I was on vacation last week. I didn’t pack a computer. My phone became a camera and GPS. I didn’t think about work and I didn’t let work get to me.
Before, I left, I set my auto-reply with one important line.
I will not be reachable by phone or email.
I wasn’t. I didn’t check email and I don’t give out my phone number. I didn’t worry about work. Work is here now that I’m back.
I had a wonderful vacation. Don’t let work join you on vacation.
As much as I like what I do, there are still days I’d really prefer not to be anywhere near a user’s computer, my computer or be responsible for their operation.
I dream sometime of what it would be like to have another job, a “normal” job. I really don’t know what that would even mean. I don’t know what people do that isn’t IT-related in some way. Ever since I got out of school I’ve worked in IT Support with the exception of my one Electronic Printing Manager job I had at AlphaGraphics.
I really don’t know what people do for a living. I don’t know what most people do for 8 hours a day in their offices and laboratories. So, I am curious. What do you do all day?
Growing up I learned a lot of things. One of them was about how I needed to go out and get a job. I needed to stay at that job for years and I would be taken care of. The company I worked for would invest in me as I invested in them. There would be a mutually beneficial relationship. We would both thrive.
That is a fairy tale. That is a story for another time. Another generation. That is not the reality of today. I learned too late in life the only person looking out for me is me. So I needed to do a better job of looking out for me.
I made one huge mistake when I entered the job market. I believed what I’d been told all through growing up. I believed loyalty was rewarded.
I went to college and learned in my four years there I did not want to work in Advertising. And I worried. What would people think of my Mass Communications degree?
Absolutely Nothing! And I don’t meant they didn’t like it. It didn’t matter. All my employers were interested in was if I had a degree. Not what the degree said on it.
I had a Bachelor’s degree. That’s all they cared about. Something I quickly learned was that having the degree won’t get me a job but it will keep me from being disqualified.
A college degree won’t land you a job. It will keep you from not being considered for the job.
A little story from the first time I’ve interviewed someone to hire. I was the lead Desktop Support Tech and we were looking for a new technician. The job was posted and we were flooded with resumes. We had well over 1,000 applications for this single job.
How do you think we filtered the list? We started eliminating anyone who didn’t fit the criteria. And one of the criteria was having a college degree.
From my first job working in IT Support I stuck to a simple plan when selecting jobs.
I’m a hired gun. I’m a technical mercenary. I work for the highest bidder.
Want a raise? Get a new job. I started making $12 per hour. Then $17, $19, and eventually $21/hour for the same job title doing the same work. But I’d worked for a different place each time.
While I worked as a contractor, I had no paid time off. That meant if I didn’t work, I didn’t get paid. Period. I would work through being sick. I didn’t take vacations. I worked. It’s what I did. That was my reality. So I wanted more money to justify the lack of time off. This is not sustainable and it was always my goal to get through it to something better.
And health benefits… Yeah. I had them. Technically. But they were often terrible. Expensive benefits that covered little if anything. It was barely worth the money I paid. And since I didn’t take time off. I didn’t go to the dentist or the doctor unless I absolutely had to.
Then I moved out of the area and landed my first job with benefits. I had time off. I had decent healthcare for the first time since leaving school and I was salaried. That changed everything.
That meant I got paid the same thing every pay check. No overtime but also very little demand for it. But my pay checks were consistent which made budgeting easier. Not that I had any money in savings. But I could pay my bills.
And I had a little on the side so I could enjoy myself and go out to eat some times. I could go see a movie. I could even take time off and enjoy life and visit friends or family out of the area without having to race out-of-town Friday night and return by Sunday. I had freedom.
This is a deceptively simple idea. When your work day is complete, leave work. It’s something I’ve struggled with as I tried to clear my ticket queue. I love to tell myself if I just spend a few more minutes on this problem I’ll have a solution.
I won’t. I never do. I need to go home and pick it up tomorrow. You know when I do find the solution for my problem? Tomorrow, after I’ve slept and rested. After I’ve stopped thinking about it.
When work is over, I go home. I don’t stay late. I don’t give my free time to work. I am a contractor which means I stop getting paid the moment I work 8 hours. I don’t get paid overtime. When I work late, I work for free. Don’t work for free.
My time is valuable and so it yours. I leave by example. Working as a team lead, I would leave at the end of the day and urge my team to do the same. Your team takes cues from you. Be a good example and others will follow.
Time is finite and comes from somewhere.
I have a hard time taking this advice, but it’s important. Eat lunch away from your desk. Get up and go to the cafeteria, find a restaurant you like. Find a place to eat where you won’t be disturbed.
When I am at my desk, my co-workers take that as a signal I am working. So I can be disturbed. Even if I’m clearly eating lunch, it doesn’t stop the interruptions or requests for work as I eat.
I do it to myself. I will be trying to find a solution to a problem as I eat. Or I’ll be sending emails. I need to stop working. I need to switch gears.
I usually eat in about 15 minutes. With my remaining 15 minutes I read a book or listen to music. If I’m having a rough day I’ll go for a walk or close my eyes and set a timer for a midday nap.
Smokers get to go outside for a few minutes a couple of times per day. I decided I would do the same thing. Instead of smoking, I go for walks. I read a book on my phone or go through my Instapaper queue.
I use the chance to get some fresh air and clear my head. It works wonder to step away from a problem and come back to it with a clear head and a different perspective.
Most importantly, it saves me from never leaving my desk for 8 straight hours. I’ve had days where I stand up to collect myself and go home and wonder why my legs are so stiff and sore. It’s from sitting all day without moving.
Leave on time. Go to lunch. Leave your desk throughout the day. You’ll be happier and healthier at the end of the day.
I tell people “I work at the National Cancer Institute.” Not “I’m a contractor working for Terrapin Systems supporting the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health.” Partially because it’s a mouthful but mostly because they’re eyes glaze over and they want suddenly want to talk about the weather.
Being a government contractor often means having very little contact with the company I actually work for and pays my salary. I work on the client site. For the client.
I am one of them.
Scarlet CONTRACTOR Letters
It’s a strange dissociation. Some contracting companies are very hands on. I’ll interview at their offices for their people initially. I will meet HR and Finance people in addition to the recruiter. I will meet my manager-to-be if I’m hired. I will know the faces attached to the phone numbers and email addresses. It all feels very real.
Other contacting firms might as well be ghosts. I’ve never met the people. Never been to their offices. I don’t even know where the offices are. Sure, I have an address but it’s still not real. It’s just a number on a page. I know they exist because my salary gets paid. And I get emails from people I don’t know and will never meet.
It’s a strange life, that of a contractor. I often think of it as being a hired gun or a nomad. Roaming from job to job. Learning a new language. A new culture. Then doing it all over again in a few years. In the world of IT Support, every job is the same. But every company is different. Changing jobs is all about unlearning everything I know culturally about where I am but transferring my technical knowledge and soft skills to the new place.
It’s like moving to a new school. All the subjects are the same. There’s a gymnasium and a cafeteria. There’s a track and rows of lockers. But everyone is different. I am the stranger. I have to make new friends. I have to learn new social norms and expectations.
I would love to live my grandparent’s ideal. I would love to work for one company for 20 years and never think about leaving. I want a company to invest in me. But that’s not the world I work in.
I will never work for one company for 50 years, retire and receive a pension. I will never be taken care of by a company I’ve committed my life to. That world no longer exists. I’ve never worked anywhere more than 3 years. I’ve been laid off in budget cuts. I’ve been fired. I’ve left for a whole host of reasons. My mother is fond of say I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. And it’s true. I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.
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