With the shift of the old
economy into the new economy and new New Economy, we see an emphasis on soft
skills like interpersonal communication. The knowledge economy has grown and
emphasizes the importance of education as many more people are receiving higher
degrees of education. Despite the shift in economies, the mega sectors of work remain
the same: extraction, processing, delivery, and services. Some jobs and careers
have not changed much from the shifts in economy, but the presence and reliance
of technology and interpersonal skills has increased in just about every field
of work. Other jobs have been created as technology progressively advances. Gig
work like Uber and Lyft driving was made possible through advances in app
software and both have become major companies providing many jobs to people. The
amount of gig work available for people has increased within the newer
economies. However, too, the polarization of good and bad jobs has increased.
Good jobs include jobs that pay relatively high earning with opportunities for
growth, provides adequate fringe benefits, affords workers autonomy and control
over work activities, gives the worker flexibility and control over scheduling
and terms of employment, and affords the worker some control over termination
of their job. In the current age of flexibility, job stability has become notably
less common. Especially so after the Pax Americana came to a close.
By comparing and
contrasting the experience of six different people in different occupations, we
should be able to gain insight on what it is like to work in the current
economy. We begin with how our participants came to their current job. Elisabeth,
a social worker and therapist, came to her job though a “freak accident” or by
meeting someone with connections to the place where she works at now. She was
required to have a license to practice as well as pass two interviews. Kelly, a
senior business analyst worked in sales and transitioned into her current
position likely due to her experience with data management. Pancho Villa, a
welder, had a friend land him his job. A person working as a CBD oil mall
vendor was recruited into his position. Daniel, a media entrepreneur, was
essentially born into his family business. Jamie, a technical specialist trainer
on the other hand, applied for her position which required a series of
interviews and a project which is something similar to what Kelly experienced
too. There are many ways for one to come to a job position. In the current
economy, having social capital and connections that will help you gain the
attention of an employer helps one increase their chance of being employed.
Pancho Villa and Elisabeth are two examples of this. Having the education and
experience to hold a job position helps as well as in the case of Jamie, Elisabeth,
and Kelly. Some need only the job experience as in the case of Pancho Villa who
got his welding position despite not having completed high school. Instead, he “did
good jobs that the bosses liked.” Similarly, Jamie wrote the manual on technical
training, so her boss offered her the position to train clients in a new job
position instead of being a technical writer.
Before one obtains a job position,
an interview usually takes place. All but one of six participants had some form
of an interview and some had more than one. Jamie’s hiring process was “really
tough” and “had more than three interviews… This one was five interviews and a
project.” Kelly’s hiring process required “a panel of interviews… I think five
different people.” Pancho Villa had an interview over the phone after his
friend gave his name to the employer. Elisabeth had one interview. The practice
of being interviewed for a job has a purpose. In the research of Rivera (2015),
“cultural similarities were highly salient to employers in hiring.” In Rivera’s
research, cultural compatibility is valued by employers. A cultural fit, she
names it, includes the “leisure pursuits background, and self-presentation” of
the (potential) employee and this is evaluated during the interview. The cultural
fits and matches are done to improve or enhance “employee satisfaction,
performance, and retention.” There are positives and negatives toward this approach
to interviewing and hiring. While it boosts productivity, it also reproduces
the culture maintained by employers which is not quite a negative, but it
allows for discrimination of minorities. Minorities not always in the racial,
ethnic, or religious sense, but in a cultural sense. Those that do not fit the
employer’s culture or values are not likely to get the job they are applying
for. A cultural fit is a hidden qualification for a job position.
Qualifications for each
our participants’ job differs and this is to be expected with a diverse job
economy. Jamie mentions that the qualifications can vary within her job
position, “I’ve seen it [range] anywhere from just need to be able to, you
know, do like basic stuff in a Microsoft program to needing to know, like, deep
dive down in the computer science world, networking, and Linux, and all that
kind of stuff.” Having a degree in her field is probably also a qualification for
her job position as she has a bachelor’s in writing and communication as well
as some experience in coding and IT. For Elisabeth, “[c]ertainly uhm, like, a
college degree, uh, they appreciated that I was in the process of getting a
second master’s and that I had some, uh, skills in Sequal and Tabloo,
specifically.” The person working the CBD oil mall vendor’s position required “at
least two years of management or, uh um, two years of work experience plus, you
know, a bachelor’s degree, so yeah.” Pancho Villa’s welding position “requires
a high school diploma but nothing else really.” Elisabeth’s position requires a
master’s degree “and you have to be fully licensed.” With a strong knowledge
economy, high school is often the bare minimum for holding a job, the better
the job, the more knowledge or education one may need.
The average workday for
our participants is rather uniform. Most of them work from between seven and
nine to around seven or eight. Forty minutes to an hour commute seems about
average. The most difficult aspects to working vary from job to job. For Kelly,
the social worker and therapist, the most difficult aspect of her job comes
from dealing with patients that do not put in the work to help themselves. She
also feels the most difficult part is watching some of her patients decline as
it makes her feel as if she is not good enough of a therapist to help them.
Pancho Villa finds the most difficult part of his job as a welder in teaching
others, “a new person”, and sometimes “they don’t want to listen”. The CBD oil
mall vendor finds the most difficult part to be finding dedicated employees to help
with the vendor. Kelly, the senior business analyst, finds how “IT organization
get[s] kind of siloed” and “you don’t always know what your peers are doing” to
where ‘you end up working on the same thing.” Jamie, the specialist technical
trainer, finds the most difficult part of her job to be learning new
technology. For Daniel, the media entrepreneur, interfacing with people is the
most difficult aspect of his job.
However, to gauge whether
participants had good jobs or bad jobs, we would have to consider their income,
job stability, fringe benefits, and autonomy over tasks and schedule. With the
questions we asked our interviewees, we can ascertain how much autonomy our
participants have within their jobs but pay and stability would have to be an
estimate based on external literature. So, instead, we will just examine the
degree of autonomy and fringe benefits our participants had. Beginning with
autonomy, Daniel, the media entrepreneur, has a moderate amount of control over
his tasks. “I would day I have 55% of control over everything I work with.” Because,
as he says, “I’m not CEO” he has standards to follow as well as gigs to videotape,
photograph, and make edits to the media that one of his family members may have
accepted a contract to; he does not have full control over everything he does
in his job. Schedule-wise, he has “a fair degree of control” but “clients and
my team dictate what I have to do.” Jamie, the specialist trainer, however, has
only “a bit” of control because her company and teaching is “really pretty
structured”. Overall, she has “more control over my schedule over my tasks.”
The senior business analyst, Kelly, has “a good bit of control” over tasks and has
flex hours, so “as long as the work gets done”, then she has a fair amount of
control over her schedule. The CBD oil mall vendor also is “pretty much in control”
but has a “template of expectations of a schedule”. Pancho Villa, the welder, is
“in control 100%” over what he has to do but also has to “follow the supervisor’s
directions too.” Schedule-wise, there is not much control to be had except if
you are sick or something is going on with your family. The social worker and
therapist, Elisabeth, has “a pretty good control over my schedule” despite “[having]
to be here all day, every day”.
As for fringe benefits,
Daniel has none as entrepreneurship and self-employment requires does not offer
such benefits. Jamie, receives 80% health care coverage under her company as
well as 401k. She mentions that the amount of paid time off is rather low
compared to others in the tech field of work. Kelly’s fringe benefits include
working home two days a week, 401k, and health insurance. The CBD oil mall
vendor received health insurance, paid time off, 401k, and is “happy or
satisfied” with what he receives. Pancho Villa receives paid time off but no
health insurance or 401k. Elisabeth receives health insurance, 401k, and paid
time off. So, the fringe benefits vary more than the amount of autonomy our
participants had. If we were to judge from autonomy and fringe benefits alone,
most of these participants would have good jobs if what they said was accurate.
Further, given what some
of our participants said, there are aspects such as permanent pedagogy or
learning game that one must deal with in jobs. Sallaz (2014) explains the
post-Fordist labor process in a call center. New employees in call centers are
given the bare minimum instruction on how to do their jobs, they are learning
how to do their jobs as they go along. While most of the six participants discussed
in this essay received more training than the employees at the call center
Sallaz observed, there still is, perhaps, a form of pedagogy or learning game
associated with their work. Jamie and Daniel explicitly mention how they are
constantly learning how to deal with new technology on the job to do their job.
As Daniel says, “[t]he main qualification is being able to accept information,
because this field is constantly changing because it revolves around technology.
And technology changes.” Or as Jamie says, “I just kind of, you know, learn as
I go. I’ve taught myself a lot…”. In the case of Jamie, “it took an associate’s
course in IT” to learn how to learn how to deal with learning new technology.
Call center workers, because of the steep learning curve, often leave their
jobs as the annual turnover rates can exceed 100%” (Sallaz, 2014). The turnover
rates are not as high in Jamie’s line of work, I posit, because the learning
game and conditions of work are not as bad as working in call center. The
learning game, however, as Sallaz (2014) hypothesizes, enables employees to
work as hard as they do despite the hard learning curve. Perhaps this is so,
because some people enjoy a learning and having a challenge. Jamie, the
technical specialist trainer, mentions how “I enjoy the challenge” and “it’s
nice to, you know, have your knowledge validated”. Kelly, the senior business
analyst has similar sentiments, “there are things that are difficult about my
job that I like and enjoy because it’s challenging”. So, I further posit that a
certain amount of difficulty in a job is an aspect that can generate effort in
some people in contrast to how Sallaz argues that the learning game or
permanent pedagogy generates effort for those in the call center.
Others find the most
rewarding aspect of their job in things apart from the challenge. What
generates effort differs from person to person. Daniel, for example, finds the
most rewarding aspect of his job in interfacing “with historical figures”. He
has had the opportunity to work “with the white house press report in Atlanta
every time Obama came over. Or interfacing with some of our Civil Rights
legends”. What Kelly finds the most rewarding is “fixing something that’s broken”.
Elisabeth finds that “when you have a patient that is motivated for therapy” to
be the most rewarding aspect. Or some people like Pancho Villa find the most
rewarding part to be “[t]he check”. Another aspect of whether a job is good or
bad could be determined by how much someone enjoys their job. However, a part
of that may be summarized by the other aspects of what makes a good job: the
autonomy, pay, and fringe benefits.
Every job is not without
its downsides, personal sacrifices must be made to hold a job. However, one’s
explicit personal sacrifice may differ from the next person. For Daniel, he
notes that his personal life suffers because of his job, “I don’t have a huge
social life. I’m working on it, but if you want to get anywhere in life… I’m
going to work on it eventually. I promise. But, right now, I gotta put it on
ice.” Jamie does not have to make too many personal sacrifices for her job, she
notes, because “I work for a very family friendly company”. However, the
biggest personal sacrifice she must make is “travel” as she must travel across
state or country to do fulfill her position as a technical specialist trainer. “You
know, it’s a sacrifice for my family not to be there”, but this is also a
positive for her, “there is something nice to having that break as well. Not
having to be in the same office day after day… Pros and cons.” Pancho Villa’s
personal sacrifice comes from having to work “many hours” and “I can’t be at
home as often as I would like to be.” Elisabeth’s personal sacrifice comes from
having “the last patient on a Friday… they will be in a crisis and we have to
send’em to the hospital, it’s going to take longer than 45 minutes to do”. So,
some of the personal sacrifices are not job-specific such as Pancho Villa’s as
working a job usually requires one to have to be away from home for hours, but
some jobs have specific personal sacrificed to be made as in the case of Elisabeth.
Dealing with “chaotic” patients is not an aspect of every job.
In conclusion, in this economy,
jobs and job experiences vary quite a lot. There are many ways in which someone
may land a job position. Social capital and who you know can possibly be the
reason as to why you get a job position. Being a cultural fit and having the
other qualifications for a position may also get you a job. Having the
education, college degree, and/or work experience related to your job position may
aid you in obtaining a job. Challenges and difficulties in holding a job vary in
each job as well as their fringe benefits and amount of autonomy afforded to
the worker. Permanent pedagogy or the learning game may be typical of holding a
job. Especially when technology is involved as technology is always changing.
However, some amount of difficulty generates effort. Too much difficulty may
generate a high turnover rate. Having some aspect that the employee enjoys also
generates effort. Or, perhaps, just the paycheck is enough to generate effort
for some people.
The transcripts of the interviews I did personally:
Me: “So, first question is how did you come to end up
in your current job?”
Daniel: “Since I was very young, I like to say since I was born. Um, my parents had a vision for legacy. And that means, as soon as I was able, I was already being trained in it. So, I was kinda like, uh, a family business. It was basically a stairway. Straight from, while I’m doing well in school, you’re also being trained business and I really like what I did, so, um, like, straight into my freshman year in high school, I was already working kind of, uh, 75% of the business and 25% doing schooling. I think how I came into it; I was born into it. It was laid out for me and I just, um, I seized the opportunity and tried to make it the best I can.
Daniel: “Since I was very young, I like to say since I was born. Um, my parents had a vision for legacy. And that means, as soon as I was able, I was already being trained in it. So, I was kinda like, uh, a family business. It was basically a stairway. Straight from, while I’m doing well in school, you’re also being trained business and I really like what I did, so, um, like, straight into my freshman year in high school, I was already working kind of, uh, 75% of the business and 25% doing schooling. I think how I came into it; I was born into it. It was laid out for me and I just, um, I seized the opportunity and tried to make it the best I can.
Me: “Mhm, um, so you didn’t have to go through, like,
a hiring process?”
Daniel: “Fortunately, as entrepreneurs, it was really
no hiring process for us other than being ready to do the job. For me, in
particular, it was, um, that was, like, my thing. I had my chores, I had my
schooling, and as soon as you’re done, you’re going to sit with your dad,
you’re going to sit with your mom, sit with your elder siblings and you’re
going to learn about doing. And then as soon as I was able, you know, they
could use the extra hand. Uh, here’s an interview, we need you to go film it.
Uh, here’s a camera, we need you to get some shots. I needed you to, you know,
help earn my keep. Not only for myself, but for the family. It’s more so for my
future, so uh, no hiring process. Although, funny thing is, when I was, um,
entering second grade or first grade, we had, like, a whole mock, like,
interview session. That my dad recorded on [inaudible] cam. All of us would get
dressed and, like, business attire. He printed out an application from google
forms. Or, google forms hadn’t existed yet but from google. And we filled it
out and I remember saying that I knew calculus or some other crap that I didn’t
know about. And that’s what it was. Um, I had a mock hiring process, but the
real process was, well, just being ready. Because that’s what we were trained
to do.
Me: “So, would you say there were qualifications for
the job?”
Daniel: “In the business we’re in, um, the media
business. The main qualification is being able to accept information because
this field is constantly changing because it revolves around technology. And
technology changes. Now, um, you could go to school and get a degree for this,
but nothing replaces experience. As since I was very—since I was able to be in
a job I—I did my first job since I was nine I (was with?) CSPAN at West
Virginia. Nothing replaces the experience because you’re going to mess up no
matter how much you know. And you just need to know how to take those mess-ups
and forge, basically, your own role book, um, to keep working, right? So, the
qualification is, I want to say, is experience. Like, if I had to make a term,
it would have to be experience. And then right after that is willingness to
learn, being open to all sorts of things. Because you’re going to run into
people who it’s either their way or the high way. And that’s not just in my
camp, it’s just in general. In, like, the producing industry. So, that’s that.
Me: “Alright, what would you say is the typical work
day like?”
Daniel: “It changes on the day of the week. Um, the
first thing that we always check is, alright, we have an early morning
interview, um, especially during this quarter, we have a lot of galas that go
on which means we go out and film people accepting their awards kind of thing.
So, um, it starts with making sure we’re following the calendar. So that if
there are early morning interviews, um, certain team members pull together that
equipment for that [inaudible]. They pull that together and they put it aside
for the next team to go out and to go forward. So, they go out, um, that team
rides out, uh, the team that stays indoors, um, that could be either me or what
else: that team focuses on adjusting existing footage or clearing out contracts
from previous clients. You know, trying to make sure we turn everything around.
Um, today is Sunday, so um, my day starts very early. Um, five or six o’clock I
have to be up and at them by seven o’clock to be at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Our contract with them is that we manage their video tech, so, like, they have
new screens that they imported. So we handle playing their lyrics, um, rolling
their videos. Making sure all that stuff works for every service. And we also
kinda double as unofficial tech support for everything that goes wrong. So, as,
we run tests for all their audio, for all their video, uh, for their streaming
service. So, we run a lot of tests, checks, and balances, and then actual
service happens. That’ll run from, uh, we get indoor probably like at, like,
7:45 and from 7:45 to like 12:31 depending on what kind of service it is. First
Sunday, we actually stayed there until 1:20. So, stay there and then we come
back here to the office and breakfast on Sunday is kinda off. But then Monday
through Friday is back on our main tick, which is working with different
websites. It’s, uh, either producing those or preparing for the galas that are
coming up. So, it changes on the day and the season. It’s, gala season, it’s
usually planning and then filming, and then editing. A lot of that, but if it’s
spring season, it’s a lot of, like, that’s a lot of photography during that
time, because there’s a lot of, like, recognition ceremonies. A lot of, like
uh, the Braves have, like, uh, a honorary minority businesses. So, we’ll go out
and do a lot of event coverage. So that’s going out taking photos, bringing
that back, [inaudible]. So that’s, I guess, a day. That didn’t describe a day
or a period, to be honest. Did that work out for you?”
Me: “Yeah, that works. How many hours a week do you
dedicate to your job?”
Daniel: “All of them [laugh]. Uh, so, if you hear from
every entrepreneur is that you have to wear all the hats, and to wear all the
hats, you have to have all the hours. So, um, I try to get between six and
eight hours of sleep. I usually clock out at, like, six, so um, getting up at a
seven. Staying up to, like, twelve [or] two. But I try to work until five. I
try to stop at five. That’s usually not like that this season. So even if I’m
not on the clock. I’m planning for the next day. Take that time [inaudible] and
I’m in my room with the laptop and I’ll write a list about before I, you know,
chill out, read a book, or, you know, chill out and watch the TV. Before I do
any of that, let me plan out for the next day. Or if I’m behind on something or
something’s deadline, then I’m working (through the night?). It’s the same
thing with schooling, I’m sure.
Me: “Yeah, I’d say so. Um, so you wouldn’t have much
of a daily commute. It’s more of a—depends on the contract kind of thing?”
Daniel: “Depends on the contract. If we’re going into
town, the commute, um, commute only matters if it’s something like an hour out.
Because we’re based out in Fairburn. Like, we’re thirty to forty minutes out
from the city at all times. Um, so, if we’re doing interviews in and around the
city, we have to check out where that is before we decide how important it is.
So, let’s say we have an appointment in Buckhead at three o’clock on a Monday,
we’re leaving out the house at, like, 1:30, because lunch hour traffic is
terrible. It’s Atlanta. You may as well leave two hours early anyway.
Me: “So true. What do you find most challenging or
difficult about this job?”
Daniel: “I would say it’s something technical, but
it’s really just interfacing with people. Because you have to—it’s not everyone
is tech savvy. And you have to explain everything in a way that, uh, that will
keep them satisfied, have them understand the scope of work you’re going
through, and then also make sure they give you your check at the end of the
day. So, it’s a mixture of a couple different things, but the main deal is
talking. Is like, especially when you’re doing photography and videography,
where it’s, you know, people have this whole idea in their heads. And you have
to make that come to life without ever seeing what’s in their head. So, it’s
just getting the information out of people and then you can go crazy with what
you actually know what to do. But it’s just taking out what they know, from
what they’re thinking, and bringing it to life. So, it’s just that interface.
Me: “I suppose it takes a bit of imagination too?”
Daniel: “It is a big imagination deal. Um, and I want to say imagination, but it’s become so standard in how we, like, handle things. Like, for gala videos. We have a whole system. Corey writes the script; we have two teams go out and capture interviews [inaudible]. Uh, that team goes out captures interviews, the cutting floor takes [inaudible] my sisters, Kellie and Kailah, you met them, they cut that joint up. They send it to a script writer. That script writer writes a script. And then we take it from there. And um, my dad creates audio layers for it and then me and my brother take it and finalize it—we master it. We add the lower thirds, we add the special graphics, we add the animation at the end. And then we pump that joint out and [inaudible]. So, it’s imagination, sure. But when you have kinda like—it’s kinda like, um, let me put this in YouTube terms. You know a video is going to be a certain way no matter how you look at it. Comedy videos are always going to be funny because they have memes, wacky whatever and all that stuff. Informative videos will almost always have infographics. Like that kinda deal. It falls into, like, imagination is required most definitely, but it kind of falls into, like, categories of, like, or libraries, if you will, of content that you continually pull from. So, that, it feels uniform to us. To maybe someone on the outside, it’s just like we’re pulling stuff out of the hat.”
Daniel: “It is a big imagination deal. Um, and I want to say imagination, but it’s become so standard in how we, like, handle things. Like, for gala videos. We have a whole system. Corey writes the script; we have two teams go out and capture interviews [inaudible]. Uh, that team goes out captures interviews, the cutting floor takes [inaudible] my sisters, Kellie and Kailah, you met them, they cut that joint up. They send it to a script writer. That script writer writes a script. And then we take it from there. And um, my dad creates audio layers for it and then me and my brother take it and finalize it—we master it. We add the lower thirds, we add the special graphics, we add the animation at the end. And then we pump that joint out and [inaudible]. So, it’s imagination, sure. But when you have kinda like—it’s kinda like, um, let me put this in YouTube terms. You know a video is going to be a certain way no matter how you look at it. Comedy videos are always going to be funny because they have memes, wacky whatever and all that stuff. Informative videos will almost always have infographics. Like that kinda deal. It falls into, like, imagination is required most definitely, but it kind of falls into, like, categories of, like, or libraries, if you will, of content that you continually pull from. So, that, it feels uniform to us. To maybe someone on the outside, it’s just like we’re pulling stuff out of the hat.”
Me: “I see, that makes sense.”
Daniel: “I’m giving you some secrets right now.”
Me: “What do you find most rewarding about this job?”
Daniel: “I’m giving you some secrets right now.”
Me: “What do you find most rewarding about this job?”
Daniel: “When we interface with historical figures.
Um, I had the privilege of working with the white house press report in Atlanta
every time Obama came over. Or interfacing with some of our Civil Rights
legends like [inaudible] CT Vivian, the whole entire posse that worked closely
with MLK to get, um, uh, our voting rights established. Equality for, you know,
blacks in America. I work with a lot of them those people. The church I go to
is the spiritual home of MLK and right across the street we work with MLK’s
daughter, uh, I think his youngest daughter [inaudible] King for all of her
non-violence 360 live projects. I guess, and if it’s interfacing with history,
it’s what is most rewarding and then, like, when you try something new and
someone actually likes it. That’s also rewarding. You try a new effect or you
try a new type of photo or you get a very expensive camera and you don’t—you’re
not sure if someone is going to see the same thing you see out of the camera
and they like photos [inaudible]. So, it’s just that you’re putting the work in
and they receive it well. That’s the most rewarding thing about it. I mean,
getting paid is nice too.
Me: “How much control do you have over your work?”
Daniel: “I’m not CEO, so I don’t want to say I don’t
have control, like, I don’t have any control. You can see something wrong, take
the freedom to fix it. But everything like I talked about, you know, like the
uniform deal. Um, everything kind of has to fall within that. So, I want to
make sure that what I am doing upholds to our standard of excellence. And then
there’s —that doesn’t even go to control. That’s more so just keeping up to our
standards. So, uh, if I had to say a percentage. I would say I have 55% of
control over everything I work with—the work that touches my desk. And if it’s
a photo job, that I pull in, then I have 100% control. But then, not even then,
because clients always [inaudible]. So, (gotta think about that?).
Me: “So, a high degree of control, but some sort of
standard.”
Daniel: “Standards to follow. There’s always standards
to follow. But since, I will say that we’re more free than most, you know,
people in the work field. Because, you know, a lot of people have a nine to
five and all they care about is just finishing that, but we’re entrepreneurs.
Which means a) we care, because this is what our livelihood. We directly
control how much money comes into the household. And the end of the day, it
doesn’t matter what happens, we control that. Period. And, you have to like it
if you come out with anything. It’s not like McDonalds where you can kinda flip
something and call it a rip. Or, like, at a library, you just stack some books
and call it a rip. It’s just this is we’re creating people’s visions here, so
we have to a) like it, and then b) be liberal with it.
Me: “Um, how much control do you have over your
schedule?”
Daniel: “I have a fair degree of control. As long as I
get notice to my, well, my dad is my boss—my mom [inaudible]. I give them
notice of—now I can’t, like, flake out and say I don’t want to do work today. But,
let’s say, over the weekend, I was able to me, my sister, went to Anime Weekend
Atlanta. I let them know. Like, three of four days ahead of time. “Like, hey,
this is coming up. I have an opportunity to go. I have these two days where I’m
not working. Can I take that time to dip?” So, I have a fair degree of control.
As long as I do everything to the proper channels. I’m good. And that’s really
all I can ask for. I have a great place to be in, so I’m not complaining about
that at all. So, fair degree of control. Um, other than that, clients and my
team dictate what I have to do.
Me: “So, for tasks, you—they dictate what you do?”
Daniel: “So, yes, unless I’m doing a project by myself
where I’m heading a contract. Like, the church is kinda me and my brother’s
contract. We chiefly control that. I control those tasks, but other than that,
they tell me what I gotta do and I gotta do it.
Me: “Alright, do you feel that you have to make
personal sacrifices for your job?”
Daniel: “Of course, it’s—I want to say that you know
but you’re speaking [inaudible]. I don’t have a huge social life. I’m working
on it, but if you want to get anywhere in life. It’s like anything comes with a
balance. And if I want to be exceptionally good at one thing, I have to
sacrifice another thing. And for me, right now, I really want to get on top of,
like, uh, you know, saving up for my future home, buying my own car, you know,
doing all these other things. Controlling my credit and all that other stuff.
And I have to put all these other people who aren’t really, like, thinking the
same thing. I gotta put those people on ice. So, that’s what I kinda, like, I
keep the two separate and I keep, you know, the personal relationships and
stuff, like, I’m going to work on it eventually. I promise. But, right now, I
just gotta put it on ice.
Me: “Do you think your wages are fair compensation for
the amount of work that you do?”
Daniel: “Is he still looking?” (referring to his dad).
“Um, yes and no. It didn’t use to be. I used to get, like, we used to bring in—I’m
going to throw out a number that’s realistic but also weird. Let’s say we do a
conference, that’s ten thousand. I used to walk away with $200. And that’s with
three days boots on the ground. All day. Running back and forth. A lot of work.
And then post-production and all that stuff. We used to walk with $200. We’re
doing a lot better now. Now I won’t say that it’s completely fair. But I will
say it’s reasonable. Because I’m also, I got a place to stay. Paying for bills
for the house. I will say it’s fair. And I know the only thing keeping me back
from making more money is the amount of work I do myself. The more I do, the
more clients I bring in, then that translates to money. So, we’re doing a lot
better than we were, like, doing six or seven years ago.
Me: “Uh, do you receive any fringe benefits, health
insurance—”
Daniel: “Nope. It’s, uh, I’m an entrepreneur and I’m also working with my family, like, so that’s a double whammy, man. We ain’t got no HR department. None of that. It’s just work. You get sick? Take some NyQuil, go to sleep, get back at it [laugh]. Like, I’m going to be real with you, chief. It’s just you’re working with your family. You can’t exactly tell them you need, like, 130k a year for my teeth.
Daniel: “Nope. It’s, uh, I’m an entrepreneur and I’m also working with my family, like, so that’s a double whammy, man. We ain’t got no HR department. None of that. It’s just work. You get sick? Take some NyQuil, go to sleep, get back at it [laugh]. Like, I’m going to be real with you, chief. It’s just you’re working with your family. You can’t exactly tell them you need, like, 130k a year for my teeth.
Me: “That’s true. Where do you see yourself in five
years career-wise?”
Daniel: “Uh, five years. Five years, it would be nice
to be CEO. It would be nice to be starting the first of many [inaudible] making
this a national empire. Opening another office in another high traffic, uh,
hopefully black-driven area. Because we, 99.9% of our clients are black-owned
businesses. Uh, corporate leaders, um, board members, that kind of deal.
Because we grew up, I could literally say, I grew up knowing these people as
not only as our clients but as mentors and teachers. And there’s no real media
company and there’s not a lot of them, I wanna say, that are representing us
for who we are. For doing the good that we do. You’ll get the offshoot Vice
commercial or Vice documentary. Get 20 minutes of them going through some
ghetto neighborhood and then showcasing one dude doing one thing and then
that’s it. We do it for everyone all the time. And, so, I want to make it into
another high traffic black corporate area. I can’t think of many other places
better than Atlanta right now though. Especially after what Tyler Perry just
rolled. So, um, hopefully opening another office in D.C., or making connections
with D.C., and um, beginning that national [inaudible] transitioning into the
global empire I see myself, kind of, splitting and maintaining my own office.
Um, and starting something new. You know, trying to keep everything rolling
with the American Technologies brand, but making some of it my own.
Me: “Could you perhaps, like, do a partner company
with, I guess, your father’s?”
Daniel: “And that’s great, because that’s what some of
us are doing now. Like, uh, my partner [inaudible] right now, or I would like
to say, not exactly partner, but, like, child company of American Technologies
is okay and that really caters to the YouTuber streamer and that whole industry
and that is coming up. And they want to have a mini-branding package. I can pop
those out in, like, weekends. I like doing this. Entertaining high impact
promos than most corporate stuff, I enjoy doing it when I charge for it. Right?
So that’s a child company. But one of our partner companies is [inaudible] is
run by my elder sister and that just focuses on brand imaging. Like, brand
connections. She just connects people. She connects people to the right people.
While also handling the graphic design. So, that is a very good point. Because
that’s what we’re kinda pulling out now. Now, while I don’t see Noracane(?)
continuing the gaming thing for the next five years. Because I don’t know how
long those are going to last until everyone is just playing games for a living.
I want to transition them into more of a branding thing. Maybe for the more
entertainment side. Going back to what I know and what I do best and that’s
controlling people’s brands or creating someone’s brand. Moving it to the next
level. So that’s what I do best. And that’s where I’d really rather stay. In
that field.”
Me: “Alright, do you believe this job will help you
achieve your goal?”
Daniel: “Yeah, it’s, it used to be not a choice when I
grew up. It’s just you did this thing. It was a part of your upbringing. Now, I
have the skill set, I see—all I see are benefits for me now. You know, the
stuff I am able to do. I’ve gone to Costa Rica, Panama, I’ve gone to Germany, I’ve
flown across half the country already. I’ve worked with people I would have
never imagined working with. I’ve went and taped the first and only black
president of the United States. I see nothing but positives in this business. I
see no reason to leave it. Or leaving this field rather. And I believe it can
change. I believe it can evolve, but this is the way to go if I ever want to
achieve my part in all this. People need technology. No matter where you go in
the world. People need branding. People get paid to sit on their butts and talk
about someone’s brand. And they get paid six figure salaries. We can create it
from the bottom up. Once I, once we band together and move kinda forward into
the, uh, like government market and international market. Then, I feel like we
can be unstoppable at that point. We just need more people, because seven
people is not enough [laugh].
Me: “What advice would you give to someone considering
this line of work?”
Daniel: “Actually care about it. Give a damn. That’s
the main—if you don’t care, you’re not going to do your best. If you’re not
able to roll with the punches, and take the beatings, because they’re going to
come. People, there’s a million other people who are going to pick up an iPhone
and think that they’re photographer ready. I deal with enough of them at actual
jobs, like, you’re taking pictures and people come up with iPhones. It’s
ridiculous. But just be ready and make the sacrifice. You’re going to put a lot
of things on hold. Like, if you ever want to get into any of these fields, then
there’s not a [inaudible]. There’s something that you have to invest time in.
Be ready for that grind (or grime?). Be able to roll with the punches. And this
can kind of apply to any field really. But, especially for this field, where
everything is cutthroat at the top and, like, at the top brass. Everyone is
cutting at each other. But, like, we’ve handled ourselves with such grace. In
our company is what we do is everyone we work with is near family to me. But if
you decide to join this line of work and I’m glad you said line of work.
Everyone around us. Everyone around the clique in Atlanta. They’re like
paparazzi, they’re like TMZ or like Washington Post. They’re looking for the
best of the best at any means necessary. So, if you’re in this line of work, be
ready for that. And then, show everyone up, because if you believe you’re the
best, then you can be the best. It all goes back to self-image.
Me: “So,
continuing off that, uh, what would you think what kind of person—what type of
person—would be great for this line of work?”
Daniel: “Someone who is kind of versatile at a lot of
things. A good speaker. A good story-teller really. Not a good speaker, a good
storyteller. One who can kind of imagine, like I said, a story being put
together. Because that’s what we do really. When you put together an
announcement video or you put to together an honoree video, you’ve got to tell
this person’s story in a medium that’s easy to digest for the public. And then
sell it about how great it is or how empowering it is, right? So. A great
storyteller. Someone who is analytical. But it all boils down to a great
storyteller. I think that’s the easiest line of words I can come up for someone
that does this kind of work.
//////////////////////////
Me: “So, how did you come to end up in your
current job?”
Jamie: “So, I started as a technical writer, first,
then I had a boss who needed somebody to train a customer. So, he said, “you
wrote the manual, so would you like to do it?” And I said sure, why not? And
that was the beginning of going into technical training full-time from that
point on.
Me: [inaudible] “Technical writing, how was that for
you?”
Jamie: “I’m
more of a people person, so it was really hard to be just me, my computer, and
software [laugh] behind my desk all day, but I had a writing degree which is
what took me into technical writing to begin with, so it was fine, but I
wouldn’t go back to it [laugh].”
Me: “So, um, what was the hiring process like for the
position?”
Jamie: “For my current position? It was really tough.
Um, my company, this company in particular was a little bit different other
than other any company I’ve worked for and I have had—let’s see—five jobs in
the tech space for the last twelve years. Um, and this was the only one where
I’ve had more than three interviews. Um, this one was five interviews and a
project. So, it was an initial phone screen and then it was an interview with
my current boss, uh, and an interview with her boss, an interview with HR and
an in-person presentation. Like, I had to do a thirty-five-minute technical training
to four people in the company in-person. And then there was interview after
than and then they had me to do one last project and that was to do a small
presentation development for them to see what kinda what my process was and how
I would think through developing a training material from scratch. So, I put
that together and after all of those things. [laugh] I finally came around, but
that’s not typical for my field. Usually, it’s two interviews and a
presentation usually [inaudible].
Me: “Sounds like a lot of work. Do you find the work,
uh, worth it?”
Jamie: “Yes, so I feel very fortunate. There’s a lot
of people who go through their whole lives trying to find their career.
[inaudible] 27 years old, right? [inaudible] (gotta?) figure out what do you
for the rest of your life? Who knows? [inaudible] [laugh] I just feel very
lucky that I found a thing that kinda works for me. I very much enjoy
[inaudible]. I often get other people reaching out for positions and it’s not
in the technical training space and I’m really not interested [inaudible]. Not
everybody gets there. I’m very lucky I’ve been able to fairly early (get here?)
very early in my career.
Me: “What are the qualifications for the job?”
Jamie: “Uh, well, it depends on whether you’re in a
technical training position or non-technical. (Either way) it can vary. Um,
I’ve seen it [inaudible] anywhere from just need to be able to, you know, do
like basic stuff in a Microsoft programs to needing to know (like) deep dive down
in the computer science world, networking, and linux, and all that kind of
stuff. So, it’s really kind of runs the gamut. Depends on what exactly the
position is for. So, we do, uh, firewall management, [inaudible] so, I know
some networking, I know some—a lot— of security, er, cybersecurity. Um, we do
some Linux [inaudible], so I know a lot of Linux backends, and it really
depends what—with what—software you are working with for what they’re going to
need you to do for/in a technical training point of view it can be all over the
place [inaudible/laugh].
Me: “Do you also code?”
Jamie: “I don’t. I have taken some coding classes, so
I actually have a bachelor’s in writing and communications, dual major. Um, but
I did go into to do an associate’s in information technology. Uh, which was for
years before I got my bachelor’s. Three or four years. Uh, because I wanted to
go into the technical writing space. And I didn’t want to write books, I don’t
want to write magazines, and I don’t want to be a reporter. What could I do?
So, I started doing some process documentation. And that was a position I had
right out of school. And, um, I decided that was in my wheelhouse. So, I
(figured?) nobody was going to hire me if I don’t have a technical background.
So, I decided to go back to school. [inaudible] Working for school, working for
admissions. So, I was able to go back under [inaudible] [laugh]. And, uh, I
almost finished my degree. I got a technical writing job when I had two classes
left. And, so I finished those out and I actually did not pass my very last
coding class. Because it was a higher level and I didn’t really enjoy it. It
wasn’t really—it didn’t work with my brain. [laugh] So, um, I ended up not
completing it but I already had the position I was using it to get and I, uh,
[inaudible] experience from that point on. And I did at one point try to go
back and finish back up that class and then they no longer offered that degree
at the university anymore and so if I ever wanted to ever complete it, I would
have to transfer and I’m sure only a certain percentage of classes would
transfer and at this point in my career, I’ve been doing this for ten years.
It’s really not necessary for me to get that because I have a bachelors. I have
ten years’ experience. I have, like, technical, hands-on, experience. So, it’s
kinda going with it. I think our drinks our ready, I’ll go grab them.
Me: “Okay”
Me: “So, um, what is the typical day at work like for
you?”
Jamie: “Uh, well, for me it’s either one of two things. Um, I, uh, it’s either I’m teaching all day or I’m at my desk all day. Uh, when I teach, uh, we have three-day classes. We have a day and a half teaching virtually. But like, I do that from home. It’s easy and quiet to do it from my house. And we have an online classroom and then I spend the day just covering the course material with our students. It’s partially, uh, presenting material. And we also have a [inaudible]-based lab we access via the web. So, we have them doing exercises from there. A part of that is answering questions and monitoring the lab. Making sure people are actually doing what I ask them to do. Very similar in as far as structure when I’m there in person. Except I’ll walk around the room and help people out. Usually, I get a lot more questions when I’m actually there in class. Uh, so somedays, like next week I’m in Houston. In exxon mobile, up there. So, I’ll be travelling on Monday. Flying Monday so I can settle in and I’ll be teaching Tuesday through Thursday. Um, and then when I’m not teaching, I’m usually doing some kind of project [inaudible]. Most of the time, it’s new content development. It could be new lab development. It could be upgrading a lab. It could be—we just had a new version of our software, so we upgraded lab now we have to test (all our lab materials?) and make sure that the process that we’ve been doing/following still works [inaudible]. So, um, it could be we have to—we just partnered with CISCO, so we’re trying to bring some CISCO equipment into our lab. And so, lately that’s what I’ve been doing: installing and figuring out (how?) to deploy (new?) labs. It could be any number of things. But it generally is sort of preparation or new creation of something that will eventually become a part of training. Whether it’s down the road or [inaudible].
Me: “How many hours a week do you dedicate to your
job?”
Jamie: “I’m at about 40 hours a week generally. Uh, on teaching days, it’s actually a little bit shorter. Um, and that’s often because students have a hard time being with you for eight hours [laugh] I get it, so usually, I try to have a certain amount of material I need to get through in a day. If we finish. So, usually we might at a six and half or seven-hour day on a day that I’m teaching. Um, the forty hours is actually one of the nice things about being a trainer in a tech space particularly. Think of tech support, and they’re on 24/7 and some of these guys work crazy hours. So, [inaudible] noon to midnight, seven to seven, and it’s really nice that there’s never really a training emergency. So, most of the time, I don’t even need to be available outside of working hours which is really one of the nice perks. My husband is a VP at, uh, technology company and it’s one of the—he’s answering phone calls at seven, eight, nine o’clock. Five o’clock in the morning [inaudible]. (Mine?) isn’t one of those kinds of jobs. Which is, uh, really good for the work life balance, that’s for sure.
Jamie: “I’m at about 40 hours a week generally. Uh, on teaching days, it’s actually a little bit shorter. Um, and that’s often because students have a hard time being with you for eight hours [laugh] I get it, so usually, I try to have a certain amount of material I need to get through in a day. If we finish. So, usually we might at a six and half or seven-hour day on a day that I’m teaching. Um, the forty hours is actually one of the nice things about being a trainer in a tech space particularly. Think of tech support, and they’re on 24/7 and some of these guys work crazy hours. So, [inaudible] noon to midnight, seven to seven, and it’s really nice that there’s never really a training emergency. So, most of the time, I don’t even need to be available outside of working hours which is really one of the nice perks. My husband is a VP at, uh, technology company and it’s one of the—he’s answering phone calls at seven, eight, nine o’clock. Five o’clock in the morning [inaudible]. (Mine?) isn’t one of those kinds of jobs. Which is, uh, really good for the work life balance, that’s for sure.
Me: “That’s pretty nice. How long is your daily commute?”
Jamie: “Daily commute is anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes right now. Really pretty easy. It’s light when school is out. Heavier when it’s not. But yeah, but that’s also a decision I made personally. That I [inaudible] that I can’t. Don’t want to drive one hour and a half in one direction.”
Me: “That’s pretty nice considering it’s Atlanta.”
Jamie: “Yeah, I worked at Georgia Pacific(?) for three months and I only worked there for three months because I could not make the commute. I was in my car for three hours a day. And that was even taking Marta. The drive to North Spring was (eleven?) miles and it would take me an hour [inaudible].
Me: “It’s really terrible driving here.”
Jamie: “Yes, it is.”
Me: “Um, what do you find most challenging or
difficult about this job?
Jamie: “The most challenging thing is learning new
technology. It’s, um, we’re getting something new in a lab—and even for me—it
took an associate’s course in IT. But really, like, we never got into any of
the operating systems, like, in a lot of depth. Being able to go into Windows,
and into registry, or go into Linux, and maneuver the files and, um, a lot of
that I just kind of, you know, learn as I go. I’ve taught myself a lot and
(people have taught me a lot along the way?). Uh, so that’s probably the most
challenging thing. Like, for instance, we are deploying a new system piece in
our lab. And, um, I have a set-up document that is three pages. And then that’s
helpful, but there’s a lot of stuff in the set-up process that’s not detailed
there. So, it’s a lot of “let’s try this if this doesn’t work, reboot the whole
thing and start at the beginning. So, there’s a lot of learning, but for me,
that challenge is what keeps me engaged. I think if I didn’t have a job that challenged
me in that manner. Then it’d bore me. I’d be done. I’d look for something else
[laugh]. [inaudible] technically challenging, which can be really frustrating
sometimes. But also wonderful.
Me: “So you like the challenge?”
Me: “So you like the challenge?”
Jamie: “I do. It’s also nice [inaudible]. It’s not
like a challenge where I’m under time pressure. It’s like, support, you’ve
gotta resolve this asap. Customer needs to know what’s going on and hound you
until (something?) happens. For me, it’s very much, like, we would like to put
this in there soon as we can. But if it takes us a month, two or three, then
depending on what my teaching schedule is, that’s okay. Nothing is going to
explode if I don’t get into the lab. Nothing is going to, you know, be
detrimental to what we’re doing on a daily basis. We have a lab that works for
us right now, so, you know, adding to it, improving upon it really is not a
time-sensitive thing, so, um, that’s one of the nice things. I enjoy the
challenge [inaudible]. It’s a little easier to bear.
Me: “What is the most rewarding part about your job?”
Jamie: “The most rewarding part to me is, uh, helping
our students to make a connection [inaudible] (to see?) lightbulbs going (on?).
It’s also very rewarding for me to watch my technical knowledge grow which also
comes from being in front of the students. And having people ask me things I
didn’t think I knew the answer. You know, as a teacher, you never—and I think
any teacher would—say this, “that you know everything about what you’re
teaching.” You just are never going to be hundred percent expert; high-end
encyclopedia and I know every little detail. Nobody has the talent [inaudible].
So, it’s nice to, you know, have your knowledge validated sometimes and to
recognize how solid your [inaudible] and then it’s the students are like “oh!
So that’s why that is. Oh! That’s where that is.” You know, that kind of thing.
Really (fun as an instructor?).
Me: “Um, how much control do you have over your work?”
Jamie: “Um, a bit. Just a little. Uh, we as a company
are really pretty structured as far as what our courses look like as they all
look the same in structure. Everything has presentation. Everything has lab.
Outside of that, we do have some freedom to add in some extra stuff if it makes
sense. You know, play a game in the class or have a little activity outside of
the labs, you know, for term purposes or understanding what’s something in the
product means. So, we have the freedom to do that sort of thing. Um, we also
have the freedom to, you know, add to the course. But I will say that, we are a
very small team, in a pretty busy organization. We actually had two trainers leave
us this year. We had six, now we’re at four. Um, most of us are teaching every
other week at this point, because we are so swamped and have so few people
[inaudible]. Um, so, I would say we don’t have quite as much freedom as we may
have time. You have, you do have the ability to embellish what you do, but you
also need to get your other work done. So, it’s a balance there. It’s at this
point where it depends on how busy you are and how many people are in the team.
[inaudible] there’s not enough room at this point to, you know, make those
decisions on your own to improve this and do this today. It’s very much “we
need this training program complete, focus on that first; and, if there’s time
for anything else, then have at it. But it’s usually, [inaudible].
Me: “So, when you have, like, four trainers on your
team, like, do you have, like, flexibility in your work?”
Jamie: “So, yes, when we essentially we had six. We’re
down to four. When those two left and they left at different times, but one of
them we were not given the headcount to fill. The one that’s leaving next week,
we do have the headcount to fill. We haven’t done yet. Um, what happens, with
the same amount of trainings going on, we need to spread those across four
people instead of six. So, when we had six trainers, we were teaching, maybe,
every three weeks. Now we’re teaching about every two. Which isn’t too bad if
one of those is virtual. If it’s in person though, for example, I was in Dallas
last week and then Houston next week and then my boss approached me about going
to Sydney, Australia the week before Thanksgiving. And I was, like, that’s
going to be my third week out of five. I can’t commit to that. Can we push
this? She was, like, “sure, but we already committed that date for the other trainers.
I just was checking for making sure you couldn’t do it before we moved it.” So,
like, it really wasn’t a big deal. It’s getting to that point where we’re all
travelling a lot just because the workload is not spread as far reaching as it
would be [inaudible].
Me: “So, you don’t have much control over your
schedule as much, but, I guess, over your tasks, do you have too much control
over that?”
Jamie: “A little bit, I would say probably have more
control over my schedule over my tasks. We do have the ability to, you know, if
somebody asked us [inaudible]. She does all of these scheduling customers
initial contact, she actually does technical testing with them up front just to
make sure they can access our environment—that they can do certain things. They
can access certain things. There are a couple of these very common firewall
things that most companies have in place that we need to change temporarily for
our class. Just stuff like that she takes care of. She’ll often reach out for
almost every customer and say, “can you do training this day?” And we can say
yes or no. Because we are not expected to, like, to give up major things in our
life as training has come along. Um, so we can apply yes or no, but we have to
be prepared [that] if we say yes or no that we’re ready to give alternative
dates. Um, so we do have some control over that. Tasks, less control over
tasks. Just generally because we have a very big backlog of projects that we
haven’t even started to touch yet. And so, we usually have a little bit of say
in what those projects are. Like, I usually get very technical ones because I
like that. And because I teach our expert level courses. I know the back end
(of the?) systems very well. I’ve got other folks who maybe aren’t so
interested in knowing things that much and they don’t teach the expert classes,
they teach the user classes, and so, um, they might be doing. I’ve got one guy
who’s doing (more like?) um, online recorded presentations for some of the
admin stuff and then that the customers could reference. And so, it really—we
don’t have a lot of control. Whatever is in the queue, our boss will generally
say, “hey, is this of interest to you? Is this of interest of you?” Tries to
give us projects that will further our interests and our knowledge. And, my
boss, she knows that I like “give me the technical stuff.” [laugh] So if we
ever have stuff like that [inaudible]. “We’ve got a new project, would you be
interested in doing?” And so then she will share what it is. We do get some say
in that.
Me: “That sounds good. Um, so, it sounds like you
don’t have to make too many personal sacrifices for your job?”
Jamie: “No. And we work—I work—for a very family
friendly company. Um, their internal motto is “employees first, customer
second, business third.” And we’re actually a pretty small company. About three
to three fifty people. Um, either between most of our company is between the US
and Tel Aviv, because the CEO is from Tel Aviv. So, uh, we’ve got those two
major areas. And, we had investor approach the company about funding us for
some capital and our CEO has sad many times the motto is “employees first,
customers second, business third.” If you want to invest in our company, you’ve
got to be okay with that. And we’ve had many venture capital say, “nope, that’s
not my bottom line.” And that’s fine, because we’ve stayed small because of
that. But, um, it is very nice (if?) we have to go to a doctor’s appointment
for an hour or two in the morning, you don’t have to take time off for that.
Most of the management is very flexible in that. And I think in the tech space,
like, I’ve worked in five different companies over the last twelve years. All
but one of them has been a software company. And that has been a bit of a
common thread amongst them with the exception of the one that’s not a software
company. Were most of them have been very much, like, if you are getting your work
done, we’re going to give you the flexibility that you need to do the things
you need to do. And so, it’s very much just like open dialogue. Just tell
people what’s going on. I told my boss I’d be here for a half hour to an hour.
And she was, like, “okay.” It was a non-issue. So, uh, just the environment of
the company is very much like that [inaudible]. Just so long as there is no
training emergency. The biggest sacrifice I would say for, er, my position is
the travel. Even though I’m teaching three days [inaudible] customer. You know,
next week, I’ll be leaving my house around, probably, eleven in the morning to
catch a flight. [inaudible] and then Thursday night, I finish my course at four
o’clock on Thursday. But my flight is not until nine o’clock. It’ll be one pm
when I get home given the time change. So, [inaudible] I think that’s more
where my sacrifices are with my job. You
know, it’s a sacrifice for my family not to be there [inaudible]. There is
something nice to having that break as well. Not having to be in the same
office day after day. Interacting with new people. Pros and cons. It’s not the
right job for everybody but for some people it’s perfect.
Me: “Do you think your wages are fair compensation for
the amount of work that you do?”
Jamie: “I do, I think my company does, I think, we are on the lower side of the scale [inaudible] for how deep we have to know the product. But there are those tradeoffs as far as the flexibility and, you know, the fact that they don’t ask us to travel more than once a month. You’ll find that in my industry in particularly. You’ll find that I could make double than what I make now. But that’s if I’m willing to be on the road 75% of the time. And I’m just not, you know, it’s a tradeoff in my industry in particular. It’s a tradeoff: pay vs. travel. The more you travel, the more you get paid is generally how it works. [inaudible] spend time with your family, life, or whatever you have at home, for that period of time, they’ll generally compensate you well. If you’re not willing to do that so much, then you your pay is generally lower. You’re not required to be a road warrior. Uh, so, it’s fair absolutely. But because we don’t travel so much the pay is lower. And that’s fine.
Jamie: “I do, I think my company does, I think, we are on the lower side of the scale [inaudible] for how deep we have to know the product. But there are those tradeoffs as far as the flexibility and, you know, the fact that they don’t ask us to travel more than once a month. You’ll find that in my industry in particularly. You’ll find that I could make double than what I make now. But that’s if I’m willing to be on the road 75% of the time. And I’m just not, you know, it’s a tradeoff in my industry in particular. It’s a tradeoff: pay vs. travel. The more you travel, the more you get paid is generally how it works. [inaudible] spend time with your family, life, or whatever you have at home, for that period of time, they’ll generally compensate you well. If you’re not willing to do that so much, then you your pay is generally lower. You’re not required to be a road warrior. Uh, so, it’s fair absolutely. But because we don’t travel so much the pay is lower. And that’s fine.
Me: “My mom does something similar to you. So, I can
understand that. She chose not to do the whole travelling thing. It would
involve her going to, like, India and she doesn’t want to do that.”
Jamie: “Yeah, it’s hard. You know, my kids are still
three and five. It’s just such a short time of their life. I feel like once
they’re older when they’re teenagers, I can entertain more travel. Given that
they’ll, like, “ugh, mom go away.” You’re a teenager, your parents aren’t cool.
[inaudible] maybe some point in my life more travel would be something could or
would be willing to do, but at this point, they’re so small. My daughter is
almost five, and she’s sad when I go away. You know, when it’s for a three-day
trip, it’s fine. Fifteen, twenty days, couldn’t do it. Wouldn’t want to do it.”
Me: “Uh, do you receive any fringe benefits, like, uh,
health insurance, paid time off, 401K and are you satisfied with those
benefits?”
Jamie: “I would say that, um, that, so we do get them. Health insurance is
great. My company pays 80% which is huge. Actually, when I started, they paid
100%. It’s gone down. As we’ve grown, it’s gone down. The benefits are great.
I’ll be very honest, [inaudible]. It’s really pretty up front. And it’s good
insurance. Um, we do get paid time off. We do get fifteen days and then when we
hit five years with the company, we get twenty. Um, I will say that is low
compared to other tech companies. That is something. And it’s funny because we
have this, you know, duplicity in the company with so many of the management
folk being Israeli, and either living in Tel Aviv or haven lived in Tel Aviv
and are now living in the states. Our actual headquarters is in, uh,
[inaudible]. It’s literally across the Hudson. So, there are in Jersey.
[inaudible] But they are a little tighter with, then again, our Israeli
[inaudible] have timecards. They clock in clock out. We don’t have to do that
here. Because that’s not really something we do in our kind of industry
anymore. But, um, we do find that [inaudible]. You know, that’s just not the
way we do it in Israel, so we’re not going to do it here kind of thing. Where,
I think some US based companies that are in the same space or in a similar
space. There would be a lot more benefits. My husband works for a small IT
company and they have unlimited PTO. So, it’s probably on the low side and that
is something our HR in the US has been fighting to get improved. This year we
had sick days for the first time and (I had?) surgery and used three vacation
days for a surgery because we had no sick days. Um, so it is improving.
Not—it’s not [inaudible]. We do 401K but there is no match. There was another
company I worked for that had a nice match. So that was a bit of a downer
coming into this position. But overall, I would say the benefits are good. They
could be better, but the work has been good for me, so I’m sticking around to
see if other things will improve. It’s also a part of the company [inaudible].
We’ve only been in the US for five or six years. So, it’s may be a little
learning curve. Generally, the management is pretty lenient. They’re not gonn.
You know, [inaudible]. Satisfied enough but could be better [laugh]
[inaudible].
Me: “Um, where do you see yourself in five years
career-wise”
Jamie: “Probably doing the same thing. Maybe in a lead type of position. But, I
really—I could go into training management. It would be a normal progression
for my job. But I love the teaching aspect. It’s what I do and I don’t know if
I could give that up for a better title, quote. Or I don’t know if the pay
increase for what I do to management level would be enough for me to want to
drop that part of my job. It’s one of those things that for some people who are
very, um, upward oriented, right? Who want to go as high they can on the
corporate ladder. Um, for some people they don’t understand that. I’ve had this
conversation with friends where, like, “really, you don’t want to do anything
different?” I do different things all the time, it’s just not a different job.
It’s a different technology, it’s a different thing I need to teach. So, um, I
think as long as I continue to feel challenged that way, I think [inaudible]
I’d like a lead position, you know, train the other trainers, and, you know,
kind of give some practice mentoring type of role. But I don’t see myself going
into management. It’s not, it’s not [inaudible].
Me: “What advice would you give to someone considering
this line of work?”
Jamie: “Oh jeeze, I would say [pause] get comfortable with your public
speaking. Because every job in this industry that is worth its salt is going to
ask you to do a presentation as a part of the interview. So find something that
you know well because most of them will let you pick the topic, so find
something you know well or make yourself know well. Learn something well. And
be prepared to be present it. Because that’s going to be if you apply to a
training position and they don’t ask you to present, it’s probably not going to
be what you think it’s going to be [inaudible]. Um, the other thing is
[inaudible] if you’re looking to get into technology training period. Is to
make yourself absorb as much as you can about varying technologies or if
there’s like a particular industry or thing, you’re into to really know that
stuff and get certifications [inaudible]. To anything as simple as taking those,
you know, free courses you can get from [inaudible] Coursera. You know, I got
my Linux from one of those. It’s the same course you can pay for but without an
instructor. And so, I always tell people, the more [inaudible] what you want to
teach, the more prepared you may be to go into a training [inaudible]. And I
find that a lot of the time, that [inaudible] training and being excited about
learning is the other side of the (coin?). (You can see?) that you don’t know
everything you will ned to learn about how to do this, but you want to learn,
and you’re interested, it’ll take you a long way. So that’s probably the top
advice. Prepare as much as you can, be ready to present, and be excited about
learning the things you don’t know, because you’ll never know. And a lot of
times, that first job [inaudible].
Me: “Um, what type of person do you believe would be
most successful in this kind of job?”
Jamie: “I think that you have to be comfortable
talking in front of people. You have to be a people person. You have a
personality that flourishes when you, like, [inaudible] I wouldn’t say you need
to be an extrovert but [inaudible] you have to be feel comfortable being a
little authoritative, right? Because you’re going to be the one that everyone
is looking to for answers. You also have to be able to say I don’t know when
you don’t know. Because, like, if you’re fudging an answer, people are going to
see right through you. So, you have to be comfortable, you know, both being
authoritative with what you know and being accepting of what you don’t, and,
you know, being able to just communicate well with people. I think if anybody
has that skill set, you can learn the material you need to teach at almost
every job I’ve gone into that’s in this field. There’s always been [inaudible].
Unless you use that software before, which 99% of the time that’s going to be a
no. There’s always going to be that kind of stuff to learn. But have those
presentation skills, be comfortable in front of people, be authoritative on
what you know, [inaudible]. That’s a good way to [inaudible].
Me: “Okay, do you see yourself staying with the
company. Yeah, do you see yourself staying with the company within the next
five years?”
Jamie: “Um, great question. I’m really not sure. Um, possibly. Um, it’ll really
depend on a couple of things. Uh, [inaudible]. It’s always helpful to keep your
eyes open for the next opportunity. I entertain anything remotely interesting
that comes across my desk. If anybody reaches out about a job, I will always
[inaudible] tangibly in my wheelhouse. So, even that, who knows. But the other
thins is, you know, if I get to the point where I am no longer challenged, or I
don’t feel like my work or expertise is being appreciated, those are two
reasons I’ve left previous jobs. And so, if I continue as things have been for
the last two years, I certainly foresee myself staying with the same company.
Especially, if the, you know, the growth continues to happen and there is an
opportunity to become a lead on our team, but there’s, I would say, there’s an
equal possibility I’ll be somewhere else. The longest I’ve stayed with a job in
my working career has been six years. So, I have been at two with this one, in
five it’ll be the longest term. I’d say it’s a possibility. I just feel like if
something more interesting comes across my plate one day.
Me: “Do you believe this line of work within the
company will help you achieve a better position in some other place?”
Jamie: “Absolutely. I have worked my way through a
Linux system like I couldn’t before I started [laugh]. You know, I started a
course at my old position. I did a little bit of command line stuff there and
then when I got here. I came in here knowing nothing about firewalls. If you
had asked me “how does a firewall work?” before I started this job, I dunno.
Like, I understand theoretically what it does and I know networking but I don’t
know, like, how a firewall is other than it blocks things. Now I know all those
things. I now have a greater understanding and appreciation on the security
side of things. Which is something interesting about this job is that every
other position I’ve worked in—place I’ve worked—every product has had, like,
competitors within the industry. Like, [inaudible] back end software for On
Demand. And so, it’s like, our software if they attempt to [inaudible], can’t
give it to Comcast. It’s competitive. Whereas, this, because it’s network
based, then this thing and this thing and this thing. [inaudible] there’s no
competitive edge to having it. Everybody’s network is safer. Yay! Kind of the
outcome of that. So,
