APRIL 22: A No Good Terrible Bad Day
Well, I’m sure y’all all know by now, the Washington Capitals lost in sudden death overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-3 on Tuesday. It kind of sucked to watch that, but it was an exciting game nonetheless.
But the real kicker was in the morning at work. First, you have to understand that I work for a consulting firm. Second you have to understand what ‘being on the bench’ means and how it’s basically death for consultants. Being on the bench is when you’re not working on a client’s project. You’re not being productive and your billable hours goal for the year will be missed, so you want as little bench time as possible during the year.
Tuesday morning, I get to work, run get a little breakfast with some of my teammates, and return to find out that my project has come to an untimely end, a bit like CleverDude in the link above. Next thing I know, I’m laughing mildly hysterically at the situation and at the slight edge of panic in the room.
I find it damned ironic that I need to find a new engagement at work in a hurry because the day before, I was at an internal corporate event trying to network so I can line up the next gig in a few weeks at the planned close of my project. A friend of mine who’s been at the firm for almost a decade introduced me to someone who needs staff in the next 2 weeks. but I won’t be released till midsummer so that isn’t going to work for me.
But how much do things change in 24 hours. You can bet your bippy the first person I called after being axed in the morning was the one staffing up soon. Although I probably won’t end up on that particular project, I was hugely relieved to have a place to turn right away for help.
The moral of the story is to seize your opportunities to network, internally and externally. I can’t say that enough. It’s the reason I guess why us DC PF bloggers like to meet for happy hour. We try to do what we can for our network. It’s a bit of a quid pro quo though. I mean, if I’m willing to take someone’s resume and pass it along, then hopefully they would do the same for me, right?
Clever Dude wrote:
Hope you find something soon! I’d refer you to my company, but it seems they’re focusing less on IT projects and more on, well, I can’t say as that would give away who I work for.
Well, during your bench time, you can always write guest posts for CleverDude.com
Posted on 23-Apr-08 at 9:06 am | Permalink
lanea wrote:
Eesh! Good luck finding a new project. That is not a fun experience.
I will not speak of the Capitals.
Posted on 23-Apr-08 at 11:22 am | Permalink
Mrs. Micah wrote:
Ick. Well, you’ve got skills. And I hope that it’s followed by many great awesome good days.
Posted on 23-Apr-08 at 12:57 pm | Permalink
Msminiducky wrote:
Aw geez. That stinks. Thank goodness for advance planning!
Speaking of the DC area Happy Hour, I actually ran across a job opening for the responsibilities that I’m performing now, though not getting credit for.
Posted on 23-Apr-08 at 1:47 pm | Permalink
budgets are sexy wrote:
Doesn’t sound fun, that’s for sure
You’re a tough cookie though, so i have total faith something will fall out of the sky and land in your happy little hands!
I’ll keep my eyes out for openings as well in the IT field, although i usually only see things for start ups.
Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 10:31 am | Permalink