What's it all about, Alfie?

OK, today is unusually frustrating for me. Don't quite know why. Maybe it's because I had a few emails this morning about other very poor developers saying something was wrong with their code and it's my job to figure it out for them.

As a part of all that I've accomplished, there's an API that tests out fine, and is in use by several groups. This one group is the only one having problems and they are insisting that it's something in my code that's at fault. However, I've never been able to reproduce the problem - yet they seem to be plagued by it nightly... I've had a third party look over the code and they say there's nothing wrong with it... yet still this one group of developers are insisting that it's not their responsibility to find out what's wrong.

Finally, this morning, after dealing with them for weeks on this issue, I've decided to give them some of their own attitude. I've produced tests that work in all conditions time and time again. I then sent these to the group and explained that while I can see their log files, here are the tests I've run and the results under the different conditions. This, then, leads me to believe that it is unlikely that the problem is in the API. I'll let them figure it out for once.

I've gotten burned out... and it's showing. The fun is gone and what's left is a goal just to do enough to get by.

I need to find something that will bring back in the fun in work. I know what's worked in the past, and I'll try to find that again, but finding an interesting thing to do is not always easy when you're burned out and looking for a new job.

Well... the great times at O'Connor are gone, and may not be seen again for a very, very long time. This year O'Connor has lost nearly two-thirds of the capital it had at the beginning of the year. Most of this is from the flight that occurred after some traders lost millions and millions on bad speculative trading. Someone got the money... don't know who... but WorldCom didn't help us any, either.

This means that as a result of bad trading - really caused by the excessive greed and arrogance of the traders involved, we're facing cuts in IT in excess of 50%. This isn't good... not good at all. And while I've been told my position isn't at risk, how can anyone really believe that in light of such massive cuts. It's only prudent to be looking for another position if the entire organization is undergoing a halving.

But what this really means is uncertainty. Lots of it.

Not that I'm a person that has to know everything... I've learned over the course of the 17 years I've been married that there are plenty of things that I can live without knowing - what's for dinner each night... what the kids have done wrong today... what's on the schedule for this weekend - they all effect me in one way or another, but I don't have to know about each and every detail of the life that swirls on around me. It's enough for me to know that if there's something important going on somewhere someone whom I trust is going to tell me what I need to be thinking about or at least yell "Heads Up!".

The problem here is that although the cuts aren't coming for another few months (first of the year), the place has taken on a Deathmarch-like atmosphere. People are all talking very quietly in groups... lots of news about who's hiring and who isn't... all the things of a place undergoing a mass exodus. This means the one thing that isn't getting done is work.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem... I mean really... everyone has to be able to let off steam, but work is the one thing that helps me take my mind off issues that I can do nothing about. And this issues of whether or not I'll have a position here in three months is certainly one of those that's out of my sphere of control. Influence - maybe, control - most certainly not.

So there's a lot of playing around trying to ignore the generally bad environment in the IT sector for Financial Institutions in the Chicago area, and that helps, but there's a lot of worry that's not healthy at all. Today The Boss came by to say that we could start work on a project that we've wanted to get going on for a while. Immediately we thought "Hey, maybe this means we're going to stay!", but right away the point was made that this may just be a diversion tactic to keep us busy at something we like until the axe falls. Afterall, there's no value in having us worry, and as long as this project at least keeps us busy it isn't a waste - even if they have no intention of using it.

So we're stuck... with three months to go.

I'd rather have the cuts announced and those that need to move on be given the support that they deserve. Those that stay can then get to the task of getting things squared away for the new year. This, as opposed to waiting for the new year and then trying to make things 'right' as if we had all the time before this to plan...

I know that when I owned a business I may not have been a better boss, but I always put my employees first, and never lied to them.