So, I think I may have posted here in the past how ambivalent I am about my job situation. I’m doing work that is not challenging, is highly stressful and does little to provide opportunities to excel.

But it pays well and I get more recognition than I probably deserve.

Anyway, I just got one of my mid-year reviews completed. I had expected to be given a mediocre review, and was worried I might get a bad one. For this review you had to provide co-workers that were higher ranked (in my case meaning VPs), equal rank and one level down.

Since I want good feedback I listed some people I knew would probably have some negative things to say about me since I lock horns with them quite frequently. So I expected a lot of comments about my communication style, my tendency to escalate, etc.

Surprisingly I didn’t get any of that. In fact the only “area of improvement” I got was to be more strategic and market focused. Because that’s what they expect of potential VPs.

So, apparently I’m still on the list of potential promotion candidates in spite of probably two years of what I consider lackadaisical production.

What was really interesting was that the area that my boss wants me to work more on is pretty nicely aligned with my own interests. I love looking at technology and figuring out the market impact of technology.

So after two years of humdrum, maybe things are looking up?

I’ll keep my fingers crossed. At least I have the potential to enjoy my job more, even if it goes nowhere.