Quitter

I interviewed at their offices in Marlborough, Massachusetts, with a non-secret team, doing C++ (a programming language, if you’re not a techy) to support an air traffic control system. Part of the process of interviewing included filing paperwork with a checkbox that said, “I do not wish to work on government secret or military projects.” Or something to that effect. I checked the box, not really having any interest in the military industrial complex. I was happy to receive an offer, and elected to start July 10th, 1995, which was a Monday.

My family and I went up to Massachusetts for a weekend in June, so I could find an apartment. I found one in Marlborough, conveniently located near the office, put down the deposit, and the plan was for me to move in on Friday, the 7th, so I had the weekend to settle in before starting that Monday.

We rented a U-haul, and were loading it out that Friday morning when the phone rang. I answered it, and it was a representative from Raytheon. He was confirming that I was starting on Monday, and I said yes. He told me I was to report to my manager – in Wayland. “Wayland?” I asked, “Where the hell is that?” It turns out, Raytheon had three large complexes, all along Route 20, in three consecutive towns – Marlborough in the west, then on in Sudbury, and finally one in Wayland. Not nearly as convenient from my apartment, but at least along the same road.

“Don’t worry,” he consoled, “we’re shutting that building down, so in two months or so, you’ll be transferred to Sudbury, which is at least closer.”

I haven’t even started working for this company yet, and I’m peeved; they wait until three days before a person starts, one who is obviously relocating, to tell them what city they’re working in. I guess I should be lucky they didn’t tell me I was working in their Lexington plant – which was an hour away from my apartment.

I quickly found out that I was actually working on a secret military project. Despite the fact I’d very much selected that option not to be put on such projects.

The reason I know Lexington was an hour away, is because they never moved us to Sudbury. Five months later, two weeks before Christmas, they moved us to Lexington. The commute would be an hour of back road travel, with the problem being that Massachusetts tends to get a lot of snow. That winter was actually record snow. Even with the four-wheel drive of the beat up pickup truck I was tooling around in those day, it was a 90 minute commute, each way, to get to this place.

At this point, I was done. I was working on a project I didn’t want to work on, in a plant I didn’t want to commute to, using technology I wasn’t familiar with. I needed to leave, even though I’d only been there six months.

My mother kept telling me, “Stick it out for a year, nobody will hire you if you have only six months at a company.” Fortunately I ignored her. I made myself a promise, that I would never work anywhere that I wasn’t happy. It’s a promise that has both helped and haunted me since.

I also started my habit of being brutally honest in the workplace. At a group meeting, where we were deciding who was going to work on what, I came straight out and said, “I’m looking for a new job, so don’t give me anything I can’t complete in two weeks.” Everyone was aghast, but my boss was actually fairly thankful that I was honest. Talking to him afterwards, I told him it didn’t seem fair that you plan a long project around the fact that I’m working here, when I can tell you now I don’t expect to be here in a month.

I managed to land a job about two weeks later, with a website consulting firm that was a much better commute. It would the first of many startups that I worked for, and started me down this long path.