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New Boss, Who Dis? 📱

How I built then destroyed an amazing relationship with my ex-boss

Jason Gutierrez
6 min readFeb 9, 2024
Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

George was one of the best bosses I ever had.

He was the Site Operations Director for a major nuclear construction project in eastern Georgia. I was a new grad engineer with less than six months experience.

Before we had ever met, a deal had been made to transfer me down from headquarters in Pittsburgh to our construction site in Georgia.

I was ecstatic. The job was a one-in-a-million chance for a guy like me to report directly to an executive. Especially one with as much clout as George. Unfortunately, my future boss did not share that same enthusiasm.

When we first met, things went well enough, but through the grapevine I had heard he was disappointed. He didn’t want me. He wanted someone with more experience. Someone who, on paper, had proven themselves more than me.

I started my new role with a chip on my shoulder from day one.

The first few months

Honestly, I was in a great situation.

The bar was so low that anything I did well would be a surprise. Yeah, it sucked that he was disappointed, but he had every right to be. I was a nobody. It just meant I had to earn my place.

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Jason Gutierrez
Jason Gutierrez

Written by Jason Gutierrez

Engineer. Papa. Trying fiction. I also share short essays and stories on life and the creative process 🖊: https://parttimewriting.beehiiv.com/subscribe

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