Being Asked to Leave – After I Help Out
I just had one of the oddest conversations I think I've had in a very long time. The shock factor is right up there with Liza telling me she wanted a separation - and then a divorce. It's really in that league of a shock.
It started out as what I thought was a conversation about how to make the work I do - and really how I interface with the rest of the team - not that it's quickly doubled with the return of the old manager and a new Director. Since this talk was with the Director, and I'd worked with him in the past, I felt he was the right guy, and this was the right time to have a talk.
He started with some of the most flattering compliments:
You're the best engineer I've ever seen. Some are as smart, but they aren't as productive. Others are productive, but they aren't nearly as smart. And some are really good - but don't put in nearly the hours you do. You really take it to a new level.
and then went on to try and convince me that I wasn't a good fit for The Shop.
I was trying to work through ideas, but he kept coming back to these same themes - not the right fit. And then it hit me from out of the blue - he was asking me to leave the Team.
Wow... Stunned.
We were just in a meeting where something I did on the side, for another team, is responsible for $500,000 a week. Yeah, $2 million a month, and I'm the best he's seen - but I have to leave.
But wait... there's more...
He wanted me to stay through Black Friday and Cyber Monday - and for helping them out this way, they'd let me stay until January when another stock block vests, and it'd be worth about $20,000 to me.
Help them get through the busiest season... and be allowed to pick up another $20k while during that time - and for every month after that, my work is generating them millions of dollars every month.
Wow...
I was shocked, stunned, hurt, and I'm still not over it. Not by a long shot.
The divorce Liza wanted in dragging on into it's third year, and no end is in sight - no matter how I try to help things along. Then this. Wow.
I talked to a lot of folks - all were shocked. Those that have worked with me were stunned, and others were just in disbelief at this - thinking without HR in the room, this was all kinda iffy. It was all mildly reassuring, but it didn't solve the problem I faced: I needed to get out.
[11/6] UPDATE: I talked to an old friend, and his firm - back in Finance - is hiring, and so I'm talking to him on Monday. It sounds like a nice job, and that's what I need - a place where performance matters.
[11/7] UPDATE: Wow... and they're laying it at my feet. I've talked to someone in the group and management is saying this is my choice - that I'm abandoning the group. Sorry, Charlie... you need to own this. You want me off - be the responsible manager and take the hit - if there is one. Maybe it'll just be praise for the decision, but it's exceptionally cowardly to say it's all my choice.