Annual Job Review

CougTek

CougTek

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,729
Location
Québec, Québec
Tomorrow, I meet my pseudo "boss" for my annual job review.

Remember that scene from T2? Well, I'll tell him "I want your chair, your job and your office". I plan to wear clothes though. The thing is, I'm already the decision maker most of the time and I've cut the department expenses by more than a third compared to the average of the past five years, while improving the security and reliability of the entire network. This actually has chances to succeed. If it doesn't, I did my homework and I have several options.

We'll see how it goes.
 
My guess is that he will react defensively and this will backfire. Is there any other path to be promoted at your current company without taking your boss's job?
 
timwhit said:
My guess is that he will react defensively and this will backfire. Is there any other path to be promoted at your current company without taking your boss's job?
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No. It's his job or I'm gone and losing me would be prohibitively expensive. In a way, I'm helping him. He told me at least twice that he didn't do what he wants in life. I'm just giving him an opportunity to fulfill his dreams.
 
CougTek said:
No. It's his job or I'm gone and losing me would be prohibitively expensive. In a way, I'm helping him. He told me at least twice that he didn't do what he wants in life. I'm just giving him an opportunity to fulfill his dreams.
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That's fine if you mean that it will be part of an orderly succession plan and he has plans to move within the company or retire.
 
timwhit said:
My guess is that he will react defensively and this will backfire. Is there any other path to be promoted at your current company without taking your boss's job?
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I'm wondering on what planet this seemed like a good idea. I've been accused of having minimal filtering between my brain and mouth in an annual performance review no less, and even I wouldn't even dare try to pull this stunt.

I think it's a really horribly bad idea, but bet case scenario it should be tried on your bosses boss. Who is going to respond well to "Give me your job or I'll walk!"?
 
Sometimes you just need to put your foot down, so I hope everything goes well. Otherwise I'm sure Coug will find another job fairly easy.

I've been in about the same situation, but I just left for another job and let the remaining people do things their way. :)
 
It's hard to take this plan literally and seriously at the same time. There a Greek play in there somewhere, metaphorical patricide.
 
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Good luck Coug.

I could see this working out if you have a solid relationship with your pseudo boss. Have you brought any inkling of this up with him before?
 
DrunkenBastard said:
Have you brought any inkling of this up with him before?
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I wrote on the evaluation paper we send him prior to the meeting that I wanted his job. He knew it about a week before the meeting.

I've had my meeting this afternoon. I'm not oofficially the IT director, but I do have the powers generally assosciated with the title. He's open to change my title, but he wants to remain director. I don't see what's between an IT director and a network administrator.

I decide the salary of the employees under my supervision. I deal all the IT contracts, except for a few specialized database systems, although he's agreed to switch to the salary-management application I told him to use more than a year ago. I purchase all the IT hardware for the entire conglomerate. I meet directly with the financial controllers to deal my expense budget. I decide the path where the IT will go. What else is an IT director supposed to do?

Regarding the salary, his hands were tied and it was above his head (financial controller's request). I still end up with a much higher raise than the rest of the staff. Still quite short of my objective, but not far enough to rush my exit. Let's just say that I keep my eye open and I'm willing to discuss.
 
If he doesn't want to give up the Director role what about switching titles from sys admin to it manager? I would say being able to put a manager title in your resume would be more valuable down the line than just sys admin.

Sounds like the only thing you aren't doing for that role is the evals of the other staff? Or maybe you are.

Also HR may hesitate to have a system administrator move straight to it director, they would prob prefer some time in a manager role prior to that transition.
 
DrunkenBastard said:
Sounds like the only thing you aren't doing for that role is the evals of the other staff? Or maybe you are.
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I receive the eval papers filled by the employees and I coach the director on what to tell them.

DrunkenBastard said:
Also HR may hesitate to have a system administrator move straight to it director, they would prob prefer some time in a manager role prior to that transition.
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We had to hire a new L1 tech support last Fall. The HR employee asked me why the director had to be there since he doesn't really know how to behave during an interview. To prove her point, during the last candidate interview, he spent the first half of the interview bending and playing with a paper clip before I became sufficiently annoyed to rip it from his hands.

I don't think HR are too worried about my capacity to fill a director job.
 
ddrueding said:
My guess would be run interference between Coug's more abrasive personality and the C-Suite. That might be a full-time position.
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That's pretty much his job. He's like the thermal interface between my hot temper and the management heatsink. But not the thermal tape type, more like a very gooey, flabby thermal paste that just can't stick together.

He also does a little bit of programming for the local Sharepoint and financial database. He's mostly a junior programmer as far as his programming skill goes.
 
DrunkenBastard said:
If he doesn't want to give up the Director role what about switching titles from sys admin to it manager? I would say being able to put a manager title in your resume would be more valuable down the line than just sys admin.
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I think that if I change my title to manager, people from outside the company will get the impression that I don't know what I'm talking about when we get into the technical stuff. Those I mange might also stop listening to what I say.
 
CougTek said:
I think that if I change my title to manager, people from outside the company will get the impression that I don't know what I'm talking about when we get into the technical stuff. Those I mange might also stop listening to what I say.
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If you stay current and know what your talking about then people won't get the wrong impression.
 
CougTek said:
I think that if I change my title to manager, people from outside the company will get the impression that I don't know what I'm talking about when we get into the technical stuff. Those I mange might also stop listening to what I say.
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Maybe go with "Lead Systems Administrator". Still has the connotations of having the technical chops but also responsible for others as you clearly are.
 
If you don't want to use management/manager in your title, use something with architect. Chief systems architect.

Either way, good luck with the transition and career changes. Sounds like you're doing well.
 
Handruin said:
If you don't want to use management/manager in your title, use something with architect. Chief systems architect.
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In a strange coincidence, I've been contacted today for an IT architect job offer. Starts at 15K$ annually above what I currently earn. Doesn't mean I'll have it, but I'm interested enough to return the call.
 
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