A New Era

So... My new boss started Friday, technically, though really he was tied up in meetings then so this week he'd getting settled and in place for real. This marks the first time our little two-person IT department has ever really had a manager (my co-tech was senior to me and sorta-kinda filled that role.)

I am not sure what this will mean long-term. And, as is my nature, I'm a little on edge about potential change.

Already, with him just across the hall, I feel an increased pressure to "look busy, whether I really am or not." I also think this may interfere with our practice of leaving early a couple afternoons a week - which has 1) given us a little more personal freedom, 2) helped to avoid overtime as encouraged from "on high," 3) and given us a way to use up some vacation time without actually being gone. Without that outlet, I may need (due to vacation time caps) to schedule some time off soon. I guess there's ups and downs to that.

Personally, he seems a good, nice guy. He's expressed repeatedly that he's not afraid to "crawl around under desks to pull cable" or whatever, which is a plus, but not what we really need him for. I get the sense that he's knowledgeable about some of the high-level stuff we do need. He worried me a little when he pulled out a pile of stones with single words on them and asked us to each pick one out as... representative of our work/strong suits, I guess. That sort of thing sounds like wishy-washy management conference technique, but it hasn't gone anywhere beyond that as yet.

I do hope for someone who can organize us a bit better, give us a high-level direction as far as servers and systems, deal directly with the reach of management, and perhaps guide us in expanding what we know. It would be nice to have a little direction beyond just keeping things working. The talk about possible classes was both a little unsettling and exciting - I'd like to learn more, but worry that conference-type gatherings waste a lot of time and if it's not something I use I'm likely to forget over time.

I worry that he might change up the schedule somehow uncomfortable, or start pushing to change things I feel don't need it, or start up some cheesy team-building exercises. I think most of all, I'm unsettled by the feeling that someone may judge me unfit to do the job I've been doing for... a decade now? Long enough that I don't remember off the top of my head when I started in this position.

So... there's potential good and bad, and thought there haven't been any real negative signs, it's far too early to know for sure how things will go. But whatever the case, it's shaken me out of my comfort zone.