The Central Computing Auditing Task Force took up the 14th floor of the Auditing division skyscraper in downtown Bay City. The Audit building was not as august or impressive as the three buildings of GEC: Governance, Education and Computing, but it still was pretty impressive to Amanda.
The CCATF had dozens of Interns working for them, as well as the leadership of five full Examiners, two Tenured Examiners and a Team Leader Examiner in charge of the project.
"As interns, you are assigned to large projects where we can have you cross-check each other, as well as provide supervision and validation from both Senior Examiners and Examinees. At the CCATF we examine all Computing Resource Use Reports as well as Requests, both for Hardware requests and System usage requests and reports," said the Team Leader.
One of the Seniors continued, "If you work together on projects with your fellow interns, we have found a certain collective consensus effect that works against effective and fair evaluation. Therefore we ask that you do not share active investigation data or analysis. You may talk about broad trends and situations but never specifics. We will let you know if there is an exception."
The Team Lead said, "Unfortunately despite repeated training at all levels of all stratums, people often train Computing Resources differently than they treat economic resources, but nonetheless the cost is real. Computing overuse and misuse is one of the most common auditable issues found. You will be the search lights for the rare issues, and our Action Groups will follow up each suspicion. You are not looking for a definite issue, but one that bears further investigation."
The Office
Working in an office setting meant riding into work each day, accessing in-office Computing systems which are much more powerful, but must be used respectfully and in a limited manner. It would not do for the Computing Audit department to face an Internal-Affairs audit.
Amanda brushed up against limts in both how much work and when. She liked to work at all kinds of odd hours, but now she had to be in the building, and they were not allowed in after 8 PM and before 8 AM. The lack of flexibility combined with the high case load was stressful.
Mostly she didn't find anything, but you never knew when the next case might contain important data.
There were E-Waver attachments to certain data sets when certain Computing system users were revealed to have redacted authorization from their Division as well as Computing. There were cases color coded Brown. This was for Computing Systems use in an official setting. Limits on in-office use were much stricter, and they had to memorize the standard for Brown versus Green (home user), versus Blue (Educational labs). Data tagged with Black was used by the highest secure sources, beyond their paygrade. Amanda received one of these and did an order of magnitude bound, and found the usage was beyond even that bound and sent it on to the Investigative Teams.
Most Black tagged datasets would end up being in-house Governance usage that was not subject to limit.
The Computing Hardware use datasets involved repair of Hardware in homes or work areas, but more commonly requests for High Power Computing in various parts of Examiner professional society as well as municipalities.
These were more intense as they required lookups and research about the organization who received equipment. They had to match the requests with intended purpose and usage, and any weird discrepancies were sent on.
The serious and intense nature of their work meant that even though they gathered as an intern group on the night before their off day, it didn't have the same fun casualness as her gathering with her house mates.
The other factor was the mixed gender and large group, with 18 guys and 12 girls in the group of interns.
She got to know Samantha (sddavids), Jim (jbreed) and Irina (ivplane), but she still messaged Sue (sumoderno) and Jason (jawertham2).
Having one day off nine days on, and being in the building almost 12 hours a day was exhausting and led to mistakes sometimes. She spent one week working only 9 hours a day, and then went back to full pace.
Like before, after a few hicups she adapted to the work level, and made some improvements in her understanding of the situation. Though they were idle conversations, she did provide a little input for the investigatory teams.
Year 95, Day 144
As she had gotten into a routine, as part of this team of interns, the Team Lead informed her that they were going through a mandatory rotation to gain experience in a second topic area.
For her, it was the Major Capital Projects Auditing team. It wasn't mainly the topline that she worked on, but all of the contractors, sub contractors and sub subs. The billing for labor and parts, the identification of parts actually being delivered and many other unending details.
This was more collaborative work. Groups of 4 interns worked with a full Examiner on a particular construction project. She worked for 21 days on her first one, and 30 on her second.
Year 96, Day 264
Her excellent 34-7 "exam" record slipped to 62-18 over the 120 days of the Major Capital Projects. She found more interest in pursuing a lead independently than the long-standing collab detail searching of MCP.
She only need 19 more passes to reach Junior Examiner. She was placed in a project once again following Computing usage, but this time she was part of a small team, working with a Junior Examiner who was about to move up to full Examiner rank.
They were the Educational Computing Labs & Exams Auditing Team. Truly an inter-division team.
It was her first experience with the other divisions in depth. She met with Computing division interns and full examiners as well as many Education division Examiners and students.
Their focus was only partially on behavior and violations, it was primarily on working with the other Two divisions to develop better estimates of student behavior, working on policy developments for student usage and correcting any errors in the Auditing Information systems that were used in labs and Exam centers to determine how much was used.
She found herself in an investigation that reminded her of the old days at home, thinking of Computers.
She and the Auditing Junior Examiner, Ed Winters (emwinters). They were investigating a faulty Auditing Info System with a Tenured Computing Division examiner. She even provided some useful input which helped the Computing, Education and Audit teams to find the answer.
There was an exam with a question that required extra data and didn't follow a certain coding standard to cache that data. The Audit IS improperly identified the extreme data use as a recording failure, but failed the properly rectify that with the total in the Audit IS Ed Headquarters causing an overall off-balance problem, which was what started them on this chase.
She ended up with commendations by the Education and Computing divisions.
Year 95, Day 324
As the jump to Intern was a different sort of thing, so was the jump to Junior Examiner. I technicially had the status, ranks and rewards of the position. I had a new house which I was moving into in two days. It was large enough for a family someday, if I didn't marry someone with an even bigger house.
I wasn't ready to think about the Child credit which was added to my Account system. I was sure someone audited usage of those as well, and I hadn't met anyone who wasn't as fanatically in pursuit of the next challenge as I was.
Supposedly during this transitional step, your name would show up in places where the special analysis software identified you as a good fit. Unlike the automatic assignment of lower ranks, your superior got to interview the top 3 or 5 recommendations by the system.
It was part of the trial to go through these interviews and be picked.
GEC Auditing Task Force
After interviewing for a position with the CCATF and the ECLEAT, she had the opportunity to interview for a special position related to the GEC.
The GEC Auditing Task Force was a small operation. An Emeritus Examiner and his subordinate, as well as a supporting second pair. I was interviewing to work as the junior member of the second pair.
My senior would be Tenured Examiner Will Christensen, wwchristensen.
The position had no exact details listed, but said it was used for key auditing support by the GEC leadership, and was a sort of scion of the Auditing division to those top three division leaders.
It would be very prestigious for a mere newbie Junior Examiner to join the team. Amanda was excited, but she wanted to be sure it was the sort of thing she would be good at.
Will and Emeritus Examiner Jennifer Oeftger interviewed her.
"I suppose the Major Projects Team was all about drilling down into the detail, but I found myself distracted working with people who had the same qualifications as me. Whereas, working across Divisions, and with those senior to me, I was able to be an analyst offering up what help I could to the overall effort. It's like trampling versus coordinated flight. My interest in Computing and Education may have helped as well.
I know that we have many Controller connected responsibilities as auditors, but I find the most interest in the Computing and Education connections. I will have to learn the Governance division connections, but I'm interested in learning that as well."
Will asked, "Why do you think you failed your Preliminary Computing exam?"
That seemed so long ago, it had been five years, but it seemed like an event from her childhood. "I thought I knew about Computing. I was overconfident. I've learned some more from alongside."
"You continued with Legal for several stages of this process. How do you think that will help?" Jennifer asked.
"It was a hard one for me, but I think the structured approach of Legal division was helpful to solidify my understanding of Auditing in certain areas. And maybe it will help me approach Governance."
Jennifer finally filled her in a bit on what the team was about. "We are both Prospective and Retrospective. Anticipating what the GEC council will need from an Auditing perspective, as well as responding with speed and accuracy and care to their requests. 80 percent of what we do is anticipating their needs, for faster response. Most of that is not ultimately used but it is available.
Situations along the same lines as your work with the Education Computing collaboration come up from time to time, and sometimes the Divisions have a hard time working together, so the GEC will send us out on site. I expect you to invest in attire of a higher class, and direct yourself to be circumspect, polite and mindful of your on-site directives. You will be given sufficient dispensation for all attire required, please work with the Hospitality Division Uniform Technicians Team to get fitted immediately.
Well, I guess I've revealed too much. Will, are you in agreement to chose Junior Examiner Amanda Mercer, ammercer?"
"I am in agreement. I will help with the special instruction."
Hospitality Division - Uniform Technicians Office
The uniform of the Examinee, or the Uniform of the Intern were not very complicated, or diverse. Now she had suits, sport coats, bow ties, dresses, blouses, slacks, skirts, and all in several colors.
For the first time since her Form school days, her closet was full of several different kinds of clothes.
She wasn't sure what official Auditor business had to do with all of this, but she wouldn't doubt her superiors.
"Madam Examiner," the form of address was still unfamiliar to her, and she wasn't married, of course, but she had never heard Mademoiselle or Miss.
"If you have need of anything, the Hospitality division's Examiner Support Team 7 is your go-to. Just hit hospitality on your home phone or call *017 on your cell."
"Thank you!"
Year 95, Day 339
The output she first appeared in for the special mission was so bad, Will intercepted her and told her to go back and chose more wisely.
Not a good start.
The setting was a meeting up the GEC top teams. There was an audit report that was queried about. She felt out of her depth, but she followed along the lead team and Will's leadership.
She did provide a small bit of technical assistance, but mostly looked foolish.
Year 95, Day 360
The rest of the year was mostly in the office, but just before the holidays, she actually dressed appropriately for a meeting of the GEC executive committee, in which she provided reports which they had worked on in the previous two weeks, and answered questions about the reporting.
Year 95 Holidays
Maybe it was dad's impressive current record in approaching Senior Examiner again, or maybe her quick ascent to Junior Examiner, but Dad showed up for the Examiner's holiday gala.
This time she had her own credentials to get in, and she spoke with several people who were high up in Governance, but whom she had given information to during work with her GEC support team.
"The kind of team you're on now, is exactly where you need to be, to make good impressions for the future. I never got that kind of assignment.
Because she had joined a rather Important team, her workload hadn't really reduced much from her intern days. She did get a second day off some weeks.
Each Examiner division had four awards programs: Student of the Year for Forms Student, Rising Star for Examinees and Interns, Impact Award for Junior and Full Examiners, and Examiner of the Year for Tenured, Senior, Emeritus and up.
Her fumble near the year end likely cost her a chance for this year.
Jason managed to get third place below two Examiners who she didn't know.
She and Dad met with the Wertham family after dinner. Jason and the rest of the family seemed like hard working but friendly people. They were a smaller family than Sue's, but they had a pretty good record, everyone in their family on a good pace to achieve Junior Examiner or better.
Year 96, Day 123
The Year with the GEC support auditors was marginal. Without an improvement, Amanda would be moved to another team or possible moved back to intern, although that still seemed unlikely.
Six years of increasingly difficult work can overcome anyone, but she still fought.
She agreed to go on a date with Jason, who had just reached ρ3 Examiner.
Jason lived with his family in a large multi-story home, but he offered to come pick her up. He planned a home cooked meal while the rest of the family was away. It seemed sweet and fancy. She was used to take out food sometimes shared with her friends from various stages of her schooling and career.
If she considered her family life in a professional mindset, she should really consider his family and how they were as well.
Would every effort she made, past and future be considered "Just that Wertham brilliance" if she ended up marrying him. She didn't want to disrespect her dad and what he'd done for her.
"It's been a struggle this year, I've been unable to avoid racking up fails in a few different streaks," she said.
"It doesn't change the hard work and training you've put in. Once you get through this, you'll soar even higher. Honestly, when I found out about you, I didn't expect you'd been just a short hop behind me. Most people, Amanda, most people fall back at least once, sometimes twice or more. Just making it this far without any major hiccups is a major accomplishment. That's why they are looking at you for all these accomplishments."
"Let's talk about anything else. Not that I don't like to talk about this stuff, but I need to take a break from it."
Jason was stirring the food. "Mom taught me to cook, but she always said: It's great to have high and great destinations in mind, but remember, the destination is just for a day, the journey is for life."
"Why do you think Auditing captured your attention? To me, it's something that's so hidden and easy to dismiss until you get into the depths. I was already seeing a little about it just from knowing my dad and how he does things."
Jason said, "I originally went in for Governance, Computing, Legal and Auditing as a fall back. But when I reached Examinee 3, I didn't want to go with more than 2 Divisions, so I dropped Governance and Legal. Auditing ended up consistently being my best Division by exam, so I stuck with it. Now that we've been into our intern teams and Junior Examiner teams, we've both seen a ton of situations and found the ones we did best with. I like digging into an investigation and finding something. The more clean our system is, the better we can make our world."
They were both deep into auditing lingo, lore and study, but how much room did they have for each other.
"Maybe next holiday, you could come visit my home? Have you ever been outside the city?"
Year 6, Day 318
By literally the slimmest of margins, she scrapped by with 89 passes, 29 fails. One more failure and she would have been out. She had been at 80 and 29 a few weeks ago, looking down the barrel of internship again. She barely had a chance to say hi to Jason or meet him for dinner that week.
He was in the middle of a difficult fight to make it to Tenured Examiner, so they both had little time to relax.
She was starting to realize how dad felt. The system flipped you back and worth between your limits.
Her barely advancing performance made her a full Examiner. She could hardly believe that she now had a position that wasn't junior or intern or student in any way.
She didn't get one of the better Examiner positions though. She got sent out a village of her own for agricultural and mining auditing, like her father did.
She hadn't known where her village was until she downloaded a map. It was only two villages over from home, but she wouldn't see Jason for a long time. He promised to come and visit and she promised to put in a better performance, and try to get transferred back to the capital. She didn't want to be stuck out here like her dad had been.
The house she moved into was another Examiner's house rented to the latest auditor to arrive at the posting. She was determined to learn all about this kind of auditing, above and beyond what she already knew.
Dad was on the precipice of reaching Emeritus Examiner. He didn't tell her his exam equivalents, but his attitude was more positive.
Year 6, Day 360
It felt like a good start to her days as a full Examiner, but projections put her just barely at the passing line.
She took the auto home, and for once, she talked Dad's language and could understand him at his most jargon filled. Agriculture, Mining operations, expenditures, use and dispersion of result products, and on it went.
Then they stopped, and spent the rest of the first day of the holiday enjoying village activities.
Amanda didn't know what was going on when Jason showed up the next day, not alone, but with his parents.
His parents asked to talk to her. Jason's dad Jon was a Governance division Senior Examiner.
"There's a new Governance - Legal - Auditing inter-division task force, forming up, to investigate shared questions. We'll be looking for candidates in the near future."
"I would love to apply when the position opens up, sir," after all, as an Intern she had switched positions a few times.
That interesting conversation was casting away when Jason came back and bent down on one knee.
She had never really thought too much about marriage, beyond the basics. She wasn't a dreamer on the topic, she was driven by her own goals, but she recognized the necessity of the whole thing.
So her answer to the question, was "Of course", but she wondered about the whole pageantry of it all.
Jason's parents celebrated holiday together with us, and just after the year began, I received a transfer order. I would be working back in the capital again, and moving in with Jason after we got marriage in mid-year 97.
Year 97, Day 180
I went on a 50-9 run as part of the new GLA task force. I was the most junior of 3 auditors on the team, but I had plenty of insight and ideas. I spent my free time with the Wertham family. .Despite their practical attitude, they didn't act selfishly and they appreciated my Dad and I, and the Mercer family traditions.
Dad was back in the City as an Emeritus Examiner and Sue was an Intern by the time my wedding day came.
Jason had made it to Tenured Examiner, and was now likely to fall back to Rho 3 Examiner. The toggle was real as I was looking to reach R-4 Tenured myself and had a good chance of it.
