The daily prompt asks me to – Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.
Later in my career I turned down a management position because I wanted to keep pursuing a more technical track that I had been on. I had management experience and positions before that, but I didn’t feel the challenge the technical parts gave me. Turning it down didn’t make the upper management happy.
I was even told the VP didn’t accept no to things like that. Too bad for him. He tried to block another move I made to the UNIX Admin team and he failed there also. I applied for a position in that group and interviewed, was offered the job, accepted the job, was given a transition schedule and start. The VP was on vacation and when he returned, he tried to squash it.
He failed at that one also because either it was that position or I was walking out. That position was one of the best learning experiences I had there. Thank you, Joe and John for sharing all that knowledge.
Plant dem seeds of knowledge. Photo by Mike Hartley
Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow. – Wish sometimes the daily writing prompt might narrow things down.
Wow, life is about decisions, and we make so many millions of them in our lifetime. So, what one should I pull out of the hat today. Hopefully most decisions, right or wrong, help us learn and grow. But some of us are hardheaded and need repeated lessons. Guilty as charged.
The decision where I said, “will you marry me, and I do.” And even though she may strongly argue my point, I’ve been learning and growing ever since. Learning love, responsibility, friendship, change, ambitions, hardships, loss, joy, parenting, caregiver and many more.
I’m still learning what not to say, do, suggest, share, wear and others. Who would have thought she would be such a persistent teacher after so many decades.
Get out and enjoy the weekend. Photo by Mike Hartley
The Daily Writing prompt asks me to – Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.
I recall a decision to stay in something comfortable and known or move on. I was in a lead position under a manager I loved working for in the Publishing System group. The move to take a step down in position to transfer to the UNIX Systems group as a Senior System Admin to work under a hard-ass former Marine.
I went through the interview/testing and got the position. I was so excited. Well, the VP returned from a long vacation as the managers worked out the transition, got wind of the change, and immediately killed it. I was informed by what was then the manager of the UNIX and Windows Admins. This was the day before I was supposed to start in the new role.
I walked out of that office more depressed than I’ve ever been in my professional life. But that only lasted a few short minutes, I became enraged and highly pissed off. I paced for maybe 5-10 minutes and headed for the Gold Coast. That term Gold Coast was one for the upper management row of Directors and VPs.
The VP was in a meeting but his door was open so I just stood at the opening. A couple of them looked over and a minute or two passed and then he looked up and said I’m in a meeting, I just replied with “I’ll wait” and didn’t move an inch. There was a minute of uncomfortable silence and one of the Directors started to talk but the other were looking at me.
Mike said let me call you when I’m finished. I stood there, said “I’ll wait” and crossed my arms and locked eyes. Another minute of uncomfortable silence till I said “We talk when you’re finished here or I’m out of here.” He excused the others and we went at it.
He didn’t want to change his decision and gave all kinds of good reasons but I had mentally moved on. If I could land that position here, I could certainly get one on the outside. That was the most intense back-and-forth I’ve ever had with a senior executive and I’d had several before that one. I stuck to my position and told him he’d have me in that old position till I found a job elsewhere.
He finally agreed, reluctantly to let me move to the new role. It was the most technically intense learning period of my life in that UNIX group. It was an incredible opportunity. Lots of big IBM and SUN UNIX racks and storage systems from EMC and NetApp. We did, OS, security, backup, performance, and network while dabbling in all the apps and databases that ran on them with the respective teams.
It was all I knew it would be when I fought for it.
