost-out initiatives. I am a fast learner, and I hope to make the leap to development within the organization.

And now for the typical behavioral questions:

Have you ever been in a difficult situation at work, how did you handle it?
I’m currently going through one, in fact. I have been working on a project to simplify user’s experience for the past six months, but it was put on hold because my solution does not tackle 1 other area of the business. Currently the strategy sessions do not include me, since I am operations and not leadership. This has been a difficult position to be in, since I am the most knowledgeable of the process I own. The best I could do was to phrase my concerns, stress the benefits of the project, and let the leadership decide what the final conclusion will be. In the meantime, I will continue the work I have been doing (minus the piece on hold) and strive for giving back value to the business.

Have you ever had to deal with a difficult person at work, how did you handle it?
Yes. One of the subject matter experts (SME) seemed to always decline any requests I had, which was impairing my work. I spoke with a coworker we both had in common and he was able to mediate our situation. It turned out that I was expecting the SME to work on what I told him to do, while the SME had the job to protect his resources by making sure that the work we were asking for was in fact going to solve the issue at hand. After learning how he worked best, I started phrasing my issues as questions rather than commands for what I thought was the right solution. The SME immediately turned around with very useful solutions, some of which were cheaper, faster and better. This approach saved our professional relationship and relieved much of the tension we both felt when we worked together. I learned that it is better to get to the root of the problem and adjust to everyone’s style.

Tell me about a problem that you’ve solved in a unique or unusual way. What was the outcome? Were you happy or satisfied with it?
One of the greatest challenges of putting together a standardized global process is the possibility that a single size will not fit all. We ran into that issue in my previous role, and we faced it now. What I did was create a single field where we ask for a validation code. If a certain request requires further approval, or simply a different kind of workflow, we simply create it on a separate system and have the user come back with their validation code, to finally get what they need. It’s a solution I created and it has been successful in two businesses and two different areas of IT.

Tell me about a recent situation in which you had to deal with a very upset customer or co-worker.
I have this experience on a regular basis. I got a call from a user who had not received what they needed by the date they needed it. It appears to have fallen through the cracks. I immediately engaged the contracting team to send the delivery overnight, and made sure to apologize to the user for their troubles. They backed down when they felt heard. Sometimes it’s over email, sometimes it’s over the phone. Once the user feels understood and we admit fault, they feel validated and the severity of the issue drops. It’s important to make sure there is a phone conversation to understand the tone.

This is just a taste for what is coming… hopefully it will not be this intense in this particular meeting, but, boy, do I have some catching up to do with the development world!

ina