Drafting

I'm not sure why, well no, I'm sure why, I'm just not sure of the specifics, but tonight I began drafting my resignation letter from the comapny I currently work for. The original draft was something like the following:

fuck you. fuck you. fuck you. you can lick my balls. you, you're cool. fuck you. bye.

Short and to the point, but not exactly something I can leave with professionally. I think when I'm done with the first draft I'll drop it here and revise it online. I still don't have a quit date yet. I'd still like to see the currentl main project I'm working on become stable to the point that I don't need to be involved but it's not there yet. In fact, recently it's been getting regressively worse, which is part of the reason why I started drafting my letter. As I have worked at PLNI there's been a level of not distain, but certainly disrespect and a lack of professional courtesy. I expect some of this at any company. I do not expect it to occur consistently and without recourse by management.

It is perhaps a perception and not a reality but it is still frustrating.

Respect is earned. In the slightly over two years I have been with the company, I like to think that I have earned it. I will not deign to respect those who have earned my respect but I certainly have no problem stooping to ttheir level. And that is the other reason I have begun. Ironic too since just a few short months ago I was awarded for my efforts the past year.

It's almost saddening, and I realize I could do considerably worse, but the frustration I have on a daily basis, while improving in some areas, is getting worse in others.

So begins the pissy narrative about the past few weeks:

Hosted PBX, the project that I've been working on for the past two years, is released. It's launched, seling reasonably well and operating pretty decently. In the area of sales, we have a new SE who is willing and able to learn, to do much of the upfront work to make the service turn up go smoothly and who, in probably another three or four months time will be fully ready to take over all the parts that I have to organize for each install. This is progress. In the past three hosted installations, one of which will take place tomorrow afternoon, I have have issues with equipment configuration which I attribute primarily to pride, arrogance and idiocy. When a department head decides that it is in his best interest to maintain control over configurations, that's great, one less thing for me to have to do. When those configurations are faulty and require me to either troubleshoot them in the field, with a customer present, or require me to verify them prior to install, it's a waste of time. I could have done them myself, and probably faster. On the one had, I can see a need to have them do these for training, to make sure the new engineer(s) undertand the configurations and can do them correctly and troubleshoot them. On the other hand, I see no reason why you can ask for assistance once in a while. Of the employees currently in the company, I have the most experience with these configurations and I know the standard configs as well as the command set to a level that neither our field techs or, sadly, our IT engineers. That's not an insult, it's a plea to ask me for help. Seriously, Jerry McGuire time guys, help me help you. Because I don't want to do these but if they aren't done correctly in the first place, even after we getting into a pissing match over whose responsibility it is, you're making it worse. Of the past three installations, all three have had configuration issues that would prevent the system from operating. In two of those, commands necessary to perform NAT were not included in the configuration and the last was implementing unnecessary services that would interfere with normal and desired operation. So while different departments have fought over internal process control, it makes us look stupid in front of the customer and, on a personal note, it wastes my fucking time to have to go back and double check work done by peopel I don't think should be doing in the first place.

In the mean time, two weeks ago we had a hardware failure that knocked out service for all of our hosted pbx installations as well as one of our other products. While this occured on a Sat. evening and lasted only slightly more than 10 minutes, it should raise concerns over the robustness of our system. I have seen no reactive or proactive measures taken since.

So in the end, what I see is a regression to siloed areas of control and a lack of willingness to improve. In the past two months the only change I've seen has not been for the better. So I'm frustrated and since I don't see positive change coming and I've decided to begin drafting my letter of resignation. When I decide to deliver it, that's the real question.