Homegrown Texan

Born and raised in Texas, I've found the home of my heart and soul in the Pacific Northwest. I love trees, cool weather, and rain. I'm a back to basics kind of gal just trying to raise my family and find a bit of time to slow down in this hectic life.

I still can't used to the idea that I'm an adult.  No matter that I have a husband, 2 kids, a house, and a real job.  Every once in a while I'll think about the place I am in life and it just surprises the hell out of me.  I still feel like a young, inexperienced kid.  Which, to some people, I guess I probably still am.

I was talking to a coworker today.  I've worked with him since 1997.  He hired me into my first real software engineering job at Motorola that I worked in from 1997-2000 and was my team lead, essentially my boss, from the time he hired me until he left in 1999.  Then in 2000 he hired me into the company that I work for now, and was (is) still kind of my boss (the word "boss" is used very loosely in the small company I work for now).  I have a ton of respect for this man on so many different levels.  He's a good engineer, a good boss, and is a fun person, too.  I couldn't ask for a better mentor.

This spring I led the developers for a project that he was a developer on, which put me in the position of delegating work to him.  It felt so weird, but he (of course) handled it professionally, and I like to think I did a good job (he got our project manager to give Jim and I a free dinner out at a nice restaurant for the work I did, so he must think so, too).  In our job no one is really "above" anyone else, but there always has to be someone to lead a project, and this time that person was me.  So it wasn't like he was demoted, it was just the way that particular job was structured.  But it still felt weird to be telling him what to do.

This morning he called me to discuss some software he's working on with me.  We ended up chatting about "the old days" of software development (how weird to realize that I was involved when this field was in it's infancy, or at least it's young childhood).  But the thing that struck me was that he was calling to ask what I thought about a certain approach he was taking in his software, and to see "if it was ok" with me.  Which is really weird, because in the past it has always been more of him letting me know what he was doing.  Never asking if it was ok (not that he never sought my opinion...he often did, but his word was still the final say).  It made me realize that he sees me now as an equal.  Which, in a way feels strange.  And a bit scary, because it implies more responsiblity.  But it also makes me feel really good.  Like I've grown up, professionally.

0 comments:

Post a Comment