No promotion for me

So I didn't get the job I applied for with the division. Didn't even get an interview. My boss had been talking up this position for months now, saying how she was leaning heavily towards hiring from within (something I'm a huge proponent of). But I received a call this morning letting me know that none of the internal candidates even made it as far as a first interview. Why? Because we don't have the certifications. Now no certifications were required, though they were considered favourable assets.

I'm not a fan of certifications. I think they are a scam. They do nothing but demonstrate someone's basic proficiency in a subject, and not always even then. They demonstrate someone's proficiency in regurgitating some shit they memorized in a book.

So we didn't get considered because we didn't have the certifications. No matter that we have experience of how shit works within the division already, we know the software we use, how our networks are setup, how we deploy images, and the list goes on. Of course there will be some stuff that we don't know, but there wouldn't be any more to teach me than will have to be taught to whomever they hire externally. I've never understood hiring externally over promoting from within. Especially when there are promising talent that are looking to move up.
It isn't just that I didn't get considered it's the fact that none of us did. And while I think I'm the most ideal candidate of the internal applicants (all 3 of us), any of us could do this job. The people I work with have been doing the same job for the past 5, 10, 15 years. We get yearly raises for the first 4 years, and after that there's nothing but the yearly 2-3% the union gets us which covers inflation. So these guys (and gals) have been working at the same job with no advancement opportunities, and when one finally opens up, for the first time in 5 years, they hire someone from outside the division. It makes me sad.

So while I'm really happy my boss but in a good word for me, she doesn't have the decision-making power, and someone higher up decided certifications were more important. I'm also really thankful she told me because I was willing to make a sacrifice on my parental leave if I was an ideal candidate for this job.

It's disappointing is all. And I shouldn't be surprised, but rejection is never fun right? Especially when it isn't from total strangers.

It’s funny how applying for that job made me change the way I did my job. I worked a lot harder to do things myself. If I came across a problem that I didn’t know how to do, or couldn’t easily find the answer to, I would dedicate myself to figuring it out. In the past I would have just called someone else, to see if they knew, and if not, sending the problem higher up the food chain to those that probably know. Now I don’t have that incentive. Why? Because I don’t need to. This isn’t a job that makes you strive to be better. That job was the carrot that was dangling in front of me that spurred me on and pushed me.

3.5 more weeks of work and I'm off for almost 9 months as a stay-at-home-dad, which is exciting. I'm loving being a dad, and Bean is just so awesome. I have a lot to get done at work, and I don't know if they are hiring someone to start before I leave of if their start date will be after I'm gone...hopefully not the latter.