Update in the life of Carl: this Friday will be my last day at my current job. Though tinged with sadness (great people to be missed, though a commute to Bellevue I rejoice in leaving behind), I move forward. After exploring some re-training options, I plan to study Web and Application Development at Edmond Community College. Though still ironing out details, this path excites me. With a gap in my time starting next week, I plan to spend time catching up as many people as I can. Friendship: life’s best present.
Tag: work
Productivity In My Home Office
Today, as my son had a medical appointment, I opted to work from home. My office is quite well set up for such. Much better than many of the other places I’ve lived.
I’m rather fond of this space. It’s MY space. Decorated to my sensibilities, and with my momentos and such.
Yet I faced disappointment.
I’m often ambitious regarding what I want to do during a day. And when I’m home, free of distraction (relatively, at least), I think I can get monumental amounts of work done. It never works out that way. Now, I often get way more done that I would’ve in my office, at least in diving into projects deeply, and reviewing certain minutia. But my task lists tend to be ridiculous, which I think is facilitated by electronic to-do tools like Todoist. All I need to do is move the stuff I didn’t get done into another day. I am trying to be more thoughtful about what I’m attempting to accomplish on a given day. Giving thought to priority, to my goals, my objectives. So much of my career has been spent chasing after whatever goals have been dropped into my lap on a given day. I have needed to spend time focusing, which, though challenging, has been really fun, too.
And, someday, I’ll get a realistic idea of what I can actually do in a day. Someday….
Thinking about Boeing
Having spent most of my life in Lynnwood, I’ve long been in the shadow of Boeing. Interestingly, though I’ve worked for many Seattle stalwarts such as Starbucks, Microsoft, and Amazon. But never Boeing. I’ve had a few opportunities, but for each one, by the time they extended an offer to me, I’d accepted one somewhere else. And their slow hiring process is something they’re known for.
I’ve heard from many folks about the giant B is soul sucking and fraught with petty factions and frictions. Yet I have many friends and family who’ve worked there for decades. It seems, from one view, that many (most?) folks end up there for the long-haul. Now, I guess I can understand that if you have a rather non-transferable skill, say aerospace engineer or aircraft machinist. For those folks, I could see hating the place but being rather trapped by circumstances. But then there are those folks like me who have very transferable skills. Why would they stay if Boeing is so very miserable? Well, they won’t. Which tells me there’s something more at stake here.
Every workplace has their challenges. And the larger an institution, the easier it is to feel caught up in something soul-less. Yet at the team level, where you talk and interact with people everyday, that space is much more pleasant. Perhaps this disconnect between the local and macro sums this up.
What do you think? Do you work at Boeing, hate it and yet have been there two decades? Do you love Boeing? I’m deeply interested in your thoughts.
Please comment and let’s “talk”.