Still in Square 1?

I was reminded, more than once actually. 2009 marks the 10th year anniversary of my entering the work force. OMG!!! And I have spend close to 8 of those in one company.

This used to be my worst nightmare - that I am an integral part of an ancient machine which my dad seems to understand better, that I become one of those who seems to be completely out of touch with the rest of the normal world, that I am stuck without the ability to change and move around. Yet here I am, still going to the same building day in day out 10 years from the day I first set foot in it.

To my surprise, it is not as bad as my pessimistic mind imagines. There are consolation prizes - these reminders were made by friends I have met in the office 10 years ago. And we share a delicious hobby of bitching about our system which outsiders are incapable of comprehending. Having paid the price of doing the '3 steps forward, 2 steps back' dances, I have in my pocket enough network and knowledge of how this weird place works to actually be in a position to get some things done. In addition, once you are familiar with the dance, you can be extremely lazy. Which fits me perfectly. I was also pleasantly surprised when some of my colleagues did not realize I actually fall into the category of Old Fossil.

I guess it is fair to say I gained perspective over the last decade and I was indeed luckier than some others.

BUT, it is still my worst fear to find myself working on the same projects for the umpteenth time 5 years from now. Which is by no means an odd sight in our company. I just heard a presentation today which I have sat through at least 3 times before. We managed to create work for our people by just having the visuals within the ppt changed. Talk about spinning without actually moving!!! Can you imagine being 40 and still doing the same projects when you were 25? Scary!!!

I pray that this year also marks the beginning of a successful project. I don't know how Savvy TOTS will turn out but I hope all the spinning that I have done has taught something useful.