I'm a Fixer

I awoke this morning with two things in my head. One is a fiction story that I will post later and the other is the complete realization that I am a fixer.

Every job I've had as part of my career (e.g. on my own) has been a job where I got the job and I had to fix all of the problem left behind.

My first job on my own I accepted and I had to deploy an additional 100 laptops (above what already was out there) and work on fixing all of the bad planning that went along with what was in place and all of the aging (and dying) equipment.

The second job I took dropped me into a situation that was MUCH worse. The replacement support was less, and the general animosity toward the tech support department was high. It was my job to fix the budget, the broken equipment, the lack of planning AND the general perception of the program.

The third job I took was one where I was to fix the lack of growth problem on a product line. Despite all of my efforts I failed in that. But I did fix the dependency on a single line of products to support the company and generated sales on a new product line that more than offset my salary (over a couple years).

The fourth job I took was one where I was specifically brought on to fix projects and move them forward when they stalled.

The fifth career job is the one I am in now. I was hired specifically to roll-out 500-ish student laptops. I was hired to fix the lack of long-range, multi-building planning. I was hired to convert the town's schools from multiple islands of technology usage and planning into a solid and singular technology department.

I am a fixer. People recognize that and they hire me when they have a dire need of technology programs being fixed. I don't get hired when people have a program that is working. I don't get hired in positions where things are running smoothly.

I don't get hired when people need to seamlessly replace someone who did a fantastic job building a fantastic program that is working.

I get hired to fix broken systems.


Now that I know this I need to figure out how to use it to my benefit in the future.