This is a corollary to My Company Trusts Me, Building a fort out of desks and computer boxes, and What Companies Consider Important to Lock, I guess...

So I get an email from Human Resources this morning informing me that I've been officially invited to return as an intern next summer, which would make it my third summer of working here.

Last summer, I was working on a mission critical project, coming in about 50 hours a week and generally busting my ass to get my work done on time. I was treated like a real member of the team, and by the end of the summer I didn't feel like an intern at all. I earned a terrific performance rating out of it and was immediately invited to return. So far so good.

This summer, they rotated me to a different project--one where my manager and every other team member is based out of Pennsylvania, whereas I am stuck in New York. Thus, I have the double doozy of commuting into work every day and then still working virtually. I've spoken to my manager ONCE the entire summer, and my team lead will forget to give me things to do for days, sometimes weeks at a time (leaving me oodles of time to node). I basically have direct contact with exactliy one person in the entire organization, and I'm a ghost as far as everyone else is concerned. No one at my location has the foggiest idea what my project is about or what I do all day, so apparently everyone thinks I'm busy at work doing something or other. Like I said, the call came in today giving me the green light to come back again next year if I so choose.

This raises the question...just what is my performance this summer being based on, and why was it positive?
My Company likes me because I am being paid roughly half of market value for what I do.

  • My boss told me that I could order a Razer Boomslang on his company card so I didn't have to carry it around with me (I take it home and to the gaming center. I am a real geek.)
  • I have taken exactly 10 days off this year, all of which failed to make it up to HR
  • I goof off (node) as much as I want because they know I will get the job done. From home late at night if I need to.
  • My boss knows I have five and a half gigs worth of mp3's. He knows that I am running shoutcast on our Intranet. He's okay with that
  • I got a 1000 USD bonus for doing my job.
Having a job you enjoy coming to is a wonderful thing.

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