No Longer A Conundrum

I was wide awake at 3 am this morning. I almost sat down at the time to write this post and title it "Conundrum."

But that wouldn't have been necessary.

For the past few days I've been getting emails from recruiters concerning a "Config & Deploy Specialist" position. It came with a state req number and I had a sneaky suspicion that it was from my former place of employment. I returned one of the emails to verify this, and yes, indeed it was.

My first contract at ADOT was with the Config & Deploy department and I loved it. I adored my supervisor and coworkers and at one point actually—in all honesty—told my boss that I really enjoyed coming to work (quite something after having come from DISH).

And yet, my initial reaction to this new position was "Not only no, but HELL no!" if for no other reason the manner in which my last contract was terminated. But the more I mulled it over last night, the more sense it made to at least apply and see what happened. Though the new supervisor of the department was a bit of a dick, he'd praised my work with the Macs and working with my former colleagues again was a definite draw.

And oh yeah…the money was significantly more than I'd even been making as a desktop tech.

So at 3 am last night I resolved to call my previous supervisor first thing and ask if there would be any reason why I shouldn't apply for this newly available position in C&D.

I said I was asking her first because I still had no idea why my previous contract was terminated. Even then she still wouldn't tell me. Her words:  "I'll run it past Bruce and Bill since they're the ones who…and you'll be reporting to them, so let me get your number and if it's okay I'll let you know and if you don't hear from me…"

So that would be a no. I never had a problem with her, so I don't understand this reticence to be completely forthcoming as to the cause of my dismissal, but obviously it was more than just personnel shuffling or overstaffing and this silence points to the fact that it might not have been entirely above board.

And quite frankly just hearing her voice again gave me the heebie-jeebies, so fuck 'em. It truly is time to look ahead and move on.

On a more positive note, that removed the conundrum I might've found myself in.

During the past week or so I've been interviewing (2 phone, 1 video) for a short term contract installing and setting users up on a single sign-on solution project for one of the major hospital systems in Phoenix. When the description was first sent to me I swear it felt like it fell from heaven. It would get me back into a clinical hospital environment where I could come home each day feeling like I was actually doing something worthwhile for a change.

The downside is that it was only a 2 month, 32-hour-a-week gig. But it's paying nearly twice what I've been making, and that alone will get me out of the financial hole we're slowly sliding into. (And my friend Cindy, who retired from this hospital system said, "They'll never get it done in 2 months. I know those people.")

I'm supposed to hear back from them today or tomorrow. There are 8 positions total, significantly improving my odds of being selected. The agency's account manager listened in during the final phone interview with the client, and he said I did a great job.

Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed.