The work situation

Whenever a contract keeps me occupied for a month or more, I tend to ease up considerably in my Quest for the Next Job. Often, I'll keep a mental list of things that I need to accomplish before my next hiatus, so that I can "hit the ground running" during my impending job search.

The project that I've been working on for a little over a month now has been drawing to a (much-anticipated) close. I've discovered a lot about myself in terms of what sort of work environment works best for me — specifically, that I can handle ridiculous requests, long hours and weekend work as long as I've got a hands-off style of management over me. As time-consuming as this gig has been, it's been remarkably easy to deal with for the simple fact that the contractors are given control over the quality of their own work and are trusted to accomplish what they've been hired to do. As it turns out, the one thing that I really can't stand in a workplace is how micro-managed I often am.

So the fact that management is competent here means that I found myself pleasantly surprised at my disappointment, knowing that my contract was soon to end. An email to Big Pimp on Tuesday, asking about the likelihood of finding another role in the current job market yielded an unexpected and welcome result: I'm being asked to stay on until July 10^th.

It looks like the existing team of contractors has been so successful at accomplishing our task that we're welcome to stick around, handling smaller projects, until the next iteration of the big project comes in, in another couple of months.

The schedule ought to ease up considerably until then, with far less overtime. Hopefully, this means I'll be able to find more time to make and bring in my lunch, as eating out regularly has been my one vice since beginning here.