Rock-tober 22, 2019

Since I'm not a coffee guy, my colleague Zack and I usually start the day over cups of brewed Earl Grey tea. We'll check our workload and meeting schedule, and ways we can keep Naresh out of each other's hair. Recently, there was a period of crushing workloads with near-impossible deadlines that was coming to a head. That particular morning, Zack left me alone because I was clearly in the "Do not Disturb" zone.

Shortly before lunch I submitted the final report and walked over to Zack's area to decompress. He was surprised to see me. "What!? You actually managed to finish that project?"

I did my best superhero pose. "Yeah. Because I'm the effin' shiznit!"

This immediately drew some guffaws from two guys working in Zack's area. I had to wonder if they were amused because the old guy was laying down legit smack talk or if the old guy was trying to be legit with worn-out catchphrases. Whatever. Punks.

Regardless, I've found I've had to shift my perspective in recent years. For most of my working life, I've assumed the role of the junior guy. There was always someone on the team "older and wiser" from whom I could learn and naturally take direction. In every shop, there was always a "Wes Manning" on staff.

I find that now, I'm that guy. At least the older part if not the wiser.

One of the technicians was talking about an incident from his childhood and I noticed his cultural references were exponentially different from my own. I had to ask. "Wait a minute. Just how old are you?" When he told me his age, I just shook my head. "Wow, Dude. I've got concert T-shirts older than you."

Some of them have taken to addressing me as "Mr. Wayne", for crying out loud.

Meetings have seen the most pronounced change. While not a fan of them, I recognize the necessity of having all stakeholders in one place to hash out problems with a project or process. Normally, as problems were delineated, heads turned to the senior staffer responsible for those systems for some insight into remediating the issue. Somewhere along the way, those heads started turning to me.

These days, meetings, presentations, and teleconferences have become the bane of my existence. I find myself spending more time running analyses and reporting on projects than I do actually getting my hands dirty actually working the projects. Unfortunately, it seems all that fun stuff gets parsed out to more junior associates.

The Highwaymen was probably the greatest country-western supergroup since Alabama. Cash, Nelson, Jennings, and Kristofferson. If this group was a poker hand you'd be holding a near unbeatable four kings. Their song, "Desperados Waiting for a Train" details the friendship between a kid and an older, old school rapscallion. When I first heard it, I fully identified with the kid. I now more fully identify with the older gentleman looking on with bemused amusement at the gangly awkwardness of youth exhibited by some of the kids who've come through my shops.

I'll take on the role of mentor and an elder statesman. Hopefully, I'll be able to instill some old school values to these Millenials and Post-Millenials. I think I'll start with what constitutes a real muscle car and music.