CDCR – The Lockout
I'd been working at CDCR for over a year on a big project to re-write their offender tracking system. We were working with a contractor, TRW. The CDCR brass and the TRW managers looked to be in conflict and it was affecting the whole project team. Lately our tasks seemed to be mostly about collecting information on what had already been done or not done. Doing actual development seemed to move to the back burner.
I arrived at the office around 7:30 on a Thursday morning and while attempting to enter the parking lot I was stopped by security personnel. They informed me that I needed to turn around and go back home and I should not return to work until I was told to do so. I asked when this might happen? Their reply was they didn't know. It would probably be within a couple of days and they emphasized I should not return until someone contacted me. The contracting personnel were let in but they were all being escorted by security. They were walked to their work space, told to collect their personal items, and then escorted out of the building. The next day I received a phone call from one of the CDCR managers telling me that I should return to work the following Monday.
On Monday I drove into work and entered our building. All TRW staff and all of their stuff had been cleared out, like they were never there. All that was left the empty work spaces. It was a strange ending. We'd been working closely with many of the TRW people for some time and now they were gone without a single goodbye. We were informed that we were prohibited from contacting or speaking with any of the contracting staff who were on the project. It was an abrupt break. I had gotten to know some of them and felt like we were friends. It was not a good feeling. A couple of years later one of the TRW contractors contacted me. We met for lunch. She was currently working with the State Controller's Office (SCO). She said they had an opening on the project and encouraged me to look into it. I never saw any of the others again.
The CDCR project was on “hold”. CDCR and TRW were going to court. Monday when we returned to work our leader, Christie, held a project meeting for all the IT staff. She told us just because the project had stopped it did not mean we could stop working hard and in her usual manner admonished us for even thinking we could relax. I don't know what she was thinking. Couldn't she have at least said something positive about all the hard work and extra hours we had put in on this project that now looked to be worthless or meaningless? We now had no real tasks since everything had stopped. If we couldn't relax and take a breath now when would we? I've experienced a few clueless/bad performances by managers in the past but this was probably the worst. If you are wondering about what happened to Christi after this, she got promoted. I don't know what she's doing today but with her talent to run down those working for her I'm thinking there may be a job in the White House waiting for her.
I once read an article on IT projects. Large IT projects had a very poor success rate, at least back then. It was something in the neighborhood of 50%. The article pointed out how these types of projects took a long time and how the industry itself was still rather young. There was little IT history and so there was not much of a time tested approved success model. Compare this to say building a large bridge. Humans have been building bridges for more than a couple of thousand years. When a new bridge is going to be built there are tons of prior successful bridge projects. The project to build a new one could be large and take years but they rarely fail as everyone knows what works and what doesn't. Large IT projects don't have that kind of history. The industry was developing. This article argued that the best way to fill your resume was to work on large projects that failed because it took less time to fail than to succeed. Perhaps Christi took this to heart...
Now most of our tasks were requests from the department's lawyers. Those tasks mostly asked us us to provide documentation of what we had or hadn't done. I had previously documented most of that so there wasn't really a whole lot for me to do. The language of all the system's requirements was being reviewed. The lawyers were looking at words like must or should and how the system requirements were worded. For instance, did the requirement on tracking SSN ask to track each offender's SSN as opposed to track all offender's SSNs, indicating they could have more than one. This was not too exciting and not what us programmers had signed up for. Many of the IT programmers started finding new jobs and soon I started looking as well. One of my co-workers, Cindy, found a position with CHP. When she got there she called me and said she liked it at CHP. There was another opening and she encouraged me to apply. I wasn't sure about CHP only because I didn't care for the para-military atmosphere at CDCR and thought CHP was likely to be similar. However, I trusted Cindy's judgment and so I applied. I got an interview. There were 2 or 3 CHP people who interviewed me. It seemed to go pretty well but there was some question on my experience either in the programming language used or maybe it was the operating system they were working with. Bottom line, I didn't get the job. I wasn't really disappointed as I mentioned, I was not sure about going to CHP. That likely showed in the interview.
I continued to work at CDCR watching for a position I might like to open up. Maybe a month or two later I received a call from a woman who was one of the people who had interviewed me at CHP. Her name was Katrina. She had left CHP, and was now working at CALTRANS. She told me she was a tech-lead on a new project for CALTRANS that was just starting up. She was going to have an open position and told me she wanted me to apply for it. She said the position was not open yet but that it would be soon and she would keep me posted.
Wow, like the old days in Silicon Valley, I was actually being pursued. Sure enough Katrina called me weekly giving me a status update. I liked that, it was good sign. I also liked that I would be getting in on the beginning of a new development project and that CALTRANS was more of an Engineering organization. Christmas week Katrina called and said the position was funded and now open. She asked if I could come in for an interview in the next day or two. The next day wasn't going to work but the day after, which happened to be Christmas Eve, did. I had the afternoon off and they wanted me to come in that afternoon. I pushed for a time as early as possible. I met with Katrina and her manager Jerry. We talked, asking and answering questions. The usual. Eventually Jerry asked me about my 5 year plan. This is not an uncommon question, at least in IT interviews. The problem is I didn't have one. In fact, I have never had one. That's not me (I don't need no stinkin' 5 year plan). In the past I would come up with something but it was freakin' Christmas Eve. I just wanted to get out of there, go home, and start the Christmas activities. I remember looking at Jerry and saying something like: “I don't know. Should I say in 5 years I want your job or Katrina's? I'm not a 5 year plan type of person. The main plan I have is to finish this interview so I can get out of here and go celebrate the holiday with my family. I am good at what I do. I will work hard and” Jerry interrupted me at that point said “It's OK, you are doing fine.” I think he wanted to laugh. They offered me the position. I took it.
The day after Christmas I gave my notice at CDCR. I started work at CALTRANS the day after the New Year's.
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