The definition of a pioneer is usually in the mind of the beholder. Pioneers were sometimes hard working citizens bringing order to land that had never been tamed. They longed for civilization to catch up with them. Other pioneers were desperados who lived on the edge because they were accountable to no one and liked it that way. They usually were hunted down and killed by a posse.

I wonder what attracted this person to the job in the first place? Was it the flattering words of the HR person? The high pay? The chance to learn something new?

The next time a pioneer gets an interview, he/she needs to find out what the employer feels is important. Is it accomplishments or communication? Is it the blood sweat and tears of the work or the willingness to be a team member/mentor and example to others?

The interesting conundrum is that if you asked companies what they were, their self-visualiziation probably deviates substantially from what they actually are.

I had a friend who astutely noticed, "the labor market must be the most imperfect market in existence." This was an extremely profound statement (which is why I can't/won't take credit for it).

By this quote, he meant that its truly rare for there to be a solid match between employer and employee, and employee to job requirements. At an employer level, people wind up working in environments that aren't suited for them. At an organizational level, the candidate hired into a position very likely isn't the best or most qualified candidate from the applicant pool.

Knowing this in advance may put things in perspective: in the end, its a crapshoot, but one where both employer and employee can tilt the odds slighty in their favor if they do their due diligence and determine if the prevailing culture is a good place for the employee and vice versa. Even then, sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Probably the best thing you can do is leverage your network of contacts, and find where people who have similar philosophies to yours happily and productively work. This might give you the best chance to find a pioneer outpost.

Tom N. is right. They have a VERY different perception of themselves. On one hand, all of the progressive buzz-words: "Open Door"; "Responsive"; "Employee Input is directly responsible for most of our changes and advancements", etc.

On the other hand, and only discovered by painfull experience, in their 'Zero Tolerence' world, they believe that they are justified in treating the breaking of a company-owned drinking glass with the same consequences as breaking a million-dollar piece of company-owned equipment. After all, it is "distruction of company equipment".

I shouldn't be suprised. Our society often treats people who neglect animals worse than people who neglect/kill other people.

Anybody need a Pioneer in New England who believes in, "Keeping the Joint Running"?

The "pioneer" vs "the city dweller" isn't unique to IT, it's a common distinction in all of business --- some people aren't comfortable in "the box" and are willing to give up the security of a regular paycheck for the risk/passion of building their own company. As the company grows, it shifts from a passion driven business to a rule driven business. Frequently the owner can't make the transition himself and is forced out --- Compaq and Bill Lear of Lear Jet fame are just two common examples.

Even in the military, not everyone is a rule driven person - the best pilots (and generals) are "pioneers", but the best of many other jobs are "urbanites".

In IT, it really does depend on the company - often, in small companies, it takes the pioneer to push out solutions with almost no resources - bend many rules of process and documentation and so on just to get things done. But it quickly also needs someone more process oriented -- backups, network, first and then, as the company continues to grow (one hopes) more and more rules and processes come to play.

I sympathize with this question, and the issues it raises:

1. Companies don't know what they need.
   
2. Job descriptions rarely describe the real job.
   
3. Requirements are ridiculous. You want a CCIE to update a dinky firewall? For what reason?
   
4. Networking is great but we're all anti-social geeks...
   
5. Grey hair makes it harder to change jobs.
   
6. But not as much as getting fat and complacent!
   

The challenge is that you can't get people to fund your ideas unless it was their idea to begin with (or your idea is so good that they take ownership of it.)

To the original question, administrative leave is a benefit, if the point is you're being paid to find a better fit elsewhere. So how quickly can you get ramped up to be in the hunt? My experience is it takes a little while to let the sting wear off before you can be comfortable interviewing. And never, ever, speak poorly of your former employer in an interview!

Its really important to find the honest people in an interview. If you don't think you find any that can be completely honest, then you know something about the politics and culture.

If you do find such a person, you need to ask them some questions around how things really work.

This is why I believe in complete honesty in an interview - it does no good to hide the politics and "culture" (I put this in quotes because I think at a certain size a company often starts to vary in its units and that causes interesting additional tensions to be aware of - whoops, second time today ending a sentance with a preposition:-) when conducting an interview, as it just makes the whole effort much more expensive.

For what is is worth, the "Administrative Leave Benefit" lasted a day and a half. They discharged me 8 hours before my Health Care was to take effect --- effectively denying me Cobra, also.

I believe in "Process" and I beleive in "Rules". Unfortunately, my generation also tends to believe that occasionally, rules are meant to be broken --- or at least alowed to be bent.

C'est La Vie. They lost more than I did!

Lessee:

Based on my last trip across town for job interviews:

1) Flying out for a third interview doesn't work.

2) Wearing the suit to the interview doesn't work.

3) Maintaining eye contact, being upbeat, and answering all the questions doesn't work.

I'm not sure what does work, but at least I have something for "lessons learned"!