* * * * *
Life at The Corporation
> I've certainly peered deeper into the Abyss of XXX XXX's implementation of
> SS7 (Signaling System No. 7) and come to a deeper understanding of the
> Lovecraftian nature of it.
>
> A comment about my “goal” on my self-evaluation for The Corporation.
>
I'm finding myself in an odd position at The Corporation.
And it's not a bad thing at all.
I was hired to do performance measurements and testing of “Project:
Wolowizard [1]” and my first manager was R, who started (and still runs) the
Ft. Lauderdale Office of The Corporation (the main office being in Seattle).
My role fell into the “Quality Assurance” department and in 2011, I was
transferred to the QA (Quality Assurance) department, and my manager became
E, who worked at Corporate Headquarters in Seattle (while I still work in the
Ft. Lauderdale Office).
I ended up being the only QA employee in the Ft. Lauderdale Office. But more
crucially, I'm the only QA employee doing QA on call processing (the part
that happens between cell phones) in the entire company. So my weekly meeting
(read: phone call) with the QA team would go something like:
E: So, random QA person, what have you been working on this week?
Random QA Person #1: [Long rambling technobabble about setting up unit tests
for a smart phone application.]
E: Very good. Now, other random QA person, what have you been working on this
week?
Random QA Person #2: [Even longer rambling technobabble about helping Random
QA Person #1 set up unit tests, with a long digression
about Ruby programming.]
E: Very good, very good. What about you, yet another random QA person?
Random QA Person #3: [Exposition about the difficulties in testing Random
Java Technology for yet another smart phone
application.]
Random QA Person #1: [Interjects into what Random QA Person #3 was saying
about a possible fix for the difficulties in testing
Random Java Technology.]
Random QA Person #3: Okay, I think I'll try that.
E: Wonderful. What about you, some other random QA person?
Random QA Person #4: [SEAN strains to hear Random QA Person #4 over the
phone, but Random QA Person #4 mumbles so softly, SEAN
cannot make out what Random QA Person #4 is saying, so
SEAN spaces out for a few minutes.]
E: …Sean? Are you there?
Sean: [Realizes it's his turn to speak.] Oh yeah … um … this week I've
[technobabble about running the latest “Project: Wolowizard” regression
test and some of the difficulties [2] in testing [3] the Protocol Stack
From Hell™.]
E: Okay … well then … see you all next week.
Nothing against E—E is a very nice person, but no one else on the QA team
deals with call processing. Nor do they program in C, C++ or Lua. Java,
Javascript and Ruby, yes. But the rest of the QA team in the Corporation deal
with applications for cell phones and smart phones; I'm the only one that
deals with call processing.
And because of that, it was felt by The Powers That Be™ that I would be
better served under a manager in the Ft. Lauderdale Office (this was a few
months ago). So now I'm working under J. J's a great guy, but he too, knows
nothing about call processing (he's actually managing other, non-call
processing cell phone related projects). Except for a meeting every week or
two (or like today, for a performance review) I've just been plugging away at
testing and staring into the Abyss of The Protocol Stack From Hell™.
It could be worse. I could have daily meetings like my fellow office mates.
(But it's not like I'm the only one there who understands call processing.
There are three others, all at the Ft. Lauderdale Office. R, who is a VP in
The Corporation and runs the Ft. Lauderdale Office; M, the lead developer who
is now enmeshed in writing a smart phone client for “Project: Wolowizard,”
and S, who does for Ops (call processing stuff) what I do for QA (call
processing stuff) and is probably in a similar situation as me.)
[1]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2010/10/11.1
[2]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2012/01/17.2
[3]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2010/10/26.1
Email author at
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