Ok, boys and girls, an interesting topic came up at work today. I keep my two co-workers (that I work closely with) in the loop about the AppleScripts that I do for various projects. Yesterday, I told one of them about a script I worked on at home, and she looked like she wanted to throttle me.
Puzzled, I watched her struggle to explain herself and it finally became clear. She was concerned about, essentially, making sure that I got recognition for the work I was doing. She said, "Do not give things away for free. Get paid for it, and get recognized for it." She brought up an excellent point, and one that is forgotten too often among us deaf overachievers.
She suggested that I actually do a presentation of some sort on the AppleScripts to the bigwigs and explain how they are used, and why, etc. The essential point seemed to be that it is hard to "move" up and get recognized at your performance review if you do things that aren't so visible. For instance, making a script and distributing it to everyone. While the "boss" might notice and smile, it will be quickly forgotten.
So, taking to heart her corporate lesson, I decided to go forward with my original idea (and I haven't given anything away for free yet -- it was a good warning at a good time). I am going to request to start a taskforce devoted to process improvements and AppleScripts and see how that goes.
Anyway, that is today's lesson for those who are newly entering the working world. (1) do your job first and (2) on "extra" things that go beyond what you were hired for, such as leadership and goodies, make sure you set up an environment where you will be recognized. If you don't, upwards mobility is lost to you. I think this is an important lesson for us deaf professionals, as we often feel we have to overachive in order to be viewed as... equal.
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1 comment:
One excellent anecdote. There's no such thing as a free lunch, so keep it that way. :)
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