Bringing Home the Bacon

[tere]

Well, after months of unsuccessfully job-hunting, I have finally accepted an offer and started last week. So far, I love the office environment, all of my co-workers, the office culture and level of structure, and the committment to the clients served by the agency. That being said, however, I am beginning to realize that I am as unsuited for this particular position as I would be to plan and execute the next space mission to Mars. I have been hired as a care coordinator and program developer and am working to develop a program from the ground up at our agency. Let's be really clear that while I am a very good social worker, I REALLY REALLY REALLY suck at all things administrative. I lose paperwork and forget to file it and I am so computer illiterate that I can't even download a photo! This job is extremely computer intensive and entails about 10 meetings a week with various community agencies with coordination of services between all of them coming through my office. I sat through a five-hour training today in which I literally did not understand a word of what was said. It was a training on the software utilized by our state insurance provider and a techie was walking us through the program to teach us all how to maximize our efficiency on the system. Well, I didn't even know what he meant when he said that with this program we could work with three open tabs, and that was the simplest thing he said all day! (IF you think I am exaggerating and really do know what three open tabs is, I can assure you that I am not). Anyway, it isn't so bad right now because I am brand new and no one expects much out of me, but that will change soon and I am so afraid of failing at another job. The weird thing about me is that I am very, very good, almost gifted, at one or two things and then really awful at almost anything else. I think I am like Forrest Gump or Rain Man and if you get me out of my VERY NARROW niche, I am just useless. I would so much rather be normal with average abilities spread across a number of domains rather than limited as I am by an almost complete inability to do so much that is required in the working world today. Particularly regarding technology of any kind, I am impaired beyond belief. I found myself thinking today that if I wanted to authorize services, why couldn't someone just fax over a request and I could sign it and send it back like in the "good old days" rather than struggling through the complexity of a computer program in which I am lost, dazed, and confused. Anyway, I have rambled long enough. I am grateful for the job and am going to do my very best to succeed despite my limitations. At least I have motivation going for me!

[tere]

I am beginning to get ticked about this computer program I have to use to do my job. The programmer set it up to be linear (pefect for an ADDer, right!) and you can't navigate through it any way but forward. In other words, if I am doing an assessment with ten modules and I want to work on one and then come back to it later, but jump around and work on what I am motivated for at the time, I can't. I have to complete one to be allowed to go forward toward the conclusion. I am also not able to print out blank forms of the treatment plan to take into a session and do on paper to enter on the computer later. It is totally set up to discriminate against people who prefer to do the assessment/treatment plan any way but online. I think it is ridiculous and I can't stand it. What is the point in deliberately designing a system that cripples the ability of a non-techie to do the SAME JOB by another means. Seriously, if I could just print everything out (blank) and then sit down with the kids I am interviewing and write down the information I need and enter that data on the computer later, I would be a very happy girl. Trying to interview a kids and type on the computer at the same time so does NOT work for me. I think this is just unnecessarily punishing for the computer-impaired and assumes that everyone is completely comfortable online doing things that were once done with pen and paper. I have never in my life asked for accomodations (I usually just quit when I get overwhelmed) but now I can definitely see why people do.

[Michelle MacGregor]

If you need extra technical training I bet that you could get it through your tech guy. I would request an extra run through or a class to familiarize yourself with the technology.

I have an 89 year-old neighbor who bought a new computer after her husband died in order to write letters and maybe connect to the internet and email (she never did this). Anyway, my point..is that her biggest obstacle to learning the computer was fear that she was going to do something that was irreversible. There are very few things that are irreversible, so my advice to her was to be a "fearless clicker!"

Most things have a menu that if you just read through it, you can stumble through it. But seriously, before you get into the weeds ask for help. Also, using a calendar is the only way I have not committed hari-kari. I am a student, starting graduate school with a full time working person and a five year old that attends OT once a week and has nightly OT at home! It is seriously such a random schedule sometimes that I don't know whether I am coming or going?

[Abbie]

I hope your job is going better. I totally understand about the administrative tasks!