The Perfect Job-Part 1
I have not started looking for a job just yet, but I'll be looking for a job in May of 2010. I have some work I need to finish up here, and I'm learning some new skills at the same time. This blog post is not about what is realistic. This is like an ideal wish list of what you would like to find in a romantic partner which is half movie star, half Messiah and 100% intrigued by your every move. Of course, much like Cheap Trick, I want YOU to want ME, so being into me is very important, but here are things I'm looking for.
1. Pays a livable wage that fit somewhere in the range of appropriate for an experienced and qualified test professional. Also, must have solid stable medical benefits, or be able to purchase my own at an affordable rate.
2. Bus or train accessible or has special commute plans is a plus! I love public transportation and will use it.
3. Software that I am working on is interesting and has potential that I can contribute to. It doesn't have to be great right now, but it must have potential. I perform really well when inspired, and I get inspired when I have a chance to make a difference and contribute to great software.
4. 21st century business approach or is ready for it now. Really does Agile or sincerely intends to and wants me to be a part of it. I mean by that an org that has team rewards and is willing to leave the carrot and stick, command and control ways of the past behind. I want to work for a company where the executive team is really for empowering people and teams and when they do reward people they aren't stuck in the unfounded "we reward individual performance" mind space. For example, what I am looking for is a company that puts their money where they mouth is. They understand http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html and want to move towards it or are already innovating in this space. In short, I'm looking for a company with a good future that I can believe in.
5. Wants balanced employees. By this I don't just mean work/life balance in terms of hours. I volunteer for things. For example, I am the editor of our internal quality newsletter. I do the design, publication, layout, editing, publishing, talking to authors, soliciting articles, gathering images, and troubleshooting the flex interface. I even make the action script buttons and effect for use in flash player. Also, I've worked on our video concepts at each tech summit where we've won a trophy for internal team building. I worked on putting together our quality summit for 500 people including scheduling and making signs and setting up our wiki and coordinating people. I want to work for a company who supports my flexibility and needs it. I want a company who will value that I can switch gears. I'm used to having 3 or 4 jobs at once and I don't mind moving around based on need. I think change is exciting so long as I'm not set up to fail. If everyone agrees on what is first priority, I can switch between tasks well and balance out a pretty big workload. I believe that I have these skills for a good reason and I'm good with them being used, so long as they aren't abused. I guess I want to be stretched to my full capabilities without being spread so thin that I break. I want to be both pushed and protected by a manager. I'm not sure how to put that into words better, but I'd like to be amazing for a company and have them care enough about my ability to continue to perform for them that they won't push so hard that I end up burned out.
6. Has a real career path and promotes from within ~50% of the time or more or aspires to. As a QE lead I'm very proud of the growth of the people on my team. I can help grow a bench, but I don't want to do it for no reason just to have the people leave the company. If there is a real career path for testers and they have opportunity, I can help them reach the goals they set. I can see what is special about the people I work with sometimes when they haven't seen it yet. I think this is because I like other people and have intuition to see what they find exciting.
7. Wants to be connected with ideas in the quality profession and supports me in writing and presenting. When I go to a conference I bring back ideas to share, I write about it, and I love to discuss with others how those ideas might apply. I seek out people to come present at my current company because I feel like the exchange of ideas keeps the company strong and current and it keeps us motivated. I'd like to work somewhere that will see this as value.
8. Trusts their employees when they earn it and offers them some autonomy. I'd like to work somewhere that measures my performance in what I accomplish total as evaluated by a human being. I do not want to enter stupid numbers into a tool to estimate number of hours spent. I want to work with my manager on actual real goals that help the project and as I execute those goals we agree on what my performance is, not a badly designed numerical plan, but judgment from a reasoning human who understands software development.
9. Is sincere about diversity and being a great place to work for a variety of humans. I want to be a part of a company opposes discrimination and values people for their work, ideas, and innovation.
10. Has some python work for me to do. I really like the skills I'm learning and would like to continue working on my python skills. I prefer if I can continue on in this language before shifting to another. This is minor on the wish list.
1. Pays a livable wage that fit somewhere in the range of appropriate for an experienced and qualified test professional. Also, must have solid stable medical benefits, or be able to purchase my own at an affordable rate.
2. Bus or train accessible or has special commute plans is a plus! I love public transportation and will use it.
3. Software that I am working on is interesting and has potential that I can contribute to. It doesn't have to be great right now, but it must have potential. I perform really well when inspired, and I get inspired when I have a chance to make a difference and contribute to great software.
4. 21st century business approach or is ready for it now. Really does Agile or sincerely intends to and wants me to be a part of it. I mean by that an org that has team rewards and is willing to leave the carrot and stick, command and control ways of the past behind. I want to work for a company where the executive team is really for empowering people and teams and when they do reward people they aren't stuck in the unfounded "we reward individual performance" mind space. For example, what I am looking for is a company that puts their money where they mouth is. They understand http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html and want to move towards it or are already innovating in this space. In short, I'm looking for a company with a good future that I can believe in.
5. Wants balanced employees. By this I don't just mean work/life balance in terms of hours. I volunteer for things. For example, I am the editor of our internal quality newsletter. I do the design, publication, layout, editing, publishing, talking to authors, soliciting articles, gathering images, and troubleshooting the flex interface. I even make the action script buttons and effect for use in flash player. Also, I've worked on our video concepts at each tech summit where we've won a trophy for internal team building. I worked on putting together our quality summit for 500 people including scheduling and making signs and setting up our wiki and coordinating people. I want to work for a company who supports my flexibility and needs it. I want a company who will value that I can switch gears. I'm used to having 3 or 4 jobs at once and I don't mind moving around based on need. I think change is exciting so long as I'm not set up to fail. If everyone agrees on what is first priority, I can switch between tasks well and balance out a pretty big workload. I believe that I have these skills for a good reason and I'm good with them being used, so long as they aren't abused. I guess I want to be stretched to my full capabilities without being spread so thin that I break. I want to be both pushed and protected by a manager. I'm not sure how to put that into words better, but I'd like to be amazing for a company and have them care enough about my ability to continue to perform for them that they won't push so hard that I end up burned out.
6. Has a real career path and promotes from within ~50% of the time or more or aspires to. As a QE lead I'm very proud of the growth of the people on my team. I can help grow a bench, but I don't want to do it for no reason just to have the people leave the company. If there is a real career path for testers and they have opportunity, I can help them reach the goals they set. I can see what is special about the people I work with sometimes when they haven't seen it yet. I think this is because I like other people and have intuition to see what they find exciting.
7. Wants to be connected with ideas in the quality profession and supports me in writing and presenting. When I go to a conference I bring back ideas to share, I write about it, and I love to discuss with others how those ideas might apply. I seek out people to come present at my current company because I feel like the exchange of ideas keeps the company strong and current and it keeps us motivated. I'd like to work somewhere that will see this as value.
8. Trusts their employees when they earn it and offers them some autonomy. I'd like to work somewhere that measures my performance in what I accomplish total as evaluated by a human being. I do not want to enter stupid numbers into a tool to estimate number of hours spent. I want to work with my manager on actual real goals that help the project and as I execute those goals we agree on what my performance is, not a badly designed numerical plan, but judgment from a reasoning human who understands software development.
9. Is sincere about diversity and being a great place to work for a variety of humans. I want to be a part of a company opposes discrimination and values people for their work, ideas, and innovation.
10. Has some python work for me to do. I really like the skills I'm learning and would like to continue working on my python skills. I prefer if I can continue on in this language before shifting to another. This is minor on the wish list.
What a good idea to think about your job 'requirements'. I share most of these (I'm not looking to learn Python tho it'd be fun!)
If you're really job-hunting - do you have a geographic location requirement? Or are you looking to telecommute?
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I'm mostly looking in the Puget Sound area (Seattle and surrounding cities), but I'm open to moving to Oregon or California for the right job if Craig wants to move too. I'm also willing to telecommute if the company is set up well for it. I work at home about 1 day per week right now.
This is just part 1, but I'm trying to put into words the main motivation for me which really isn't about pay. I'm looking for a good team where I fit in and can really grow. Those intrinsic rewards are so important and I think that is hard to find.
I have a unique talent for getting things started, so going from endless planning to action is where I shine the most. I pair up really well with perfectionists because I'd rather take the wrong action now than the right action too late.
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I'm with you on the pay. I just gave up a not-insignificant amount of $ to go back to my old job, because the new one didn't meet all those criteria that you mention, and the old one does. We need money, of course, and we should be fairly compensated, but it's not everything. You have to wake up every morning looking forward to work, knowing you can make a difference.
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I also share all of these except I'm more focused on Ruby than Python.
Thanks for this article. It helps me to reflect on what I truly want in a perfect job.
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I've heard good things about Ruby and also that if I like Python I should try Ruby. I'm pushing for using Selenium for our automation framework. We'll see what happens. Fingers crossed! I look forward to seeing your wish list. It might remind me to look for a certain attribute in a job.
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so 2 things:
1) if they really want you gone I would start looking right now, and if the right opportunity showed up, jump ship early. there is no worse feeling than coming to the end of your runway with no job prospects on the horizon.
2) consider working for a very small company. The best work I've ever done was always for small(ish) companies, and I've always learned the most, because you have to sweep the floor along with everyone else. there simply isn't room for horrible office politics or information silos or middle management when there are just a few people who have to get everything done. promotion? what's that? we're all promoted!
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1. I don't think they really want me gone because I have long notice and my boss has recommended me for internal interviews. I think they would be glad to keep me, but funding is an issue and I really want to stay in quality, and there just aren't many openings. There are other openings, but as you know, I have a strong passion for software quality and also love the community around test. I don't want to give up agile nor do I want to give up Python unless I must to survive. I feel like I belong in quality and there must be a role for me somewhere.
2. I love this idea! I think I'd flourish in a medium sized company where I can build up a test team or even BE the test team.
Your recent success with collaboration has made me consider telecommuting more seriously than I had in the past.
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I'd agree with all points there. Something that becomes more and more important to me is that there are peers from which to bounce off ideas. That can be a problem in small companies or large ones in isolated departments or roles. Having other professional people at the same level, not too far below and not to far ahead is something that will give me job satisfaction.
I'd also add flexibility of the company when it comes to working hours and locations and dress code. Being able to work on a 1 hour train journey and count that towards the 7,5 hours per day is valuable to me. Same as being able to come in wearing a Watchmen T-shirt compared to suit and tie.
If you find a company like that do let me know, I'd be interested
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