vlbrown-mzydt

Many years ago, in my first “real” (i.e. fulltime, salaried) job, my then-manager said to me:

Vicki, you’re so good at what you do. Why can’t you be good at this?

“This” was the position he wanted me in. He wanted me to become a Data Base Administrator. I was, at the time, writing utility programs for the department, doing user support, and writing data filters. I was happy in my role of Unix Programmer. I had neither the interest nor, more important, the desire, to become a Data Base Administrator.

Back in 1986, the conversation was going nowhere fast.

Me: I would make a very bad Data Base Administrator.

Manager: How do you know? You’re so good at what you do…

Me:. Trust me. I can guarantee you that I would be a Very Bad DBA.

Why? Because I (don’t) like it

I am not one of those people who excels at everything she sets her hand to. I am not one of those people who does well at something just because she tries, or because she was asked.

I excel at the things I enjoy. If I’m happy, I do high-quality work. This leads some naive managers to assume I will always do high quality work. That’s where the surprise comes (for the manager).

If I’m unhappy, the best anyone can hope for is plodding mediocrity. Right up to the point where I escape — because I don’t like to be unhappy. I don’t like to be locked into a mediocre, unlikeable position. I don’t like to be forced.

Over the intervening years since that first manager thought I’d make a great DBA, other naive and thoughtless managers have tried to turn me into something I’m not and didn’t want to be. Become a Macintosh programmer. (I was happy as a Unix programmer). Become a C++ kernel test writer. (“You can do this; you have a Masters’ Degree!”…”Yes, I do. It’s in Microbiology”).

Then there was the brief, best forgotten, stint in some sort of marketing team, the gist of which was “work with our partners without giving them any information”. I recall half-listening to that manager explaining, in an avuncular fashion, why it’s important to do what we’re asked to do because we can’t do what we want. I wondered, as I half listened, what he would say if I broke in to tell him I had just accepted a job offer the previous day — to do something I was far more interested in doing.

flex·i·ble adj.

1. Capable of being bent or flexed.
   
2. Capable of being bent repeatedly without injury or damage.
   

I am adaptable. I have many technical interests. I have, for much of the past 20 years, been a programmer. I have also provided user support. I have also been a webmaster, a technical writer, system administrator, a quality lead, and a project manager. I have written Unix utilities, scientific data filters, and programs for a financial institution. I have developed new software and done maintenance programming on code I didn’t write.

I am not, however, “flexible”. I will bend – I will not be bent.

Sometimes, surprisingly, the problem comes from the other direction. I have a friend who is one of the smartest, most capable technical people I know. I would work with him again in an instant. In fact, I had the opportunity to bring him into a company I was working for — he stayed 5 years!

When I first met him, he was specializing in Unix kernel programming. He later moved into filesystems. He was good at what he did… so good, in fact, that when he told his management, “I’m tired of kernels and filesystems. I want to do applications for a while”, they said:

You’re so good at what you do. Why can’t you continue to be good at it?

My friend was adaptable. His management was not. A year or so later, after trying several times to change his role, he walked out of his job. (I immediately convinced a “more adaptable” manager at the company where I was, then, to hire him — as an applications programmer. As I said, he stayed 5 years.)

Some of us are very good at what we do. The important thing to keep in mind is the implied condition — we’re good at what we do when we’re happy in what we’re doing. We’re good at what we do when we want to be good at it. This can be either conscious or subconscious, but it all comes down to one thing:

When I enjoy my job, I do high quality work. If you want me to keep doing high-quality work, keep me happy. Don’t try to force me to change jobs. Don’t try to turn me into someone else, just because you believe that you want (or “need”) a different job done. It won’t work. I won’t get what I want and you won’t get what you want. We’ll both lose.

In the final analysis, I don’t really work for you. I work for the company and I work for me. My goal is job satisfaction. Keep me happy — allow me to do my job — and I’ll do excellent, high quality work.

I can guarantee it.