Hackers and Hot Rods

Si is hanging on by his fingertips at Turnaround.com.  The company is limping along, and all are doing whatever we can to keep it going. With all the angst in the building, it is tough to go to work every day.  The younger engineers and marketing people have it the worst.  Most are single and seem to tie their egos to the job and the company image. Old Si can relate, even he was young once.

It is different for us 'older' workers, or, I should say 'the' older worker....me. I work hard, of course, but leave the ego at home in the morning.  I do good work, collect good pay, and on Friday, we are all even.

I take a lot of grief each day for being up there in the age range.  "Hey! Why don't you Tweet? What? You never went to Cochella? Why do you drink Scotch? What about Tequila?"

Much of the grief us old guys take is deserved. The world changes rapidly, and keeping up is nearly a full time job. Lots of us do not keep up, and one day we are on the street with no place to go. Tough to keep up technically, even tougher socially without some help.  I have a niece and nephew who are far to hip for their ages, so I do have a source of knowledge outside of work. At a BBQ last weekend, I was reminded NOT to tuck my shirt in, learned about the new RadioHead downloads, and found out why the Birds are Angry.  Lots of it doesn't makes sense, but neither did Grateful Dead songs to my Uncle.

So, what 'value' is there in the organization for an old guy? Day to day, not much. Sometimes the experience in an obscure technology is needed, 'what is RS422?', or a contact at a customer from the distant past, the old drinking buddy now a VP of Supply Base, comes in handy. Not often enough. There is a skill many of us have from the VERY distance past that is invaluable when things are tough. The Hot Rod mentality.

Back in High School, nearly every family had just one car. Usually, the dads would car pool to work. Once every couple of weeks the family car would be free; we could drive it to school. Imagine, ol' Si could cruise in style into the Student Parking Lot, with the ratty Chevy station wagon.  'Have to do something to get my OWN car' was my thought.  Not just ANY car, but the DREAM car.  At lunch, the guys would debate THE car we would buy when we were rich... that is when we had a job. We all KNEW the best car and would argue our choices for the whole lunch hour. Hemi 'Cuda, 440 Challenger, Boss 302 Mustang, 454 SS Chevelle. But, it was more important to have A car rather than THE car. Hard to go out on a date with a bike, if we even had one. The last part of High School, most of us gear heads had a job in a gas station or repair shop. We worked hard, and made some money. Things would be slow Saturday night at the station, so the older guys at the gas station would work on their own cars.  We all learned by watching.

With some cash saved, we hit the classified ads, check out the street corners, and talk to anyone we knew. "Looking for a car, cheap!" Need something to work on and to get all those girls to the beach in! Finally, one friend would score a car. We would all show up with our ragged set of tools on a Saturday to see the baby. "Well, it has one whole fender not crunched, the driver's seat is fixable with Duct tape, and that nasty idle could be just a bad spark-plug wire!"  With several hours of hacking, and our friend would have a running ride. Not the 'dream' car, but something that worked. Wow, it idled like a 440 with a 3/4 cam, but it was just a leaky carb float.

We all found something by the Spring, and had figured out how to get our babies running. For Si, it was a 55 Chevy truck with 410,000 miles.  All it needed was a couple of valve guides, an ignition wire, and 2 junkyard tires.  For less than $100, I was cool! I didn't get a working radio. That would have to wait. Besides, you couldn't hear the music anyway with the rotting muffler.  I decided to ignore the whine that signaled impending doom for the differential. A problem for another day.

We all had wheels! Still thinking about the Dream Car, of course. Working to get an apartment, getting though college, or doing time in the Navy, meant another car had to wait.  If we didn't get our girlfriend pregnant, made it back from 'Nam, avoided a DUI, and saved some money, we could cruise in style in our dream car someday.  Until then, we had to hack what we had to get around.

We all learned to see the potential of a situation. Your current car was never going to be a 'Cuda, but it ran... you could get a girl to the beach and back. You begged and borrowed tools, used junkyard parts, and worked the system to make the 'deadline', then the Saturday night date.

Back to today, all of that helps deal with the project you are 'lead' on at work.  It won't meet the PRD or MRD specs. The sales guys will have to dance to appease the customer.  Marcom will need to 'massage' the upcoming Press Release... but it works.  And, it delivers value that wasn't there before.  It will bring in revenue this quarter and fund the staff we still have.

There are always tradeoffs, always tough decisions when you have limited time or resources. If you maintain a big picture view, you can see what to do now and what to do later, in Version 1.1. You see a process. With my old '55, the project wasn't 'done' until it went to the junk yard 'crusher'.

I kept the '55 running until I could afford a decent used VW. That got me through college, and to the point where I could get a 'dream' car.  Not the 'Cuda, not the SS, but something better for the times.  The used Dino would have been too cramped. That shiny new Corvette used too much gas.  The restored '440 was too noisy. And all would have delayed the purchase of a Condo. Cars were depreciating assets. Property values were going though the roof. Cute nurses didn't seem to care about Hemi Roadrunners, but just loved the pool at your new Condo. Dreams change.... something that you cannot imagine when you are a young gear head.

Turnaround.com will make it through this product cycle. I hacked 55 Chevys then, I hack software releases now.  I try to keep the big picture view for my team, the young guys who never turned a wrench on a lube rack, never had to chose between eating dinner and buying gas.

The value in being an old car guy is that perspective.  Still, it doesn't help me understand why kids post pictures of their lunch on Facebook....

'B'ing There

May and June are closing in on ol' Si.  Working for a turnaround, hoping that it will make it to July. The significance of the upcoming months are, of course, weddings and college graduations. I have survived one of each. The graduation one was forgotten after my first job. Yes, in the Valley, the shelf life of the paper from your college graduation is one job.

Someone hires you because you went to Impressive U, got a degree in Impressive Engineering, and rushed Impressive Phi Sigma fraternity. You do something at that first job; you meet other new grads doing something. You drink beer with them, bitch about bosses, stare in amazement a life of a salesperson, yell at the marketing department, and generally grow up with your peers.

Then, one of the guys you went to Impressive U leaves the job. WHAT? Your leaving? How? Why? They are paying you HOW much? Wow.  Should I look around?" The magic of internet job sites and a wayward frat brother get an interview for you soon after.

You must be hot! They don't even ask for a resume. The say they need my skills now. You decide that the interviewer is right... you are in a dead end. Come here where you are appreciated! Stock options (sounds impressive)! Free food! No old guy managers! Life is good.

About three months into your new dream job, warts appear. Daily bagels turn into weekly donuts, and stale at that. Well, hey, at least I have 'stock'.  Until the recapitalization.... then you don't. President fires your boss. Board tosses out the President. A guy who looks like the accountant in Hell comes in, wielding a machete. You walk out of the company on a Friday with your career in a cardboard box.

Well, you are a hot commodity! Your last boss said so. Now, you create your first LinkedIn profile. This should be easy. I didn't do much at my first job, and the second job was blown out from under me in a few months.  But, no problem. I am an A student from Impressive U! Wait until they see my grades in math!

OK, I need to get serious here... setting up LinkedIn now and... oh, why is my degree and college at the BOTTOM of the LinkedIn page?  Where is the section for 'Awards and Recommendations' from Impressive High School? The skills at company A and B are front and center on the LinkedIn page. If they are not a match for a specific job, then everything below it, such as that fancy college, may never make the hiring eyeballs.

You get a LinkedIn followup.  Job description looks promising.  Reality comes with the first set of interviews. You realize that the decision makers either went to colleges that were too low to make your list of 'safety schools', or didn't even bother to attend at all.  There was no small talk about drinking at the Dutch Goose, or bar hopping in Boston. All the hiring manager said he knows about frats is what he saw in 'Animal House'. "Great about your special project as a college junior... how many Agile scrums did you manage at your last job?" You'll be fine, just play the college card carefully.

Si never mentions attending Mediocre State U during an interview. Doesn't dwell on the three years at Community College while I was tuning up cars, trying to save some money. Not having been a grad of CMU or Cal killed me when I talked to Sun in the 90s, and kept me from even getting a rejection notice from Google a few years back. Hope that Google can control the rampant egos and in-fighting from hiring only at big name schools. Sun couldn't.

Enjoy the friendships, frats, pictures of you doing stupid things on your Facebook page, but move on when you graduate. Easy for old Si and his sheepskin from Mediocre State U. Might be tougher for you, as you did go to Impressive U.

Make no mistake, your top notch education is a good thing. You made the top of the heap just getting into Impressive U. You are smart, so be proud!

OK that was my lecture on college graduation. What about weddings? Need several more gin and tonics before I can write about that.