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 Issue 9
Angie let Tech-Ed go to her head, and now she’s in disgrace. It’s her
darkest hour - but is the dawn just around the corner?
Monday
Another Monday, the start of another week in the doghouse. OK, so I overdid it a
bit after Tech-Ed, as Mike’s icy “I think we’ve all heard enough about your
Microsoft product skills now, Angie” made clear (and the anonymous “Ange the
Tech.bighEad” sign made even clearer). I also realise that complaining to Greg that
Mike wasn’t giving me enough opportunities was a serious mistake, which I was very
lucky to survive. But the fact remains that while Denny ranted endlessly after last
year’s conference and, being a man, got away with it, I’ve been branded a
‘pushy woman’ and punishment-posted back to Despatch’s VB screen layouts.
At this rate I’ll have forgotten everything I learnt in Nice before I get a chance to
use it, although I’ve a sneaking suspicion that’s exactly what Mike has in mind.
So much for equality!
Tuesday
Kevin, at least, seems sympathetic. He says it’s not about me being female,
but about Carl and Denny being prima donnas, as Mike’s determined not to let their
antics spread to the rest of the team. He advises me to do my time without complaint, and
promises to get me back onto Customer Auto Scheduling as soon as he can. In fact he’s
already got Mike’s approval for me to start looking at VB6 WebClasses with a view to
Round 2 of CAS enhancements - still VB (ugh!), but a definite step in the right direction.
Though not entirely convinced by Kevin’s ‘prima donnas’ line, I decide to
take his advice and stick at it, realising that I’m still learning the ropes here, as
well as who my real friends are.
Wednesday
Some welcome light relief. At yesterday’s board meeting the Managing
Director suddenly demanded to know what Greg was doing about the Year 2038 Bug,
complaining that he’d already spent a fortune on Y2K and had expected that to be the
end of it. Mystified, Greg did some digging, then hauled in Mike, Carl and Denny to ask if
they were aware that 32-bit time_t dates roll round to 1901 after January 2038. By all
accounts Denny’s reply of “The MD’ll be dead by then anyway”
didn’t go down well, and the dynamic duo are now combing their stock of C++ sources
looking for instances of the MFC Ctime class. Recklessly, I make a comment about the
superior nature of the Automation DATE object, and receive a merciless “get back to
your screen painter” from Carl, plus a dark look from Mike. I’m obviously not
out of the doghouse quite yet.
Thursday
I’m not sure how much more I can take. These screens are trainees’
work, so simple that even Sammy can do them, and meanwhile I can feel my grasp of the
Active Platform fading away from lack of use. Desperately, I ask Mike if I can help with
the Y2038 stuff. Surprisingly, he’s quite friendly, but says that 2038 has been put
on the ‘fix later’ list, as our longest forward contract is 10 years and the CAS
mods take priority. I ask (well, more like beg, really) to go back on CAS, but he says
there genuinely isn’t a slot for me, as the client is frozen until the back-end
problems are sorted. Realising that I’d have been working on the server code myself
if I hadn’t blown it, I go back to my desk and the mind-numbing monotony of
Despatch’s layouts.
Friday
An unexpected email arrives. It’s from my friends at the all-women Web
design house in Florence, saying that business is booming and asking if I’m well and
whether I’ve any experience of bi-directional data binding between IE4 and SQL Server
via IIS. I reply “yes” to both questions, and within an hour get another message
inviting me to Italy - all expenses paid - for a chat. Suddenly my self-esteem, crushed by
six weeks of VB drudgery, soars - I’m being head-hunted, by an outfit working on
leading-edge projects in a beautiful city at the heart of Europe! Clicking
‘Print’ on my email client, I get up and walk away from the printer, leaving my
message to (hopefully) be found by a colleague, preferably one with C++ skills or
‘Manager’ in his job title. If all goes well, it could soon be Arrivederci
Doghouse, and Benvenuto a Firenze!
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Issue 9 - Contents
< Previous Angie -- Next
Angie >
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Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4
Issue 5
Issue 6
Issue 7
Issue 8
Issue 9
Issue 10
Issue 11
Issue 12
Issue 13
Issue 14
Issue 15
Issue 16
Issue 17
Issue 18
Issue 19
Issue 20
Issue 21
Issue 22
Issue 23
Issue 24
Issue 25
Issue 26
Issue 27
Issue 28
Issue 29
Issue 30
Issue 31
Issue 32
Issue 33
Issue 34
Issue 35
Issue 36
Issue 37
And the adventure continues at the HardCopy web site! More |