The BIG Job

I landed "The BIG Job" just about 4 months ago. This job is my first corporate experience with a major company (one of the largest in this particular industry). And now I can't stand it.

This isn't what I had in mind when I started. I was hoping this was the place where I could stay for more than 2 years and really get my career going. This place is where careers end and jobs begin.

How did I come to this conclusion? Ah, let me count the ways.

When I first started this position, I was trained by my teammate. My teammate is one of those disgruntled lifers. More like a prisonmate than a teammate, she spilled all the office dirt because she hates her job. However, she's been in her position for well over 5 years and isn't counting on leaving yet. She even told me, "well, you can leave because you have talent."

Not very reassuring in my first few weeks on the job. Though, I figured she was probably just the one nut in the batch. There's always one. Right?

Later, I got to know my other teammate. She has been here for a couple of years and has gotten very good at looking busy. Either that or she takes on the work very slowly to dull the mind-numbing boredom. She has conveyed her disdain for some of the people we work with, albeit in a very nuanced way -- until today. Now she is very quick to tell me how someone doesn't want to do his job and, even if my proactive response of setting up regular check-in meetings was to happen, the person in question would not attend them.

These women and I work with a clique of men. Think of Mean Girls, except Mean Boys. Individually, they aren't mean people. Put them together and they are downright rude. They arrange to eat or order lunch together and don't throw out an invitation unless you have been initiated first. They also choose to have 2 hour lunch breaks during meetings they schedule and, oh yeah, they choose not to answer to women -- unless they are cute, blonde and bubbly.

All these things, I am more or less used to. Having worked at other smaller organizations before, I know that there are always problems within groups. And, though the sexism is downright unbearable to someone like myself who often identifies with feminists, I understand it. I have worked with men and usually, once you prove yourself competent, these feelings dissipate. Here, however, the dissipation is not happening despite the "give it a good 4 months" that a former colleague and friend advised.

Instead, I'm finding myself very very bored. I come to work and, aside from my designated projects, there is rarely anything left to do. Even when I am given projects they are generally very very simple. I don't want to say they are beneath me but in some cases, much of this work I could have (emphasis on the "could") found challenging as a high school geek lady, but certainly not now.

And perhaps a more experienced geek lady would have noticed the lack of diversity in upper management. This geek lady interviewed with all men, not a single woman. And indeed, perhaps next time I will ask about diversity in race as well. The department I work in is decidedly homogenous and lacks desperately in underrepresented minorities.

So, despite the big pay that "The BIG Job" provides, I'm tempted to look elsewhere. I read this article and it has helped me come to terms with what I need to do to fight the boredom. Today, I've gone ahead and spruced up the resume and cover letter. Tonight, I will send those out to select companies at which I would enjoy working. I never really thought I would want to work at "The BIG Company" and sure enough, I am not enjoying it.

I am at a point now where my career advancement is important enough for me not to waste any further time in a position I don't want to be in. So, I will try to make the best of the situation, collect my handsome bi-weekly paycheck, as I attempt to jump ship.