Today started with a whimper and ended with a bang. Let me correct that. It started with a dull thud and ended with a sonic boom. Once again, yesterday afternoon, I got dropped from a project. At 4:30 pm, I was told by the scheduling manager that I was not needed for a project up in Seattle. I was flummoxed. Here I was being told by management that I needed to find work and on the other hand they kept on dropping me like a dead mosquito. I relaxed, went to GmatClub and surfed. Today morning was uneventful. I did not bother finding any more projects. I was too busy searching for jobs, calling up my networks and laying out the fieldwork for a new job if my MBA plans did not go through (with 3 waitlists, I don’t expect much to happen). My division is doing worse than Britney Spears’ therapist. Lay offs are the buzz word here. I know its coming, I am in the bulls eye so I aint sweating sister!! After slogging in the corporate minefield for 1 yr and 8 months, I scheduled my holidays. One week in February in Mexico (to get my H1B visa stamped, a important thing for us non US citizens) and 2 weeks in March in Japan to attend my friend’s wedding. Not a bad deal considering I worked in Thanksgiving, December, Hannukah, Diwali, Id, Chinese New year, and a bunch more festivals for the last 20 months. I had told my manager in November about my plans and I had already got the greenlight. All my arrangements had been made (book marking ticket websites and travel sites – I procrastinate a lot). Today, I met my manager and asked her, why I was being dropped from projects. She told me its because I had scheduled so many holidays, that they were clashing against my project work. BS. I was being dropped from projects since last October. Project work does not happen in one day. To get into a project, I have to kiss lots of behinds, schmooze the janitor, the watch guard and the valet and pray that I get lucky. There was no project work that ACTUALLY clashed with my holidays. I had checked and double checked it. The real reason is because the partner knew I applied to B-school and did not want me in this division. I knew this but I felt this was unfair since I only applied, not got into b-school. Nobody should be penalized for aspiring to be better. I guess the real world works differently. I had done my home work. I counteracted and told my manager politely that I should get some work instead of random emails asking me to “increase” productivity. I should be given projects instead of scrutinizing my personal life. My holidays are my business and I deserve them. Last year I lost 15 days of holidays, since my division does not offer cash instead. I was told to donate the hours to a manager. I let them waste. Not this time! Then out comes the surprise from Pandora’s box. My manager was disappointed with me coz I was emphasizing my personal life more and placing it ahead of my work. Duhhhh!!! Isnt that pretty obvious. Excuse me, but I will side with the French here. I earn to live, not to work. Showing my affable side, I told my manager that I can cancel my Mexico trip, but I really need to go to Japan for my friend’s wedding. My manager reneged. She told me that she cannot afford to give me any holidays and that I need to cancel all my holiday plans. Then only would I be assigned on a project. I refused. Now you readers will go – is this guy loony.. he’s a dude and he wants to go to a wedding.. and hes risking his work for it.. hes stupid…a huge moron. Hear me out My friend Tomo is MY best friend. I bought my first motorcycle with his help, went on the first double date with him, learnt surfing with him. His friendship means a lot to me, much more than work and salary. I equate my life with my pleasures, my joy and my relations. I promised my friend that I will come to his wedding, be it hail, rain, snow, thunder, riots, earthquake or the Armageddon. A promise is a promise. Its stupid to think in these terms in this modern age, but I am stubborn. My ex-gf can vouch for that. Plus, what good is it to live life if I miss the real reasons to live life. The whole event spiraled like a scene out of Office Space. My partner came in. She used terms like how the firm was bending its back to accommodate my holiday request. I retorted – I booked holidays months ago, nobody objected and now I am being harassed to change my schedule because the division is preparing for lay offs and the managers are trying to save their skins by showing that their staff are working hard on projects and not sitting idly like me. I told them I should be scheduled on projects and not nit picked for scheduling 2 holidays when there is no work. Management modus operandi was simple and subtle. Offer me a project, take it away and then blame it on me saying I did not join this project because I had other priorities (its been done before plentifully so that someone’s behind can be saved). The partner then drew the line. She told me no holidays for me. I told fine. I resign. 2 pairs of faces stared at me. I stared at myself. Did I just utter these fantastic yet terrible words? I blinked twice, hoping it was a dream. No, the faces kept on staring at me. Yes I did say I am resigning. I left work today with a resignation kicking into effect two months later. All this because of a holiday and me wanting to go to some dude’s wedding. Its comical and it only happens to me. But I felt glad. Deep down I had lost respect for the company where I worked. When I joined, I was told how the work life balance is perfect, how I can take holidays when I wanted, how I can work on any project I wanted to. Sounded perfect, rather too perfect to me. In 3 months I was proved wrong. I did not complain about it because I knew life is not a bed or roses. But a management that changes color faster than a chameleon cannot be a good bed mate. I am stubborn, hard to deal with and I never budge when I have my mind fixed on something. I realized today that I put my friend’s wedding over my work. Who knows if my friend will remain a friend 10 years later. It’s a pretty **** decision but instead of feeling bad about it, I am very happy. I got my chance to live up to my own promises. Plus it will make a really good story to tell my date. I quit work to go to a wedding. Ps. If you guys know someone who will hire someone as stupid as me, do let me know. Thank you for wasting 5 minutes of your life.

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My momentous decision in the last 6 hours.

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mNeo

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13 Mar 2008, 15:36

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kryzak

Then I ask the hard questions, go to the admit weekends, and make my decision

... to go to Haas

kryzak

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13 Mar 2008, 15:49

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LOL! funny, but probably true...

spideyeclipse27

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14 Mar 2008, 06:18

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That was a interesting discussion you guys had!

I thought only IB was like that..long hours and getting burned out. Now I hear MC is also the same. This is news to me. Are there any other post MBA jobs like this?

kryzak

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14 Mar 2008, 07:14

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if you work at an unfunded or early funding startup, it'll probably be like 80+ hours a week.

RVD

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14 Mar 2008, 13:29

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although there was maybe a bit of heat in this discussion, i really didn't mean to demean or offend anyone. i'll also be the first to say that i thought a lot like most of the people here for my first 10 years of working at large corporations. but things are a little different when you own your own company.

i own a small startup mobile wireless software company. we're live on some carriers but a really big huge one just signed and they want our app live in 2 weeks. they called yesterday, we got contracts signed, and they want to be live on april 1. in the mobile software world, having a large carrier to distribute your software is the key to success. basically, you can't succeed without it (many have tried, and all are failing).

but before i signed the contracts to commit, i called everyone into the conference room, told them what's going on, etc. everyone is excited and happy but this means...

unless you have a really good excuse, there are no vacations or days off (including weekends) from now until april 1. everyone is here first thing in the morning and we don't leave until 10pm every day. i didn't say "guys this is what we're doing so deal with it"...i actually asked and everyone agreed that this is what we need to do. the other option was to say "no, we can't b/c we won't be ready". this isn't something that i can do on my own.

one guy is taking 2 days off because his wife is having surgery.

another guy is fighting a life threatening disease so he needs to go to the hospital for treatments.

other than those two guys, everyone will be here. all vacations, training, etc. got cancelled. my company has 40 people.

this is what it's like to work in a startup. this is why everyone has stock options in addition to their high competitive salaries. i'll be the first to say that it's not for everybody but this is the work environment that it takes if you want to have a chance at becoming the next google, facebook, etc. i know some of those early guys out there and none of them took weekends off let alone vacations in their early days out there. if you want a 9-5 job with clear direction, scheduled meetings, easily schedule vacations, and the type of planning where sick days and vacations can easily be absorbed in the project...this isn't for you. each person here plays a significant role in the project and as a startup, i can't afford to have redundancy built in at each layer. if my sysadmin gets hit by a truck today then yes...we are screwed. heck, this is probably my ego talking but if i get hit by a truck tonight, they may as well shut down tomorrow.

anyway...just some insight.

RVD.

kryzak

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14 Mar 2008, 19:29

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actually, RVD, the ironic thing is, if I were working for my own company or a company that I have a good stake in (i.e. startups), I wouldn't mind the situation you just described. I actually agree that employees at a startup should expect to do things like that. The sad thing is, the company that Avi is talking about is NOT a startup, nor do the employees really get a lot out of it for pouring their life into their jobs.

Case in point, I actually had that experience, with about 2 months, zero days off, 8am to 1am (yes, 1am) almost every day, to get a proposal done. No vacations, no holidays, no weekends, nada. Just work. We did it, and we got the contract. It was a huge win... what did the employees get? a 1 week pay bonus (after 50% witheld). Most of us didn't even get recognized in the company award section (because they had a "limit" of 25 people per group they can recognize). Very sad and it woke me up to the fact that I would never work that hard for a big company again.

I guess that's where I'm coming from and why I had my point of view. But I think we may just agree more than we think we do, RVD.

togafoot

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15 Mar 2008, 17:24

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Interesting company JVD

. Very competitive area youa re in at the moment (i know of lot's of companies in a similar area).

Being live on carriers is certainly one way to be succesful dependent on which countries you are approaching. The mobile landscape is different depending on the region, some areas are more carrier driven, others are more manufacturer driven, and even the manufacturers are moving more towards service orientation.

If you;re interested in having a chinwag, you're more than welcome to send me a PM and i can fill you in on what I do

pelihu

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15 Mar 2008, 17:37

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kryzak

The good thing about banks is if they work you like that, they will reward you for it at the end of the year with a pile of cash (unless you work at Bear Stearns :wink:

)

Regarding the question above about consulting, I think the hours can be almost as bad as banking in some cases. Plus, you spend a lot of time at airports and on planes, and you don't get credit for most of those hours unless you are actually doing work.

kryzak

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16 Mar 2008, 01:24

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yeah, for me, if I am investing in my own future somehow (getting options, getting bonuses that reflect work put in, etc...), then I am willing to put in the time to get the job done. If there's no recognition in any way (like the example I mentioned), then I wouldn't go out of my way and kill myself to work that hard for the company. Might sound selfish, but it's a personal choice that each one of us makes.