DILBERT CHANGES JOBS

I've recently stumbled upon 2 more Laws of Nature.

1) After mentally committing to a diet plan, all sorts of big yummy meal appointments start pouring in with obligations.

2) there is no such thing as "free time". Once nature sniffs the time slot vacuum on your calendar, appointments start flying in.


and i shall now proceed to waste more of my free time by blogging.

so it's been 4 weeks since i switched jobs. My project isn't running yet so i have a lot of "free" time at work.

I've been telling everyone willing to listen that "the only thing worse than being very busy at work, is being very free".

See, free time at work isn't really free time. It's not like i can take a nap, make magaritas, read newspapers or surf the net. you have to look busy even if there's nothing to do. and that's EIGHT hours of trying to dig out things to do. for FIVE days.

it's slowly getting better as i've been reading report after report and researching on things i don't know.

i'm quite an audiophile now i think. i've never been particular about the sound quality of my players/radios. I don't even look at the specs, all i needed to know was the memory space and whether it looks good. But now i know what stereo channel balance, A weighting and THD+N stand for. FWAH!

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the environment i'm in now is radically different from my previous environment.
it's a lot kinder and more cultured, as can be expected in an office environment.

most of the staff here have stayed for 7 years on average,
and all i remember from the last few weeks was eating free company lunches all the time.

i'll hazard a guess by saying that the previous one had a lower than national average staff welfare and this one has a slightly above average welfare scheme, and it's a gd thing i went from low to high and not the other way round. I find myself quietly chuckling from disbelief whenever i get another email from HR announcing yet another staff benefit they're implementing from their seemingly unlimited budget.

Having said that, it's not been all a bed of roses.

I do miss some things from my previous job.

I miss the buzz and the tight deadlines that give me motivation and drive.

I miss being able to run around. I'm completely office based now and i literally feel like my ass is slowly spreading out by the hour to fill up the seat.

I miss having a close knitted team.

I miss talking to the aunties. I have a thing for "heartlanders". They're usually unpretentious and kind old dames who sound very funny when they start complaining abt everything.

I miss being the resident expert.

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With every job change in a different "field", you go from the expert to the complete novice.
it's challenging and ego bruising.

i was already prepared for that, but it can still be difficult at times.

I still remember the first months in Alabama where CC, in his usual tactless manner, used to say "you're the engineer, you're supposed to know!!".

No one said that to me yet at this present place but i feel like i can see it in their eyes.
Actually on hindsight, my colleagues now are a lot kinder than the brash americans but i still feel the same level of useless-ness.

To make matters worse, i now have pple reporting to me.

my style has always been to get knowledge from everybody, regardless of whether you're an engineer or technician or operator.
what i'm interested in is their knowledge gained from years of day-to-day experience, something which i have none of.
Sometimes the operators give very strange unscientific comments, and those i'll just filter out myself.

But anyway, i'm struggling now to balance between being a confident leader and being the humble student.
i don't feel very competent asking my subordinates things that i can imagine CC screaming "you're the engineer, you're supposed to know!"

my colleague mentor is the resident expert with all the answers and i'm the one with all the dumb questions.

sigh.

In the perfect world, i would be commanding and confident and learn through trial and error.
unlike most gd managers though, i don't sound confident on things i'm unsure about. I just can't smoke it. and that's my weakness i need to work on.

i do enjoy discussions with my colleague mentor. So far he really has answers to ALL my questions, no matter how obscure or technical. And he isn't smoking it too. I like that, there's so much more i can learn when i'm the empty barrel.

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my travel time has just about doubled.
i now spend 3 hours to and fro, which is quite troubling.
i'm still not inclined to drive though.

on public transport you get driven, which "frees" up your time.
I can sleep or read, things that i can't do if i drive.

Recently i've become addicted to reading, averaging abt a book a week.
With the right book, travel time practically becomes non-existent.

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With all this "free" time at work and in the train,
my imagination has gone into overdrive again.
there're so many things i want to do,
i just hope i have the willpower to see them through.

i'm also aware that whenever i get absorbed in my inner world,
i tend to start getting out of touch with the real world and social norms.

oh well.