How is your career going?

[Kraken]

This is going to be my last year as Kraken Enterprises. I incorporated when I started Curio City because I needed a firewall between myself and the public, and in case the business grew more than I expected it to do. Blue Hills Editorial Services did a little public business at first, but I soon transitioned to strictly B2B. The small benefit I gain from being a corporation doesn't justify the expense and trouble of maintaining it (mostly quarterly payroll tax filings). I accidentally paid my corporate registration fees for this year last January, so I might as well keep it going through 2025. I'm going to cut loose all but one client in a couple of months, which is as close as I intend to get to fully retiring -- I need to work a few hours a week to maintain some structure in my life, and for the walking-around money, but I can do that as a 1099 worker.

[FishPants]

It's been a minute since I posted here, some updates but still trying to figure out where I go next.

Anyhow CIO McDickhead and I cleared the air a bit last week (I had to tell him to stop with the criticisms to my team, and start leading and supporting) - so far the message seems received ok. Further I told him I won't be doing that commute 4 days a week, but I will come in whenever there's an opportunity and reason to do so which I estimate as 2 days a week in the Toronto office; I frequently fly to Montreal where I have a lot of staff and I think that's meeting the target if you factor in that travel as well.

CIO McDickhead is actually better named CIO NoSocialSkills - he's ended up being one of the most intelligent people I've ever worked with/for - but seriously he's a fucking trash leader. This is further compounded by him being a brown guy that only hires in brown people, he's since told me that he respects my technical ability and I am one of the only white guys he knows that has a clue about technology. Not sure how I feel about that, but anyhow we seem to be in a better spot overall. He has crazy high expectations, he picks things up very quickly and has become very supportive of my program and funding - I help him by not being socially stunted, and at public speaking/forums I work the room and bring people to him to introduce as he's crazy uncomfortable dealing with new people (I really probably should have been in sales; for a guy that hates interacting with new people and small talk I'm really good at it).

I'm in a wait and see mode, I should see my year end rating in the next month or so - which will dictate what happens next. I'm concerned that perhaps the board and EVP maybe don't think I knocked it out of the park as much as I thought I did - but I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself. The economy has slowed a bit, but job numbers are through the roof (January the expectation was 15,000 job openings net new - and the reported number was 150,000 - what recession?). Although roles like mine in Canada are very few - most CISOs know each other, and we rotate through each other's postings as we work our way up the ladder.

This is going to be even more true for me this year - I've crushed a critical risk mitigation plan in 2024 and exceeded the expectations of everyone involved (the COO, CIO and CEO for this now 50 billion dollar company called my plan too aggressive/ambitious - and I did even more than that plan). If I get a meets expectations or even only one notch above that, I need to plan my exit. The stress of this job is off the charts, I'm usually very very calm with work stress but the last 18 months or so has been brutal; and I'm seeing the physical impact of it.

What I don't love is the hours the role takes to do it effectively, and I am down to weeks left on a deadline to submit a thesis for a MSc that I've been taking on/off for years - it's crunch time, and I'm having a HELL of a time getting through the paper (I'm probably 50-60% done my rough draft, and I have to submit by end of March or apply for a 1 year extension which I am loathe to do... because I know me, and I'll procrastinate again and repeat this).

I finished my thesis and was awarded a Master of Science in Information Security; this was a big moment for me personally. Does dick all for my career but it was a personal goal and I was proud to finish it.

My oldest daughter is headed to University in the fall, and until all the yes/no letters come in - I don't know what that looks like for costs or location, and my youngest daughter is in grade 9 - pretty soon she will be doing the same. I'm just not sure what I want to do - I've saved a fair bit of cash up, but I also have a lot of expenses facing me - but I think it may be time to consider how I unwind from the corporate life that is so demanding in a year or two.

My oldest daughter is in her second year now out west, and I miss her like crazy. My youngest daughter is in Grade 11, and next year begins the application process for schools. If she goes west too, fuck that I'm selling this place and I'm going - I'm sure I could keep my job out there (we have a major office in Calgary and another smaller one in Vancouver); I'd probably keep the job for a year or two and transition to something with less travel. Last year I was on 44 flights (so 22 round trips). A handful were personal but most of that was business.

Next steps for me? I'm taking my family to Portugal on a trip in July (again bonus in, bonus out - die with Zero!) - it will be probably the last time the four of us can travel together, once University hits I'm sure my oldest will be buried and then will have a summer job etc.

I continue with spending my bonus on travel for the most part, and I am taking my wife and kids to Spain this year. The memories we've made in Greece and Portugal (among other destinations) are truly some of the fondest memories I have with my family - and if I am going to hang on to something on my death bed its these memories, not my 2025 cyber plan deliverables. Keeping this in perspective, or at least trying to - I seem to also have a work ethic gene that crosses occasionally into workaholic zones until I give myself a reality check and pull back/delegate more.

My career overall continues to grow with the company, when I started 3 years ago we were a 30ish billion dollar company, now 50 billion with an aspirational target of being 500 billion in ten years. At first I laughed at that goal, but the more I see what's happening - the more I think they are serious about it. I've taken on the security governance of some smaller affiliate organizations, have fallen into the defacto global CISO role over the other regions (without a pay increase, put that demand forward at the end of 2024 for consideration in the merit and bonus cycle).

I work with good people, but really echoing a lot of the sentiment in here - at 48 years old, I like the travel to a degree but I am giving less of a shit about my day to day job. I'd rather be with my family, walking my dog, or doing anything other than working - and I think what's hard for me to get my head around is that this isn't driven by the company culture, lack of pay or anything else - eg. I don't need to just switch jobs and be a CISO somewhere else; I actually think I just don't want to work in this field anymore but if not doing this I'm not sure what the hell I would do? With two kids in/near university I can't back right off to a part time job that's for sure, so I think I keep sucking it up and gambling on the CISO vs Breach Probability lottery - and see where my youngest applies/accepts for University next year.

[Paingod]

I actually think I just don't want to work in this field anymore but if not doing this I'm not sure what the hell I would do? With two kids in/near university I can't back right off to a part time job that's for sure, so I think I keep sucking it up and gambling on the CISO vs Breach Probability lottery - and see where my youngest applies/accepts for University next year.

It's funny/sad that I see a lot of tech people 'graduate' to things like goat farming and park ranger. They just hit a point of seniority and stress then walk off into the woods.

DBT should start a life-lessons program for IT folks in need of an exit strategy.

[Montag]

Started my new job this week. I am working for Airedale. They do cooling systems for data centers. This will be my 27th year in the heat exchanger buisness. I am rather excited. It looks like the management is competent and I think I can take this job to retirement.

[LordMortis]

Started my new job this week. I am working for Airedale. They do cooling systems for data centers. This will be my 27th year in the heat exchanger buisness. I am rather excited. It looks like the management is competent and I think I can take this job to retirement.

Suddenly your profile pic takes on meaning.

[Brian]

I'd like to find the person who decided that it would be a good idea to replace 50+ Ricoh business printers across 30+ remote locations during the last two weeks of the year while everybody was on vacation so I could then tie that person down and .... I dunno...shit in their mouth or something.

Then, I'd like to find out why all of the back-end printer admin setup and config stuff should fall into the hands of the desktop support team. We aren't admins. If you have admin tasks, assign them to an admin or hire an admin for that specific job.

Or... pay us admin rates so we can at least pretend like we are appreciated.

[hepcat]

Started my new job this week. I am working for Airedale. They do cooling systems for data centers. This will be my 27th year in the heat exchanger buisness. I am rather excited. It looks like the management is competent and I think I can take this job to retirement.

With the increasing demand for AI and it's need for HUGE cooling solutions in data centers, I'd say you picked the right field to get into!

[naednek]

I'd like to find the person who decided that it would be a good idea to replace 50+ Ricoh business printers across 30+ remote locations during the last two weeks of the year while everybody was on vacation so I could then tie that person down and .... I dunno...shit in their mouth or something.

Then, I'd like to find out why all of the back-end printer admin setup and config stuff should fall into the hands of the desktop support team. We aren't admins. If you have admin tasks, assign them to an admin or hire an admin for that specific job.

Or... pay us admin rates so we can at least pretend like we are appreciated.

Our desktop team is responsible for setting up the printers. I'm in the server team and we are responsible for managing the print servers\adding printers to the server.

[Brian]

Our desktop team is responsible for setting up the printers. I'm in the server team and we are responsible for managing the print servers\adding printers to the server.

Which is what they have us doing. The physical printer installs themselves are being done directly by Ricoh. We then have to pass along the new MACs to the network admins so they can flip the DHCP reservations to the new MACs.
Then the server side config is what we are doing along with SLNX configurations.
Which is why we are a bit salty about doing admin work when we should have a dedicated admin for this.

On top of that, about half of the installs are done incorrectly by the Ricoh techs.
This is happening all along the pipeline from Minnesota all the way down to Texas.

Meanwhile, all of the usual desktop tickets are piling up and being pushed aside for the time being.

So now all the clients are yelling at us because they can't print and their desktop issues aren't being addressed.

[LawBeefaroni]

Enterprise didn't hit 2024 targets so no bonus. I knew this was 99% likely back in October but rest of VP/Dir class just found out. We'll probably get a token since we did hit some significant targets but we needed to hit all of them. It's a 20% cut, effectively, but our household will be fine.

[stessier]

I've always wondered how others look at bonuses. My company claims it is part of our compensation and it's not called a bonus. It is tied to hitting company metrics, though, so I always assume it will be 0 so anything above that is, well, a bonus. I know some people assume it will be there, though, and get crushed on years we miss.

When I joined in 2007, I was told they hadn't had a 0 in over a decade. Then we had a 0 in 2008...and I think 2 other times in the years since. About half of those years it was less than 100%, while a couple were over 100%. I can't imagine anyone trying to budget based on that variability.

[RMC]

We have a policy that is called MIP, Management Incentiove Pay, and it can be anything from 0 - 20% of your salary. I have been here for a bit, almost 15 years and have seen all ranges. Only managers and above qualify for the bonus program, but we are tied to getting a bonus based on metrics for our departments, and then enterprise wide as well.

For my personal budgetting, I always look at as a bonus, and use the money for vacations, or big purchases and never plan on having it, nor do I consider it part of my salary I expect to make.

[LordMortis]

I've always wondered how others look at bonuses. My company claims it is part of our compensation and it's not called a bonus. It is tied to hitting company metrics, though, so I always assume it will be 0 so anything above that is, well, a bonus. I know some people assume it will be there, though, and get crushed on years we miss.

When I joined in 2007, I was told they hadn't had a 0 in over a decade. Then we had a 0 in 2008...and I think 2 other times in the years since. About half of those years it was less than 100%, while a couple were over 100%. I can't imagine anyone trying to budget based on that variability.

I never count it as part of my salary. It was a bonus, great. OtOH, not being part of my salary, I never took it in to consideration when we talked about compensation. It wasn't part of my salary, nor even benies. It was a bonus and during lean years it was nowhere to be found and I did not complain. Taking our health care and moving us from fully paid cadillac plan to a "meh" silver tier plan for which they would they would only pay large portion over the space of a half decade? That was a benie I considered part of my guaranteed compensation and I stayed pretty upset over that.

My bonus always went to the ex's happiness, then to paying off principle on the mortgage when I got a house after becoming single, then to saving for retirement after the house was paid off.

[Zarathud]

Our bonus is paid over the next year bi-monthly. The goal is to keep earning bonuses that cover the mandatory holdback on our salary.

If the firm has excess cash to budget at year end, the partners immediately get paid 100% of their holdback plus our profit share of the excess.

[Jeff V]

Last weekend, I was rear-ended dropping off a passenger. Crumpled rear corner, plus damage to the quarter panel and spoiler. Insurance approved the repairs (his should ultimately pay), and I dropped it off yesterday. The estimate is 2 weeks to complete the repairs.

That means I get a 2 week unpaid vacation. Seems our floors will finally be completed today (the carpeting people are here now). New furniture is coming somewhere around the middle of the month -- probably right after wife and daughter leave for the Philippines. So there would appear to be a lot of house work in the near future.

I told my son we have 2 weeks of boy's night out to celebrate. He asked what that means. I told him it means we can go to bed an hour early.

[LawBeefaroni]

I've always wondered how others look at bonuses. My company claims it is part of our compensation and it's not called a bonus. It is tied to hitting company metrics, though, so I always assume it will be 0 so anything above that is, well, a bonus. I know some people assume it will be there, though, and get crushed on years we miss.

When I joined in 2007, I was told they hadn't had a 0 in over a decade. Then we had a 0 in 2008...and I think 2 other times in the years since. About half of those years it was less than 100%, while a couple were over 100%. I can't imagine anyone trying to budget based on that variability.

Ours is positioned as part of total compensation but I've never looked at it that way and certainly never budgeted for it that way.

[pr0ner]

I've always wondered how others look at bonuses. My company claims it is part of our compensation and it's not called a bonus. It is tied to hitting company metrics, though, so I always assume it will be 0 so anything above that is, well, a bonus. I know some people assume it will be there, though, and get crushed on years we miss.

When I joined in 2007, I was told they hadn't had a 0 in over a decade. Then we had a 0 in 2008...and I think 2 other times in the years since. About half of those years it was less than 100%, while a couple were over 100%. I can't imagine anyone trying to budget based on that variability.

I work for a government agency with fairly generous performance based bonuses. I've earned 9% on top of my salary for the last decade or so. 4% of it is more or less automatic.

[FishPants]

It's funny/sad that I see a lot of tech people 'graduate' to things like goat farming and park ranger. They just hit a point of seniority and stress then walk off into the woods.

DBT should start a life-lessons program for IT folks in need of an exit strategy.

You're not wrong, but if I'm honest waaaaay back in the before times when I was a young man trying to figure out what to do my aptitude testing showed that I should either be a forest ranger or a cop; still not sure how I took that and became a CISO but here we are. Last summer I drove further north in my province than I ever have, and camped again for the first time in probably 25 years with my family and we had a blast - mostly because cellphones didn't work up there and we were together.

I could totally see retiring with my pickup truck in some provincial park where I could shake my fist at kids trying to sneak beers on the beach.

[Skinypupy]

As I've posted about here a few times, as I approach 20 years in my current job, I've been feeling more and more dissatisfaction. Partly with the direction the company is going (moving from a training company to a SaaS/tech company) and partly with the fact that I've...been doing the exact same thing for 20 years.

Last week, someone who used to work with us as a consultant called me out of the blue. He owns a small consulting firm that has been doing training in the government space for the past 30 years. They've always just operated on "word of mouth" sales, but he's looking at expanding their profile significantly over the next 3-5 years. He wants me to come run their federal civilian business. We had an informal interview/lunch meeting today so I could better understand what they're doing. While we haven't talked specific salary (more on that in a sec), it ended with him saying "I will hire you the instant we decide the numbers work for us both". That was nice to hear.

Pros: His leader development product is really cool. I left feeling incredibly energized about the potential and have an excitement about selling something that I haven't felt in years. It's in the same space I currently work in so I would start with a ton of market knowledge and really good contacts to potentially leverage. He's also not looking at absurd, unachievable sales targets (which is what my current job has done) and it seems like there would be patience to build this thing right over the next 12-18 months.

Cons: This would be moving from a large company with tons of resources and an established brand name to hustling for a small boutique consulting firm. My current employer has 1,800 employees...this new place has 6. The risk would definitely be greater, but getting away from a publicly traded company with unrealistic expectations and little room for creativity and into a role that allowed me the flexibility to get creative to close deals would be good. The timing certainly sucks though, as we have no idea what Trump/Elon will do to federal agency budgets. Things might be dead before we even get started.

It would also require a BIG salary cut, likely around 50% and possibly more. That's not a huge concern, as I'm completely debt free and have been saving 50-60% of my salary for the past 10 years anyways. I'd still be able to live very comfortably with the smaller salary, but wouldn't be able to sock nearly as much aside for retirement.

If we can make the numbers work, I'm leaning towards making the jump. I'm completely stagnating where I am and have come to the point where I literally dread coming in to work every day. I have exactly zero energy or enthusiasm about my current job whatsoever and am simply going through the motions. The opportunity to be somewhere that I feel like I'm making a difference and stretching my skill set might be exactly what I need right now, even if it means a big pay cut. And besides, I'm about 95% sure that if this new gig turns out to not work out, my current job would take me back in a heartbeat. I've been a top 10% sales performer for 20 years and have a great track record here.

New year, possibly new me...WHICH IS TERRIFYING.

[Kraken]

The next four years are going to be a really, REALLY bad time to go into federal government services. Amidst draconian staff cuts, training will be bottom priority. The civilian side in particular is going to get a radical haircut.

I'd want to know his thoughts about that before making such a jump.

[Skinypupy]

The next four years are going to be a really, REALLY bad time to go into federal government services. Amidst draconian staff cuts, training will be bottom priority. The civilian side in particular is going to get a radical haircut.

I'd want to know his thoughts about that before making such a jump.

For sure. We talked about that quite a bit today.

My job right now is selling training to federal civilian agencies, so this wouldn’t be any more or less risky that what I’m currently doing. Really just a question of trying to weather the storm in a big corporation with better resources but wildly unrealistic sales targets in a role I’m completely burned out on, or trying my luck at a smaller firm but with freedom to be creative and selling something I’m far more excited about. Big risks in both, but I’m leaning towards the one where I can at least sit down at my desk in the morning without dreading my day.

Or I could go do sales in another industry entirely, but that isn’t a path I want to pursue…yet.

[Kraken]

Ahh, I didn't realize that's your current job. When you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, you might as well do.

[The Meal]

Working at small companies = wearing many hats. Could be very invigorating.

[Smoove_B]

When you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, you might as well do.

You've just described my exact current career situation. Interesting days ahead.

[Skinypupy]

Working at small companies = wearing many hats. Could be very invigorating.

Prior to my current job, I worked for 8 years at a place that had 3 employees. I think my business card said "VP of Marketing", but I was in charge of pretty much everything. Customer service, shipping, IT, video editing, graphic design, accounting, sales, marketing, even feeding the incredibly mean goats that lived in the other half of the converted barn that was our office. The positive is that I like figuring out problems or issues because there isn't someone else to hand things off to. The negative is that it often means lots of hours, which doesn't help my general work/life balance challenge.

After talking with Mrs. Skinypupy last night, I'm leaning towards telling this new company that I have some large deals that I need to see through at my current job before I can start anything new. Which is true, as I'd be walking away from some very large commission checks if I left today. This would give me a 6 month window to gauge how catastrophic the budget collapse may be with the new administration and decide accordingly. If the federal budget falls apart entirely, I'm probably better off staying where I am, as a large company can better weather that storm (or at least give me a better severance package if it comes to that). If it turns out to be mostly bluster and federal budgets don't change that dramatically, then I can decide to jump to the new gig at that point.

This new place told me that if I wanted to start tomorrow, he'd hire me immediately. If I wanted to start in 6 months, he'd hire me in 6 months. If I wanted to start next year, he'd hire me next year. Civilian government is a market that they've never really even approached before, and it's not something he feels they need to start immediately. Their DoD side of the business is doing just fine and he'd rather wait for the right person who can drive the new fed civilian efforts successfully. There's always the chance that could change, but I feel like I need to give it a bit of time to see what happens under the orange God King before making any big decisions

Still not sure we can make the salary work, but I'll have a better idea next week after I throw some numbers at him.