Never a dull moment here at Ye Olde Workplace.
When I moved into my group, there were four of us. Me, another associate engineer, a senior engineer, and our manager (holding an associate director title). The senior engineer was clearly bitter about the fact that he thought he was doing the manager/AssDir's job. The story on the Manager/AssDir was that he was bitter because his career derailed when the VP who was fast-tracking him got axed when the company was acquired, and now he's reporting to a director who used to be his peer.
So last Tuesday we get word that the SrEng's last day would be Friday. Today we got word that the AssDir put in his two weeks yesterday. End of day yesterday, me and the other AssEng were told we'd be meeting with the Director this morning. We had just barely gotten back from that meeting when AssDir announced he was taking off. Never gonna see that guy again.
That leaves just us two AssEng's. The other guy's been here a year and a half. And there's me who's not brand-spanking new, but still I've only been in the department for five weeks. Fortunately we're not super busy right now. I mean, there's plenty enough work for the two of us, but we're not swamped at the moment.
We're now reporting directly to our Director. It was nice to hear him say that he thought the two of us had things under control for the time being. Otherwise they would have brought in some contract help. The consensus also seems to be that the tone of our environment will be much improved, and he doesn't feel like we're significantly lacking anything with their being gone. I certainly agree, because I started hearing jibber jabber the day I arrived in my new cube, none of it good.
It'll be a couple months before we get someone new in. Most folks suspect that it'll be someone internal, although they will be interviewing externally for both the SrEng and Mgr spots. Folks also suspect that whoever they bring in will likely service both the SrEng and Mgr roles, at least temporarily. I think that depends on whether this person is internal or external. Any internal person could do both. In the mean time, we've both been delegated some authority that we didn't have before, so we've got some autonomy and freedom to get things done. And we're getting shiny new company credit cards.
So, my workload hasn't changed significantly. But I feel like my security blanket is gone. I'm still trying to grasp some conceptual things about what we do and the workflow and whatnot. The other AssEng is perfectly capable of answering most of my questions. In fact, I think he's already puffed up about being the senior person in the department. I think we'll be okay. It's just weird and a little unsettling.
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Actually, now's the time to really shine by doing your normally excellent work AND covering for the two people who are no longer bringing everyone else down with their personal issues.
Show 'em what you got and don't worry about a thing.
Yeesh.
I think it's a good opportunity to be overseen by a higher-higher up, even briefly. It might not pay off for the time being, but down the road, you'll be remembered as that person who cheerfully pitched in during organizational crisis, when you were so new yourself. And anyone who's brought in above you will be assured that they will have an easygoing, bright star who is capable of easing them in to the transition. I have no worries -- you shouldn't either.
And I love these weird titles. I'm an AssME. Go figure. (That's managing editor, which for some reason in my business, managing editors do way more than regular editors. Whee. Ass indeed!)
Thanks, y'all. Now that the initial shock has worn off, I'm not too worried about it. I'm too busy to be worried about it!