Today was my last day in Enterprise Technology. I can't say I'm surprised, this position wasn't really right for me and I could see my own performance for what it was. Nothing unfair. I'm just curious if there's a trend going on in other parts of the company too.
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@ky I remember the Ford Land building manager (Allen?) putting yellow tape in the grassy area to give the fox some room to play. Indeed it was fun time to watch during lunch hour.
@kd I remember watching those fox kits! It was the highlight of my day. Until we moved we had framed pictures of the kits in our home office.
@h7 not just Chennai. There are 2 other LCS locations. Sad to see how things have changed. As hard as it was back then, I still have fond memories.
Does anyone remember the fox having small ones? In a den under the north west walkway (at FMCC)?
@jr+1kkafyrjz or ford leadership could stop putting unqualified and unskilled SGs and LL6s into technical positions. It is almost like they intentionally set up conditions to justify outsourcing. There was a period 2000-2019 where that particular team provided great service. Now not so much. Finger pointing and immediately closing all service requests claiming user error.
@hb Sell all the vehicles to Chennai residents
@h7+1kkafyrjz Wow. Wild guess, just the LL6s+LL5 and a couple of their cronies will keep their Dearborn jobs and be liaisons with Chennai? TBH the remaining Dearborn staff is a wasteland now. Chennai could give better service. The dearborn liaisons probably will destroy whatever effort is expended by Chennai though. Grab the popcorn.
@h6+1kkafyrjz "The guy I spoke to expects the whole area to be outsourced"
Correct. All the IT operations are going to be outsourced to Chenai. It is going to be a sh!t show...
@ey,@eb Yep I ran into a Ford mainframe CICS sysprog the other day. Sadly it sounds like a real s-show in that mainframe area. Severe dilution of talent via serial outsourcing of entire subgroups, serial layoffs of the tech specs, attrition. The LL6s that you would know are the GSRs who were sent to take minutes in the morning meetings of old but were never allowed to touch the mainframe. Those GSRs are now in charge and are self appointed experts. One LL6 now uses contracted services to do all the SMP/E work as none of her team have SMP/E knowledge and can’t/won’t learn it. WTF? SMP/E is the most basic sysprog skill LOL. But she never learned SMP/E in her 30+ years at Ford so it must not be a necessary skill. LOL. The guy I spoke to expects the whole area to be outsourced.
@eb wow, you retired in 2006? That’s 20 years in retirement. Great for you!!!
Off topic, you should see what happened to the mainframe group. :)
I retired from Ford in 2006 but worked at FMCC on the mainframe OS support team. Is it in the Enterprise Technology group or does it even exist?
Best wishes OP. With an open mind there will be many opportunities in IT for you. Most IT jobs are what you make of them and there is always something new to learn. Pre-45 I job hopped quite a bit. IT at a trucking company; oil refinery; Walmart; Home Depot; IBM; BofA. Each company had good and bad. The IT at Walmart was cutting edge and fascinating but the mandatory 7:30 am Saturday cheer meetings at headquarters creeped me out and interfered with weekend outings. The meetings are no longer mandatory BTW.
@OP maybe try IT at a healthcare company for a change of pace. There are both small local and larger companies with SE MI presence that appear to have openings. The good thing about the smaller companies is that you have wider responsibilities and can easily move to different types of roles. Or if you have an interest in finance there are several banks n SE MI and NE OH.
@ah I definitely am interested in IT first, Ford was just where I happened to land. I don't really know automotive better than anywhere else, nor do I like this industry in the first place, so again it truly would just be for the money/benefits.
Try branching out. I see people all the time bounce around automotive because that's "what they know" so they leave Ford, and land at GM or Stellenatis thinking they are furthering something. Failing to branch out at some point will be like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer and complaining it hurts.
@ad Thanks. I'll start off looking in tech since that's where all my skills and experience are, but given...everything these days...it could be nice to get away from it all for somewhere closer by. I've gotten used to remote but really I'd be happy even to go in somewhere every day, just not with the Ford commute. For now I'm giving myself a couple days to breathe.
@a4 you’re not alone, there’s a lot of folks at Ford that have only known Ford or been here most of their career. Best of luck in your job hunt. Find what burns your passion. Take some time off to relax and think about where you want to go next. All will be well. Keep that optimism going.
@aa I'm not actually sure...I probably could've done a little better to know the inner workings of the company. I certainly don't have any love for it. I was supremely lucky to be excepted from 4-day RTO. FCG was pretty good for me but after they messed with even that it felt like it was time.
@a6 , what is happening in Connected Vehicle?
@a5 remind us, ET is small standalone org, right?
Anyways, best wishes. There is live after Ford. And one day you’ll look back….
CV is going through some changes as well. No one is/was surprised either.
@a3 I'm not sure, I'm not very in the loop but there was something my LL6 (who I think had little if anything to do with this decision) said about some wider corporate transformation. All I know is half our team has been in India as long as I've been on it. That sounds rough.
@a2 Severance, provided I sign their waiver I'm sitting on for now just in case. It's harder for nerves to set in right away, though this is also my first time ever getting fired so I haven't had to stare the current job market right in the face. Let's see how this optimism holds up.
Sorry you were let go. Were you part of the enterprise technology that is getting outsourced? Rumors were going around about the upcoming cadence for the outsourcing. The rumors being only two people +LL6 were to be left standing in each outsourced section.
Did you get severance or a boot out the door?