Before the Jump

Darryl came by the old stomping grounds on his way to the color printer. “Hey Ken, you’re good with databases and web development, right?”

“Sure, why?”

“‘Cause Adam has a job he’s looking to fill. You should ask him about it.”

“Okay, sure, I’ll send him an email.”

h3. August 4^th^

“monster interview questions”:http://www.google.com/search?q=monster+interview+questions&hl=en → “Monster: At the Interview”:http://interview.monster.com/archives/attheinterview/ (3:51 PM) → “Six Interview Mistakes”:http://interview.monster.com/articles/sixmistakes/

I met Dan for lunch after having bumped into him on Church Street two months before. I know him, but not really well — just some passing conversations in church and during his work in his “former life.”

We met up over pizza and swapped stories about work. Dan is really excited about his job: he’s a product manager for the CRM system at an education and curriculum company, and they’re branching out into other enterprisey information tools like ERP. He’s being stretched, and he’s learning the nuances of project management in a large organization. He asked me how things were with my job.

I told him what I did, and that I was sorta working on making a change. I mentioned in passing that I was concerned that my leaving my group was going to be pretty disruptive with a major project coming up in September, and that I might try to work out helping with that project for a few weeks in my new role. “No,” he stabbed a plastic fork in the air, “two weeks, that’s it.” But I don’t want to burn any bridges, I said. “Fine, then don’t burn any bridges. But just give them two weeks. You’re too talented to be doing things like taking meeting minutes and scheduling video conference calls.”

h3. August 13^th^

“transfer internally career advice”:http://www.google.com/search?q=transfer+internally+career+advice&hl=en&lr=&safe=off → “Being Bold Blog: Managing Internal Transfers”:http://www.boldcareer.com/blog/archives/2004/11/15/managing_internal_transfers.html (12:30 AM) → “Transfer Internally the Right Way”:http://change.monster.com/articles/internaltransfer/

I ran into Marty as I was walking across campus the other day. We exchanged pleasantries and he asked what I was up to. “Oh, the same old thing,” I told him.

“The _same_ old thing?” he asked, incredulous — and maybe a little disappointed. This same manager shook my hand in his office before he left the group and told me in no uncertain terms that I should be looking for another job. He thought well of the work I’d done for him during the eight months we’d worked together, but that he was unsure of the future of the group and the stability of my role.

After a quick internal calculus, I decided to keep my mouth shut, “Yeah, a few tweaks, but pretty much the same old thing.”

h3. August 17^th^

“rands resignation checklist”:http://www.google.com/search?q=rands+resignation+checklist&hl=en&lr → “Rands In Repose: YOUR RESIGNATION/LAYOFF CHECKLIST”:http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2002/06/29/your_resignationlayoff_checklist.html (11:18 AM)