Lost, and found.

On Thursday my boss called me, during my morning commute, and asked me to come directly to his office. I agreed, keeping in mind "Hope for the best, expect the worst." Hopefully, this was an announcement of my big bonus, since I'd finally cracked the "tough nut" and we'd seen stellar performance during our big validation event. At worst, he'd want to know what I'd been doing lately. So I started enumerating my latest bug fixes and development on my way up to his office.

What I got was, "I've been told that you have honorably completed your task." I gave a cheer, thinking this meant the big bonus was on its way. Then he said, "I'm glad to see you're excited. I've already been talking to other program managers to find you a new position."

I had to sit down from the shock.

I've been on this program for nearly nine years now. That's unprecedented in this field. I've worked hard to become the expert in C4I for this program (that's the Army's acronym for the devices that soldiers use to communicate with each other). I've always had outstanding reviews, and there's still a lot of work to be done. In fact, since C4I is the interface that the soldiers use to interact with WARSIM, I figured I'd be around until the project was finally dead.

But with our latest "big event" finished, it was time to ramp down. I must be highly paid, because the Powers That Be chose to cut me. To be honest, I've always kind of been a thorn in the side of the prime contractor, so perhaps that was a big part of the decision.

However, SAIC has been amazingly helpful to me. At the same time he let me know that my time with WARSIM was coming to an end, my boss also said that I had two months before I would be kicked off. That's a lot better than the two weeks I expect. He also had me lined up for another project, and told me to get my resume updated.

My coworkers were similarly shocked when I told them the news. They've even planned a wake for me.

By the end of the day, I had an interview for the next day. That meant wearing a tie on Casual Friday, but I figured that an interview requires formal dress code, even if it is only for a transfer within the company.

The interview involved three people from the project talking to me for about an hour. It went reasonably well... by which I mean that I managed to sound competent, even if I couldn't always answer, "Sure, I've done that," and I managed to avoid making myself into either an ass or a fool. However, I didn't feel the instant acceptance or sense of belonging that usually goes with a bunch of people who think I'm exactly what they need on their team.

It's now Monday. I've just been told that I've got the job. I have to work up a schedule for the transfer, since I don't want to just drop everything. There is still work to do here, and I don't want to leave my friends flatfooted.

But you can't beat one-weekend turnaround on a job transfer. I love SAIC!