Category Archives: My Job

Schedule Bid 2012

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We just got the results from our schedule bid for next year. Of 158 possible lines, I got my third choice, an 11:00pm line. I am very happy. I didn’t get my first or second choice because they had six-day breaks during Christmas. It will be a while before I can hold one of those lines. I actually could have gotten a three-day break over Christmas for next year. However, Christmas isn’t my highest priority right now since most of our family is local and the rest of the family celebrates on the Sunday before Christmas. The lines that had three days off at Christmas didn’t have much else that I wanted. Instead, the line I got had breaks on several important occasions, which saves me from having to burn vacation days for them:

  • Super Bowl Sunday (Cowboys watching party at our house – heh heh)
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Mother’s Day
  • Father’s Day
  • July 4th
  • My birthday
  • Halloween
  • Thanksgiving (three-day break)
  • New Year’s Eve / anniversary getaway

In addition, since I’ve hit my ten-year anniversary, I’m now up to 20 days of vacation. Now I need to study my line to decide where to allocate my days. I can’t have Christmas, but I could probably get any other days off I need. I’ll use some for birthdays for me, Jenny, and Brenden. Beyond that, I’m not sure yet – 20 days is a lot to allocate, but it’s a problem I’m happy to face.

10-Year SWAnniversary

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After graduating from Baylor in May 2001, I lived with my parents for a few weeks and then started my first full-time job in June. Although I’d heard of Southwest and actually flew SWA once to a college interview in Houston back in high school, I’d never really considered working there until January 2001. I was on an email list for tech writing jobs and saw an opening for a Technical Writer I at Southwest. I applied and got the job, which is always good news for parents of recent college grads who need to leave the nest for good.

Inculturation

I was part of a new-grad program in the IT department called SMART Camp. SMART was an acronym for something, but I’m not sure whether anyone remembered it. Most of us started on June 25 and entered six weeks of on-the-job training. At most companies, this training would have been technical stuff like Java programming or database management. But SWA likes to do things differently, so we spent the first six weeks not doing “productive” stuff, but learning about the company and its wacky culture. We sat with reservations agents and tech support reps. I flew out to Midland and hung out on the ramp for a while. We played water balloon volleyball. We took turns using the emergency slide in a mock aircraft cabin.

Yes, it was fun, but it also served a strategic purpose: making us diehard fans of Southwest. It worked. Of the 22 or so young IT folks in the program, nearly half are still at Southwest 10 years later. In the IT business, where you often move up by hopping from company to company, that’s a big deal.

Career Moves

I spent about 3 ½ years in the IT department, starting with tech writing projects and then branching out into software design, business analysis, and technical training. Along the way I discovered the Dispatch department through some of my tech writing projects and decided it was time to leave IT and dispatch airplanes for a living. I joined Dispatch as an Assistant Dispatcher in January 2005, upgraded to Dispatcher in January 2006, and became a Dispatch Trainer in October 2008. I’ve spent nearly 2/3 of my time at SWA in Dispatch, and I hope to stay here for decades to come. You can read more about my job on my professional page.

Changes and Cornerstones

Much has changed at Southwest over the last decade. We’ve added many new airports, including several congested ones that we wouldn’t have touched 20 years ago such as Philadelphia and LaGuardia. My wife joined me at SWA in the People Department from 2003-2008, doing an outstanding job as an Administrative Assistant, Flight Ops Employment Coordinator, and Onboarding Project Specialist until she retired to stay home with the boys. The Dispatch office has been in two different locations. The current one is actually in the same space where my IT desk used to be. The biggest changes lie ahead in the next five years as we integrate AirTran’s operations with our own, add the 737-800 and 717 to our fleet, add dozens of new AirTran airports, and begin international operations.

Despite all the changes, much has remained the same. Our culture of hard work, fun, LUV, and quirkiness remains one of the foundations of our business. It still feels like a family here, with both the caring and drama that families provide. I believe in our leaders and coworkers. Our company is as stable and secure as any company in our crazy industry. I’m still just as proud and grateful to work here as I was ten years ago. How many people can honestly say that about their employers?

Highlights

  • The surprise wedding shower that my tech writing team threw for me and Jenny
  • Seeing my change management software actually getting used and making a difference
  • The friendships I made in both departments
  • Getting the call to join Dispatch – I rushed down the hall to Jenny’s area to tell her in person
  • Seeing an Assistant Dispatcher whom I trained working a desk on their own – “It’s the ciiiiiiiircle, the circle of liiiiiiiiiife”
  • Getting named Dispatcher of the Quarter for 1st quarter 2007
  • The thrill and relief of seeing the “on the ground” message for every problem flight
  • Going with Jenny and her awesome People people to MDW, BWI, MCO, OAK, LAS, SAN, and PHX to support Onboarding
  • Getting to ride in the cockpit
  • Bringing home N949WN from Boeing Field with Jenny and dozens of coworkers

Party Time

On Saturday night, Jenny and I get to attend the annual SWA Awards Banquet at the Anatole, which is for the 10/15/20/25/30/35/40-year anniversaries plus some special awards. A few thousand people will be there, and we’re dressing up in our best. Saturday also marks the 40th anniversary of Southwest’s first flight, and we have a handful of Original Employees who still work here after four decades. One of them is actually in my office.

It’s been an amazing journey, a mixture of exhilaration, stress, hard work, fun, frustration, and joy. No, Southwest isn’t a perfect company, but it’s pretty darn good. It’s hard to imagine working anywhere else, nor do I want to. The next few years are full of promise. I still drink the Canyon Blue Kool-aid and will gladly offer you a glass.

Unanswered Prayers

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A while back I applied for a different position within my company, a “real job” where I would have gone to meetings, had my own office and business cards and phone number, and held a normal schedule. It sounded like a very interesting position, full of challenge and opportunity and a good match for my abilities. I really wanted it. Among other things, it would finally give me a place to display my awesome model airplane collection and SWA paraphernalia. But after much debate, discussion, and prayer, I decided not to take the job.

I won’t go into the reasons here. I thought they were sound, but I still wondered whether I’d made the right choice and whether I would ever regret it.

Recently I took a break from my normal job to work on a special writing project. For a couple of weeks, my life looked similar to the semi-permanent one I’d turned down. I had a cube and a computer. I went to meetings and worked with people in other departments during normal business hours. The day-to-day dispatch problems that normally played a huge role in my work, such as thunderstorms and ATC problems, transformed into distant distractions that other people had to worry about.

My partner and I made great progress. We actually don’t have much work left to do on our end, although the final product won’t be approved and published for a few more months. I am truly excited about the new manual and confident that it will help our department significantly.

However, I learned some important truths about myself through this experience. Some of these things I’d suspected for a while but didn’t want to admit. Some I’d simply forgotten over time. Here are a few:

  • I hate, hate, hate meetings. They are a great way to kill time and look busy, but they rarely seem to accomplish anything, which generally necessitates another meeting.
  • I don’t like being a leader, as I’ve mentioned here before. I’ve pretended to like it in the past. I’ve felt bad for not liking it, since it seems to be expected of me as a Christian. Leadership is motivating people to do what you want them to do instead of what they want to do. It’s a wonderful quality to have, and I am glad some people possess it, but it runs head-on into one of my most important characteristics: the desire to avoid conflict. I don’t want to build consensus. I don’t want to blaze a trail for everybody. After 32 years on earth, I can finally own up to it: I would rather follow you than lead you. If following you is a bad idea, I’m happy to simply do my own thing and don’t need followers to affirm me. Followers stress me out.
  • I am much less stressed when I leave my work at work, which I can do with my normal job. Whether my shift was a cakewalk or a nightmare, at 7am I turn over my desks and go home. I have no projects to think about during the day. Nobody needs anything from me (most of the time). I have no meetings to plan or presentations to prepare. Effectively, I don’t even have a boss to impress. It’s beautiful.
  • I don’t like working with other people. There, I said it. I like people, love people, need people, and understand the value of people. I’ve worked with some very knowledgeable and talented people. My partner on the manual is a rock star, and his input has been invaluable. But I don’t want to work with people. I prefer to work solo, which is generally what I do as a dispatcher. I sit at my desk and plan my flights. When necessary, I might talk to a pilot or mechanic, but the majority of my job is just me and my computers, just the way I like it. I don’t want to depend on other people to get my work done. I hated it in school, and I still do as an adult.

Ah, that was refreshing. And it leads me to another important revelation that you’ve probably figured out already:

I probably would not have enjoyed the job that I decided not to take.

I’ve thought and written a lot about God. I still don’t understand Him. I don’t exactly know what to believe about Him. But I do believe this: He is at work in my life. Perhaps I rarely see it. Perhaps I don’t even know how to look for it. But He does play a huge role. And I believe that He is a big reason that I decided not to take that job. He saw things I couldn’t see and knew I wouldn’t be happy, so He steered me in the right direction.

Thank you, Lord.

SWA/AirTran Wedding Day

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DISCLAIMER: Although I am a Southwest employee, I am just a lowly dispatcher and was not involved with this transaction in any way. The opinions expressed on AndyBox.com are solely my own and do not reflect the position of Southwest Airlines, its Board of Directors, its Leadership, or anyone else who has any authority whatsoever over anything.

Today, at 10am, Southwest will officially close our acquisition of AirTran. This is a huge day for our two companies, and I am thrilled to welcome the AirTran Crew Members to our family. Other than the systemwide celebrations and large amounts of money moving around, not much else changes in our day-to-day operations. Until today, we’ve had to continue operating as competitors. From now on, we can work together as partners, sharing sensitive information, coordinating flight schedules and fares, and hammering out a plan to merge the two airlines into one. My work on the new dispatch procedures manual will be a small piece of that puzzle.

Over the next couple of years, we’ll be repainting and reconfiguring the AirTran aircraft to Southwest style, standardizing our procedures, combining the seniority lists, getting to know our new coworkers, and providing a bigger and better Southwest for our customers. I am very excited about the future and very grateful to work here.

10 Weird Things About the Day Shift

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As I mentioned recently, I’m now working the day shift for the next several weeks for a special writing project. Today we began the project with a kickoff meeting and some initial planning. My partner is a very sharp guy and will be a huge asset. I must admit, though, that switching back to an office job after more than six years is a bit odd. Here are the ten weirdest parts:

  1. There’s this strange girl in my bed all the time.
  2. An alarm clock wakes me up at the time I’m normally starting to send my flight releases. I arise, take a shower, and drink coffee like a normal person.
  3. I attend meetings and use Microsoft Outlook to keep track of them.
  4. Soon I’ll have a real work phone number instead of a generic one shared by 150 people.
  5. I already have my own computer to work on instead of rotating among 35 different ones. When I left today, I meant to lock it but accidentally logged out by habit.
  6. It’s already light outside when I arrive at work.
  7. Someone oversees my work and has opinions about how I do it.
  8. I actually see the managers.
  9. I’m in the office during Southwesty events like blood drives and silent auctions.
  10. My son is confused because I’m working during the day instead of sleeping. He must think I’m a bum who sleeps 18 hours a day.

Weirdness aside, we’re off to a good start. Our target completion date is July 1. I am confident we can make it.

Switching Back to a Normal Schedule

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After over six years of shift work, I will soon switch back to normal office hours for a while for a special project. For years now, our department has kept its procedural information in the pilots’ operations manual and our internal website. Although this setup works fairly well, it’s certainly not ideal from our perspective. Our leaders have asked for people to write our own procedures manual.

Yes, please.

My friend Justin and I will work together on the manual starting sometime in April. I don’t have many details yet, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be working Monday-Friday during normal business hours for the next few months. This should be a very interesting and challenging project. The change in work hours will be odd, especially at first, but I think it will work out nicely overall.