You can't always get what you want
Jan. 21st, 2009 10:08 pmI can't quite decide if it's a case of "be careful what you wish for" or "you can't always get what you want".
You see, I have a job and I'm not sure I'm happy with that.
It's through somewhere that can potentially get me a foot in the door with the kind of work I'd like to do. The commute isn't too long. It makes me more money than I've ever made, nearly 1,5 times of my last job. And I really, really need the money.
But it is completely and utterly mindnumbing.
I work through Romae for government agency X that is rolling out controversial digital infrastructure product Y for department Z. It turned out to be much more controversial than they expected (duh!) and they have a lot of letters coming in. A lot. They need people who are smart enough to analyse the letter quickly and make an intelligent answer out of their prefab answer text blocks. Problem is, their answer text blocks suck. Even the junior IT consultancy guys who got roped into doing this too (long story) know they suck. But they're apparently Legally Waterproof (tm), so They Must Stay.
Never mind that they're insensitive and contain omissions and circular definitions. Never mind that you hired people who are normally paid to fix things like this. Nooo, let everyone turn off most of their brain and help department Z shoot itself in the foot. My entire input is choosing the right block and putting in the name and maybe three one line paragraph intros.
I have a contract until the 16th of March or until they catch up on the backlog. The super was impressed with my speed and quality of work though, maybe I can singlehandedly get us caught up and we can end this before I go nuts? I'm going to go to work tomorrow and I think a talk with my direct boss and Romae is in order. I may bite the bullet, reduce my hours or try to negotiate so I can get out of the project or get more input. Not sure.
I just think that what they really need is someone who's not naturally inclined to want to make things better. I can bloody well make words sit up and beg, all they want the words to do is wallow and drool. Should've hired college students or something. And their minimum of 24 hours a week is ridiculous considering the nature of the work.
Anyways, have not fallen off earth. More news later.
You see, I have a job and I'm not sure I'm happy with that.
It's through somewhere that can potentially get me a foot in the door with the kind of work I'd like to do. The commute isn't too long. It makes me more money than I've ever made, nearly 1,5 times of my last job. And I really, really need the money.
But it is completely and utterly mindnumbing.
I work through Romae for government agency X that is rolling out controversial digital infrastructure product Y for department Z. It turned out to be much more controversial than they expected (duh!) and they have a lot of letters coming in. A lot. They need people who are smart enough to analyse the letter quickly and make an intelligent answer out of their prefab answer text blocks. Problem is, their answer text blocks suck. Even the junior IT consultancy guys who got roped into doing this too (long story) know they suck. But they're apparently Legally Waterproof (tm), so They Must Stay.
Never mind that they're insensitive and contain omissions and circular definitions. Never mind that you hired people who are normally paid to fix things like this. Nooo, let everyone turn off most of their brain and help department Z shoot itself in the foot. My entire input is choosing the right block and putting in the name and maybe three one line paragraph intros.
I have a contract until the 16th of March or until they catch up on the backlog. The super was impressed with my speed and quality of work though, maybe I can singlehandedly get us caught up and we can end this before I go nuts? I'm going to go to work tomorrow and I think a talk with my direct boss and Romae is in order. I may bite the bullet, reduce my hours or try to negotiate so I can get out of the project or get more input. Not sure.
I just think that what they really need is someone who's not naturally inclined to want to make things better. I can bloody well make words sit up and beg, all they want the words to do is wallow and drool. Should've hired college students or something. And their minimum of 24 hours a week is ridiculous considering the nature of the work.
Anyways, have not fallen off earth. More news later.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-22 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-22 09:18 am (UTC)I think I can make an educated guess at what controversial digital infrastructure product Y is. ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-22 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-22 03:07 pm (UTC)but still...it sounds rather anoying.
If it pays really well, I would stick with it, for now.
But keep looking for another job, anyway!
The good side is, at a new job they usually ask for your last salary to have an incidation of what you will earn in the new job. So, it might be good as a stepping stone...
Good luck!