0:00 We can get three junior engineers for
0:02 your salary, he smirked during my
0:04 termination meeting. Nothing personal,
0:06 just cost
0:08 cutting. My name is Victor Hail, 55
0:11 years old, lead systems engineer at
0:13 Veltria Housing for 18 years. I'd built
0:17 their entire infrastructure from
0:18 scratch, architected every expansion,
0:21 kept everything running so smoothly that
0:24 the executives forgot how much the
0:26 company depended on me until they
0:28 decided they couldn't afford me anymore.
0:30 I sat across from Graham Vickers, the
0:32 new chief technology officer who'd been
0:34 with the company for all of 6 months. He
0:37 was 42, wore designer glasses, and had
0:40 an MBA from Cornell. He'd been brought
0:42 in to modernize operations, which
0:45 apparently meant cutting the most
0:46 experienced staff first. The severance
0:49 package is generous, said Diane from
0:51 human resources, sliding a folder across
0:54 the table. 2 months salary plus your
0:57 acred vacation time. I nodded, took the
1:00 folder, and said, "Thank you. Is that
1:04 all you have to say?" Graham looked
1:06 almost disappointed.
1:08 Maybe he'd expected me to argue or
1:10 threaten legal action. Give him
1:12 something to tell the board about how
1:14 difficult I was
1:15 being. "What would you like me to say?
1:19 Most people in your position have
1:22 questions,
1:23 concerns," I shrugged. "Seems pretty
1:26 straightforward to me." Graham exchanged
1:29 glances with Diane, who looked equally
1:32 perplexed by my calm. What they didn't
1:35 understand was that I wasn't calm. I was
1:38 just done. There's a difference. Well,
1:41 we'd appreciate your help with the
1:42 transition, Graham continued. The new
1:45 engineering team will need some guidance
1:47 on the system architecture. Perhaps a
1:50 consulting arrangement for a few weeks.
1:52 I'll think about it, I said, knowing I
1:54 wouldn't. We shook hands. I cleared out
1:57 my desk without complaint. 18 years of
2:00 work fit into a single cardboard box. I
2:03 nodded goodbye to a few colleagues who
2:04 looked away awkwardly, afraid the same
2:07 fate awaited them. As I walked to my
2:09 truck in the parking garage, my phone
2:11 buzzed. A text from Allen, the database
2:15 administrator I'd hired 12 years ago.
2:18 This is Vic. The whole team's
2:20 freaking out. I didn't respond. At home,
2:24 I sat on my deck overlooking Lake
2:25 Ontario, nursing a glass of bourbon,
2:28 watching the sunset paint the water
2:30 copper. My wife Elaine placed a hand on
2:33 my shoulder. "What will you do now?" I
2:36 shrugged. "Something will turn up." What
2:40 Graham didn't know, what he hadn't
2:42 bothered to learn, was that I hadn't
2:44 just built their systems. I had
2:46 customcoded large sections myself with
2:49 minimal documentation because the
2:51 company had always refused to fund a
2:53 proper documentation team. only I
2:56 understood the deep redundancies, the
2:58 hidden security layers, the intricate
3:00 network architecture, and I wasn't
3:03 planning to explain it to anyone. Now, I
3:05 started at Veltria Housing back when it
3:07 was called Bay View Properties, a small
3:09 real estate management firm with four
3:11 apartment complexes and a dozen
3:13 employees. Their entire IT
3:15 infrastructure consisted of two desktop
3:17 computers, a fax machine, and a dial-up
3:20 internet connection. The owner, Harold
3:23 Bay, hired me away from a consulting gig
3:25 in
3:25 Syracuse. We're expanding, he told me.
3:29 Need someone who can build us something
3:31 solid. Over 18 years, I'd turned that
3:33 rudimentary setup into an integrated
3:35 property management system that handled
3:37 everything from tenant applications and
3:39 background checks to automated
3:41 maintenance requests and rent collection
3:43 across 63 properties in four states. I'd
3:47 built it piece by piece, adapting,
3:48 upgrading, refining as the company grew.
3:51 When Harold retired 5 years ago, his son
3:54 Justin sold the company to a private
3:55 equity firm that rebranded it as Veltria
3:58 Housing. They kept me on, impressed by
4:01 what I'd built. But things began to
4:04 change. New executives, new priorities,
4:08 quarterly targets became more important
4:10 than long-term stability. My warning
4:13 signs came
4:14 gradually. First, they rejected my
4:16 proposal for a documentation team. Too
4:19 expensive, they said. we'll get to it
4:21 next quarter. That quarter never came.
4:24 Then they started bringing in
4:26 consultants, young MBA types who talked
4:29 about disrupting property management and
4:31 leveraging cloud solutions. They'd sit
4:33 through my explanations of our system
4:35 architecture with glazed eyes, then
4:37 recommend off-the-shelf solutions that
4:39 wouldn't integrate with our custom
4:41 infrastructure.
4:43 I kept pushing back, explaining why
4:45 their approach wouldn't work, showing
4:47 them the custom code that made our
4:49 system unique. Eventually, they stopped
4:51 inviting me to planning meetings. Elaine
4:54 noticed it before I did. "They're
4:57 pushing you out," she said one night
4:59 over dinner. "You need to
5:02 prepare." I brushed her off. "They need
5:05 me. No one else understands how the
5:07 whole system works together."
5:09 That might be exactly the problem, she
5:13 replied. 6 months ago, they hired Graham
5:16 as the new CTO. He came from a banking
5:19 software company and immediately started
5:21 talking about standardization and legacy
5:23 system replacement. He hired three
5:26 junior engineers fresh out of college.
5:28 Had them shadowing me, asking questions
5:30 about the system. I answered their
5:33 questions, but I knew they weren't
5:34 grasping the complexities. How could
5:36 they? It had taken me years to build
5:39 those systems to understand the
5:41 interdependencies to create the
5:42 redundancies that kept everything
5:44 running smoothly when problems
5:46 arose. Last week, Graham stopped by my
5:49 office. Quick meeting tomorrow morning,
5:52 he said
5:53 casually. Just a quarterly
5:56 check-in. I should have seen it coming.
5:59 The first call came 2 weeks after my
6:01 termination. I was in my home office
6:03 updating my resume when my phone rang.
6:06 Graham Vickers. I let it go to
6:09 voicemail. Victor, it's Graham. We're
6:12 having some issues with the tenant
6:13 portal. The junior team is working on
6:15 it, but they're having trouble
6:16 understanding some of your code
6:18 architecture. Could you give us a call
6:20 back? It would just be a quick
6:23 consultation. I deleted the message and
6:25 went back to my
6:26 resume. Three more calls came that day,
6:29 each voicemail sounding increasingly
6:32 desperate. By evening, Allan texted me.
6:36 Systems been down all day. Maintenance
6:38 requests aren't processing. Graham's
6:41 losing his mind. The next morning, Diane
6:44 from HR called. Victor, I hope you're
6:46 doing well. I'm calling because we'd
6:48 like to discuss a consulting
6:50 arrangement, just temporary, to help
6:52 with some current system issues. The
6:54 compensation would be quite generous. I
6:57 picked up my phone. How generous? $300
7:00 per hour, minimum 4-hour engagement.
7:03 I'll think about it and get back to
7:05 you," I said, then hung up. I sat at my
7:08 kitchen table, staring out at the lake.
7:11 Elaine placed a cup of coffee in front
7:12 of me. "What are you thinking?" "I'm
7:16 thinking they're finding out exactly
7:17 what I'm
7:18 worth." Over the next 3 days, the calls
7:21 increased. Graham, Diane, even Justin
7:24 Bayiew, who was still on the board. The
7:27 tenant portal was down. The maintenance
7:30 scheduling system was throwing errors.
7:32 The automatic payment processing had
7:34 failed, affecting thousands of
7:36 residents. I didn't respond to any of
7:38 them. On day four, an email arrived from
7:41 Devlin Systems, a regional competitor to
7:44 Veltria. They managed fewer properties,
7:46 but had been expanding rapidly. The
7:49 email was from their director of
7:50 technology, Lawrence Develin himself.
7:53 Victor, I heard about your situation at
7:55 Veltria. We've always admired your work
7:58 from afar. Would you be interested in
8:00 discussing opportunities with us? We're
8:03 looking to upgrade our entire property
8:04 management infrastructure. I replied and
8:07 set up a meeting for the following day.
8:09 That evening, as Elaine and I were
8:11 preparing dinner, my doorbell rang.
8:13 Graham Vickers stood on my porch, his
8:15 designer glasses slightly a skew, his
8:18 normally immaculate suit wrinkled.
8:21 Victor, I apologize for dropping by
8:22 unannounced, but we have an emergency
8:24 situation. The entire system is down.
8:27 Nothing is working. The team can't
8:30 figure out what's wrong or how to fix
8:31 it. I leaned against the door frame.
8:34 That sounds serious. It is. We need your
8:38 help. The board has authorized me to
8:41 offer you a substantial consulting fee.
8:43 $500 per hour, whatever it
8:46 takes. I thought about the cardboard box
8:49 in my garage. 18 years of work reduced
8:52 to a few momentos. I thought about
8:55 nothing personal, just cost cutting. I
8:58 thought about the documentation team.
9:00 They'd never approved. I'm sorry to hear
9:03 about your troubles, I said quietly. But
9:06 I have an interview tomorrow. Something
9:08 will turn up just like I thought. I
9:11 closed the door on his stunned face and
9:12 went back to making dinner. For the
9:15 first time since my termination, I felt
9:16 a sense of peace wash over me. Not
9:19 satisfaction, not vindication, just
9:22 clarity.
9:23 I wasn't going to help them fix what
9:25 they'd broken. The interview with
9:27 Lawrence Develin went better than
9:29 expected. We met at a coffee shop in
9:32 downtown Rochester, away from both
9:34 companies offices. I've followed your
9:37 work for years, Lawrence said, stirring
9:39 his coffee. That integrated property
9:42 management system you built at Veltria
9:44 is legendary in our industry. Nobody
9:46 else has anything close to it. Thank
9:48 you, I said. It took time. That's what I
9:53 want to talk about time. We're looking
9:55 to build something similar, but we don't
9:57 want to start from scratch. We need
9:59 someone who understands the
10:00 architecture, the integration points,
10:02 the security layers. Someone who can
10:04 build us something better than what's
10:06 out there. I'm
10:08 interested. Lawrence smiled. Good,
10:12 because I'm prepared to offer you the
10:13 position of chief systems architect.
10:15 Full benefits, stock options, and a
10:17 salary 20% higher than what you were
10:19 making at Veltria. It was a good offer.
10:22 Too good
10:23 almost. Why me? I asked. There are
10:27 younger engineers out there, cheaper
10:29 ones. Lawrence laughed. You sound like
10:32 your former employer. We tried that
10:34 route. Hired three bright young
10:36 engineers from top schools. They built
10:39 us something sleek and modern that
10:40 crashes every time we get more than a
10:42 100 simultaneous users. We don't need
10:45 cheap, we need
10:47 reliable. I accepted the offer the next
10:50 day.
10:51 Meanwhile, Veltria's problems were
10:53 escalating. Allan kept me updated
10:56 through occasional texts. The system had
10:58 been partially restored, but critical
11:00 functions were still failing. They'd
11:02 brought in an expensive consulting firm
11:04 that specialized in legacy system
11:07 recovery. A week after I started at
11:09 Delin, Graham called again. Victor,
11:12 please, this is getting serious. We've
11:13 lost access to payment records for the
11:15 past 3 months. Tenants are complaining
11:17 about incorrect charges. The consulting
11:19 team says they need your input on the
11:21 database structure. I was tempted to
11:24 ignore it, but something made me pick
11:25 up. Graham, I'm employed elsewhere now.
11:28 Exclusive contract. I'm afraid I can't
11:30 help you. We'll double whatever they're
11:32 paying you for just 2 days of your time.
11:35 It's not about the money. Then what is
11:38 it about revenge? Are you enjoying
11:40 watching us struggle? I paused,
11:43 considering my answer carefully. No,
11:46 Graham, I'm not enjoying it. But you
11:48 made a business decision. You decided my
11:51 experience wasn't worth the cost. Now
11:53 you're discovering what that actually
11:55 means. The board wants to discuss
11:57 bringing you back. Full salary plus a
12:00 signing bonus. For a moment, I felt a
12:03 flicker of satisfaction, but it quickly
12:05 faded. Going back would solve nothing.
12:07 The same executives who decided I was
12:09 expendable would be waiting for the next
12:11 opportunity to cut costs.
12:14 I appreciate the offer, but I've made a
12:16 commitment to Develin Systems. Graham's
12:19 voice hardened. You know, there could be
12:21 legal implications if we discover you
12:23 intentionally made our systems difficult
12:24 to maintain. Non-compete clauses,
12:27 intellectual property
12:29 concerns. There it was, the threat I'd
12:32 been expecting. The system is exactly as
12:35 it was when the company repeatedly
12:37 denied my requests for a documentation
12:39 team. I replied evenly. Every line of
12:42 code belongs to Veltria as specified in
12:45 my employment contract. I've taken
12:47 nothing with me except my experience,
12:49 but feel free to have your lawyers
12:50 contact mine." I hung up, hands shaking
12:54 slightly, not from fear, but from anger
12:57 I hadn't allowed myself to feel until
12:59 now. The accusation that I'd somehow
13:01 sabotaged them was the final insult. At
13:03 Devlin, I was starting fresh, building
13:06 systems properly from the ground up with
13:08 full documentation, training programs
13:11 for the engineering team, and
13:12 redundancies that would prevent the kind
13:14 of catastrophe was experiencing. I
13:17 wasn't going to look back anymore, but I
13:20 wasn't going to help them either. Some
13:22 lessons had to be learned the hard way.
13:24 A month after joining Devlin Systems, I
13:26 received an unexpected visitor in my new
13:28 office. Alan, my former database
13:30 administrator, stood awkwardly in the
13:33 doorway holding a laptop bag. "Got time
13:36 for lunch?" he asked. "Over sandwiches
13:39 at a nearby deli?" Allan filled me in on
13:42 the chaos at Veltria. "It's worse than
13:45 you think," he said, lowering his voice
13:48 despite the noisy lunchtime crowd.
13:50 "They've lost access to historical data
13:52 going back 3 years. The backup systems
13:55 are corrupted somehow. The consulting
13:57 firm is saying they might need to
13:58 rebuild from scratch. I wasn't
14:01 surprised. The backup system had
14:03 multiple redundancies and security
14:05 protocols that needed to be followed
14:07 precisely. Skip one step and the entire
14:10 process would fail in a way designed to
14:13 protect tenant data from unauthorized
14:15 access. That's not all, Alan
14:19 continued. I found something when I was
14:21 trying to help the consultants
14:22 understand the payment processing
14:24 system. Graham had been planning your
14:26 termination for months. He'd been
14:28 meeting with the board, convincing them
14:30 that your custom infrastructure was too
14:32 expensive to
14:33 maintain. How do you know this? Allan
14:37 pulled out his laptop and showed me a
14:38 series of emails he discovered in the
14:40 system archives. Emails between Graham
14:43 and the board discussing the legacy
14:45 staff reduction plan and specifically
14:47 naming me as the first target. He told
14:49 them they could replace you with cheaper
14:51 engineers and transition to
14:53 off-the-shelf solutions within 6 months,
14:55 Allan said. He projected cost savings of
14:58 over a million dollars
15:00 annually. I read through the emails,
15:03 feeling a strange
15:04 detachment. One line from Graham stood
15:07 out. Hail's custom systems are
15:09 unnecessarily complex. He's made himself
15:12 indispensable by design, not
15:15 necessity. There's more. Allan said the
15:18 private equity firm that owns Veltria is
15:20 planning to sell. They've been prepping
15:22 for this for over a year. Graham was
15:25 brought in specifically to cut costs and
15:27 make the company look more profitable
15:28 before the sale. Now it all made sense.
15:32 The push for standardization, the
15:34 resistance to proper documentation, the
15:36 sudden focus on reducing senior staff
15:39 costs. It wasn't about improving the
15:41 company. It was about dressing it up for
15:43 a quick flip.
15:45 Why are you showing me this? I asked.
15:48 Alan closed his laptop. Because I quit
15:51 yesterday and I'm not the only one. Half
15:54 the IT department has left. The
15:56 consultants are estimating at least 6
15:58 months to restore full functionality,
16:00 maybe longer. He
16:02 hesitated. And because Veltria's biggest
16:05 client, Westbrook Properties, is
16:07 considering jumping ship, they've lost
16:10 faith in the management system. I
16:12 thought about the implications.
16:14 Westbrook represented nearly 30% of
16:17 Veltria's revenue. Losing them would be
16:19 devastating, especially with a sale
16:22 pending. "What will you do now?" I
16:25 asked. Alan grinned. "Actually, I was
16:28 hoping Devlin might be hiring database
16:31 administrators." Later that afternoon, I
16:33 spoke with Lawrence about bringing Allen
16:35 on board. He agreed immediately. We were
16:39 building a team brick by brick with
16:41 people who understood what it meant to
16:43 create systems that lasted. That
16:45 evening, I received another call from
16:48 Graham. This time, his voice had lost
16:51 its authoritative edge. Victor, please.
16:54 The situation is critical. Westbrook is
16:57 threatening to terminate their contract.
16:59 The board is questioning my decisions.
17:01 We need your help. I'm sorry, Graeme. I
17:04 can't help you. Name your price.
17:06 Anything. It's not about price. It's
17:09 about respect for experience, for the
17:11 work that goes into building something
17:13 right the first time. The line was
17:16 silent for a moment. You knew this would
17:19 happen, he said finally. You knew
17:22 exactly what would break and
17:24 when. No, Graham. I just knew what I had
17:28 built and what it took to maintain it.
17:31 Information I tried to share many times.
17:33 I ended the call feeling neither triumph
17:35 nor regret. just the quiet certainty
17:38 that some lessons can only be learned
17:40 through failure. The opportunity came
17:42 faster than I
17:44 expected. Two months into my role at
17:46 Devlin Systems, Lawrence called me into
17:48 his office. "I just got off the phone
17:51 with Jeffrey Westbrook," he said,
17:53 referring to the CEO of Westbrook
17:55 Properties. "They're officially
17:57 terminating their contract with Veltria
17:59 next month. They want to know if we can
18:01 handle their portfolio." Westbrook
18:03 Properties managed over 10,000 units
18:05 across the Northeast. It would more than
18:07 double Develin's current
18:09 operations. We're not ready for that
18:11 kind of scale, I admitted. The new
18:14 system is coming along, but it's only
18:15 halfway there. Lawrence leaned forward.
18:19 What would it take to get ready if we
18:21 had to? I thought about it. Three more
18:25 senior engineers, dedicated server
18:27 infrastructure, and at least 8 weeks of
18:29 development time. Even then, it would be
18:32 tight. Jeffrey's desperate. Veltria's
18:35 failures are affecting their reputation
18:37 with tenants. He's willing to give us 12
18:39 weeks and fund the infrastructure
18:41 expansion. This was the moment, the
18:44 turning point. If Devlin took on
18:47 Westbrook and succeeded, it would
18:49 establish us as a serious competitor in
18:51 the industry. If we failed, it could
18:53 sink both companies. Let me think about
18:56 the architecture, I said. I'll drop a
18:59 plan by
19:00 tomorrow. That night, I barely slept. I
19:04 sketched system diagrams, mapped data
19:06 migration pathways, considered scaling
19:08 challenges. By morning, I had a plan,
19:11 ambitious but achievable, a hybrid
19:14 approach that would let us onboard
19:16 Westbrook's properties in stages,
19:18 minimizing
19:19 disruption. When I presented it to
19:21 Lawrence, he studied it
19:23 carefully. This is solid, he said
19:25 finally. But I notice you've included a
19:27 substantial documentation phase that
19:30 adds 3 weeks to the timeline. It's
19:33 non-negotiable, I replied. That's where
19:36 Veltria failed. We document everything
19:38 from day one. We train the team on every
19:41 component. No single points of failure.
19:45 Lawrence nodded. I'll take your word for
19:47 it. Let's move
19:49 forward. The next weeks were intense. We
19:53 hired five more engineers, including two
19:55 who had recently left Veltria. Alan
19:58 built a database migration tool that
19:59 could translate Veltria's data structure
20:01 into our new system. I designed a
20:04 modular architecture that could scale
20:06 with Westbrook's needs. Halfway through
20:08 the project, I received an email from
20:10 Justin Bayiew, the former owner's son,
20:13 who still sat on Veltria's
20:15 board. Victor, I want to apologize for
20:18 how things ended. The board was misled
20:20 about the implications of letting you
20:22 go. Graham has been removed as CTO.
20:25 We're struggling to recover and
20:26 Westbrook's departure will hit us hard.
20:28 If you're ever interested in coming
20:30 back, the door is open. I didn't
20:33 respond. 10 weeks into our 12week
20:35 timeline, we were ready for a staged
20:37 roll out. Westbrook's smallest region
20:40 comprising 2,000 units in Western New
20:42 York would migrate first. If successful,
20:46 the remaining regions would follow. The
20:49 day before the migration, Lawrence
20:51 called me into his office again. A
20:53 familiar face was waiting. Jeffrey
20:55 Westbrook himself. "So, you're the
20:58 system architect?" Jeffrey said,
21:00 standing to shake my hand. Lawrence has
21:03 told me a lot about you. "All good, I
21:06 hope," Jeffrey smiled. "He says you've
21:08 built us something that won't break down
21:10 every time we add a new property,
21:12 something that will grow with us. That's
21:15 the plan. I also hear you used to work
21:18 for
21:18 Veltria. I nodded, unsure where he was
21:21 going with this. They're in trouble, you
21:24 know. The private equity firm is trying
21:26 to sell, but with Westbrook leaving and
21:28 their system still not fully functional.
21:30 They're not finding many interested
21:32 buyers. He
21:34 paused. Except one. Who's that? I asked,
21:38 though I suspected the answer. Devlin
21:41 Systems, Lawrence said. were considering
21:43 making an offer at a substantial
21:46 discount to what they were valued at 6
21:48 months ago. I looked between them,
21:51 processing the
21:52 implications. If that happens, Jeffrey
21:55 continued, we'd want someone who
21:57 understands both companies to lead the
21:59 integration. Someone who could salvage
22:01 what's valuable from Veltria's
22:02 infrastructure while transitioning
22:04 everything to your new architecture. Are
22:07 you asking if I'd be willing to work on
22:08 that? I clarified. Lawrence nodded.
22:12 only if the acquisition goes through and
22:15 only if you're comfortable with it. I
22:17 thought about the irony. The system I'd
22:20 built, the people I'd trained, the
22:22 company that had discarded me, all
22:24 potentially coming back under my
22:26 direction. I'd be willing, I said
22:29 finally. But I have one condition. We do
22:32 it right. Full documentation, proper
22:35 training, no
22:37 shortcuts. Agreed. Lawrence said, "We've
22:40 learned that lesson.
22:42 As I walked back to my office, I felt no
22:45 vindication, no desire for revenge, just
22:48 the simple satisfaction of knowing that
22:50 good work done right eventually speaks
22:53 for
22:55 itself. 6 months later, I stood in the
22:57 lobby of what had once beenria Housing's
22:59 headquarters. The sign now read Delin
23:02 Integrated Property Management. The
23:05 acquisition had gone through for less
23:07 than a quarter of what the company had
23:08 been valued at before my departure.
23:11 Lawrence and I walked through the office
23:13 greeting former Veltria employees who
23:15 would be staying on through the
23:16 transition. Some looked away awkwardly.
23:20 Others smiled with relief. A few, those
23:23 who had worked closely with me over the
23:25 years, nodded with quiet
23:27 understanding. Graham was gone along
23:30 with most of the executive team that had
23:31 approved my termination. Justin Bayiew
23:34 had stayed on as a consultant, helping
23:37 ease the transition with legacy clients.
23:39 When we reached the server room, my old
23:42 domain, I paused. Through the glass, I
23:45 could see the hardware I'd specified,
23:47 the blinking lights of systems I'd
23:49 designed. "Want to go in?" Lawrence
23:52 asked. "No need," I replied. "We'll be
23:55 migrating everything to the new
23:57 infrastructure anyway." In the main
23:59 conference room, the remaining Veltria
24:01 staff had gathered for the announcement.
24:03 Lawrence introduced me as the chief
24:05 integration officer who would be
24:07 overseeing the technical transition.
24:09 "Many of you already know Victor," he
24:11 said. "He built the original systems
24:14 that ran this company for nearly two
24:16 decades. Now he'll be guiding us through
24:18 the integration of both companies
24:20 technologies into something better than
24:22 either had
24:23 before." As I looked out at the faces,
24:25 some familiar, some new, I felt no
24:27 triumph, no desire to say, "I told you
24:29 so." What would be the point? Instead, I
24:32 spoke briefly about the transition plan,
24:35 the timeline, the support that would be
24:37 available to everyone during the
24:39 process. I emphasized that no one would
24:42 be left behind due to cost cutting
24:44 measures. The irony wasn't lost on
24:47 anyone in the room. One year after the
24:49 acquisition, Devlin Integrated Property
24:51 Management had become the largest
24:52 property management company in the
24:54 Northeast. The migration was complete
24:57 with all properties now running on the
24:58 new system I designed, fully documented,
25:02 properly staffed, and functioning
25:04 smoothly. On a crisp autumn morning, I
25:07 drove to the office for a final meeting
25:09 with Lawrence. "The leaves along Lake
25:11 Ontario had turned brilliant shades of
25:13 red and gold, a fitting backdrop for the
25:16 conclusion of this
25:17 chapter." "The board approved your
25:19 proposal," Lawrence said as soon as I
25:22 sat down. The technical education
25:24 division will launch next quarter.
25:26 You'll have full autonomy to design the
25:28 curriculum and hire
25:29 instructors. This had been my condition
25:32 for staying after the integration was
25:33 complete. Not a higher title or more
25:36 money, but the creation of a division
25:38 dedicated to training the next
25:39 generation of systems engineers and
25:41 architects, teaching them not just how
25:44 to code, but how to build things meant
25:46 to last. Thank you. I said that means a
25:50 lot. No, thank you, Lawrence replied.
25:55 What you've built here, it's remarkable.
25:58 Not just the technology, but the culture
26:01 around it, the documentation, the
26:03 knowledge sharing, the emphasis on
26:06 quality over quick
26:07 fixes. Later that afternoon, I cleared
26:10 out my integration office. Unlike my
26:13 hasty exit from Veltria, this was a
26:16 planned transition to my new role. As I
26:19 packed my things, Justin Bay View
26:21 knocked on the door. "Got a minute?" he
26:24 asked. We walked to the small courtyard
26:27 outside the building. "My father asked
26:30 about you," he said. "He's retired in
26:32 Florida now, but he still follows
26:33 company news. He was glad to hear you
26:36 were back in a manner of speaking." "How
26:38 is Harold?" I asked. "Good. Fishing a
26:43 lot." Justin paused. He always said
26:46 letting you go would be the biggest
26:48 mistake this company could make. Turns
26:50 out he was right. I nodded, unsure what
26:53 to say. I learned something from all
26:55 this. Justin continued, "Value isn't
26:58 always visible until it's gone. As I
27:00 drove home along the lake shore, I
27:02 thought about value, of experience, of
27:04 care taken, of doing things right the
27:06 first time, about systems built to last
27:09 and the people who build them. I hadn't
27:12 sought revenge. I hadn't needed to. I'd
27:15 simply moved forward, building something
27:17 better, something that would outlast any
27:20 individual decision or short-term
27:21 thinking. Sometimes the best response to
27:24 being undervalued is simply to prove
27:26 your worth elsewhere and let the results
27:29 speak for themselves.
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