When your position evaporates

Dear Bob …

As IT Manager in a small company, I did it all, from application development, to LAN architecture, to help desk, to managing the budget, to telephony, to managing a small staff, to replacing the burned out light bulbs. I taught myself programming in Lotus Notes, and have applied ideas and technology wherever it would help. We’re in a beautiful location, I live under ten miles from work, and never see a highway in my commute.

I’ve loved it! 

After ten years of working in pretty much a dream job, my boss sold the company. The first two years were pretty good. They left us alone, and we kept working on our merry way, admittedly, with less stress because the cash flow issues of a small business were now covered by the corporate entity.

Now we’re in a wave corporate imperialism. Processes are now being substantially formalized. (All well and good, but they require everything in Word documents. I literally haven’t written a procedure in Word in nine years. We’re a Notes/Domino shop, and we have databases that hold our documentation.)

Our little NetWare and Notes shop (only one unplanned outage in ten years, and never a virus, thank you very much), must comply with the corporate architecture of Windows Server and MS-Exchange.

Next week, big boss super (the CEO) and the head of Human Resources will be here to go over the company’s “Vision, Values and Purpose” – which just sounds like a perfect setup for a Dilbert cartoon about PowerPoint poisoning, drive by management and, to put it politely, “buzzword Bingo”.

We aren’t the only acquisition, of course, and I’ve been told that part of my staff will now report to another of the acquisitions – one that’s nearby, and with a larger IT organization. My boss says I’ve nothing to worry about, that I’ll still report to him, working on special assignments where ideas and technology are needed.

Which sounds to me like I’ve just been quietly shown out of the door of IT. So here’s the problem: I’m too young to retire but too old to easily find a new position in IT.

I’m feeling a lot of anxiety. I left big corporate America precisely for the same reason – the constant feeling that I’m in way over my head. I’m an introverted kind of a guy – don’t like meeting new people, don’t like meetings where there are more than five people at the table. Bad at politics and “the game”? You bet.

I’d jump if I had a place to land. Searching the web for opportunities hasn’t turned up anything for my odd collection of skills and experience. I’ve managed to cross the six figure salary line while at this company, and I’m the sole bread winner at home. Starting at an entry level in a new career isn’t going to work out very well.

Staying or going both seem to lead to a bad place.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

– Neither here nor there

Dear Locationless …

Before anything else, I’d like to offer you a perspective: The new owners aren’t evil and aren’t stupid either. What they are is bigger and more diverse. That means their goals of consistent architecture and documented processes are entirely rational. They’ve decided that the holding company structure – where they own you but leave you completely alone – doesn’t provide as much business advantage as tighter integration.

So here are your choices. You can:

* Express interest in becoming part of the bigger world, ask to join the IT organization from the affiliate down the road, and carve out a logical place for yourself in it.

* Talk to your boss about the likelihood that “don’t worry” and “special projects” belong in the same sentence, to start a conversation about a career change within his organization. That puts you out of IT but still in the company and location you like.

* Find a new employer with characteristics much like those you used to like with your current one – the characteristics that are going away.

You’ve had a good long run in a phenomenal situation. That’s more than most people get.

So welcome to the world of business change. It isn’t true that all change is good for you – in WWII we called the good guys the Resistance, after all. What is true is that you have to recognize the difference between resisting change and just resenting it.

If you think you can successfully resist this change, more power to you … but realistically, you don’t have a chance in a million. Resenting it will mostly get you unemployed. So accept it as the way the world is going to happen, and figure out your best course of action for the world as it is.

One other piece of advice: You listed a number of personal characteristics as barriers. Don’t. They are certainly preferences, but that’s another matter. Remember the definition of a professional – someone who has no problems, causes no problems, and solves someone else’s problems. If you accept your preferences as limitations, how will you present yourself as a professional to your next employer?

Oh, by the way … I do sympathize with your situation. It’s always tough to be in. It’s just that my sympathy and a quarter together are worth no more than five nickels.

– Bob