How is your career going?

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Sep 11, 2017 5:50 pm

One bit of good news, we got assurances from our CEO today that they are not, in fact, planning on moving all of the infrastructure services teams out of Northbrook to places like Charlotte and Dallas and Hudson. That's actually a big weight off my mind. My parents are getting up in years, and admittedly they are 4 hours away, that's way better than a plane ride away.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:10 pm

Also good news for future Octocons.

Hiccup · Post by **Hiccup** » Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:16 pm

Figured I’d update my job situation, since there have been highs and lows since I was last posting semi-often.

I think the last I mentioned that I moved to a Business Intelligence position (2014) where I was doing ½ freehand SQL reporting, ¼ tool learning, and ¼ choose your own project kind of thing. My boss was very mentoring, advocative, and receptive to my suggestions and ideas (also very honest when they weren’t very good). All in all it was great, and I gained a lot of skills and experience under the IT umbrella.
June 2016 we were hit with a reorg, and my team of 4 was left in the dark. Every inquiry was met with “If you haven’t heard anything, you aren’t affected”. Which was head scratching since 1) my boss heard things about his position (cut), 2) our counterparts on the Senior roles heard things (reassigned), and the ONLY people who didn’t hear anything were us.

In the end, we retained our titles, and were moved to the Business Object team and called Enterprise Reporting. Our new manager was the ranking BO developer who is really knowledgeable about our systems, but lacks people, managerial, and email skills. Fairly certain he got the position because of his relationship with the director (who has since left to write a novel). Has since hired the directors wife to a position on my team.

With the reorg came a new demand management system that is inflexible and infuriating, and the only consistency in it is that no one will take responsibility for it. It has taken 4 months to correct a typo that causes a 30% denial rate in the BI area.

I am now encouraged to push previous free-hand SQL requests to BO, even though the data isn’t available in it. It’s to the point now where I really don’t do anything, and could probably hammer out a weeks’ worth of what I’m doing now in a Monday afternoon.

My manager has fallen asleep during 2 team meetings, and 1 vendor meeting. The vendor meeting was embarrassing as we all had to shout his name to wake him up so he could wake his laptop up and resume a presentation. Our one-on-one sessions are 30 minutes, 25 of which are reiterating all his complaints about his job. The 15 minute quarterly connections are 45 minutes, with more of the same. TWICE he has completely stopped talking to clean his glasses, and once did so when I was speaking. I stopped talking myself while he finished.
I have been selectively submitting resumes, trying to find something that is more or less what a BI analyst should be doing. I’ve been in the final round of interviews 3 times, twice losing to internal candidates (understandable) and once to someone who had more experience. That last stung a lot. The interviews both were the best I have given, and in the long intervals between updates, the manager and I had several great email conversations.

Currently have 3 resumes in the “just applied” phase, and 1 in the 2nd interview phase.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:49 pm

Hiccup wrote: Our new manager was the ranking BO developer

Sounds like he stinks. Good luck on finding greener pastures.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:41 pm

I am now unemployed until Monday (assuming I don't fail conflicts and the new firm accepts my id). Feels strange after 17 years in the same firm.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:47 am

Zarathud wrote:I am now unemployed until Monday (assuming I don't fail conflicts and the new firm accepts my id). Feels strange after 17 years in the same firm.

I suppose you're just gonna lounge around the house, drink beer and scratch yourself? Get a job, ya bum!

Good luck on the new gig. 17 years is an awful lot of inertia to overcome.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:34 pm

Wife had job interview today. She was talking about 3 different places last week: one offered a $2000 signing bonus and is 2 minutes from my job. Applied on-line as instructed; no response. Another was a mile from our house. She never got around to applying there. The third jacked her around once before, is a little closer than her current job, and she has a friend there. They called back. She had a 3 pm interview today.

At 3:30 she texts me and says she's still there. I asked if she interviewed yet and she said she was hired! I asked about her salary -- and she said she didn't know yet, was waiting to talk to HR to find out. How do you accept a job without knowing if salary and benefits are better than where you're at?

She likes her current employer, but the work is not stable. Some weeks she works tons of overtime, other weeks she gets called off several days like last week because of low census. She really needs to be working full time every week.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:08 am

I've got an interview coming up for an IT Director position. I'm honestly not sure what to throw down for salary when we get that far, and they always do.

They're a healthcare management company. Their job posting for the position make it look low key. It clearly states that the IT Director will be doing "Help Desk" type work in addition to moderate administrative tasks associated with running a Microsoft Small Business network. They wanted 8 years of experience, weren't worried about a degree, and are looking for someone hands-on that can travel to each of their 24 sites as needed. They didn't mention they had 1,700 employees, or that there might be other IT workers, or that this position will manage the vendors. I feel like they're looking for someone to alleviate some vendor cost, and someone to manage the vendors they can't alleviate. Regardless of what they think the job is, it's a big role in a decent sized business. I've done 6 sites with 125 users and associated infrastructure, and know that could keep 1 person busy by itself. Their sites are located literally all over Maine (even a couple on the border with Canada) with 1 in Mass. That's a LOT of range to cover for one person, and while remote connections can help, they're not 100%. They're asking for 24-hour on-call service.

I know we have some IT folks here, and some of them in higher positions. What's your gut feeling on salary for a job like that? I'm trying to find a ballpark to have in my head when I walk in to the interview. I strongly feel that they don't really know what they're looking for and I could probably craft an IT Department for them where they've likely been outsourcing the whole thing and letting vendors do all the driving while they just pay the bill. I expect I'd save them a boatload of money, too, since giving vendors free reign is a recipe for hideously expensive bills. Because of the low-key nature of the job posting, I'm expecting them to be outlandishly low in their initial offering - like $50,000/yr. I'm already pondering well in excess of $100,000. Just the scale of the company makes it huge responsibility and commitment. A $125/hr tech vendor (low-price in Maine, but common) could work for 800 hours and cost $100,000 - I expect they've been paying for thousands of hours each year.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:22 am

$50k would be criminal. I started in Dallas as a entry-level programmer at $48k. And Bangor is more expensive than Dallas.

Even if we discount the "Director" title and task it as a Manager, here is what the DoL has to say:

Of course, other benefits can have an impact, but it's hard to think of enough benefits to make up a $50k+ shortfall, even if you get a company car.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:41 am

Isgrimnur wrote:$50k would be criminal. I started in Dallas as a entry-level programmer at $48k. And Bangor is more expensive than Dallas.

In all honesty, I've run into a lot of business owners who just don't get it. I had one guy try to offer me $35,000/yr for a IT Manager/Senior Security Engineer position. I told him I felt that the lowest pay for that job was $75,000/yr. We didn't meet again, and he ended up hiring a college kid with a smattering of IT experience for this "Senior" position.

In my area, I've seen Desktop Support techs make $40,000/yr and entry-level, fresh-from-college Network Admins make $50,000/yr. I've also met a lot of cheap employers and it seems like any good paying IT job isn't getting turned over. I think that the odds are, if I'm seeing a job posting, it's because they weren't paying enough. It's the reason I'm looking right now.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:46 am

It's hard to go wrong with being able to show the DoL numbers, especially the lowest 10% numbers in the second shot.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:31 am

Previously on "How is your career going?" I gave a recap and then a followup. The recap was "feels like the last hurrah" and the followup was "yep, that was the last hurrah."

I was off from the end of March through the beginning of October. I had a great time of things in that span. I got the point where I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, and my blood pressure numbers homed in on 120/80. I hadn't realized how the stress of my previous employment was affecting me but being away from it (during an introspective time) revealed a few things.

As I spent time contemplating my future along that same career arc I vacillated over what else may be out there for me. A realistic review of my skill set and the careers in which my skills and experience would succeed led me to conclude that we very likely had to move to a high population density portion of the world or make other unwelcome concessions. (MHS was and is totally willing. I'm not thrilled.) I frequently found myself telling interested bystanders that I felt as if I were groomed to work in a high stress environment, but that I wasn't thrilled by the thought of cozying right back up to that type of work.

Given the state of the job market right now, it's probably not surprising to hear that I had a few acquaintances interested in directing me their way. One is an aerospace guy working at a (famous) place looking for mechanical designers. Despite the similarity in job titles, I'm not convinced that my skill set (and especially my experience) is really geared towards the type of work in designing onesie-twosies at a relatively slow pace in a very traditional mechanical environment. A second is a hiring manager at a (even more famous) place looking to bring on board folks in the data sciences world. This was an intriguing offer as I think it leads to a secure career in a growing field. However my concern is again with my own capabilities for success. As much as I enjoy boiling data down to its essence and communicating the story behind the information, I have doubts regarding my place in that world. I think that's a career path where appropriate education would provide much in the ways of appropriate skills. And while I would look forward to additional reeducation in my life, I'm not crazy about a prolonged period of non-earning in the midst of my productive years. Data science will probably always be my what-if.

Finally, a third opportunity was presented to my by a small company owner/CEO. His is a software company which provides database solutions to trucking and intermodal freight brokers. (A freight broker is like a travel agent in that they own no equipment but instead arrange for freight to make their way to destinations.) There are tens of thousands of freight brokers in the US right now and this guy's software allows for meaningful amounts of job efficiencies. The growth chart of the subscription software sales have been booming since 2002 and it's been shown time and again that consolidation of freight brokerages under bigger umbrellas leads to a lack of efficiency for those roles. In other words, this seems like a long-term career play in a booming market with little in the way of obvious gotchas looming on the horizon. I'm something like employee #40, and am currently wearing the hat of software developer.

The underlying database software is an artifact of the UNIX terminal days of the 80s/90s. They've got more modern versions which bridge things onto the web (JavaScript) and beyond (Ruby on Rails). My lack of modern programming languages is not a significant drawback (my last formal programming course is in Fortran 77; my last database coding experience was in the mid-90's on dBase IV). My out-of-the-industry background is viewed as a significant positive. My gung-ho attitude and eagerness to pick up new tools is the foundation for my path to success. My entry level pay is a step back from where I was, but is at the reasonable cap for where my hypothetical local mechanical design career could've taken me. And a successful software developer in the Boulder CO area has a pretty high ceiling, earnings-wise.

Fears, of course, are learning on the fly in an environment where most of my peers are half my age, coming in with the stench of being the owner's favored toy (he turned 60 today, so won't be around forever; and it's already clear that he constantly wants to do things in a different manner than the VP of development -- the owner comes from a programming background himself, which is a mixed blessing as alpha personalities can rarely be convinced that they don't know best), and today's enthusiasm and willingness to put in the extra effort may not always stay with me. There is perceptible turnover at the company (despite its small size), which is always concerning. I'm currently friends with the owner, but how will working for the man affect that (or vice versa)? I'm ignorant of best-practices and proper vernacular within my new field and am not convinced I'll be picking up the former at this place, nor have the capacity for picking up the later (based on knowing thyself).

I'm on a 3-month contract (paid hourly!) and if a demonstrate any aptitude and the company continues to slowly bleed folks, I think I'll be in a very advantageous negotiating position heading into 2018. I hate to sell this as a money play for my career, but it can't be denied that some part of me feels like I shifted into the passing lane vs. other former coworkers who've been chased out of my last career. Hopefully it's the stability play that stays interesting that it appears to be today.

And that the Watson Data Science team job that I wrinkled my nose at doesn't come by and put us out of business in the next three years.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Thu Oct 05, 2017 12:40 am

Nice landing! Best of luck prepping for that next negotiation.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:23 am

Take 7:30 am calls at least twice a week. I kept of forgetting to clock in until I got to work and got crap for it. Note I'm salary so it's only for reporting. Anyway I have been very good about making sure to clockin until this morning when they blocked clocking in from home. You have to be in the office. So now I have to clock in when I get to work and write a note. This wouldn't be a big deal, but I KNOW they will run reports and I will look like crap.

I'm so done with this place. Over and over and over for what 14 years? I'm going to lose my mind. I really need to find a good recruiter as I just totally suck balls at finding things.

I have a few vacation days unscheduled so I can use those if I can find something. Worst case I have to wait until the end of the year, but I don't know how people are expected to work in this craphole. Everything they do is about tracking every move you do and they don't appreciate AT ALL that I put in at least 5-10 hours extra every week. Pretty much scheduled... F this.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:49 am

Might want to change that avatar before you do anything.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:50 am

I love salary "time" reporting as it's completely arbitrary, and legally I don't think they're allowed to penalize you one way or another based on it (check your local labor laws). In each place I've worked in the last 8 years, there have been salaried people who simply refused to clock in and out while everyone else got crap for missing any punch. It was always a hoot when I'd run reports and be like "Hey, Pat doesn't have any hours for that month" and his managers roll their eyes and say "We know..."

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:13 am

It used to be that we had to scan in because we had controlled substances in the office and it was required by law. They said it wouldn't be used to track time. Lies of course. We don't have said controlled substances in the office anymore and they are ALWAYS running reports on the times people come and go. I work for aholes.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:26 am

An article I read in Computer World magazine many years ago near the start of my IT career recommended that if you have extra hours during the week, spend them on yourself, don't donate them to the company because the company will never appreciate it. I've found this to be the case always, and while I'm perfectly happy to work more than 40 hours if I get paid for it, I loathe to do so if I am not. If I have to stay an hour late today, I'll leave an hour early tomorrow -- I'm not unreasonably inflexible. But I'll not simply donate that hour to the company because the company don't care.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:34 am

Amen. I put in my 40 plus a few to look good, but I trim those few back in breaks I don't clock out for. Keeps me sane, keeps me from feeling like I'm being railroaded. If a company ever thought to push my job to 50 or 60 hours a week every week without relief, I'd last a month or two while looking for new work. I'm sure there are exceptions, like professions or positions where you have a seriously big title with serious pay, or ownership level interest - but someone who's just paid to do a job? Pass.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:12 pm

Jeff V wrote:If I have to stay an hour late today, I'll leave an hour early tomorrow -- I'm not unreasonably inflexible. But I'll not simply donate that hour to the company because the company don't care.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:24 am

Just hit my second fiscal new year. Not going to go into detail but it's been very busy and we've brought in a lot of positive changes. Unfortunately there's been the inevitable pushback from some quarters but we're moving along.

Lots of 11 hour days, which I'm trying to cut back. The uncertainty in Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA is brutal.

I get to depreciate my tux again this weekend at our charity event.

Happy but a bit stressed. Hitting the gym at lunch helps.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:29 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:08 am I've got an interview coming up for an IT Director position. I'm honestly not sure what to throw down for salary when we get that far, and they always do.

I passed through the ring of fire yesterday afternoon, but couldn't get a sense of if they'd want to call me back. Seated across from me was the COO and HR VP for a company with 2000+ employees and 850 computers, 24 sites, and 24-hour service. The previous IT Director flaked out and went on a vacation to Australia for a couple weeks, then extended it, and finally quit to stay there they tell me. They added that they thought they might have have been responsible for his fracture, since he was the only person on call in the IT department of two people for 6 years and they were only just considering hiring a 3rd person when he left. For 6 years one man was on call for 2000 users, 24 hours a day.

They plead poverty for salary. We didn't specifically talk money, but they explained the process they'd gone through and how they had looked at a few people specifically before me, but everyone was asking more than they wanted to pay. They talked at length about low margins and being cash-strapped because of limited federal benefits (a healthcare provider, claiming 75% of their patients are on Medicare, which only pays 2/3 of the -at cost- expense for care).

I don't care how strapped you are, a network and responsibility that big means a real salary, not a Dollar Store salary. If I get into Round 2 and they want to talk money, I'll ask them to give me the range they're looking at and reply with my own. I completely expect them to sit across from me and proudly proclaim this job is worth $60,000 to them.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:00 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:29 am They talked at length about low margins and being cash-strapped because of limited federal benefits (a healthcare provider, claiming 75% of their patients are on Medicare, which only pays 2/3 of the -at cost- expense for care).

Sounds like their cost problem, not a Medicare problem. Medicare rates aren't going to make them rich but it should at least cover costs.

Lagom Lite · Post by **Lagom Lite** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 10:35 am

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:23 am Take 7:30 am calls at least twice a week. I kept of forgetting to clock in until I got to work and got crap for it. Note I'm salary so it's only for reporting. Anyway I have been very good about making sure to clockin until this morning when they blocked clocking in from home. You have to be in the office. So now I have to clock in when I get to work and write a note. This wouldn't be a big deal, but I KNOW they will run reports and I will look like crap.

I'm so done with this place. Over and over and over for what 14 years? I'm going to lose my mind. I really need to find a good recruiter as I just totally suck balls at finding things. I have a few vacation days unscheduled so I can use those if I can find something. Worst case I have to wait until the end of the year, but I don't know how people are expected to work in this craphole. Everything they do is about tracking every move you do and they don't appreciate AT ALL that I put in at least 5-10 hours extra every week. Pretty much scheduled... F this.

I never understood why some managers are so interested in time-tracking over results. It depends on the kind of work that has to be done, I suppose, I mean I could understand if there's a production line that time-tracking becomes important but when it comes to creative jobs, IT jobs or working with people it just seems weird to me that some managers would still obsess over schedules and time units.

In my job we need to be quite flexible with hours, but this isn't really a problem because the employees are motivated enough to care about the work. Sometimes you need to put in lots of hours, sometimes there's a drought and you can leave early in the day.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:10 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:29 am
Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:08 am I've got an interview coming up for an IT Director position. I'm honestly not sure what to throw down for salary when we get that far, and they always do.
I passed through the ring of fire yesterday afternoon, but couldn't get a sense of if they'd want to call me back. Seated across from me was the COO and HR VP for a company with 2000+ employees and 850 computers, 24 sites, and 24-hour service. The previous IT Director flaked out and went on a vacation to Australia for a couple weeks, then extended it, and finally quit to stay there they tell me. They added that they thought they might have have been responsible for his fracture, since he was the only person on call in the IT department of two people for 6 years and they were only just considering hiring a 3rd person when he left. For 6 years one man was on call for 2000 users, 24 hours a day.

They plead poverty for salary. We didn't specifically talk money, but they explained the process they'd gone through and how they had looked at a few people specifically before me, but everyone was asking more than they wanted to pay. They talked at length about low margins and being cash-strapped because of limited federal benefits (a healthcare provider, claiming 75% of their patients are on Medicare, which only pays 2/3 of the -at cost- expense for care).

I don't care how strapped you are, a network and responsibility that big means a real salary, not a Dollar Store salary. If I get into Round 2 and they want to talk money, I'll ask them to give me the range they're looking at and reply with my own. I completely expect them to sit across from me and proudly proclaim this job is worth $60,000 to them.

At 2000 people the median staffing would be something like 85 people. They are saying possibly 3. No way, no how. Unless it is almost completely outsourced and you are just managing the relationship. Otherwise, there is something completely broken about their business model and you'll pay the price of it.

Edit: As an aside I spoke to some companies this year that were bigger than this. I decided to not pursue them further upon hearing the security staffs (alone) was 2-3 people. What you are talking is possibly absolute insanity.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:15 am

Lagom Lite wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 10:35 am I never understood why some managers are so interested in time-tracking over results. It depends on the kind of work that has to be done, I suppose, I mean I could understand if there's a production line that time-tracking becomes important but when it comes to creative jobs, IT jobs or working with people it just seems weird to me that some managers would still obsess over schedules and time units.

In my job we need to be quite flexible with hours, but this isn't really a problem because the employees are motivated enough to care about the work. Sometimes you need to put in lots of hours, sometimes there's a drought and you can leave early in the day.

99 out of a 100 times it is because they are abysmal managers. The other time it is because they are a terrible manager. You just have to run away from orgs that operate that way - they are fundamentally biased against good business practices or good sense even.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:06 pm

Sometimes it's organizational. If you're in an industry with a lot of jobs that are on the clock by nature, let's say a hospital with shift nurses and doctors, hourly front desks, facilities, etc, it's not great for organizational cohesion if some other departments come and go as they please. There's flexibility sure, but you want to avoid morale crushing disparity.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:56 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:10 amAt 2000 people the median staffing would be something like 85 people. They are saying possibly 3. No way, no how. Unless it is almost completely outsourced and you are just managing the relationship. Otherwise, there is something completely broken about their business model and you'll pay the price of it.

Edit: As an aside I spoke to some companies this year that were bigger than this. I decided to not pursue them further upon hearing the security staffs (alone) was 2-3 people. What you are talking is possibly absolute insanity.

The model they described was incredibly lean. Servers hosted with an MSP, only a couple local servers, and every 'deskop' is a thin client reporting back to the host in the cloud. They talked about getting 30-40 tickets a day. 2 people still seems too light, since I doubt that's 30 password requests.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:02 pm

Fair point to raise but I still think that is terrible management somewhere. If you can't convince adults to be adults - you are a shit manager or executive. As an example, my current client is healthcare. Actually a very big multi-state healthcare system and the IT department is laissez faire time tracking wise. Mostly because it is invisible and secondly because the organization is run by adults. If the org is falling apart because 3-4% of the staff has looser hours...there probably are bigger factors at play.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:07 pm

Paingod wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:56 pm
malchior wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:10 amAt 2000 people the median staffing would be something like 85 people. They are saying possibly 3. No way, no how. Unless it is almost completely outsourced and you are just managing the relationship. Otherwise, there is something completely broken about their business model and you'll pay the price of it.

Edit: As an aside I spoke to some companies this year that were bigger than this. I decided to not pursue them further upon hearing the security staffs (alone) was 2-3 people. What you are talking is possibly absolute insanity.
The model they described was incredibly lean. Servers hosted with an MSP, only a couple local servers, and every 'deskop' is a thin client reporting back to the host in the cloud. They talked about getting 30-40 tickets a day. 2 people still seems too light, since I doubt that's 30 password requests.

Still I'm guessing security is nonexistent since you can't do that and provide security. Who is running projects? Again nobody probably or you'll be on top of everything else. The network is probably outsourced too but that isn't a pain-free existence.

Anyhow I've never met an organization that says we're incredibly lean that wasn't a total shit show quality of life wise. To be fair though I'm naturally biased since I get called in to fix shit shows.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:25 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:50 am
Moliere wrote:Anyone know the best way to find Project Manager jobs? It would be nice to use my PMP certification.
PMI's job board?

I tried that. Any other suggestions for finding PM jobs?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:27 pm

I hope it was a productive month and a half.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:30 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:27 pm I hope it was a productive month and a half.

We'll see. Mostly applications ending up in HR black holes.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:37 pm

I always see a billion PM jobs in NJ. I generally check Indeed. I like it better than the other job sites. Of course I'm still in the same PM job for 8 billion years as I like to complain more than solve things.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:25 am

I just sent a scathing message to my boss about their time policies after hitting my limit. I just don't care anymore. Wednesdays are usually 7:30 - 6:30 with calls in the morning and the afternoon. I got an email today asking to contact HR to adjust my timesheets as it looks like I'm under hours because I can't clock in from home. Always good to penalize people that are putting in extra effort. That's a good way to keep good employees.

Honestly I pray they will fire me at some point. It would get me to finally find a place that treats people at least somewhat like f'n humans.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:06 am

I had some trouble finding this thread. Every "Career" search was Harvey Weinstien. Ultimately, Google knew how to find it even though the forum search failed me...

My employer recently relocated my "home base" from one site to another. Today my manager told me that since this new location is closer to my home, I'm not allowed to charge for mileage to other sites nearby.

He's saying that between being allowed to telecommute when I need to stay home with kids (snow or sick days), and moving my location closer to home, they're "saving" me 280 miles a month, and I shouldn't be charging for mileage to and from other sites. Previously I was doing this before I was moved and there was no complaint from management.

While I appreciate that they shortened my commute, my move to the new location was not done to shorten my commute, but rather to open space at the other location for more staff. If I had been hired and place at this location originally, there would be no question that I should be charging for mileage.

Last month they "saved" me 280 miles of travel, but I still had to travel 136 miles between sites using my personal vehicle to fulfill my job duties.

I'm a salaried, overtime exempt employee. Is their request within the boundaries of labor laws? I have no idea. I'm searching for an answer. It feels petty to fight it - but it also feels petty that they'd do this.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:20 am

It's currently the 4th result when searching for 'career' under the advanced search.

My limited understanding is that they don't have to compensate you for mileage at all, but any uncompensated mileage can then be itemized as an IRS deduction.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:36 am

If you're traveling from home to various work sites, you're commuting to different work locations - you get nothing and like it.

If you're driving from home to an office and from that office you're required then to use your own car to drive to another location, that might be something you can claim on your taxes. In addition to logging the miles in a journal, I'd also make sure you're keeping a journal of date, location and job function requiring travel. Why? Because if you're in a car accident while traveling in your own vehicle (that was mandated by your supervisors), you're going to want to demonstrate that to your insurance company.

When I was first working for the government they had no vehicle to offer me and I needed to use my car for everything. I was told to do all of the above by my supervisor. At the time, they did pay me the government rate for mileage so I never claimed it on my taxes. I am not sure if that would be worth it in your case - but I'd still be documenting the use of my own car for work-related activities between job sites.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:56 am

That's what I'm turning up too. I suppose I just need to smile, break out the lubricant, and write off a hundred dollars a month.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:00 pm

I thought the Republicans nerfed the unreimbursed employee expenses deduction. No?