Every three weeks, I’m on call. Tomorrow’s my last day on-call for this rotation. Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!

All things considered, it isn’t THAT bad…except, I’m still feeling my way through and trying to figure out when I need to respond to any issues, etc. For the most part, it’s just another weekend. But….this is week two of a change in process on the part of the IT staff.

What does that mean?

Every night morning around 1am, I received a page. Did I need to do anything about the page? No. Shoot, the complete message doesn’t even show up on the pager.

So….why page me?

*sigh*

During the week, a coworker was testing changes to the process. You know what that meant right? Every time he executed a test case, my team (the 4 of us) got an email. And lucky me being the person with the pager this week? I got the added bonus of a page. Every.Single.Time.

We generate a cycle of bills every night. Most mornings when we get to work, batch is almost finished. BUT…there are a few big cycles that don’t always finish before the next cycle is supposed to start. When that happens, we have to delay the next cycle and then monitor the current day’s cycle so we know when to kick off the next day. (Sounds like fun, huh? LOL)

Well, guess what Thursday night was? The BIGGEST cycle so yours truly had to put Friday’s batch on hold then come home to monitor it. Ok.

‘Cept, to get online via my work pc, I have to use an aircard. Guess what? It had been deactivated. (That is a WHOLE other story LOL) So while I’m “kinda” oncall this weekend, my manager is actually monitoring the batch. *sigh*

BUT, least anyone think I’m “maxing and relaxing”, oh no. Remember I still have the pager.

Yep.

The one that went off at 6:30pm, 11:40pm, 11:58pm, 12:38am, 12:44am, 3:24am, 5:30am, 7am….

The one with all the “FYI” pages.

*SIGH*

Monday morning can NOT here fast enough. Trust me.

Then I get to delete the corresponding emails that go with the pages. LOL AND reactivate the darn aircard.

Fun times. Fun times.

The “JOB” market that is.

Yes, once again, I am a full-time employee in the Corporate America arena.

*Hush….listen……can you hear my mother shouting “Halleluiah!!”? *

Not sure of my official hire date as there’s much paperwork and corporate gobbledy-gook to work through in bringing this temporary situation to an end. I’m guessing I’m be “official” in January. Works for me.

I had a few qualms about accepting the position. There was the loss of pay involved in moving from contracting to full-time but I went in knowing that was going to happen. The weakened economy and loss of jobs didn’t help me when it came to negotiating salary. Starting salary is decent…a little less than I made as a contractor, but more than I was making with the employer that “divorced” me.

There’s the on-call rotation that I’m soooo not looking forward to.

But all in all, I think it’s a great opportunity. Small team of people. Everyone gets along, supports each other whenever they can…all the things you want in a work environment.

There’s a lot to learn – it’s a whole new world for me in terms of industries. Lot to learn but I see great opportunities for my skillset. In a lot of ways, it feels like I’m part of a “start-up” company although the department has existed for some time. My manager actually WAS the department for 8-months prior to bringing in two contractors before me.

Yeah, I had a few qualms but….the US lost 533,000 jobs in November, unemployment is around 1.2 million to date.

Kinda puts those qualms into perspective, huh?

Did I take the job out of fear, being afraid I wouldn’t find another job? Nope. Contracting positions are still rather plentiful for my skillset in this area; as a matter of fact, I just spoke with three companies last week.

Did I think I would find anything with this combination of people that I gelled with right away AND work that I enjoy? Not so sure but I tell you – for the right opportunity, I would have been willing to find out.

Am I bummed because of the loss of money? No. I stopped chasing money years ago. I want to be fairly compensated for the work I do but I’m honest enough to know that at a certain level of salary, your life is no longer your own so to speak. Been there, done that…and without the pay.
My experience in the working world taught me many things, for which I’m grateful no matter how big or how small the lesson was.

The primary thing it taught me? The thing I’m most grateful for:

I don’t need to chase PAPER – I’m pursuing PURPOSE.

When it comes to work – whether it’s in Corporate America or my own entrepreneurial endeavors – that works for me.

When it became apparent to me that I was NOT going to win the lottery (Ha! Don’t act like the thought has never crossed YOUR mind) and that I needed to return to Corporate America forthwith, I looked for jobs that offered flexible schedules.

You know…four day work week. Work from home..at LEAST 2 days a week…or 5. LOL That kind of thing. Had I stayed with my former employer, I was moving to a four-day workweek. Had I still been there today, I would be working from home three days a week. I think.

I say “I think” because, while it was a very real option (and many of my former coworkers are making the most of it), I have to be honest. Four day work weeks would have been tough. Ten hour days.

Even deeper than that? I really wonder if I’m focused enough, disciplined enough to work from home. Sure, I’ve worked from home here and there - stealing away from the activity of the office to concentrate on a specific assignment.

But…could I do that on a regular basis? *Sigh*

This topic came back to the forefront because a friend passed on two telecommuting opportunity. One for a local company; the other for a company in ATL. I like the ATL company - the industry, the company, the benefits…everything but the nuts and bolts of the particular position they’re offering. LOL Minor detail, huh? Oh, and the money. It’s as if they want a fine surgeon but want to pay you what the person who cuts the edges off bread would make. Yeah. EXACTLY.

I wonder. Is working from home FOR me? It’s not for everybody. Lots of “career gurus” warn that it makes you “invisible” in some ways…that whole “out of sight, out of mind” theory. That might be true to some degree BUT…it also depends on how visible a person WANTS to be and, in this day and age where more offices span cities/states/countries, that theory only holds so much water. The friend who passed on the two job possibilities says I’m definitely focused/disciplined enough - for the right kind of work. *shrug*

I don’t think flexible schedules (not “THAT” kind of flexibility) are offered where I’m working now although I do think that working from home here and there is acceptable. Well, were I a permanent employee that is. Time will tell…..I’m willing to give it a try.

Don’t mind me…just thinking out loud.

*~* MsJayy *~*