Outsourced Odyssey

A tech veteran explores the human impact of a bout with outsourcing.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

It ain't sexy, but it'll do

My new position is more satisfying lately, which is a good feeling.

Initially, I was getting concerned, because there was little technical challenge to the job. I was getting assignments like creating a "bubble chart" in Excel, each bubble representing a project, showing visually when it would deploy and if it was green, yellow or red condition. These type of assignments make you get down on your knees and thank God for the iPod.

This last month has been better. A request for a new compliance report came in, a weekly report, and I needed to automate creation of the report as much as possible. I got to do a fair amount of database work (40 queries), and the chance to work with macros to handle the automation. It wasn't Web development, but it was challenging and satisfying work. I finished early, and got kudos from my boss for the job.

It's not sexy technical work: no Web development, nor large-scale database involvement. Mostly it's been Microsoft Access and Excel, which I've gained new respect for as I've seen what's beneath the surface. Still, it doesn't exactly produce a great resume.

However, at this point I'm working more for my family than myself. As long as I can "get some satisfaction" I think I'll be fine.

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