Last week was not great. This week went much better. I think after week one, everyone settled down and let me do my thing. They came to realize that I am fast and competent, and that I can help them a lot. The Senior VP even came by to personally thank me for coming back, and then he listened to me for around 20 minutes as I outlined what should be done on the next chip. That never would have happened when I was employed here because he tends to be very hierarchical and would only communicate through the chain of command… which meant that I never heard anything, and could communicate less! As a contractor, I no longer fit into the chain of command, so he can contact me directly. I really like this new approach!
Having said that, I’m using the chain of command to keep my former boss away from me; I’m only talking to my replacement, who is my “handler,” and she’s talking to my former boss as an intermediary. She knows, and my former boss knows, that I don’t want to talk to him right now. And even though he insisted that I get a phone in the office and email so he could contact me directly, he has not.
Today ended on a bad note. I’m all but done with chip #1, so they gave me a rush tapeout to perform… except that I had to be at another company in the afternoon so I was unable to finish the work. My former boss will now grab the work over the weekend and realize that I haven’t finished. Worse, I know that there are mistakes to correct on the chip. I’m sure he won’t be interested in my side of the story (I was given 45 minutes to do a three hour project; I only just got started!), and he’ll make sure everyone knows that I screwed-up. He likes to put people down in very public ways by airing every mistake for all to see, which is very un-cool. I think this comes out of his need for perfection and control (mistakes will not be tolerated!). Such people should never manage – their employees can never measure up; only get beaten down.
Day 75 mood: Yeah, glad that week’s over. I should get almost two weeks of rest while I wait for the next chip. OK… that’s not entirely true – I’ve got stuff to do… like Taxes.