Master Spark
Electrical
- Sep 3, 2016
- 5
Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer here to my predicament. The questions I placed first, the explanation to it is shown below for those curious to know the backstory.
Questions:
- Would my resume be damaged if it showed a steady job for several years, a different company for "2 years" (based on calendar years), followed by a return to that original company for only 1 year?
- Would a horizontal transfer to a different department (becoming a Sr. Designer or Design Engineer, rather then the catch-all Project Engineer) be seen as a detriment to my career progression?
- If these are detriments, is their anyway to soften them when searching for a job?
Back Story:
I worked at a company for several years before leaving to do similar work but in a different industry. I left on excellent terms with my old company and kept in contact with my old co-workers.
After a little more then a year at the newer company, corporate policies changed to the point where my employment was uncertain. More importantly, the growth of the local branch was being halted in favor for global priorities. This change left the local branch in a weak state as it would not stay competitive against fully staffed competitors. After a discussion with my manager, who was very understanding, I parted ways with the new company.
In talking with my old co-workers, my position had not been filled since I left, and I was offered a similar job formally. They were willing to pay me more, and my prior manager was indicated to be leaving the company, both positives for me.
Shortly after returning, I was given several projects by this manager that were already "late" from a schedule standpoint. I was told (paraphrased), "we have no idea how your going to complete this work given our resources, but here are 3 projects you now own." After reviewing the scoping documents, most of them vaguely large, I had approximately 4 months to do several thousand man-hours worth of work, not including the other work to be preformed by others. When I spoke to this manager about setting up a meeting to discuss the overload, I was officially reprimanded and told no support was available at the time, and to work overtime as needed.
Fast forward to around a year later, things are still on shifting ground. The projects were thankfully delayed by outside forces, so we did manage to free up design resources and mobilize on the project. So far we have met client expectations the best we could given our resources. The "manager" has not left, however, but has also unofficially vacated themselves from their position in favor of a different title that is more to their liking. This leaves me (and the rest of the team) without any day to day supervisor or technical lead. The gap is known in management, however they have not been able to hire a replacement despite trying for months to fill this void in our hierarchy. (Generally we have also been unable to hire qualified people so we are still understaffed.)
As much as my manager infuriates me, and our personalities clash, I can only wish them the best. They are a brilliant engineer, however lacking some social / managerial graces, but they longer want this position and made no reservation about making that known.
I know at this point I cannot stay where I am. The stress is becoming apparent in my health. The outlook and the morale of the entire company is sinking as well. People openly joke about it on the production floor.
Questions:
- Would my resume be damaged if it showed a steady job for several years, a different company for "2 years" (based on calendar years), followed by a return to that original company for only 1 year?
- Would a horizontal transfer to a different department (becoming a Sr. Designer or Design Engineer, rather then the catch-all Project Engineer) be seen as a detriment to my career progression?
- If these are detriments, is their anyway to soften them when searching for a job?
Back Story:
I worked at a company for several years before leaving to do similar work but in a different industry. I left on excellent terms with my old company and kept in contact with my old co-workers.
After a little more then a year at the newer company, corporate policies changed to the point where my employment was uncertain. More importantly, the growth of the local branch was being halted in favor for global priorities. This change left the local branch in a weak state as it would not stay competitive against fully staffed competitors. After a discussion with my manager, who was very understanding, I parted ways with the new company.
In talking with my old co-workers, my position had not been filled since I left, and I was offered a similar job formally. They were willing to pay me more, and my prior manager was indicated to be leaving the company, both positives for me.
Shortly after returning, I was given several projects by this manager that were already "late" from a schedule standpoint. I was told (paraphrased), "we have no idea how your going to complete this work given our resources, but here are 3 projects you now own." After reviewing the scoping documents, most of them vaguely large, I had approximately 4 months to do several thousand man-hours worth of work, not including the other work to be preformed by others. When I spoke to this manager about setting up a meeting to discuss the overload, I was officially reprimanded and told no support was available at the time, and to work overtime as needed.
Fast forward to around a year later, things are still on shifting ground. The projects were thankfully delayed by outside forces, so we did manage to free up design resources and mobilize on the project. So far we have met client expectations the best we could given our resources. The "manager" has not left, however, but has also unofficially vacated themselves from their position in favor of a different title that is more to their liking. This leaves me (and the rest of the team) without any day to day supervisor or technical lead. The gap is known in management, however they have not been able to hire a replacement despite trying for months to fill this void in our hierarchy. (Generally we have also been unable to hire qualified people so we are still understaffed.)
As much as my manager infuriates me, and our personalities clash, I can only wish them the best. They are a brilliant engineer, however lacking some social / managerial graces, but they longer want this position and made no reservation about making that known.
I know at this point I cannot stay where I am. The stress is becoming apparent in my health. The outlook and the morale of the entire company is sinking as well. People openly joke about it on the production floor.
