The Rebound Hire

Like many relationships, mine has come to an end.  I’d like to think we’ve in a way grown up together, but for the last 12 months I’ve realised we’re growing apart, and last Wednesday I broke it off.  I’m thankful that I realised I was in a downward spiral and the relationship was doing more harm than good.  My “partner” realised it too, and tried a number of different things to get me to stay, but after we talked it through for a few hours, it was obvious to not just me that it was time for me to move on and that the current relationship was holding me back.

We’ve probably all been in a relationship that has for whatever reason ended.  One of the more painful feelings is one of reject.  Especially when the ex-partner quickly moves on to someone else.  Even if it’s just a rebound partner, someone to quickly fill a hole you created; it hurts that you were replaced so easily.

Our professional life in a way mirrors our romantic life, in that we hopefully devote ourselves to our partners of the time (in this case employers) and do the best we can.  Because we put so much of ourselves into our work, if we are quickly replaced it hurts.  You know what hurts more than your ex hooking up with a random straight after you break up?  It’s your ex hooking up with someone from your circle of friends.  In professional environments, this is promoting someone underneath you to fill your position.  It’s like if you partner really thought they were a better option than you, why were they with you and not the friend?  The new guy is a long time friend of mine and someone I personally introduced to my “partner”, with the intent that were something to happen to me, my partner would be taken care of, so I’m not surprised he’s my replacement and I am genuinely happy for his happiness (I just hope he doesn’t end up as disillusioned as me :p).  What I don’t understand is that my partner was ready to kick this friend out of our circle of friends so to speak, and now, *bam* I’m replaced.  I can’t help but think it’s a just a rebound thing and will be mistake.

That’s how I feel now and really, I’ve got no one to blame but myself, and I shouldn’t even care because I broke the relationship off anyway. In a little under 4 weeks I transition from being a “Corporate” Software Development Manager and Chief Architect of rather publicly visible software, wearing the suits and the ties to work, to wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops and hooking up with my new younger hipper partner.

I worked so hard to climb the corporate ladder (and doing all the learning that went with it), only to realise it’s not what I want right now.  Now it’s time to move on to a new, sexy partner and I can’t wait, bring on January 4

Arghh World

Ok, so the first program a programmer writes in a given langauge is stereotypically “Hello Word”.  Being a programmer, I’m making my first post a play on words to that theme.  The Agghh is my inner rage instead of my happy fun feelings :p  No I’m not emo.  I don’t want to punish myself.  I do think the world is full of A grade morons and here is where I’m going to save my marriage.

Rather than come home from the wide world and bitch and moan, rant and rave to my wife, I am going to vent it all here instead.  Here where no one gives a fuck.

The big-ticket item for me lately is my job.  I’m a Software Development Manager at a Brisbane software company.  We develop, sell, and resell software for particularly important government services.  Services that save lives and provide for a safer public .  Scott Adams’ Dilbert comic strip pretty accurately captures the mismanagement I get to experience everyday, brought on me by the executive and their decisions for the direction of their company.  Maybe I should just STFU because after all, it is their company and if they want to fuck it up, well, that’s their business.  Thing is, it affects the employees too, including me in middle management.

We have a history of hiring the mediocre, except with myself of course, and a guy called Mark we let go a few years back.  That’s how the troubles set in a software development company, or pretty much any company.  We have unrealistic expectations from upper management and a disconnect between the skills of “professionals” and their salaries.  $60,000 isn’t a lot to pay a developer, even if the boss thinks thats more than adequate for a skilled dev.  It’s not a lot to pay a junior.  And juniors, well, they can’t do much at all. I think the bossman is  expecting that cheap labour equals big financial gains.

By my reckoning we should aim to be 80% utilised through the course of a year.  A 52 week year take away holidays and sick time leaves 46 weeks a year to get stuff done.  80% utilisation is the better part of 37 weeks.  Each person on our team of five should be working 40 hour weeks.  We should be consistently hitting 7400 billable hours per year.  Our charge out rates vary from $125/hr to $250/hr, making a projected annual revenue of between $925,000 and $1,850,000.  We have salary expenses of $325,200 per year (that’s a poor average of $65,040 per person.  We have an average experience of 11.5 years.  Acording to http://paycheck.seek.com.au/Report.aspx?locationID=3&SubClassificationID=219 , we’re about $30,000 per person under paid!).  There’s no way our fixed expenses are more than $600,000 per year (I’d estimate rent to be about $25,000 – although our company owns the building, the developer division would be about $25,000 per year at $400/sqm – an expensive rate).  The other running costs wouldn’t top $100,000.  So where’s the money going and why can’t we afford skilled developers?

Thankfully, I received my formal offer to work at another Brisbane based company today.  This company will pay me more than I earn now as a development manger (with the longer hours , stress, and responsibility) to do what I love to do, cut code.  They also are already doing all the things I’ve been trying to do at my soon to be former employer, but lack the management support to be able to effectively put it into place.

My resignation is typed up and will be given tomorrow.