Let Your Freak Flag Fly

There’s this guy that’s been assigned to oversee (read: HELP) my contribution to the Venezuelan project I’ve been put on at work. He’s the senior scheduler/controls discipline lead for my department.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what his problem is - and I’m usually pretty good at deconstructing people’s personalities in my head to find the best way “in” to them.

Well, this one’s throwing me for a loop.

There’s always the outside chance that he’s just an asshole, plain and simple, but I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

When I first started in this department, it was under the premise that he would be my mentor, helping me throughout the duration of a rather large project I was assigned to. Keep in mind, I had never done scheduling before, nor had I the need to pay much attention to what all the engineering discipline tasks and deliverables were all about or how they linked together (I was in finance prior to my current position).
Soooo…big learning curve obviously.
I figured I had nothing to worry about, as my boss assured me I’d be in great hands with this guy, and would be an expert in no time.

IF ONLY.

From the moment I walked in to 3 months later, this idiot did nothing but bring me into his office for lectures on scheduling philosophies and elaborate white board flow charts that were completely greek to me and really didn’t help me in terms of actual schedule DEVELOPMENT or reporting standards for the project.

He also disagreed with everything the project manager proposed and refused to bend or cooperate to incorporate his wishes in any way.
I thought this odd, as it was obvious he didn’t give a shite whose toes he stepped on in management, it was his way or no way.

This continued for 4 months, and after getting no actual hands on training from him, this guy up and quits the project - leaving me to compile a ginormous schedule with no prior experience or support.

Thanks a lot douche bag.

Anyways, as I was obviously not yet seasoned enough for the scope of that job, I was put onto smaller projects, and have been doing that ever since.
I have learned a fair bit along the way, and am now quite comfortable with scheduling.
The next step is detailed high level scheduling, which I am eager to take on, and this Venezuelan project is just the ticket to the next step in my career development.

Here’s the issue though - our contract with the client outlines a very detailed level of reporting, which I have not been exposed to yet.
The project is accelerated, so it’s not like I have long to piss about and learn things along the way - I need to know how, and I need to know NOW.
Well, la-dee-frickin-da - this same guy gets assigned to “over-see” me on the project. Fuck.
So far, he has read NONE of the material we’ve been given, so he has no idea about the project scope. He has been absent at every meeting with the client this week also. So I called him up and was like “hey, I know you’re busy and everything, but it would be much appreciated if you could come to one of these meetings as a voice on the reporting issues”. He is the “expert” after all.
He said he’s too busy, but would send me a template to use and come and show me what it’s all about.

Well wouldn’t that be nice.

But don't bend over backwards on my acocunt or anything. I wouldn't want to put you out.

The meeting was all of 10 minutes.
He opened the spreadsheets, said this is this, this is that, this calculates that, this is linked to that, and the graph comes out like this. End of meeting.
WTF.
Thanks a lot, and fuck you very much.

So, I figure, screw him, I’ll open it up and figure out the formulas and links myself, but wouldn’t you know it - it’s source protected so I can’t see the graph data/links, and it’s also password protected from changes.
Asshole.

I swear he does this on purpose.
Why?
I don’t know really. You’d think you’d want your staff to be well trained, as we are all representing the same cause. I mean, that’s logical in my mind.
But apparently that’s not the case.

Ironically enough, my boss thinks he is the greatest asset this company has ever acquired, and would do anything to keep him on staff.

I just can’t figure this one out. Is he a know it all whose afraid to pass on information in case some one upstages him in the future? Is it a cultural thing (he’s Russian)? A man vs. woman thing?

Effed if I know.

One thing I do know now is that I’ll figure it out soon enough on my own, and that’s usually the best (hardest?) way to learn. It’s been that way so far in my working career; I guess I shouldn’t expect it to change much now.

You can only depend on yourself for most things it seems. I don’t really get that, but I accept it.

He can shove his “philosophies” down someone else’s throat from now on. It’s not doing me any good, which I suspect is his goal - to confuse me. Whatever floats yer boat I guess.

I’m going to forge ahead with this alone, and I know I will be better off for it in the end.