The Gen Y workplace myth

(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY Strange as it sounds, I'm a Gen Yer in a baby boomer's body. No kidding. I'm absolutely sure that I was supposed to be a Millennial but something went wrong. Maybe it was Karma, I don't know, but I was definitely born in the wrong era.

Here's the story of what happened to me after college. See if it sounds at all familiar.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree, I couldn't find a job. It was a recession; there were no jobs. So I ended up moving in with my folks and working part-time as a vault attendant at the local bank branch for minimum wage. It was so depressing. I mean, what were those four years of college for, anyway?

Even worse, I was saddled with all this debt from student loans. And even though I eventually went to grad school, too much time had elapsed so the interest and penalties piled up until I ended up owing twice the original amount I borrowed. When I finally got a "real" job after grad school, it took years to pay it all back.

Speaking of that first job, the hours were 8 to 5. Eight in the morning -- really? I had no problem working long hours or anything; I just hated getting up that early. I was always lobbying my bosses for flexible hours. Why should I have to be there when everyone else was? It drove me crazy to sit in meetings when I could have been doing something productive with my time.

I had no respect for management, the "man." My boss had a sign in his office that said, "I may not be smart, but I sure am experienced." So I thought it would be funny if I made a sign that said, "I may not be experienced, but I sure am smart" and hung it in my cubicle. My boss didn't think that was very funny. But you know, part of me didn't mean it as a joke. I really believed it.

I didn't like the way they wanted me to dress, either. I wore tight-fitting, trendy clothes, torn jeans, funky sneakers and t-shirts. I didn't buy into that whole "dress for success" thing. I wanted to be different. Unique. I wanted to stand out. Have my own image. Above all, I never wanted to become a corporate drone.

One cool thing, though: There was all this new technology. They were called computers. You could design semiconductor chips a lot faster and more accurately with software tools that ran on big mainframes. The old guys at work had trouble adapting, but not me. So, before long, I ended up managing them. How cool is that?

Since I had to move to where the job was, I didn't know a soul there. All my friends were from work. We'd all go out, grab some food and a few beers, then go back to work. Work-life balance? No such thing, but we didn't care. Over drinks, we'd complain about management. How they didn't understand us or how to motivate us. How inflexible they were.

Ultimately, I decided I really couldn't stand the whole corporate machine, all the layers of management, the bureaucracy, the politics, the whole ranking and rating review system (some called it "ranting and raving"). So I ended up moving to California and working with some entrepreneurs in a few startup companies. That suited me much better.

Sound familiar? I'm sure you recognize all the common Generation Y workplace themes we hear over and over again, these days: Recession, no jobs, student loan debt, inflexible workplace, no work-life balance, new technology, even personal branding.

The only difference is all that happened over 30 years ago. Not only is every word true, but most of my friends felt exactly the same way at the time. No kidding.

And then a funny thing happened. I grew up. I didn't lose what made me different. I didn't go to sleep one day and wake up a zombie pod person. I just experienced things and learned from them.

One of the things I learned along the way is that, in business as in culture, things change. Some things change because they should. Some things change even though they shouldn't. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. Somehow, that's always true. It is what it is.

You know what else I learned? Change isn't generational. Change isn't revolutionary; it's evolutionary. When I was a young worker, I wanted to change management. That didn't happen. That's not how it works. First, I had to prove myself. Then I became management. That's when I got to change things. From the inside. That's how it works. One person at a time.

Don't just take my word for it. If you've got an old record collection in your basement or the attic, go dig out your old beat up copy of "Who's Next," by The Who. Listen to "Won't Get Fooled Again." That explains everything, especially when you consider that, years before, they wrote "My Generation." Something changed in between, that's for sure.

Anyway, the best line is the last one: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Truer words have never been said. Never.

Image courtesy Flickr user Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline