"The Crossroads"

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I have been given an opportunity.  I was told Monday that my job with the State has 6-12 months to live.  :-/   The only bitterness lies in who they choose to keep.  After all, my taxes pay my slacker co-worker's salaries, as well!  Oh well, someone else can profit from my dedication.

Mainframe computer operations has been good to me over the last 25 years or so.  Pay is pretty good for on-the-job training.  But the nights and weekends are getting old.  And while it feeds my bank account, it really does nothing for my soul.

Also, I am a fairly free agent, in that I am currently living with my sister and her husband, and would not mind finding myself a little further south, for whatever kind of work finds me.  I have absolutely no idea what would make me happy.

I have discovered the adjective "caretaker" fits my personality, and I found I actually enjoy the time I have spent on the Help Desk phone, resetting peoples passwords for them, and hearing the joy in their voices when they get on the computer.  But the same work is really frustrating when I can't help them (our 'training' for help desk issues is nonexistent).  And I am not a real fan of computers, anyway.  I have fun on the internet, and I would miss it dearly if the WWW suddenly crashed somehow, but I don't think these boxes are the last word in making me happy in my labors.

So that is the big news here.  You all are the first to hear it.  Hope you don't think it is inappropriate, but you never know who might read this and offer me a job!

[airhead]

Sorry to hear that Rob, but there may be plenty of opportunities within the next 6 - 12 months.

I too get extremely frustrated when I see total wastes of space getting paid the same as me, but those of us with a sense of pride in our work will continue to do our best. It really does get annoying when those wastes of space very occasionally do a little more than normal, and still not as much as the rest of us do all the time, and get commended for it!!!! However, if other peoples commendation was my sole desire to do well, I'd have given up years ago. I have plenty of amunition to feed my Grumpy Old Man status these days though.

I love my work, but am getting increasingly cranky with the BS that surrounds actually being able to do it these days. I just want to get out and fix things, and pass on my knowledge along the way to anyone silly enough to listen. I envy your free agent status, and daresay that if I hadn't married again 8 years ago, I'd be looking for a small fixit type employment that maybe wouldn't pay as much, but feed my soul. (watch out,  another post midlife crisis coming up!! LOL)

If I had a job to offer I would, and we would sit in Freo and discuss the world over coffee.

Bill..........................;-)

[Justin B.]

Sorry to hear that, Rob, and I know where you are coming from.  Unlike you, though, I have found that over the years I like helping people less-and-less every day and these past three years on the "Hell-Desk" has pretty much made up my mind that I don't like doing it but have no choice if I want to eat! :-/  I have found myself starting to look at want ads for entry level positions that are totally unrelated to what I have done for the past 30 years.  

I guess I still haven't decided what I want to do when I grow up!

[SCJJR65]

Hey, Rob...

Man, that does indeed blow about the job.  However, I have always been a firm believer in the old adage that "when one door closes, another one opens".  I'm confident that you WILL find employment that satisfies both the soul and the grounded-in-reality body we inhabit.

I also had decided to make a change and get out of the career that no longer "did it" for me, after 20 years as a Human Resources Manager for various companies.  I still enjoyed the interaction with employees and the times I was able to provide counseling that may have helped, but it seemed that what I found myself more and more was terminating employees.  I absolutely HATED firing someone, even if they truly deserved it.

I decided that I still had time to learn a new gig to make money at, and since I always enjoyed editing and publishing the various employee newsletters over the years, I enrolled back in school to get my degree in graphic design.  Of course, I need to add right now that this would have been MUCH more difficult had I not had the support and backing of my wife, Pattimarie.  She told me to get back in school full time, and she would handle the income earning and bill paying until I graduated.

Well, it's been nearly three years since I went back to school, and although it's been very trying at times, I'm about to graduate in the spring.  (Then, all I have to do is find a job!)  

I would consider moving south, if I were you.  The overall job market is strong in the south, particularly in the Atlanta or Charlotte area.  (And you ain't too far from good roads and mountains to ride and play in!)    Plus, the weather here in the south is more condusive to year-round riding, too.  And once you get used to the hillbillies like me, life is pretty sweet!  

[Semper Gumby]

Opportunity knocks - What my wife did here in Atlanta when she went job searching was to work for a Temporary Employment Agency and tried out a couple of companies.  Eventually she found one she liked and worked there for about 10 years.  Atlanta has many pluses and a few minuses.  The local economy is good ( for the time being), night life is excellent, and on the BMW side there are two local dealers and Boxerworks is only an hour away.  There are a couple of good technical schools if you want to go back to school.  Minuses are massive urban sprawl with a minimal mass transit and an short sighted ethnic local government that need to grow-up and stop living in the past.  Commuting can be a nightmare if you are not properly located.  I suspect that it is getting expensive to live close in but then I haven't tried in 15 years. 8-)

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Thanks for your thoughts!

airhead - there is this lady on one of my singles sites that keeps popping up...from Fremantle...

semper - Indianapolis is the only large metro area I would even think about living in, and that is only because I grew up here.  These people (crammed together as we are) drive me nuts!  [smiley=shocked.gif]  No Atlanta for me, I am sure.  It could be the "nearest metro area", though.
I REALLY don't want to end up in another data processing shop...

[Bob_Roller]

For what it's worth, and this is coming from a person that lived in Chicago for 37 years, move to a milder climate! From a motorcycling viewpoint, once you have the opportunity to ride all yearlong, you'll wonder why you didn't do it 20 years ago.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Thank you for that, Bob.

I have a couple of friends in Johnson City, TN (of the non-motorcycling persuasion )  , so that area is attractive to me for several reasons, and a old and valued friend located in the heart of Appalachia (in a moderate sized job market) makes it that much better.

I am looking at prioritizing my cash flow to eliminate some nagging debt, so I can exist at a lower income level, later.  No more eBay or free money to the motorcycle for a while...

[msbuck]

Hey Rob,

That's a beautiful area to relocate to!  Man, I would LOVE to move to the Appalachias/Blue Ridge Parkway area.  Here in and around the Raleigh, NC area there are TOO many people moving in.  I'm a bit partial to Meadows of Dan in VA (Willville is drawing me...) as they have a great motorcycling perspective to go along with the spectacular roads.  

You'll be surprised how living a 'simpler' life with lower cash flow needs can free your spirit!  We're out of debt and still prioritize our spending, but it's not a struggle and can enjoy the things that really mean something to us.  Hope you have success finding employment in an area that makes you happy.   [smiley=cool.gif]

[Bob_Roller]

Last June, I was made aware of a job opening in the Phoenix area for a motorcycle test rider for Harley- Davidson. I had to post a resume on Monster.com, and while I didn't get a call on the test rider job, about 10 job offers came along, that if I was in your position, I would have persued at least 5 of them. Get some resumes out there on the internet, you just never know what opportunities are out there. Losing my last job due to the company that I worked for went out of business, was the best thing that ever happened to me in my employment career. Found a better job that paid more and got me out of the midwest to a more user friendly environment for my motorcycling addiction. You've got the 'luxury' of a 6-12 months notice, make the best of it.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Matt, Nathans' head guy at Boxerworks-the-store, did the H-D test rider gig for a while.  Best part of a year  as I remember it.  I also remember him saying it got pretty boring (tedious?) after a while.

[Ed Miller]

...I couldn't find a "reply" button, then realized I wasn't logged in.  

Anyway, I just wanted to wish you luck, Rob, what ever you end up doing.  

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I have recently had my spirits lifted by my first exploration into Monster.com.  There are some interesting prospects out there, where I might use my help desk experience and combine that with a technology I am interested in (motorcycles?).

There are other online job sites, but I have not checked them yet.

 


edit: and everyday that I work at my current job makes this look like a [size=22]VERY[/size]good thing...

[SCJJR65]

That's the spirit, Rob! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I see some very good things on the horizon for you!  The future looks brighter than you may realize right now!  8-)

[Semper Gumby]

HI John,

Did you get a flikr account?

Bill