Big mistake..

[Screeeech]

*Apologies for wall of text / rant*

So recently I found myself in a new role working for a well known US based, IP network hardware/software vendor, however despite the technology they make being exceptional and them having a very good reputation in the industry, I think I've ended up in a bit of a predicament,

The role in question revolves around the global deployment of a $30M system and I'm permanently based on the client site to *assist* in the deployment and ongoing management of it. It pays well, almost six figures (perm) with good benefits, however 8 weeks in, I seem to have turned into a middle-man between the client and the vendor, dealing with BS I don't want to do. Previously I've designed and built very large networks - some of you will be using bits of infrastructure I've built right now (CCIE/JNCIE stuff) but in this new role - I'm basically just a front for the company, with nothing of any real interest to do.. My gut feeling is telling me this isn't going to work at all, I'm spending most of my time just being a middle man rather than doing anything technical - most of the cool technical stuff is being done by other teams, I'm essentially just a shortcut to the vendor as I'm the face of the vendor on site.

To top things off, I'm not sure about my manager - he's a bit of a dictator, and alarm bells started ringing them we spent 20 minutes lecturing me on how good he is at dealing with things, it was all a bit overwhelming, I'm used to being a consultant engineer - running my own shows and dealing with clients myself, rather than being *managed*

To make things even worse, this was actually one the hardest jobs I ever got - 7 interviews, trips to the US and Ireland, so walking away now isn't going to be easy...

I've been looking around on the market, and there are some good roles out there, I've also been approached (via my blog) by a very large company who I have a chat with tomorrow, - trouble is I'm not sure I want to invoke a rather obvious ****storm of hatred if I decide to walk away, but I want to do what's best for me without wrecking any reputation - kinda feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place..

Not really sure what to do, whether to give it more time - or go quickly whilst my probation period notice is only a week, as opposed to the 3 months it will be.... :|

 

[Screeeech]

Yeah this is the thing, it's an ongoing thing ie- I'm meant to be down here for at least three years. The client basically pays a fortune to have an on-site resident engineer - which is what I am, the problem is they also bought a fully managed service, so all of the implementation is done by others, the support is done by others, the operation of it is done by others - leaving me as just a pretty face on site, it's a bit strange and awkward.

I was thinking earlier, that if I was only going to be doing this for 6 months or so - then fine, gives me a chance to learn the ropes on the products before shifting to another one and potentially trying to switch things up a bit then.. To make things even more irritating - there are quite strict rules around what I can and can't do, so the client quite often asks me for input on their designs or ideas - but I'm not allowed to get involved because it's not part of my official duty, I can't say I've ever experienced anything like it.

 

[Screeeech]

I presume they not make it clear what the role would be during the interview?

I think this is where things have gone wrong, despite the company in question (my employer) being pretty darn big, this is the first time they've ever done a 'fully managed service' previously my role would be to go on site and do everything, - Customer pays money, I go in, I design, test/POC, implement - handover and help the customer operate it in an ongoing fashion, which is how it was sold in the interview process - which is right up my street. However - in this case, because they've bought a managed service 80% of the above is being done by others, leaving me sat on my ass with not much to do other than answer a few questions now and then.

I know it sounds like I've answered my own questions, but sometimes it's hard to think clearly until you type it out....

 

[Screeeech]

If all they want is an on-site body for the customer to shout at, they can get someone with far lower technical skills at half the price. Where I work they're called account managers and usually come from a project or line management background instead of techies. Its a different skill set.

You've hit the nail on the head I think,

If I step back and ask, 'what can I do that's technical and fits in with my skillset'? (internet routing, core networks, programming, scripting, design, problem solving)

The only thing I can think of, is some occasional compatibility testing when the customer brings new platforms online - but those are one-offs and probably not enough to keep me entertained, literally everything else is already taken care of by the teams in the US - all of whom know the products inside out (highly bespoke stuff) and I can't compete with them without being there.

I've got some calls tomorrow, (one is with one of the worlds largest MMO studios) so I'll see how that goes, I'm in the mindset now where if something awesome comes up, I think I'll just bail,

 

[Screeeech]

Smile, take the money and drink coffee / tea all day.

Probably a quick road to suicide for me, that sounds like my idea of living hell. My previous role I was getting similar money - but I left simply because (it's a long story) the company's sales model fell to bits, as a result the people in my team had nothing to do. For 3 months I sipped coffee and took the money, it's ok or the first 2-3 weeks, but after that it's ******** purgatory.

/worst thread for boasting about sitting around all day on nearly 6 figures

All kidding aside, before jumping ship is it worth discussing with your management about how the role hasn't aligned with your expectations, and the way the role was sold to you was more from a technical skills standpoint than an account management role.

By the sounds of things whilst you are employed by your employer, it sounds as though it's mostly the client who determines what your work consists of. So your employer might not actually realise that your not getting any technical work to do. Discussing this with them might make them realise that as peter points out, some account management role may be better suited for this client, and then place you somewhere where a technical skillset is needed.

Another question - was this a brand new role, or were you replacing somebody? If the former, it might explain a lot of the unknown.

It is all a bit narcissistic I'll admit

It's a brand new role.

These are the kinds of things that bother me, where it gets to the point where I realise 'this isn't working' and as such it can't continue - something has to happen, I'm always bothered with raising these things with management, I guess I'm a bit paranoid that I might upset the wasps nest and cause a whole load of aggro, as opposed to simply 'legging it' where I can just go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But it also seems unfair to do that, as they made a significant investment when they employed me, so it seems as though I should give them a chance to fix things...

But as a highly esteemed colleague said to me on the phone yesterday, 'If the boot was on the other foot, they wouldn't hesitate to let you go' which kinds balances out the feeling a bit...!

I'm gonna see how the phone calls go today, see what my options are - and maybe formulate something I can go back to management with and at least let them know that stuff isn't working..

 

[Screeeech]

I think that ultimately depends on the situation.

As you've pointed out, the interview process you described was certainly lengthy in determining that you were the best candidate for the role. I think they'd be particularly upset if you walked away without discussing your thoughts on the situation. Obviously if they have no interest in listening or making the changes you're after, then you know your choice is made.

I would at least sit down with them and explain it isn't what you thought (with your employer, not the company you're sitting in) and how its all transpired. They might be able to "swap" you out to something more suitable. If they say "like it or lump it" then you could try bringing it up with the company you're sitting in to see if the role can be adjusted from their perspective to improve the situ.

You could sell it with "currently, I really am not working to my full potential. I know if X, Y & Z were changed I could be giving you a whole lot more" and see if they do anything.

Alternatively, bail. Wouldn't worry about reputation. I get it, working for a big firm is scary that they may besmirch your hard earned name across the industry but ultimately...they're a big company like you say, it will be much easier just to simply put someone else in your place and move on.

Thanks for all the input, it's surprising how much extra clarity you can gain from a situation - simply by writing it down and reading what people say....

I've just drafted quite a long email to them outlining the situation, so it'll be interesting to see what comes back from it.

Interestingly today, things took an even bigger turn for the worse - I got asked basically do what amounts of 3 months solid basic admin work, which I'm going to point-blank refuse to do, however I have feeling the company will side with me and kick back at the client and maybe try to re-affirm what my roles and responsibilities should actually be... so hopefully it can be worked out.

 

[Screeeech]

Yeah, because I'm working for a vendor, the boundaries of where I'm able to get involved are strictly defined - I can't just logon and start 'improving stuff' or finding pet projects to do,

Sent an email to management this morning, so it'll be interesting to see what they come back with..

 

[Screeeech]

Oh gawd,

Total nightmare.

Had a response back from my email this morning, from my manager - his take is pretty much 'yep, that's what the job is' doing admin work - first line stuff between the vendor and the client, basically donkey work, whatever they want me to do - I do it.... There will be more technical stuff to come in future, but I'm not feeling it at all from the tone of things...

Time to gtfo I think, wondering why the hell they bothered, feeling very upset and a bit let down, and also stupid - how I managed to get into this position,

 

[Screeeech]

The frustrating thing is, during the interview process they asked me a hell of a lot of highly technical questions, all of which are related to my skillset, I had 3 full blown technical interviews with a bunch of people, all of the questions were around things I claimed to know and do know, around very specific technologies..... 2 months down the line, nothing I'm doing - or will be doing seems to line up alongside any of that, it's like the entire hiring process is broken - anybody looking at my CV knows what I'm about..

Need to keep the energy up now, and rather than slip into a depressed mood - get something new nailed, I have interview next week for something that looks a little more promising, somebody who actually contacted me through my blog - so they know what they're getting, so hopefully this will align a bit better,.. I'll report back with how it goes,

Thanks for the insight/views/thoughts guys

 

[Screeeech]

No problems, now where do we send our invoices to?

Come on, Mr 6 figures a year

Stop making me feel bad

 

[Screeeech]

Can't stand those kind of roles. In a business I thrive when pressured and have a high work load. I HAVE to be busy.

But that's just me!

Being in a role that pays good money, but where there's not much to do, it's fine for a few weeks - but after that, it becomes a living hell for me - I spent years and years teaching myself how to do things, and when I don't get to do stuff of any interest, it's literally a living hell, I become a brat, I get depressed, I turn inward and become very angry lol.. I think some of the time, people see high salaries being paid - but they don't see the blood sweat and tears that goes into getting that, my first job in IT I did for free for 6 weeks, just to get a CV with something on it about 17 years ago.

 

[Screeeech]

My complaint is the job I'm doing sucks, despite it paying lots of money.

If all I card about was money, I'd have gone into Sales years ago and made 10x more with 10x less effort, but I love technology - if I'm not working on the technology I love, then everything sucks for me, it's just the way I'm wired up.

 

[Screeeech]

Things have gone from bad to worse recently,

The other day my manager came in for a one to one, and also a meeting with the client, it was really awkward as the client are clearly just giving me grunt work to do - which they know I'm not happy with, but they paid an absolute fortune for the whole service, (twenty million dollars worth) and so when a small piece of that deal starts complaining - it's just an awkward problem they don't want to solve, which I understand - it's not their fault that they got the wrong person, they need a project coordinator/manager and not a uber tech who is easily bored and wants serious stuff to do.

I've never been in such a miserable state to be honest, last year I won a couple of technology awards (one with Juniper) and was really making progress, my problem now is that because I'm not doing anything technical I'm haemorrhaging knowledge and forgetting things, which frightens the life out of me. I just spent some money on a 16 core lab box so I can re-familiarise myself with everything again and focus on more on traffic automation and programmable infrastructure, as I had a few pet projects I was working on - specifically based around segment-routing and YANG.

On the flip side, I got through my third interview with a large tech company in Dublin - they're flying me over for a full day very soon, it's looking pretty promising - it will involve relocation but I'm fine with that, as it sounds very much like something they have to go through with every hire, and as such they have the means to help out in many ways. I have high hopes for it as they approached my via my blog, so they know what they're after - rather than a recruiter spinning everything just to get a hire, as I tend to be easily sucked into things sometimes..

 

[Screeeech]

Hey mate,

Thats good news about the 3rd interview, best of luck for that. You'll love Dublin. I've visited a couple of times. Great city with fun people. Plus, dat Guiness.

Focus on that. I know its awkward for the CX and your Manager especially as they're american they will take the "well we've thrown a lot of money at this so do it" kind of approach which is wrong but thats the culture.

When are you expecting to head to Dublin? within a couple of weeks?

Yeah, I quite like the idea of moving to Ireland - a few of my friends went to Google/Facebook/Amazon/Etc over the years, in either Dublin or the US - so I kinda had it in the back of my mind that I'd probably end up in Dublin at some point, the scenery is also quite nice - I like the idea of Giant's Causeway being only a few hours away!

Heading over soon, it's an all expenses paid thing which is cool, I got a good technical grilling on the 2nd interview which is always reassuring so I think the on site thing is more to see if I fit in with the culture as it's a very large games studio, as opposed to where I am now - which is just so dull and corporate, honest to god - it's just endless generic I.T people supporting heaps of stuff that nobody really cares about, or even knows about.. so it'll be good to be involved in actually working towards something interesting, rather than just being part of an enormously dull laborious machine that just *exists* somehow.

Hopefully I can get over the line with it, at least I've got a couple of weeks to sharpen up and prepare.

 

[Screeeech]

That's the problem . In my experience recruiters are useless. Never worked for me. Just spin/no idea what they are talking about usually. My positive recruitment experiences have been through direct contact of the company owners. Best to cut out the middleman .

It's true to be honest, I've had one or two jobs which have been good from recruiters, but the best roles have always come from approaching or being approached by the hiring company.

The London tech recruiters are notorious, there are a couple of big ones - who basically comprise of a bunch of 18-20 year old kids cold calling people all day long,

 

[Screeeech]

Bit of an update,

I went through the whole process with the job in Dublin after they approached me, they offered - however I had to sit down and have a big conversation about relocation, as my partner didn't want to - these things obviously get complicated and upsetting, in the end I basically got back to them and declined - saying i'd withdraw from the process as I couldn't relocate right now, it would ultimately cause so much disruption to my life - regardless of how good the role looked.

Surprisingly, they felt I was such a good fit for the role that they made arrangements for me to be based remotely from home - with some regular travel to Dublin and the US (I'm fine with regular travel, just not permanent relocation) so they offered that to me yesterday with a confirmed start date, contract should be through today/tomorrow, so I'm feeling really good about it..

Things with my current role have just been so ****, I haven't done anything technical in about 3-4 months other than type some things into a GUI once or twice, most of my time has been spent sending emails back and forth or being on calls, it sucks. Thankfully one of the big hardware vendors has invited me to write a small book for them, so I'm co-authoring that with someone else which is giving me something good to think about whilst I'm still in this **** role.

The biggest problem I have now is handing my notice in, to do it in a way which will coincide with my new start date means I'll have to do it sometime in the middle of next week, however - next week all the US teams are coming to meet us on the client site for the week for a whole bunch of meetings and other **** so I'm going to create the biggest ****storm by handing in that week with them all around, it's going to hit the fan pretty badly - they're going to end up having to fly someone in from the states or EU to pick it up, I have 1 months notice so I suspect they might just put me on gardening leave... It's the only real thing hanging over me right now, my partner keeps pointing out that it's not my problem - the jobs sucks, it's not for me - I want out, for highly skilled engineers in the tech industry - it's a buyers market out there........ but it's not going to make it much easier

 

[Screeeech]

Hey mate,

first off, sweary

Fixed

Secondly, your partner is right. It is not your problem. I know the feeling sucks and it never comes at a great time. If possible while it's quieter this week I would message whomever you need to say you need to arrange something for next week to discuss your current situation. They will already get an incling and you might be able to nip it in the bud easier. Will certainly be easier before all the execs arrive.

Congrats on the new role. Thats amazing

Thanks!

Yeah he is right, but then again he's a contractor mercenary so he's used to contracts going south after 6 months and turning his nose up as a perm I've always tried to fit in and setup for a 'long haul' so for this so go south in such a short period of time, for what is such a big business deal for the company is going to make it a bit awkward.

I'm kinda tempted to do something similar to your suggestion by giving them a 'heads up' but in the past I once did something similar and they spent as much time as possible making my life hell, so I'm a little reluctant to do it again, I think i'll just do it all on the day and bring in some 'deal_with_it.gif' sunglasses for them all to wear

 

[Screeeech]

Thanks guys,

And yeah, when I hand on - there is a temptation to sort of go off on a rant about it with them, but I think it's just going to be better if I keep it as simple, basic and to the point as possible, rather than be dragged off into awkward territory and have to try and justify it - at the end of the day, it's not working for me and the most sensible thing to do is to leave.

 

[Screeeech]

Handed my notice in today,

Was a pretty awkward day, I ended up in a room with my line manager and just told him the situation and why I was going, he was initially shocked - but when I explained the reasons, he totally agreed and so it was pretty much fine in the end, I'm pretty relieved the light is at the end of the tunnel as I've had a pretty damn miserable 3 months!

So yeah, hopefully they won't pull anything too weird and my notice will go smoothy,

 

[Screeeech]

Yeah - on a months notice, so working that as normal, new company came after me via my blog it's been a few months in the making,