Musing On The Previous Week.

[arontius]

.....Just trying to clean up the Computer Room and am taking a break as I organize and file away the stack of papers collected over the past year of studying for my 'rank' of Planning Manager. Even though last week was tough (it was a 55-hour week of which I was paid for 46-hours of it), I'm still in a pretty good mood as it went my way in most cases.

.....On Monday I was absolutely slammed as it was my first day back from a week back east in Norfolk. The paperwork piled up on my desk was EPIC. And management, in its infinite wisdom, scheduled that very day for my final Oral Board to test my knowledge and readiness to be a 'certified' Planning Manager. This is a program I've been working on for almost a year and a half now which involved classroom time, interviews, LOTS of reading, a handful of test, practical assignments, shadowing of others in the trenches, etc. A really in-depth program, more so than I imagined when I signed my 'contract' for it in February of 2008.

.....I pass my final written test a couple of weeks ago with a score of '91'. Written tests are fairly easy for me, mainly because I can stare at the question and plod my way through the logic process on it, and generally come up with a logically correct answer. So while a big deal, being the 'final' step in the learning process, was not really a big deal for me.

......But, an Oral Board, NOT my specialty. It was scheduled for 1PM on Monday. And as I sat outside the meeting room where the Board Members gathered, I found myself incredibly nervous. In fact, I was so nervous that I caught my hands shaking. At that point I wish that I hadn't noticed that as I could have gone through the whole process, and THEN realized how nervous I actually was. :-)

.....There were four Board members. Two current Planning Managers, a Project Superintendent, and a Nuclear Branch Manager. As if that wasn't enough, there were two Program Managers in attendance as 'observers'. Gee, thanks guys. As if I wasn't nervous enough. :-)

.....Two observations immediately. One was that all the Board Members came from and engineering background. The other was that all of them had college degrees (two Bachelors, one Masters and one PhD). This could have gone in a couple of different ways in my case. I only have a two year, Associates, degree. I also came from a Production side background as versus an Engineering. Definitely a different perspective, and a definite different mindset on how to approach everything. Thankfully, I can say, now that it is over, that I do not believe that any of them held my 'lack' of 'real' degree against me.

.....It is interesting in the Shipyard how the 'caste' system works. The Engineering caste and the Production caste are constantly at odds with each, but manage to work together at the same time. Engineers tend to think that they know more because of their education background. Production tends to think that they know more because of their experience background. In reality, I see it as somewhere in the middle and more dependent on WHO the person is, rather than any other criteria. I know some really good engineers and managers, and I know some of the 'other' type as well.

.....But I digress. After everyone formally introduces themselves (making me even MORE nervous by the formality of the thing :-)), the moderator started the process by asking me a question on the Project Planning Process. It was a fairly straight forward question, but it opened the flood gates as all four of them started shot-gunning questions at me. There were times I was on the verge of panting from the speed and severity of the questioning. Some of the questions were complex and required a real in-depth answer. There were at least three times I was really caught off guard. Two of those times I forced myself to slow down and put out a 'logical' best response. One time I was forced to say 'I don't know'. I almost felt defeated at that point, but kept going.

.....I didn't notice in the middle of all this, but later, that the Board was really on my side. Those times when I was forced to give a 'logical' answer, or say 'I don't know', they stopped, slowed down, and asked the question in a different way. In every case I was able to come up with something good.

.....The other cool thing that I didn't realize in the middle of this, but was pointed out to me later by the moderator, was that even though my background was not 'typical' for a Planning Manger (90% of Planning Managers come from an engineering background) and that my experience was not typical (most Planning Managers come from a large scale Project background whereas I have spent the past ten years planning emergent work, single use, off-station stuff), I was still able to hold my own.

.....After an hour and some change of this, the moderator closed the session and asked me to step out of the room while the Board debated my session. I was drained dry at this point and absolutely sure that they were going to bounce my ass back to a GS-12 and tell me to try again.

.....Ten minutes later the moderator opens the door and motions me into the room. We sit down and we stare at each other for about ten seconds. I couldn't tell if they wanted something from me or not, but the moderator finally breaks out into a grin and says, 'Mike, it was unanimous, we all gave you a passing grade.' Then he extended his hand for a shake. They all shook my hands and congratulated me. I was a real-live, certified, manager. :-)

.....The other cool thing that was pointed out to me later was that as of late, the three others who have qualified as Planning Managers this year all had 'look-ups' to do after they passed their Board, specific requirements that they had to research and write a paper explaining, before they received their official documentation. I was given no look-ups.

.....When you work around a lot of very smart people, and a lot of people with degrees (which seem to give them license to have HUGE egos), it is easy to think of yourself as 'not-as-smart' as 'they' are. When you prove you have a few brain cells of your own and can use them on occasion? It's a really good feeling.

.....I'm still in a state of shock. I still can't believe I passed. That feeling of elation carried me through the whole long week, which was good as it was a tough week.

.....But it also means no more studying long tomes of government-speak. No more interviews and classes of boring instruction.

.....And when someone comes up to me and tells me that I'd make a good GS-14 Project or Program Manager? That I should take that 'next step' on my career path? I'm going to kick their freakin' ass! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

Comments

[mirandanoel.livejournal.com]

WoW! That is HUGE! Well done. I am starting my National Boards and will be done at the end of March. Eeek!

Good On You!

[arontius]

YOU! Will do WELL! I've SEEN you manage strong personalities with ultimate grace. National Boards? Will be a breeze... :-)

Thanks bunches for the congrats. I'm just epically glad it is all DONE! :-)

Aaron / Arontius.

[renartthefox.livejournal.com]

Huge Congratulations! Well deserved to one who works as hard as you do, in sometimes more than unhappy circumstances.

Go you!

[slysidonia.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your achievement, Aaron!

[krazyfiberkat.livejournal.com]

You so ROCK!!!! Congratulations in completing the trial by fire!

[angharadalbanes.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! Does this mean you can get out from under the thumbs of your absurd bosses?

[centaur11.livejournal.com]

You are so deserving and someone I believe can run circles around some so-called "degreed" folks. Congratulations and I consider your workplace very lucky indeed to have you in their ranks.

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

I know how you feel... Boards (orals) were always the worst part for me during my various qualifications on the boat. Book larnin'? No sweat. One-on-one interviews? Piece o' cake. Practicals? Like the gear and an I were one.

But boards freaked me right the hell out.

Ask me about my Submarine Qualification board sometime.

[dame-eleanor.livejournal.com]

Huge congratulations to you!! Well done! Sometimes nerves are just the ticket to keep us totally on point...painful as those nerves can be. Very happy for you indeed. I do hope this means that you will no longer be under the thumb of some of those folks. All best. :)

[aelianora.livejournal.com]

Congrats! You made it through your orals :).

You know, for most PhD students, the orals are the pinnacle of both pain and achievement, just below the writing and acceptance of the dissertation. From your description, I don't think your orals were much different, or your accomplishment any less.

But then I'm one of those Dr.s who doesn't really think she's better than anyone else. My achievement in my education is very important to me, but it doesn't make me something special. Others have great achievements in office skills, hairdressing, project managing... It's all important for the world to run.

Anyway, my orals were funny and actually rather enjoyable, although I was terrified beforehand. Hands shaking, whole body shaking at times, voice cracking, the whole thing. Everyone who wanted to from the faculty could show up and ask questions. The whole thing would last at least 2 hours, sometimes 4-6. If you failed you were graduated with a masters, no more chance to get the PhD. There were people on the faculty who really didn't like me and what I was trying to do. One of them showed up, but the moderator kept him in check.

Thing was, what I wanted to do was so different that the professors were fascinated by it, and kept asking me questions about my speciality and not about anything hard (like ummm... social organization of the anasazi or something). The moderator would ask a hard question, I'd answer it and the others would go, 'Yea, yea, but about how those Romans built their forts...". Heh. The moderator, who was also my advisor, told me later over champagne in his office that he'd never seen it go easier for a student.

Talk about the luck! So I'm going to pass that luck onto you for your next career move!

[pernell-camber.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

My technique for oral boards was to answer at a comfortable pace no matter how fast the questions are fired at me. I didn't really appreciate the bizarre or really nit-picky questions that were sometimes thrown at me but I figure the questioner was showing off or working through some earlier trauma.

[greywolfe64.livejournal.com]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Well done. It gives me hope that I can progress through the ranks without a degree.

[signoregio.livejournal.com]

Congrats my friend, It amazes me that you ever doubt yourself you are truly one of the smartestestest people I know!!

Again Congrats!