The Last Straw

After passing the Series 7, I swung by the trading company and picked up the study material for the Series 55 and Series 63. While there, I was warned about how difficult and tricky the Series 55 was. The company had new traders who had recently passed the exam give me advice and study pointers. This one was going to be difficult! Only 100 question and 4 hours, but the amount of material covered was going to be insane. More studying ... and more patience from my wife as I buried myself in the study material for the next 3 weeks. Next test date - January 28th.

Meanwhile, back at the technology company, an interesting turn of events was taking place. The week I passed the Series 7, an email was distributed to all employees in my division. This email was announcing referral bonuses to any employee who referred someone outside of the company that eventually was hired for a "hot job" within the company. There were 4 hot jobs listed in the email, and when I saw two of them, I was shocked!!

I believe I forgot to mention a meeting I initiated with my (bad) manager shortly after the reorganization was announced (late November, early December). In fact, I had this meeting right around the time I was deciding to accept the position with the trading company. I wanted to see how the (bad) manager would respond to some questions I asked him. Basically, I recalled to him our conversation about my career goals back in September (the one about technical sales or solutions architect). I told him that although he had moved me into my new job, I was still interested in working towards those positions. Again, I asked him if he could provide me guidance and assistance with working towards this goal. I also asked if he knew of any such positions available. His response was something like this:
"David, I think you would function great in something like that. However, you will need to speak with your new manager regarding switching jobs. I will be sure to keep my eyes and ears open for jobs that fit your description, but just to let you know, those types of jobs can be relatively hard to obtain and I don't really even know if there are any like those available for you. But thanks for talking to me and I will be on the lookout for you."
OK ... so this was somewhat promising, but somewhat B.S. I was going to take it for what it was worth, and at least I was proactive about trying to work towards what I wanted.

So, back to the "hot jobs" email. Two out of the Four .... you guessed it ... technical sales and solutions architect!! Like I said, I was floored! Here I was trying to move into this type of position and was being told it was going to be pretty difficult and not to get my hopes up. However, the company was so desperate for these skills they were aggressively pursuing people outside of the company. After seeing this, I was going to make a point to "call" my (bad) manager on this. My opporunity would be my end-of-year review with him in mid-January.

The conversation went something like this:
"So this past year, David, you did very well. Blah Blah Blah. I rated you outstanding. Blah Blah Blah. I know you will be a great contributor in your new position. Do you have anything you would like to say to me before we close this review?"
"Actually, I would. I have to say I was extremely disappointed recently. We discussed my career goals as far back as September and I expressed interest into moving into a different position. I had initiated another meeting in early December with you where I asked for your assistance and guidance in helping me achieve these goals. You told me you would help me out. I hope you understand when I say I was shocked when I received the "hot jobs" email and saw that two of the four were jobs I had discussed with you. And I have heard nothing from you. Not only that, I felt discouraged to pursue these positions since you said they tend ot be very sparse."
"Wow, David. I had no idea. I don't even remember the email. I am sorry that you feel this way. But just hang in there and don't give up hope."

You have got to be kidding me!
Four months of proactive communication with you, telling you what I want, hearing you tell me you will help me, and gving me a crap response of "don't give up hope"?
You mean to tell me that is what my career is now resting on ... hope?
I DON'T THINK SO!!!

And that was it ... that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was going to do whatever it took to pass the last two exams. I was determined.
Screw "hope" ... I was in control!

Next post ... the last two exams and the two weeks notice.

P.S. - So it doesn't look like I will finish my story before I begin my new job tomorrow. Just hang in there though. It will be finished very shortly.