A couple of weeks ago I was pinged by Gary.
Gary is a frolleague from my last employer. Now I didn't really have a great time in my last, or should that be final, employment. I sat around for months doing absolutely nothing and when a piece of work was finally allocated, it wasn't really appropriate to my role or skillset.*
The final straw was a "pre-RFP" engagement to assist in shaping a possible solution for the client. It was also focussed on the modernisation of an aged application estate. These are not the things I was employed to do, and are certainly not my primary strengths.
I muddled my way through a very stressful engagement and, ultimately, actually produced a deliverable, of which I was very proud. I'm not sure that the Sales team liked it, but I was bang on the money.
I pointed out that the potential client had repeatedly demonstrated an inability to modernise their suite of legacy applications, and would need a period of more than five years to achieve their alleged aims. I added that they lacked the skills and management consensus to progress this initiative and that our best option would be bring in a team of management consultants to evaluate their requirements, develop a modernisation strategy and educate the customer in order to set off on a long-term journey of software development and business process revision.
As I said, I was proud of this incisive and accurate summation. I really didn't give a fuck about what the Sales Team thought, as I handed in my notice during this engagement.
Basically it was a crappy job and the pipeline of work, hinted at during my recruitment, never appeared. I sat around and only managed to form one working relationship in the eight months I was there. That is a pretty sad indictment on the abilities of my manager.
He totally failed to engender any sense of team in the group of people he managed. Basically it was a bunch of ten or twelve guys who each worked independently. There were no team activities that allowed or encouraged us to work as a team, share knowledge or assist in any way.**
It was an unpleasant place to work, so after eight months I told him that the job was neither meeting my expectations nor my needs, and that I'd be leaving at the end of March 2024.
Now I appreciate that that is one hell of a tangent, but I will get to the point. The only member of the team that I developed a relationship with was Gary. We are of a similar age and have a shared interest in shooting. We also both have a cynical sense of humour, and a shared ability to spot a bad deal from twenty miles away.
We got to know each other, as I was asked to shadow Gary on an opportunity that he was working to familiarise myself with the relevant processes. A friendship has developed and we have maintained contact since I decided to retire.
A few weeks ago Gary pinged me on WhatsApp and asked if I knew anyone with a chainsaw. I'm pretty sure that he knew I would have one, so I took the bait and offered my services. He had a few sleepers in his garden that needed to be sawn in to more manageable chunks, so I arranged to pop up to Nottingham, saw up his sleepers, drink several cups of coffee and make him buy me lunch at a rather nice pub.
So that was my day. I defrosted*** the car, headed North and had a rather pleasant time chewing the fat with an ex-workmate. It was good to catch up and it further reinforced my view that I was far too old and jaded for a career in outsourcing.
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* I was employed as a solution architect. As such I would be engaged when the prospective client issues an RFP, accompanied by a clear set of requirements. I would then ensure I was familiar with what was wanted, develop a solution strategy and engage the appropriate subject matter experts to assist me in developing a solution that was technically viable and accurately costed ... Oh, and hopefully at an attractive price point.
** He did host team calls, but they were just an opportunity for him to talk at us. He had no interest in any input from the rest of us, or for engendering mutually beneficial relationships.
*** The first frost of the Autumn occurred overnight. It wasn't too bad, but I did need to scrape the windows on the car. On the gardening front, it'll be the end of the dahlias.
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