http://seanmichaellucas.blogspot.com/2008/07/10-reasons-gen-xers-are-unhappy-at-work.html

This was an interesting blog post, which came from a discussion on Harvard Business Review. At least, it could spark an interesting conversation. I’m considered to be a member of Generation X. I was born in 1974. My parents were Baby Boomers, from the early part of the generation. I’m reaching that point in my career where I don’t entirely have a lot of power, but I’ve built up more than 15 years of experience. I work mostly for Baby Boomers, and the Gen Y members of the workforce already have a few years of experience. I currently work with at least one person who was still in diapers when I started high school yet he is old enough to drink today. It’s an interesting position to be in.

Harvard Business Review makes some assertions that I don’t exactly agree with, but I’m only going to discuss this from my perspective rather than assume that all Gen X’ers see things my way. I do find myself frustrated as a member of Generation X working in a corporate type environment, but not simply because it’s a corporate environment. The original article states:

Many of you X’ers are not thrilled with corporate life. You tend not to trust institutions in general and deeply resent the Boomers’ confident assumptions that you will be motivated by the same things that Boomers have long cared about. Many of you have told me that you are planning to leave corporate life “soon” – to start entrepreneurial ventures or work for smaller companies – options you feel will suite you better than the corporate roles looming ahead.

Honestly, I don’t see it like that. I grew up in the Air Force, and served in the Navy, and I’ve been working around the Navy ever since. I’m honestly very comfortable with it. I don’t mind it one bit, and I’m mostly happy to continue my career in this direction. I’ll address two points that stood out to me, then put in my two cents:

2. When you were teens, X’ers witnessed adults in your lives being laid off from large corporations

I was in my class “C” technical school in San Diego in 1993 when IBM went through it’s historic layoff. That really shocked everybody. But to be honest, I’ve come to the conclusion that an adult is an idiot to get into one job and expect it to last forever. I know that the WWII and Boomer generations were able for the most part to start working for one company and expect to retire from that company 40 or so years later. I’ve never been able to do that. I spent 6 years in the Navy, 1 year as an alarm installer, 5 years with one company, 3 with another, and I started with my current company this past March. I’m 34. In today’s work force, I realize that in most cases, the only way to move up is to move out. When I’m working for one company, I do the best job I can, but I realize that stagnation is my enemy. I always have to keep the next step in my career planned ahead. Today’s workforce is highly volatile, and I never know if I’ll get the axe. I haven’t had to worry about it, and I don’t expect to, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t plan for it just in case. I do the best I can, but I have to keep learning new skills to keep moving ahead. I’m honestly tired of having to keep moving from company to company, but I’ve come to expect it for the time being.

My dad’s career has been good to him. He served for 21 years in the Air Force, a few months in a pawn shop, then after getting his associates degree, he’s been working for the government. He hasn’t had to worry very much about job security. One thing I grew up watching my dad dealing with that I’m not about to is taking too much “crap” from his bosses. I guess my dad grew up and started working in an environment where you weren’t allowed to question authority. My dad was often under the influence of decisions that he disagreed with, but he would simply suck it up then take it out on us later when he gets home. I do my best to be diplomatic, but if I disagree with something or can think of a better way to do it, I will pipe up. I refuse to be complacent in that regard.

Back to job security, another point to keep in mind is that many markets are changing thanks to “globalization.” I don’t like it personally, especially since many policies coming from Congress and the executive branch seem designed to destroy our economy and move jobs overseas. Look into it. Like it or not though, it’s happening. People in manufacturing jobs are finding out left and right that those jobs just can’t compete against Communist Slave Labor in China.

8. Many X’ers’ are guarding a closely held secret: you’re not all as comfortable with the technology that is changing the way things are done as everyone seems to think you are. While it’s perfectly acceptable for Boomers to feign ignorance and ask for help, it’s embarrassing for X’ers to do so.

I don’t buy this one, but maybe I’m on the wrong end of Gen X. I’m not putting myself forth as a representative of the generation by anything more than my own experience, but I still don’t think this point widely applies to all of Gen X. I have an IT degree, for crying out loud. I’m perfectly comfortable with the technology that I work with. This is where I find myself running into problems in the workforce: it’s not me that’s uncomfortable with the technology, but I get highly frustrated dealing with people making policies about the technology who aren’t comfortable with it. Where I work, there are still a lot of Windows 2000 workstations. Windows XP workstations are just now starting to be widely deployed. Windows XP has been out since 2001, and although it will be supported until 2014, Windows Vista has been out for more than a year and a half and contrary to Apple’s “switcher” advertisements, is mature and stable. But the idiots making the policies need 20 years to be comfortable with the technology. By the time they deploy Vista, it will have been out of service for at least a year. One guy I work with told his company that he wanted a company cell phone because he was starting to use a lot of his personal minutes for the job while working on other sites. He was told to find a land line. Sumbitch, that’s cheap and narrow minded thinking for a technology company.

So to summarize, I don’t agree with most of the ten points, and I specifically don’t agree with these two. I don’t have a problem with Boomers (as long as they’re not setting technology policies) and I like the Gen Y people because I can talk tech with them.

I've been teaching John Eldridge's book "Wild At Heart" on Wednesday nights at my church this quarter. This Wednesday will be the last class, when we finish up with "An Adventure To Live." If you've read the book, you know that John brings up often that Christian men are often told by our churches that our highest aim should be to become a "really nice guy." He says that being a nice guy is not what Christian manhood is all about. Men have a wild side, and are dangerous, and we should let our strength come through. I'll let you read the book because I obviously can't do the book or the points contained in it justice as I'm winding down and getting ready for bed.

The discussion came up in our class about what exactly it means to be a "nice guy." Possibly some of us have a tainted image. I can remember as a teenager and young adult being that one guy that all the girls thought was a "nice guy", but would not be "more than friends" with. I can remember parroting the timeless phrase "nice guys finish last." What does that all mean?

We came up with a definition that we can work with. This is not the be all, end all definition of a "nice guy", but possibly it is a point to continue a discussion from. A nice guy, as I put together, is a man with no real boundaries. A "nice guy" is a man who is afraid to anger or upset other people. A "nice guy" is a man concerned with pleasing others, and can only deal with his own anger and frustration in a passive-aggressive manner, at least, when the objects of his anger are around.

Honestly, that used to be me. It probably still is me to a point, in many ways, but I have outgrown quite a bit. There was a time when one of the worst things that could have happened in my world is to have somebody become angry at me.

Now, obviously, neither John Eldridge nor I are advocating license for men to run around acting like complete jerks; oblivious to others around them. There is a difference between being a passive-aggressive nice guy weenie and being kind. I believe that is what got our conversation started, the implication that kindness could be confused with the "nice guy" that John Eldridge says not to emulate. Real men, strong, dangerous men, can and should be kind. There is a place for tenderness in a real man. But there is also a place for being strong, for being dangerous. There is a place for taking charge and for going head to head when a situation requires it.

I recalled an image, which may have been from a previous generation, of a "nice guy" putting up with a lot of frustration at work and going home to take it out on his wife and kids. I'm not sure if many from my generation are like that. Most of us grew up wondering why Dad doesn't just tell his boss that he's an idiot. I have no problem asking people, even if they have power over my career, if they are smoking crack. Normally the stories sound better when I tell my wife, or tell some friends over beer, but if I have a question about a rule or policy, I will speak up. I usually lose, but I've never been afraid to share my opinion; at least, not lately.

I've leave anyone who reads this with two questions: what is a "nice guy", and was it more of a baby boomers generation issue to be afraid to speak up at work?

I was able to find a temporary laptop that I could work on. I work for one company as a contractor to another organization. I'm essentially an employee of that organization but my paycheck comes from the other company. My parent company has team meetings once a month. Let's just say I'm not the only contractor around, so they bring us together to keep in touch. Because of Friday's meeting, I found out about a meeting that I should have been at, but our group hadn't been invited. We will be in the future.

While I was at my parent company's offices, I stopped by the IT guy's cubicle to ask if I could borrow a temporary laptop. I needed something that would work with my Toshiba DynaDock, and the other temp solutions we have won't. I've been spoiled by a 19" flatscreen monitor. Besides. have you ever tried to translate dimensions on an Excel spreadsheet into a Visio drawing on a 1024x768 laptop screen? It turns out that he did have a loaner; a Toshiba with a Pentium-M. It's not my dual core AMD64 on my returned laptop, but so far it's getting the job done.

If your laptop has to die and force you to spend all day working on an RMA and a temporary laptop, what better day could it be? It's bright, sunny, and in the 80's.

I came into work this morning to find my laptop dead. It was inside of New Egg's 30 day return policy. My supervisor had a hard drive recovery kit, so while I was waiting for New Egg's people to come into work (10 AM EST, 7 AM PST), I took the drive out and tried various ways to recover some of my data, especially the drawing I was working on yesterday and some of my notes for our requirements. I finally got an RMA from New Egg.

I had a tablet PC in my cubicle that I was using to review a software tech manual on. I assumed that since the tablet was big and clunky, that it was old. Turns out, it's a Pentium M 1.7 Ghz processor. We found a spare drive and I installed XP on it to get by for three or more weeks until my replacement laptop arrives.

For some reason, a lot of Windows updates won't install at work, so I brought the tablet home to install updates on my network. I often wonder when the day will come when bandwidth is such a limited commodity that I have to tell my employer "There is no way I'm using MY bandwidth to do YOUR work!" I hope the day never comes. May bandwidth always be cheap and seemingly limitless.

Today seems like it was a total waste. I got nothing productive at all done. Nothing. Today was filled with frustration, futility, and shame.

First off, when I started my new job, I was told to go ahead and order a laptop. I was allowed to pick out what I wanted. I'm sick of being stuck with obsolete technology, so planning to be using this laptop for several years, I asked if Windows Vista was OK. I don't care what technology journalists and TWIT panelists say, I like Windows Vista. I think it's safe and secure and one hell of a graphical shell improvement over good old Windows XP.

In order to gain access to one of the networks I need, I have to get my laptop approved by the people on the network. I will say that I have a very hard time holding my mouth back when up against other IT people. I have an IT degree and have been playing around with computers as a hobby for more than a decade, although my experience led me into an engineering position. I hate running up against large IT bureaucracies, as I know that most of the rules and requirements that they have are nothing more than organizational preferences, most of which are BS policies. When I picked out my laptop, I asked if Vista was OK and I was told yes, so I went with Vista. (I wasn't told yes by these network people, whom I knew nothing about at the time.) I know that you XP Luddites are hoping that XP will last forever, but the truth is sooner or later, Microsoft will HAVE to stop supporting it and I'm planning for that. But, I was told that I can't get my laptop approved for network access unless I put XP on it. OK, I found a copy of XP, wiped the drive, did a base install, and dropped it off with the techs.

Then I had to deal with another issue. We're still trying to sell our home in a market that sucks really bad. I hadn't heard from my realtor in a while, and I left a message last night and another this morning. I broke down and called the brokerage manager. My realtor called back right away. She had sent me an email, but I don't have access to my gmail account at work now like I did on my last job. I did feel a little bit bad about having to escalate, but I had no way to know that she planned to call me later in the day. I still feel a little bit of shame, but not much. In order to get a signal, I had to go outside. I work in the approach path to Philly International, so while I was talking on my phone low flying jets passed overhead.

Then I got a call from the network people. My laptop didn't have network card drivers, so they couldn't do anything. I went to get it back. Go figure, since this laptop was designed for Windows Vista, nobody bothered to write XP drivers for any of the hardware in it. I spent an hour and a half trying to find them, but to be honest, if I wanted to work that hard to find drivers I would have installed Linux.

By then, the workday was over. I just wanted to drink myself stupid. Nobody from my group was around, so I can't even ask my supervisor what to do about my laptop until Monday. Oh, I can get my laptop on the network if I want to, but if I get caught there will be a lot of trouble for everybody. It's highly unlikely that I will be caught; I've had the laptop on that network with Vista already. I know a workaround, but I don't want to cause trouble. However, stupid Luddite policies like that one are just begging a geek with my skills and lack of patience to use a workaround. Seriously, this network JUST started supporting Window XP THIS YEAR! Windows Vista has been out for more than a year now, XP has been out for more than seven.

I need to get a job in the group that makes these policies. Anyway, this day was a waste, I got nothing done, I feel a little ashamed at calling my realtor's brokerage manager to get her attention, and this ranting blog entry is the only thing I have to show for this entire day.

Oh, well. My birthday is Monday. My dad might be willing to get me an iPod Touch, so I might call and ask if I just buy it myself can he send the money. Maybe I'll have an iPod Touch to show for today. That would be nice. That or at least a six pack of Yeungling.

Actually, there was one good thing this workday. We had a team meeting early. It was my first one, and I met some new people.

(This was posted on Blogger, but since I'm thinking about moving to Windows Live Spaces, I'll repost here.)

I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the Earth again. I got a new job. I had been wanting to write about some of my experiences during my job hunt, but on the off chance that somebody from my previous job read this blog, I figured I would keep my mouth shut.

I didn't leave out of bitterness, or hard feelings. Not many, anyway. I worked with some fine people in a very laid back office. I'd never experienced the freedom to set my own schedule and manage my responsibilities as I did on that job. I had it very good there. But, I worked in a field office with one contract to support one customer and the contract was winding down. Many of the people in that office were at the end of their respective careers, and expected to retire when the contract ended in a few years. I still have at least 30 years left in the workforce by conventional wisdom, so that luxury escaped me. I was also itching for more responsibilities (and more money) and there was no room to advance in that organization. I put my resume on Careerbuilder to see what would happen. I'll probably try to write up a more detailed post later.

I still work in the same industry, but on an entirely different project. I'm also an engineer now. I'm an engineer in an engineering company, which is like being a pilot in the Air Force. It's wonderful being what your organization is purposed to do. I also changed states. I now work in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My commute is only a few miles longer than my previous commute, but I now have to contend with Route 42 rather than Interstate 295. I'm finding 42 to have plenty of challenges. Oh, yeah, there's also that pesky bridge toll every day. It's free to enter New Jersey, but there's no way out without paying for it.

As I said, I'll try to put up more details later. I just wanted to make this blog active again. I get about 10-20 hits per day. It took years to build that kind of traffic.