September 2008
9 months of my life PART 2
Wed, 2008-09-17 21:43 | by Erin
There were many aspects of the project that I was very detached from. Like billing. Frequently while I was setting up for the next set of upgrades I would be approached with billing questions. I simply was not involved in billing decisions and while I had made my "advice" known I know no one cared what I said it was the smile and nod parade as they went past my desk on the way to the meeting I was not invited to.
Later this became OK with me, as unfortunate as it may be, I learned to accept the Japanese way. Meetings are so superiors can tell inferiors what to do. Formally. Very little real "working things out happen there", mostly it was you do this and you do that.
As a constant student of people, and knowledge of my own persona abilities and handicaps, I learned ways around this. I would catch managers in the hall and chat to them politely about the situation and try to get their opinions on what then wanted and needed done. Then after understanding the problem, I would either offer a host of solutions or step back and try to find a solution, only to return later to the same person with a sorted solution in the hallway or over lunch or in the smoking area ... even though I do not smoke, to get what the engineering side wanted, and what make the business side needed happen.
The 9 months of my life. PART 1
Fri, 2008-09-12 23:32 | by Erin
So it is finished.
There is allot of things I have been neglecting over the past 6-9
months. This blog is one of them.
About 2 years ago I saw the first boss I had in Tokyo in the lobby of the building I work in.
He said "You finally made it."
"The only people who believed I could not do it were you and my wife." I replied.
In some ways I regret that statement, even though it was true. About my former boss, I owe him allot. I was in a pretty messed up place when we met and he helped me out, allot.
When we met I had nothing. He recognized my talent but later did not exactly know how to apply it. None the less he gave me a good salary and in addition and set me up in a place in Tokyo. No small feat at that time because just getting a place, a tiny 1 bedroom apartment took almost 5000 American dollars, and involved jumping through more hoops than a circus seal. He fronted it all for me and managed me paying him back out of my salary over 6-7 months.
I left that job after 9 months. I learned allot during that period, mostly about Linux and Linux based systems, but also about who I was and would become. My boss I think learned allot as well. About me and about dealing with non-japanese employees, who were not afraid to loose everything and starting again. I am sure that his whole office is better off for all the shit him and I went through together.
Flash back to today. This week I migrated my last servers out of a VERY costly data center. To a more cost efficient situation closer to the office I work at.