General discussion
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Topic
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Is the writing on the wall?
LockedI work for a fast growing multi-location organization. When I started with the company 5 years ago I was the IT dept. There was no wide area network, no dedicated Internet access, the main customer management software was a DOS based app written in PERL and standard batch files,the LAN consisted of and NT 4 server and 30 workstations. Our CFO is crafty manager and hired me because I have an interest in lot of IT related disciplines. At my previous position as a help desk tech I had revitalized the help desk process and created web based ASP apps that replaced spreadsheets and written forms. The CFO was aware of this through a common acquaintance as well as my relative inexperience. I had just finished my AS the prior year (so six years ago for the math inclined)and the previous position was my first professional IT gig.
Since then the company has grown from 11 locations to 28 and will likely be in the 40 to 50 range by the end of next year. During that time we’ve gone from AOL as Internet and e-mail to Dedicated T1s, implemented a wide area FRAME network connecting all locations and providing VOIP service and have a SQL based .NET app that supports our customers. We now have 28 servers and out of state, off-site disaster recovery. Of course there’s been a lot of other technology we’ve implemented over time as well as 2 corporate office moves.
So here’s the scenario and question: I managed all of this up until this past year. At that point I suggested that I didn’t really have the leadership expertise that was needed for sustained growth. I don’t have a huge ego about that kind of thing. We really needed to find someone who had the experience growing a big IT organization and could be more strategic and proactive rather than shooting from the hip and being reactive. We hired a very good experienced Sr. VP of IT. His goal was to build up the department and we went from 3 IT to a group of 11 in pretty short order and created app dev and infrastructure groups which required the hiring of directors for each group.
I am now under the infrastructure director as a special projects guy and network engineer. I am still compensated at the same level as i was when i was IT director and have passed on a lot of the knowledge i’ve gained over the years here to the rest of the group. I really don’t do a lot of direct support anymore and as new protocols and technologies are introduced i’m not integrally involved in their implementation.
Now I do miscellaneous work or small projects and work on planning the opening of new locations and working with IT vendors to do so. Though, I’ve been told we want to see the other engineer take over provisioning telecom at new locations in the future.Now the question:
As I’m given less and less to do and more responsiblities are farmed out to others, should I think that they’re trying to slowly push my expensive posterior out the door? Or should I be considering moving along before it’s too late?By the way I’m just turning 39 and have been told in the past that I’m one of the most trusted and liked individuals in my area.