I wrote before about how I left corporate America to become an hourly contractor. All the reasons I did it were legit, and they still are. But I sort of didn't follow my own rules and stay educated and as a result I felt my skills were getting outdated and I needed to do something to shore them up while not requiring me to go without an income or not have a life outside of work. So, I did something I didn't think I'd do. I went back to a full-time job.
Yes, I know. All the reasons I left before are legit and still are. Now I'm dealing with HR bullshit again; the silly annual reviews, the obsession with titles, the unpaid overtime, the requirement to be in office at least part of the week and burn two hours a day in traffic, the doing more with less, and the unpaid overtime.
"You said 'unpaid overtime' twice."
I did, because that was the main reason I left the grind the first time. And I'm doing it again because the place I'm at has a lot of stuff I'm not familiar with and I don't understand it all and I can't be productive without understanding all the contexts around it. And so to make up for a slow pace of progress I'm compensating by putting more time in. I can put lipstick on it by saying it's due to loyalty or dedication or professionalism, and each of those things may carry some truth too, but mostly I'm just trying to figure things out.
When I get to a point of equilibrium between knowledge and ignorance, the overtime will ease. And I shouldn't paint an inaccurately large picture of my new company's shortcomings because this might be one of the best companies I've worked for. The vacation policy is generous, the salary was very good although in terms of raw cash a downgrade from consulting, the benefits are good, and there are many little perks in the job.
Most importantly, the culture is very good. The things that pissed me off the most about culture in typical American companies are either not present here or not as bad. First and foremost, they don't believe in "management by screaming" or "management by intimidation" which I've witnessed in at least two other companies. They also preach continuous education and they'll pay for it, a considerable improvement over my past employers who would talk the talk but not walk the walk. The only weak benefit is really the company's middling 401k match, but even that could be termed average and not sub-par.
So yes, the free labor component. I'm doing it because I'm still relatively new and I want to be productive and deliver results. I normally would tell younger people, "Don't work for free," but in fairness, there are times when you can elect to do it.
- If you're passionate about the work and enjoy it and it's not torture and you are doing it of your own volition, then it's ok, just don't let it get out of hand.
- If your company and/or boss are good and perhaps made an honest mistake in misjudging a task's scope and it's one of those thing where a little extra effort can make things right, helping out can go a long way in building relationships and earning trust. This should not be a regular occurrence; if it is happening regularly, there's something else wrong that needs to be addressed.
- An emergency support scenario where a deadline is tight and users need help. On occasion, you do what you have to do and although chronic incidents are an anti-pattern, heroics are good marketing for you and your team.
- And then there's the reason I have to do it now. The knowledge gap about the systems, business, and processes is large enough that you have to put in time researching things to be able to function. This can be mitigated by good documentation and training, but I've already written before about how those things are commonly treated as low priority.
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