We had our reunion for my former company tonight. Now I'm drunk and sentimental, and for once I'm not whining about T. Nope, I'd like to do a blog thanks the some of my former bosses, both official and unofficial.
H: H had the same grad school advisor as I did. Grad school boss kept telling me I should go work for H. I didn't pay too much attention to his suggestion, but now, 15 years later, H hired me once, saved my ass in a major way once, and his extensive networking skills helped create the Cornell job and hook me up with it. I hate to admit it, but grad school advisor was right. I've already thanked H in person, but am going to do so again in blog format.
B: B was never officially my boss. We still had the horizontal organization when I worked with him, so he was my project coordinator for a few months, and then we were both on another project, with J as project leader. He was more of a mentor than the others. It was refreshing to work for someone older than me who actually took an interest in people's career development other than his own. He was always on my case to look for new jobs, since he viewed our former company as going down the tubes and was looking for jobs himself. I wasn't interested in the time, but it did make it easier once it came time to jump in with both feet. Also, he took the time to teach me abut zeolite synthesis, and he is a true master of it. I learned a lot from B. Incidentally, I indirectly helped him get hooked up with his current job, since I set him up with a recruiter. So yeah, networking really is a two way street.
G: G was my officemate and coworker for many years before he became my boss. Even though he was tight with the in crowd in my old group, he managed to stay out of the witch hunt that took place when they decided to make me the scapegoat, and once he was promoted to VP I got promoted quickly. He also played a major role in me getting the Cornell job, and was so unabashedly enthusiastic about it that I have to thank him in this blog, even though I've already done so in person.
J: J was my direct supervisor the last year and a half that I was there. I thank him for being an all-around normal, good person. He was very easy to work for and shielded us from a lot of the politics from above without expecting us to play our own brand of politics. He also was the hottest boss I've ever had. Think of a cross between Mr Big and Aiden from Sex and the City, and add a French accent. Yeah, J is dead sexy, but this was never an issue. I appreciated that he was good to work for, and I enjoyed the eye candy aspect, but the two things were never in conflict because he was a very good boss.
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