week 37

[mellowtigger]

I don't know. I still stress out over this job. A lot less than the early days, but it's not moving any closer to zero. I still have plenty of issues in a week that leave me confused and adrift.

As an employer, they are also being confusing... slightly. On the "good" side of the tally, they are investing in staff salaries. Notably, they are giving everyone on the low end an automatic 0.5% pay raise, in addition to whatever everyone gets based on annual review merit scores. It's a nice gesture that they limited it to the poorest employees. On the "bad" side of the tally, however, is that the plan is to reduce budget for almost every department while simultaneously looking to increase student enrollment. They foresee a changed future, so they are trying to plan for a truly sustainable path forward. It's noteworthy (to me, you know what I think is happening in the world) that they identify healthcare costs as a significant issue. I don't know how we do all of that without reducing staff levels? I think it's excellent that they are trying to streamline instead of silo their operations.

I had two coworkers suggest that I would be a great candidate for the "next level" of job classification in this role, when we had a job posting for my same weekend schedule recently. I chose not to apply to the job, because I haven't reached any sustainable level of comfort with my current role yet, so I'm not ready for additional responsibilities. It was encouraging, though, to hear their evaluation, since I always feel like I'm just one bad phone call away from losing my place in this job. Rationally, I know it's not that dire, but emotionally that's still where I'm at.

Comments

[scrottie]

"A lot less than the early days, but it's not moving any closer to zero." -- yeah, all of this requires a lot of being on the ball. Support is basically never not stressful, which is why people tend to just not doing it (either being employed to do it or refusing to sign up for it).

"0.5% pay raise" -- fractions of percents are not a real thing especially when selectively applied like that. This is a statistically insignificant number. But there's a lot of that going around.

A good friend was working tech support for a large credit union in the Bay Area. I got to watch the whole saga second hand of leaked board room document from new management of a plan to cut IT costs through attrition, of opening job listings but paying below market rates, and not giving raises, until staffing levels were reduced, then maintaining. Seeing that, all of the good people left except my friend who was biding him time trying to get a significantly better job in Seattle while working on certifications. He was already overqualified. Then he quit. The people left were selling odd hardware on Craigslist that weren't wiped or marked surplus, handing them out to people in the parking lot, and lots of other shenanigans like that. Management never changed course.

IT will continue to be hamstrung until damage to the company finds its way back around to leadership. And economics of leadership position incentives work out such that there's more reward for too aggressive of cost cutting than not aggressive enough. If you've cut costs to the point that the organization starts to fall apart, you'll land on your feet, but if you haven't, they'll keep replacing you until you do. God, what I'm doing, I'm seeing these dynamics at scale... property management companies that don't run themselves in to the ground are gobbled up by those that do, financed by banks that are running themselves in to the red from banks that aren't. Optimisation is universally for maximized risk.

Sorry, meant to try to write something to try to add perspective that would stress you out less, not more. Especially the closer you get to the top, the more cynical all of this is. I don't know if this is possible, but be aware of the cynicism and try to route with it in mind without yourself becoming cynical. My friend is now working for NOAA in Seattle. He did a fantastic job supporting people at that credit union up until the end, and after he left, there's no indication that they tried to fix their terrible IT. idk either. Give your employer a solid value and maintain a secure position in your role but don't try to save the whole org or else you're going directly head to head with someone with much more power who is gambling the org at Vegas. Then let it go and enjoy your life.

[mellowtigger]

Yes, I've seen that sort of thing happen at other companies I've worked for. Still, though, if all it does is reduce the relative loss of purchasing power from 3.1% (what I saw on news last night about cost increases in 2023) to "only" 2.6%, then I'll take it as better than nothing. It's still a loss, though, yes.

This particular job is unlike any other tech support job I've had. "All roads lead to Rome", and far too many support lines lead to us. I've talked to someone wanting (with no patience for delays) the phone number for the coach for some sports team (not football). I've talked to a customs agent at an airport needing to speak immediately (on a weekend) with someone about a student's admission to the USA for coursework, otherwise they would get turned back to their home country. I've talked to a UPS driver needing to deliver a package (on a weekend) and wondering where it should go since the written address was not specific enough. In addition to all of the usual tech stuff, some I can help with and some I need to escalate and some I need to be the "middle man" while opening a tech ticket elsewhere for them.

I've come to the conclusion that I will never "learn" this job, because there is no obvious base of information that can be taught. It's very weird. I've never had a support job like it. It's just... a lot. :(