Octopus Overlords

Congrats, sir!

LawBeefaroni wrote:My number was too high but we did agree to something in the neighborhood of a 25% increase contingent on me meeting the C suite. Was looking for more to make it a no brainer, and I figure it never hurts to ask, but I think it's enough.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

Jeff V wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:Met with them yesterday, talk salary today, meet CFO next week if we can match schedules.

I get the feeling it's mine to refuse. We'll see.

Good luck!

Thanks.

My number was too high but we did agree to something in the neighborhood of a 25% increase contingent on me meeting the C suite. Was looking for more to make it a no brainer, and I figure it never hurts to ask, but I think it's enough.

25% is pretty damn good, how long would take to make that in your current job? In mine, it would be 25 years.

Whatever you do, when meeting the CIO, don't tell him one of his proudest initiatives is "stupid." Seems like no-brainer advice, but when I worked for Rush North Shore, that is exactly what our former tech manager said to the CIO while being interviewed for a consulting gig. The CIO (one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet) told me afterward he's never been so angry doing a job interview...he actually wanted to hit the guy! Now. this tech manager wasn't exactly a people person, but he had a lot of respect from those who knew him well. When I told one of his supporters what happened, he just shook his head and said, "fucking Duane."

Jeff V wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:

Jeff V wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:Met with them yesterday, talk salary today, meet CFO next week if we can match schedules.

I get the feeling it's mine to refuse. We'll see.

Good luck!

Thanks.

My number was too high but we did agree to something in the neighborhood of a 25% increase contingent on me meeting the C suite. Was looking for more to make it a no brainer, and I figure it never hurts to ask, but I think it's enough.

25% is pretty damn good, how long would take to make that in your current job? In mine, it would be 25 years.

Around 8 but I would not last 8 more years without a promotion.

I pored over the medical at the new place and there's a mild inconvenience. Wife is finishing up her first trimester for a June due date (fingers crossed). She does not want to switch doctors or delivery hospital and I'm not going to ask her to. That means with the new gig I'd be on the hook for around 30% of the hospital bill after a low deductible since my current work hospital isn't the primary at my possible future work hospital (obviously). Modeling it out, I'm figuring $3K minimum, up to $10K, barring any major issues. Workable, but just more numbers for the equation. The first time with home field advantage we paid $150 out of pocket.

Jeff V wrote:Whatever you do, when meeting the CIO, don't tell him one of his proudest initiatives is "stupid."

I'm usually pretty good at avoiding that kind of miscue.

This year I changed jobs to a place with less than half the commute (16 minutes each way) and 40% more pay. 2015 was a good career year.

Today, for this first time in the last two years I feel no pressure for being behind on a project that is being poorly organized and lacks proper financing and provisioning. I'm so confused I don't know how to choose among the bazillion low priority projects I have sitting in my to do list. I feel like I should do nothing for the next three days, knowing that all hell will break loose again on January 4th.

Ima think I'll just read OO for a bit longer.

LawBeefaroni wrote:I pored over the medical at the new place and there's a mild inconvenience. Wife is finishing up her first trimester for a June due date (fingers crossed).

Is this a stealth announcement, or did I miss something somewhere? Regardless, congrats! Also, condolences on the prior loss - we've been there, and I know it's not easy.

ImLawBoy wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:I pored over the medical at the new place and there's a mild inconvenience. Wife is finishing up her first trimester for a June due date (fingers crossed).

Is this a stealth announcement, or did I miss something somewhere? Regardless, congrats! Also, condolences on the prior loss - we've been there, and I know it's not easy.

Thanks!

It's probably the first mention. I just didn't feel like dancing around it when mentioning the health care part of the job equation. I think "expected hospitalization in June" might have sounded too ominous.

It's weird having health care cost be part of the decision on taking an otherwise better job. I suppose I've been spoiled paying basically nothing but premiums for access to a top system for nearly 20 years. I could continue to pay basically nothing but the wife and daughter wouldn't have access to "their" doctors.

I spoke with my dad and he reminded me that the place I'm considering was where he was born. I had to break it to him that his grandkid probably wouldn't be born there even if I moved. Not this one, anyway. If I do go and I do my job right, that could change in a few years.

Well, I'll say it doesn't get easier as you add more kids, but it's still kind of weak to just add one at a time.

Yeah, my career is going nowhere fast. We were acquired by a large healthcare system about 2 years ago, and it has been horrible. They took all my staff, but expect me to support the same systems I had before they took all the staff. I mean, my staff is still sitting by me, but they report to other managers now. The president of the hospital I work in still gives me projects, but i have no staff to do anything with(Well I have 3 members), so I end up doing the work myself. Then the other clinical apps manager went out on FMLA, so I picked up her staff and my responsibilities.

So now I have way too much work and have to walk a fine line between making decisions for the other manager(she has been out 60+ days) that she has to support and implement and just keeping the systems going. I had to do three major upgrades for her while she was gone, and they went fine, but there were issues because I was not familiar with all that the upgrades were doing, and I only got placed in charge less than a week away from the upgrade.

Anyway, the other manager has a ton of stuff that was outstanding when she got sick, and most of it can wait until January, and I communicated that with all of the people waiting on stuff. I did some of the work, but not all of it. Especially when I ran into some people who wouldn't work with me and wanted to wait for the other manager. I am not a nurse, and she is so some of the clinicians would not work with me. I can usually just prove myself and move on, but for the most part I figured why bother, when I had more than enough work, and the other manager would just change some of what I did when she got back. <sigh>

Anyway, Corporate people are complaining to my boss's boss and in one case the system CMO, that I am not helping them and I am a barrier to the process of moving forward. Now, mind you all of the people I work with directly love me, and I have become the go to guy for most of the IT issues at my facility, but as I told my boss, when the VP only hears about me is negative and I only interact with her on a monthly, if that, basis, she is not going to have that much of a positive opinion of me.

So I am waiting for my the other IT manager to come back in January and then start looking for a new job in February. I was putting out resume's when I got mad, but I turned down about 4 offers already. The money was there, but I don't think I was ready to leave my current job. But, now I am. So come Feb, I am going to send out a new resume and start looking for any other position just to get out of dodge. I will hate to lose my vacation and some of the cool bonuses and stuff, but my sanity is worth more than anything else. Plus healthcare is so volatile right now, that I am not sure I really want to stick around in a middle management position where I can be cut without a second thought. <sigh>

Oh well, I'll stop ranting, just hate that I work my ass off and get nothing in return.

ImLawBoy wrote:Well, I'll say it doesn't get easier as you add more kids, but it's still kind of weak to just add one at a time.

Congrats to the Beef family.

ImLawBoy wrote:Well, I'll say it doesn't get easier as you add more kids, but it's still kind of weak to just add one at a time.

I'll embrace my weakness.

RMC wrote:Yeah, my career is going nowhere fast. We were acquired by a large healthcare system about 2 years ago, and it has been horrible. They took all my staff, but expect me to support the same systems I had before they took all the staff. I mean, my staff is still sitting by me, but they report to other managers now. The president of the hospital I work in still gives me projects, but i have no staff to do anything with(Well I have 3 members), so I end up doing the work myself. Then the other clinical apps manager went out on FMLA, so I picked up her staff and my responsibilities.

So now I have way too much work and have to walk a fine line between making decisions for the other manager(she has been out 60+ days) that she has to support and implement and just keeping the systems going. I had to do three major upgrades for her while she was gone, and they went fine, but there were issues because I was not familiar with all that the upgrades were doing, and I only got placed in charge less than a week away from the upgrade.

Anyway, the other manager has a ton of stuff that was outstanding when she got sick, and most of it can wait until January, and I communicated that with all of the people waiting on stuff. I did some of the work, but not all of it. Especially when I ran into some people who wouldn't work with me and wanted to wait for the other manager. I am not a nurse, and she is so some of the clinicians would not work with me. I can usually just prove myself and move on, but for the most part I figured why bother, when I had more than enough work, and the other manager would just change some of what I did when she got back. <sigh>

Anyway, Corporate people are complaining to my boss's boss and in one case the system CMO, that I am not helping them and I am a barrier to the process of moving forward. Now, mind you all of the people I work with directly love me, and I have become the go to guy for most of the IT issues at my facility, but as I told my boss, when the VP only hears about me is negative and I only interact with her on a monthly, if that, basis, she is not going to have that much of a positive opinion of me.

So I am waiting for my the other IT manager to come back in January and then start looking for a new job in February. I was putting out resume's when I got mad, but I turned down about 4 offers already. The money was there, but I don't think I was ready to leave my current job. But, now I am. So come Feb, I am going to send out a new resume and start looking for any other position just to get out of dodge. I will hate to lose my vacation and some of the cool bonuses and stuff, but my sanity is worth more than anything else. Plus healthcare is so volatile right now, that I am not sure I really want to stick around in a middle management position where I can be cut without a second thought. <sigh>

Oh well, I'll stop ranting, just hate that I work my ass off and get nothing in return.

We acquired a smaller hospital a few years ago and they had some of the same issues. Notably, their executives on up were all jockeying for spots in the mothership and management on down was kind of left to fend for themselves.

We recently merged with a giant health system and the politics are now hitting both sides. I still think it's the best health system in the region but personally, from a career standpoint, there are way to many displaced EDs and VPs looking for spots to fill which means I'm severely limited. And as they all latching on to high profile projects, I get the low pro stuff. Which I don't mind, except for the fact I know why I'm getting them. They lead nowhere, they just get stuff done.

The more I think about it, the more I'm ready to go. Of course the CFO at the new place just had surgery so my meeting got pushed back to next week.



IIRC you don't want to move but I'll keep an eye out for you in both places come February.

We can'll all go for extreme parenting.

Congrats, Lawbeef. Your daughter must be so excited, but I can't imagine going back to diapers again.

My wife has chronic medical issues, so healthcare has always been a limiting factor in my work decisions. It's even more a factor with 2 diabetic kids. It's going to make negotiating to convert a discretionary bonus into permanent salary in February tricky.

Can RMC count easy access to Octocon as a bonus for moving to Chicago?

Well, I feel really fortunate compared to a lot of you folks. After a merit raise in October, I wound up getting a surprise market adjustment that bumped me up another 2%. Since my wife hasn't gotten a raise in about 5 years now, that really helps. If you had a crappy 2015, I hope 2016 is better to you. If you had a good 2015, may your good fortune continue.

YellowKing wrote:Well, I feel really fortunate compared to a lot of you folks. After a merit raise in October, I wound up getting a surprise market adjustment that bumped me up another 2%. Since my wife hasn't gotten a raise in about 5 years now, that really helps. If you had a crappy 2015, I hope 2016 is better to you. If you had a good 2015, may your good fortune continue.

I got 3 percent in March plus our annual bonus was a good one. I'll find out in 3 months if it's another 3% and another nice bonus this March. My wife also just got a bump from the Federal government.

I almost got to where my boss promised she'd get me before they fired her. Now I'm back down to "you got the maximum" cost of living raises. I can't really complain about the wage. I'd agree to cut my wage by a 1/3 to take me back down to a sane workload where the people who need me to do work had reasonable expectations with reasonable time frames and budgets and plans for their projects.

My new boss is good but she doesn't have what it takes to go to bat for her employees and she is now doing the work of 2.5 people, so wouldn't have time to go to bat even if she had the same stones.

The best news about my wage is if I stay employed, my health holds out, the market stays crappy but doesn't tank, and we keep the ACA, I believe it's about 10 more years until retirement. I'm saving money like a madman. When I die in 8 years, after probate, my nieces and nephews should have a good leg up.

YellowKing wrote:Well, I feel really fortunate compared to a lot of you folks. After a merit raise in October, I wound up getting a surprise market adjustment that bumped me up another 2%. Since my wife hasn't gotten a raise in about 5 years now, that really helps. If you had a crappy 2015, I hope 2016 is better to you. If you had a good 2015, may your good fortune continue.

Now money I can't complain about. Last December I got a 20% raise, then I got an 8% raise, and they just gave me a 5% market adjustment raise. The only problem is that I am a scapegoat for all of the issues that need to be resolved. I learn about a project literally a few days before go live, and I ask well, what about X and Y and Z? And they all look at me, and realize that they can't go live in a few days and instead of being happy that I prevented a major disaster, I get labeled as a roadblock to progress....

So money wise I am now over the coveted six figure range, but my job satisfaction sucks.

RMC wrote:Now money I can't complain about. Last December I got a 20% raise, then I got an 8% raise, and they just gave me a 5% market adjustment raise. The only problem is that I am a scapegoat for all of the issues that need to be resolved. I learn about a project literally a few days before go live, and I ask well, what about X and Y and Z? And they all look at me, and realize that they can't go live in a few days and instead of being happy that I prevented a major disaster, I get labeled as a roadblock to progress....

So money wise I am now over the coveted six figure range, but my job satisfaction sucks.

I'm not in the six figures range but your job responsibilities sounds like mine, only we go live in a few days anyway. There is no roadblock to progress, as I support paper pushing and manufacturing doesn't require the paper to be pushed properly to actually go live, so I end up being held solely accountable in stress, anxiety, and misery for the failure until things get straightened out. One day something will give and I have no idea what the result will be. My guess is, it will be my termination.

LordMortis wrote:

RMC wrote:Now money I can't complain about. Last December I got a 20% raise, then I got an 8% raise, and they just gave me a 5% market adjustment raise. The only problem is that I am a scapegoat for all of the issues that need to be resolved. I learn about a project literally a few days before go live, and I ask well, what about X and Y and Z? And they all look at me, and realize that they can't go live in a few days and instead of being happy that I prevented a major disaster, I get labeled as a roadblock to progress....

So money wise I am now over the coveted six figure range, but my job satisfaction sucks.

I'm not in the six figures range but your job responsibilities sounds like mine, only we go live in a few days anyway. There is no roadblock to progress, as I support paper pushing and manufacturing doesn't require the paper to be pushed properly to actually go live, so I end up being held solely accountable in stress, anxiety, and misery for the failure until things get straightened out. One day something will give and I have no idea what the result will be. My guess is, it will be my termination.

Yeah, I am a manager. I use to have over 50 staff and 2 supervisors. I now have 4 direct reports. So it is a big change from what I sue to do, to what I do now.

And the last thing that I put the kabash on was changing our active Directory over to the motherships AD, they wanted to switch in less than 2 months and we had not tested a single system. Needless to say, testing about 3 out of the over 100 systems we have was enough for them to change plans.

No raise for us peasants again next year. <sigh>

LawBeefaroni wrote:
It's weird having health care cost be part of the decision on taking an otherwise better job. I suppose I've been spoiled paying basically nothing but premiums for access to a top system for nearly 20 years. I could continue to pay basically nothing but the wife and daughter wouldn't have access to "their" doctors.

I had a similar issue when moving to a previous job. When I let them know it was an issue, they gave me an extra 10k signing bonus to cover it. It might be worth having the conversation if things go well with the CFO. And congrats, sir!

LawBeefaroni wrote:

RMC wrote:Yeah, my career is going nowhere fast. We were acquired by a large healthcare system about 2 years ago, and it has been horrible. They took all my staff, but expect me to support the same systems I had before they took all the staff. I mean, my staff is still sitting by me, but they report to other managers now. The president of the hospital I work in still gives me projects, but i have no staff to do anything with(Well I have 3 members), so I end up doing the work myself. Then the other clinical apps manager went out on FMLA, so I picked up her staff and my responsibilities.

So now I have way too much work and have to walk a fine line between making decisions for the other manager(she has been out 60+ days) that she has to support and implement and just keeping the systems going. I had to do three major upgrades for her while she was gone, and they went fine, but there were issues because I was not familiar with all that the upgrades were doing, and I only got placed in charge less than a week away from the upgrade.

Anyway, the other manager has a ton of stuff that was outstanding when she got sick, and most of it can wait until January, and I communicated that with all of the people waiting on stuff. I did some of the work, but not all of it. Especially when I ran into some people who wouldn't work with me and wanted to wait for the other manager. I am not a nurse, and she is so some of the clinicians would not work with me. I can usually just prove myself and move on, but for the most part I figured why bother, when I had more than enough work, and the other manager would just change some of what I did when she got back. <sigh>

Anyway, Corporate people are complaining to my boss's boss and in one case the system CMO, that I am not helping them and I am a barrier to the process of moving forward. Now, mind you all of the people I work with directly love me, and I have become the go to guy for most of the IT issues at my facility, but as I told my boss, when the VP only hears about me is negative and I only interact with her on a monthly, if that, basis, she is not going to have that much of a positive opinion of me.

So I am waiting for my the other IT manager to come back in January and then start looking for a new job in February. I was putting out resume's when I got mad, but I turned down about 4 offers already. The money was there, but I don't think I was ready to leave my current job. But, now I am. So come Feb, I am going to send out a new resume and start looking for any other position just to get out of dodge. I will hate to lose my vacation and some of the cool bonuses and stuff, but my sanity is worth more than anything else. Plus healthcare is so volatile right now, that I am not sure I really want to stick around in a middle management position where I can be cut without a second thought. <sigh>

Oh well, I'll stop ranting, just hate that I work my ass off and get nothing in return.

We acquired a smaller hospital a few years ago and they had some of the same issues. Notably, their executives on up were all jockeying for spots in the mothership and management on down was kind of left to fend for themselves.

We recently merged with a giant health system and the politics are now hitting both sides. I still think it's the best health system in the region but personally, from a career standpoint, there are way to many displaced EDs and VPs looking for spots to fill which means I'm severely limited. And as they all latching on to high profile projects, I get the low pro stuff. Which I don't mind, except for the fact I know why I'm getting them. They lead nowhere, they just get stuff done.

The more I think about it, the more I'm ready to go. Of course the CFO at the new place just had surgery so my meeting got pushed back to next week.



IIRC you don't want to move but I'll keep an eye out for you in both places come February.

Heh, thanks. But it would have to pretty good to move to Chicago. My wife would like it I am sure, but my mother lives with us, and she would not move. Not saying if the offer was right I wouldn't do it, just a lot of factors.

for anyone searching for a new career - NASA is hiring!

Pyperkub wrote:for anyone searching for a new career - NASA is hiring!

I'm no rocket scientist...

Speaking of, my friends and I in the APL Space Department were bummed that none of APL's Discovery proposals were accepted this year. So no MESSENGER type missions are starting up. On the flip side, NASA"s 2016 budget is bigger than expected so there is hope for next year.

As for me personally, I'm handling telemetry to science data processing for the Laser Altimeter flying on the OSIRIS-REx Project. We're set to launch next September, which means the Project needs to show NASA we're flight ready in June, which means my software needs to be flight ready by April, which means I'm very busy from now until then. One perk which I'm already looking forward to is that the entire project team and their families are invited to be at Cape Canaveral for the launch. I am definitely going to bring the family to that. And I get to say I'm working on a giant space "laser".

I'm also doing software development to improve some science analysis software for the Diviner instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or LRO. Not as sexy as OSIRIS-REx but at least I get to say I work on a Diviner to any Agents of Shield fans.

Oh, and I read that the 2016 budget funds continuing science operations for LRO, which means that another APL instrument - Mini-RF - could be turned back on. Which means I may be back to planning new data collection opportunities for it. When it rains, it pours I guess.

Salary increase was ok, but my current pay is more than adequate considering I love what I do.

Met with the CFO today. Went well but just didn't get that great feeling at the end, you know, the kind when you're sure it's a done deal. They'll call tomorrow when everyone else is back from break to compare notes.

Now time to pour a stiff drink and enjoy the last few hours of vacation.

Good luck however it works out. Sounds like the CFO would have rather had you cheaper, but that is the nature of the uber-beancounter. If you're the guy the others want, hopefully the money is not an intractable obstacle and they come forth with an offer.

They informally offered it to me with a tiny bonus up front. I have to go through the HR rigmarole now before they're allowed to extend a formal offer sheet. Was hoping to bypass all that but it is a hospital after all, so criminal background and employment/education verification.

HR sent me a questionnaire and I thought it was a test. One of the questions was:

"How much experience do you have in this role:
1-3 years
4-6 years
<7 years"

I was tempted to tell them B and C but just went with C.

Congrats! Nice way to start the new year.

I'm in a good spot. 13.5 years at the same place. My new boss is a college classmate, so that's a built in advantage to happiness. Her boss really likes me, too, so I should be able to get promoted at the end of the FY (or at least I'm going to try). If that fails, at least I'm happy doing what I'm doing, and I'm good at it, too.

Was on the phone with HR. On the phone, I like to stand up and look out the window, to avoid any distractions like papers on my desk or the computer. So I'm talking to the HR woman and looking out my window and I catch movement in a window across the street. Some guy climbs on a naked woman in bed and starts jacking off on her face. Curtains open and everything. I'm so ready to move out of this neighborhood...

LawBeefaroni wrote:Was on the phone with HR. On the phone, I like to stand up and look out the window, to avoid any distractions like papers on my desk or the computer. So I'm talking to the HR woman and looking out my window and I catch movement in a window across the street. Some guy climbs on a naked woman in bed and starts jacking off on her face. Curtains open and everything. I'm so ready to move out of this neighborhood...

I've been to some offices downtown with telescopes in the window just so they don't miss a moment of this sort of action when in line-of-site.

So Jeff V will move in anytime. Congrats!

So Jeff V will move in anytime. Congrats!

LawBeefaroni wrote:Was on the phone with HR. On the phone, I like to stand up and look out the window, to avoid any distractions like papers on my desk or the computer. So I'm talking to the HR woman and looking out my window and I catch movement in a window across the street. Some guy climbs on a naked woman in bed and starts jacking off on her face. Curtains open and everything. I'm so ready to move out of this neighborhood...

That was at your home? I seem to remember you having that issue while you were at work....

If I look out my windows at home, I can see a herd of cows(the four legged variety) in the pasture, but no nekid women.

RMC wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:Was on the phone with HR. On the phone, I like to stand up and look out the window, to avoid any distractions like papers on my desk or the computer. So I'm talking to the HR woman and looking out my window and I catch movement in a window across the street. Some guy climbs on a naked woman in bed and starts jacking off on her face. Curtains open and everything. I'm so ready to move out of this neighborhood...

That was at your home? I seem to remember you having that issue while you were at work....

If I look out my windows at home, I can see a herd of cows(the four legged variety) in the pasture, but no nekid women.

It was at work. I meant my work neighborhood, sorry.

Usually it's later in the day when that kind of shit happens. This was like 11am. I will say I stayed on topic on the phone and gave a pretty good answer to the HR person.

Out my window at home I see an elementary school so there better not ever be any nekidness (on either side of the window)!

RMC wrote:If I look out my windows at home, I can see a herd of cows(the four legged variety) in the pasture, but no nekid women.

I have shades/blinds drawn on every window. No sunlight allowed.

LordMortis wrote:

RMC wrote:If I look out my windows at home, I can see a herd of cows(the four legged variety) in the pasture, but no nekid women.

I have shades/blinds drawn on every window. No sunlight allowed.

If I switch jobs, the new temporary office is in the basement in an old converted xray lab. Bad news: no windows. Good news: radiation protection.




Offer letter is incoming, we've agreed to all the particulars. It's all pending a physical in a few weeks (I feel like an MLB player!) but can move forward without it.

So the question for everyone out there with experience actually switching jobs, do I give notification to my current employer before formally accepting the offer letter or accept it and then give notice? I don't expect my current employer to meet or beat but on the off chance, I assume I should probably give them that chance before formally accepting the offer?

LawBeefaroni wrote:So the question for everyone out there with experience actually switching jobs, do I give notification to my current employer before formally accepting the offer letter or accept it and then give notice? I don't expect my current employer to meet or beat but on the off chance, I assume I should probably give them that chance before formally accepting the offer?

You know best what to expect from your current employer and how you'd react to whatever news they give you. If you're comfortable with accepting the new offer, then the only sane response is to wait until all t's are crossed and i's dotted before you begin burning your current bridge. Shit happens (especially when China has to halt trading twice in the span of a week) which can make what should be a formality turn into something more. (#BitterAboutTheNineMonthsItTookFromWeWantYouToWeGotYouAnOfficialOffer #EconomicCollapse2007)

But if a potentially-acceptable counter is what you're really after, then it's time to roll the dice and Play The Game™. Best luck.