Some of our department's leadership team happened to be in Seattle this week, so it was kind of mandated that we be in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday to attend a couple of meetings and get-togethers. There was my manager's manager's manager - who I knew - and her manager, who I didn't know. And I actually made some effort to make small talk and suchlike at these social events, even though I hate that kind of thing. We had a meeting with my manager's manager's manager, and I think my pessimism has given me a bit more confidence to speak my mind. So I don't think it's coincidence that during this meeting I mentioned our light workload and that I thought I was underused, and the next day I heard I've been assigned a new task in a different therapeutic area. So I might finally have something substantial to work on for what feels like the first time in ages! Generally, I don't care much for my manager's manager's manager - back in the day, she was my manager when she turned down my request for a leave of absence and subsequently I quit. So she lost my trust and respect, but clearly decisions like that have helped her rapidly climb the promotional ladder (it's not that she is particularly good at her job, but has also been a lucky recipient of circumstances and delegation). At this meeting, two things of note came up. The first, that the SAS programming language - which has been the standard in our industry since I started, and the only programming language I am proficient in - might not be the first choice for statistical analyses in the future. And then one of the scariest words in my profession came up, again - automation. Both these things are a major concern for the future of my career, but hopefully not during my professional lifetime.
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