No. 9 · The data clerk

Have you ever had a performance review that made you rethink everything?

Well, after my first review, I made a decision.

If this company would not grow me, I would find one that might.

So I did. I accepted a job offer in Ottawa and prepared to move.

Then, at the last minute, the owner of the company came back to me. He asked me to stay, and offered a role that was becoming crucial for the business: placing someone with our biggest customer, in Montreal.

There I was, around 24, negotiating with the owner of the company. A man close to 70.

And I came away having doubled my pay.

There was just one small catch.

The title was "data clerk."

A trained aerospace engineer. Offered a job called data clerk.

I did not care about the label. Maybe just a little. But I cared about the opportunity more. The growth. The city. And yes, the pay.

So I took it, and I moved to Montreal.

And there I got lucky, in a way that had nothing to do with money.

I was welcomed. A wonderful colleague, Melanie Prince, took me under her wing and helped me find my feet, in a new city and inside the vast, complex world of Bombardier.

The role itself was undefined. It was never just one thing.

I became the crucial link between the two companies. At times, I stood at the final approval point, the last hurdle before an aircraft was delivered to its customer.

I did the data work, of course. But I kept asking questions. I went looking for the certification problems that at the time seemed insurmountable. More often than not, they found their way to me. I did whatever was needed, of course with massive help of a brilliant team back in Winnipeg.

Slowly, the data clerk disappeared. And in his place was not just an engineer, but someone who could be relied to get things done, solving real problems on real aircraft.

That was when I learned something I have carried ever since.

A title is only a starting point. What you make of the role is entirely up to you.

The lesson:

Do not let a job title decide your ceiling. Almost any role can be moulded into what you want it to be. So mould it into something to fall in love.

To be continued…

WAYPOINTS · No. 9

A series of inflection points on a journey still being written.