Spinning Wheels

I knew that it was going to be one of those days. I was sitting in the stall in the bathroom of my building and the lights went out, stupid motion sensing system with what must be a short timer. Then the automated soap dispenser spews soap at me while I’m washing hands. The sensor is too close to the faucet. On top of that the soap is made of hemp I think because after washing, my hands smell like a Santana concert.

It started over the weekend. I received an email about an issue with a contract that I was currently working on a proposal for. Basically I am working on a proposal to work in a position that I have held in the past. I left a couple of years ago because of company policy and disagreements with my supervisor at the time who I characterized as being both micro-managing and indecisive. When the contract was up I was interested because I like the job and believe that I can do a good job of it.

Anyway, the issue is that the position that I am proposed to take requires 15 years of experience on top of a bachelor’s degree. Trouble is that I was a sophomore in high school 15 years ago. Technically speaking I have 9 years of “experience” or as I would rather phrase it, it has been 9 years since I graduated from college. However, I held the position that I am proposing to hold two years ago. The team that we are working with on the proposal is skittish about the requirements and wants me to take a lesser, assistant position instead of simply asking the customer if what I believe to be relevant experience holds any weight.

The deeper issue here is something that has bothered me the entirety of my adult life. In every job that I have ever had I have faced limitations because of my age and had nothing to do with the quality of the work I have done. In my first job following college, I left because I was denied a promotion because of my age and lack of familial attachments. In my second job, the one I am proposing to take once again, part of the reason I left was because I was not eligible for promotion no matter how well I was doing because I did not have the requisite number of years of experience. I was frustrated because I was managing a department of engineers one with less years of experience and half a dozen with many years more experience than I had. From that group I was deemed the most qualified for the position. The “promotion” did not come with any more money or a different position designation, only the promise to be “taken care of” in the future. After a year of empty promises the added stress and responsibility was not worth it any more so I left.

What bothers me the most about this is what I see as an obsession with years experience in most engineering positions locally, ignoring actual work done. I believe that there are many qualified younger engineers that are discouraged by this barrier. They are high achievers and by all measures willing and able to take on more responsibility. However they are left at the gate because they have not yet been to the requisite reunion of their college graduating class. This is completely unfair. Too many regulations force employers to value check box items and irrelevant things that are of no importance to a position. Experience is more than a number of years. The accomplishments of a person must count as well.

I find myself today at a crossroads. Over the last month I have been positioning myself to complete this proposal successfully and to create a department based on competence, efficiency and hard work. Because of a technicality I may not be allowed to move forward and that likely means that I will find myself looking for work once again. How can anyone be expected to get ahead in this kind of work environment?

Likely I will have to take a position that requires me to start over once again for the simple reason that it has only been nine years since I graduated college. There is something broken here and I am not optimistic that it will ever change. Eventually I will simply meet this requirement by virtue of aging. This is not right. Maybe I should just leave this field entirely. It’s terrible that leaving may be the best solution. Unfortunately there is nothing else that I can do.