Category: Work

When I Grow Up

During a conversation last night with Mike Henneke we discussed our jobs, and I told him my dream job was to become a writer which would allow me to work from home and live wherever I want. But most of all, it’s something I love to do.

We share a number of same role models like Rick Reilley and Bill Simmons. Both write for ESPN, but their focus is on the players and coaches and other colorful personalities like Charles Barkley. The sport itself often takes a backseat.

I admire people who have been able to carve out a career as a writer. When I was younger I told people I wanted to become an architect or a doctor. By the time I got to college I decided to study marketing and German which prepared me for jobs in retail and door to door sales. Companies like Sears, Hertz, JC Penny and Payless shoes were knocking down my door offering the usual crappy retail work hours and salaries up to $24,000/yr. I accepted a job as a store manager with a gift store primarily because they promised to transfer me to a store in Seattle once I was trained. I’m not joking when I say that my training consisted of the follow two areas of focus:

  1. How to reconcile the cash register
  2. How to catch shoplifters

But I was making a salary and I felt like an NBA player who had just signed with the Blazers. So I did what any poor college graduate would do and bought a red Mazda Miata. Obviously It didn’t take many passing Ford F150 drivers yelling, “CHICK CAR!!” before I traded it for a Passat GLX.

When I finally moved to Seattle I realized I could earn more working 4 hours on a Saturday doing computer work than I could working a week at my retail job.

I’ve been goofing around with computers ever since. I’ve slowly made my way up the ladder into management where my time is spent doing the following:

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But the job is stable, the hours are manageable and it allows Kim to be home during the day with our children.

Yet I still ask myself, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

I’ve asked myself that question a lot lately. Probably because I’m not getting any younger, and it feels like the dream of becoming a writer is slipping away. Maybe it’s not realistic to chase a dream while raising four young children. Some may call it reckless.

But I’m not going to stop dreaming.

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What Should Your Business Card Say?

Maybe it’s because I’ve been in the technology business most of my career, but I’m jaded when it comes to job titles I see on business cards. Most have no meaning at all.

My least favorite job title is Project Manager. That’s the catch-all title for people who do a bunch of tasks that can’t be grouped under any discipline. If that sounds a little too pedestrian just preface it with Lead, Group or Senior to make it sound like you do even less work.

At some companies everyone is a VP. That was the case at the last company I worked for. Put in a couple of good years and we’ll print business cards with VP in the title. It doesn’t matter what you’re VP over. Even VP of the Mailroom sounds impressive, but HR would call it VP of Document Distribution to make it sound more palatable and justify the annual bonus.

My business card says I’m a Technical Operations Manager. I don’t know what that means and I avoid answering the question, “What is your title?” because it always leads to, “Oh…so what is it that you do?”

The work I do isn’t very technical unless you count getting Outlook to work each day. I’m not sure I have anything to do with operations either. Makes it sound like I sit in the back room and fiddle with computers all day. As fun as that sounds that’s not what I do.

Manager. Now that sounds important. Reminds of my first job out of college when I worked as a Store Manager for $24,000/year. That felt like so much money I went out and bought a Mazda Miata.

During the winter.

In Rock Springs, Wyoming.

I realized my decision was flawed when I left my store at 9 pm only to find my Miata covered entirely in snow and was forced to take a cab home.

In my experience, any job I’ve had with manager in the titles means spending 75% of my time doing paperwork of some sort. I’ll write reviews, place orders, fill out forms and get so tired of writing that I want to poke my eyes out with a Sharpie.

What is your job title and what should it really be? I’d like to change mine to Paperwork Guru.

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A Marvelous Night

My father is a morning person if there is such a thing. So is my brother. Both love going to bed early and waking early. Both do their best work in the mornings.

Growing up, my dad was gone every morning before I got out of bed. When he’d return home to see me walking around in a groggy stupor he’d remind me how much he’d already accomplished. I was impressed. But not enough to have grabbed breakfast or got myself in the shower. What’s the hurry anyway?

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Picture of Seattle at Night by CJM

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people refer to people like me as slackers, night owls or weirdos. “Early to bed, early to rise…”

And I used to believe them.

But I’m done apologizing for not being a morning person when I do my best work at night.

I love the night. Van Morrison had it right all along.

I don’t know when it started. Maybe when I was in college which had more to do with attending school during the day, working afternoons leaving evenings as the only time to tackle homework.

But it wasn’t until I moved to Seattle that I started to embrace the night. By the fall of 1995, I worked for a local ISP located in downtown Seattle. When the noon to 9 pm shift become available I grabbed it. But I don’t recall ever leaving the office when my shift was over. These were the early days of the internet and having a high speed connection was a luxury. I stayed at work surfing the web and designing my website. It wasn’t uncommon to leave my office at 3 or 4 am. If the night is darkest just before dawn then my timing is impeccable.

It was only a 15 minute walk from my office to my apartment on Capitol Hill. But I was in no hurry to get home. I loved the cool night breeze on my face. If I was lucky there’d be a light mist in the air. I’d pass the bakeries emitting delectable scents into the neighborhood. I could almost taste the cinnamon rolls or scones with orange icing drizzled on top. I’d see men and women tossing large bundles of newspapers at the steps of large buildings. I watched clouds of steam hover above the streets.

I savored the delicate soundtrack of the night, provided by the birds and rain instead of cars and people. It’s a side of Seattle few people experience.

Those were magnificent times. My neighbors didn’t know if I was coming from or going to work. Keeps them guessing.

Working a later schedule doesn’t exactly work well with children, so I’ve had to learn to adapt my schedule. But I still look forward to Friday and Saturday nights when I can stay up late and read or blog or walk outside off my deck and feel the cool late night breeze under moonlight.

Just look at what I’d miss if I were in bed like all the productive people?

“The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand” – Frederick L. Knowles

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Showing Passion

As I was inching closer to graduation at the University of Utah, I began to interview with a number of companies. One company flew me to New Mexico to go through a round of interviews. I spent two days going through a number of group and one on one interviews. I felt good about how it went and figured I had a great shot at receiving a job offer. A few days later I received a call from the recruiter who thanked me for interviewing, but said he was extending an offer to someone else. I asked him what I could improve upon in future interviews and he said,

 “You need to show more passion. All things being equal we’ll select the candidate who wants the job the most”

That stung. But he was right. I was going through the motions. It was fun to be wined and dined but I wasn’t very excited (certainly not passionate) about the position for which I had interviewed.

I learned a valuable lesson that day and I’m thankful for that recruiter who turned me down for a job but offered me advice containing lasting value. Fifteen years after that experience I interviewed for another position and was up against two people who had been with the company twice as long as I had. Both had numerous technical certifications. I had none.

I thought back to what that recruiter told me as I went through the interview loop. I really wanted the job and I made sure that each person on the interview panel understood that. Although I might not have been the most qualified on paper, I made sure I was passionate. I’m sure many factors come into play when making hiring decisions, but I’m convinced that passion plays a part in many of those decisions. I certainly look for it in the candidates I hire, and I weed out those who show up with a “take it over leave it” attitude.

It’s nearly impossible to fake passion. I know it when I see it and I saw it today at church in my Sunday School teacher. I saw it in my father when he taught me how to throw a curve ball in our front yard. I saw it in my 9th grade English professor when she taught us about Shakespeare. I see it in my current manager when he speaks of his horses and volunteer work. I see it in Kim when she teaches Luca a new song on the piano. They aren’t just going through the motions like I did during the interview in New Mexico. You can see the excitement in their eyes. The focus. The tone of their voice. There’s no mistaking it.

And that 2nd interview? I got the job. 

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Here’s What I Realized Today

One of my friends is a dentist improves people’s smiles and self confidence.

My father taught high school kids for over 30 years and influenced thousands of kids for the better.

My mother-in-law was an advocate for people with disabilities and improved many lives over many years.

Another friend counsels high-risk youth and saves lives.

My grandmother taught 2nd graders how to read and write.

I manage a group of technicians who help the world’s largest and richest software company sell more software and become even richer.

*sigh*

Perpetual Interruptions

When is the last time you sat down to discuss a topic with a friend and they gave you their full attention? Did you look at each other eyes and actively listen to each other without being interrupted by a cell phone or email or text message?

Coworkers are the worst offenders. I can’t think of the last time I had a meeting with a coworker when we made it five minutes before his phone rang or someone knocked at the door or an email arrived that couldn’t wait to be read.

When you take that call you tell the person with whom you’re currently conversing “This call is more important than you are”. Have these people heard of voicemail? Who says you have to take the call anyway? The culture at Microsoft is one where people are expected to multi-task which is another way of saying, “Do a mediocre job on a lot of tasks instead of a stellar job on one or two”.

I attended a meeting yesterday with three people and I was the only one who brought along a pad of paper and pen while they all had laptops. I lost count of the number of times someone said, “Can you repeat that?” because they were busying emailing instead of listening. Why schedule a meeting if you’re going to sit there and do email? The next time this happens I’m going to excuse myself and go back to my office. At least in my office I can listen to Pink Floyd.

My four year old daughter has a longer attention span and is a better listener than most people I interact with at work. She will look at me when I talk to her. She won’t look down at her toys or run off to a friend who might have something more interesting to discuss. She’s there – living in the moment.

My grandmother didn’t grow up with a computer or iPod or cell phone. Maybe that’s one reason I love talking with her about anything. She focuses on me and only me and I feel like the most important person in the world. She has a way of tuning out surrounding distractions. I love spending time with her, and I know she will give me her full attention.

What types of children are we raising today when we, through example, show them it’s OK to get up in the middle in a conversation and answer the phone or check our Blackberry or respond to a text message? Just maybe it’s not the Playstation or Xbox or Nintendo games that are the problem rather it’s the adults and our failing to give them our full attention that’s leading to so many kids with ADD.

Family vs. Work

If you have children I’m sure you know the look. It’s the combination sneer and eye rolling one occasionally receives when family matters bleed into the work environment.

I received the look a couple of weeks ago when I decided to leave work an hour early to make it back in time for my daughter’s talent show. I’m at the point now that I can easily brush off the look when it’s coming from coworkers, but this time it was different.

It’s a lot harder to ignore the look when it comes from your boss. Early in my career I sacrificed everything for my job assuming that my company would reward my dedication and loyalty. But I found out that it’s a one way street and I was headed down it the wrong way. I will say that my boss is much better than a few I’ve had who have zero tolerance for family related issues. He may not understand my ways, but he’s been quite tolerant of my occasional schedule changes.

I’ve called in sick to take care of a sick spouse or child. I’ve played hooky a few times when I felt like taking my kids to the park or a movie. I’ve shifted my work schedule in order to spend time my kids.

I know my refusal to put my work before my family may costs me promotions and plush assignments. But I’ve always got my work done on time and I never slough off work onto coworkers. That means I have to be creative in getting my assignments completed outside normal office hours. It means I don’t take 2 hour lunch breaks or numerous coffee breaks throughout the day.

Are they family friendly companies out there today that understand this and appreciate people who put family before work? If so, where are they?

What’s Stacked on my Bookshelf

I have this dark brown bookshelf in my office at work that’s full of books and some outdated software. Anyone need a copy of Microsoft MapPoint 2004 or FrontPage 2000? Didn’t think so.

When started this job I felt my shelf could use a little more variety. A little more spice. So I rummaged (maybe it was Kim) through our garage looking for a few books that would add some flair to my office. A few of these books found a home on my shelf.

See if you can guess which books belong to my company and which belong to me.

  1. A+ Certification Bible
  2. In Search of Business Value (go ahead and hurl. I did)
  3. Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums
  4. Visual Basic Fundamentals
  5. The Dilbert Principle
  6. MCSE – Windows XP Professional
  7. Drop Us a Line, Sucker – A Collection of Prank Letters
  8. The Soul of the Salesman
  9. Macs for Dummies
  10. The Onion Presents – Our Dumb Century

As I look over my bookshelf at the selection of books stacked haphazardly on top of each other, I realize it’s a good representation of my job. One can’t pick out one overarching theme just as I can’t select one skill I possess that qualifies me to manage a diverse group of technicians.

The job requires a mix of management, technical and luck. Some days I’m instructing them in technical matters while on others it’s humor that’s needed.

But Most days I sit back and listen to this young group of men and women. My instinct is to offer up advice and provide the adult supervision. But I’ve found it more valuable to bite my tongue in these situations and continue to listen. Oftentimes the process of verbalizing a problem allows for ideas and solutions to develop. The interesting and selfish thing is this: I get more wisdom from them than they do from me.

And some days there’s little I can do but open the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums book and discuss why the Clash’s "London Calling" is listed at #8 while the U2’s  "The Joshua Tree", comes in at #26.

I hope they understand why Rolling Stone got it right.

Breaking the Dress Code

I’ve never understood dress codes. My first job out of college required I wear dress pants, a long sleeve shirt and tie to work each day. At a company training seminar I asked for clarification concerning the dress code and was told it was for my own good. If I dressed up I’d magically treat customers better and "feel" better about myself.

What a total crock! I was just out of college so the brain washing effects hadn’t fully worn off but I knew it was corporate speak back then just as I do today. I believe that I’m more likely to treat coworkers, managers, and customers better if I’m wearing comfortable clothing. That doesn’t mean I should come into work sporting a tank and Speedo. But I should have some level of control over what I wear.

I think my sentiments on this topic stem from an experience I had at the Mission Training Center in Provo when I was 19-years old. I’d been called to serve a mission in Germany and was sent to the MTC for two months to learn some German and hopefully pickup enough church doctrine that I wouldn’t go off to foreign soil and teach false doctrine.

At the MTC one must follow a very strict schedule and dress code. The dress code was quite simple: a dark suit, white shirt and tie must be worn at all times. The only exceptions were during exercise, showering and sleeping. I hadn’t been at the MTC for more than a couple of weeks when I started to feel like clone. I was losing my identity and my personality. I was tired of feeling like a Book of Mormon carrying robot. I had to do something.

That something included stretching the rules a bit. I decided to wear a dark red paisley bow tie to class one morning. As I stood in the breakfast line a number of missionaries in my group thought the bow tie was cool but warned me they weren’t allowed. I didn’t think much of it as I finished my breakfast and ran off to class.

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In class, we sang, and prayed and sang some more before the German language teacher looked at me and suddenly stopped lecturing. He grabbed two chairs, walked to the door and said, "Elder Nordquist, please follow me".

I walked out of class and sat across from my teacher. He didn’t say anything. He just sat there and stared at me and then my tie. I didn’t know what to say. Finally he asked if I understood why he called me out of class. I told him it probably had something to do with my new tie. More silence. Although we’d gotten along well up to this point it was clear he was disgusted with me. I’d let him down by wearing a devilish bow tie.

I tried to explain that the bow tie has long been considered a formal accessory to a man’s attire. But he was having none of it and shot back that I was intentionally breaking MTC rules. I couldn’t believe how angry he was. At one point I thought he would reach over and yank the bow tie off my neck. Or strangle me. One of the two.

He sent me back to my dorm room for the day. To make matters worse a fellow missionary who was assigned as my companion was also called out to the hall to explain why he’d allowed me to wear the bow tie to breakfast. I guess he was expected to physically stop me from wearing it if that’s what it came to. So the both of us were sent back to our dorm to "think about our actions".

On the way back to our dorm I stopped by the mailroom to pickup a package from my parents. Back at the dorm I opened the box to find a huge bag of Cap’N Crunch Berries cereal. So for the next six hours we munched on handfuls of my favorite cereal.

And since it was my own bag I could pick out a handful of berries without offending my sisters. But my bow tie wearing days at the MTC had come to an abrupt halt.

But I still think, at least for one day, I was the most stylish looking missionary at the MTC.

400 Days

Today we had a celebration at work for a young man who works as a technical specialist for me.

We gave him an Xbox 360 Elite and a number of games.

We had a cake made in his honor.

You may wonder what this young man did to deserve the party the gifts and the recognition.

It’s not because he worked late last Friday crimping cable for an event long after all but one other technician were enjoying the weekend.

It’s not because he’s one of the most polite and respectful young men I’ve met nor is it because he’s a solid technician.

No, we celebrated today because this young man is leaving us to serve our country in Baghdad for 400 days.

400 days. In the heat of the desert. In a country where soldiers are killed every day.

This is his second assignment in Iraq. He’s works on the water as an Army boat mechanic running up and down the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

As I shook his hand today I noticed he was wearing a pair of glasses with thick lenses. I asked him if he wears contacts while on duty. He responded, “No, we can’t wear contacts because if we come under gas attack the plastic lenses will melt to our eyes”.

What does one say to that?

I told him how proud I am of his dedication and service to our country. I told him that we’ll be praying for his safe return.

I’m overwhelmed by this kids bravery. He’s half my age but has twice my courage.

When he returns we’ll have another party. With an even bigger cake.

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