I left and moved to a real technology company, with degreed engineers, and accountability.
When I left, AT&T Telco, it was rewarding their POTS soldiers with cushy slots in the newer wireless business unit (former CellOne McCaw). Say 1998-2001. Wow...ignorant and nasty people to say the least. They were the folks that launched OneRate without a solid plan and tanked the network from DC through Boston. One VP had no idea what an Erlang was and that it just might apply to RF radio based communication. ATT telco ran wireless through spreadsheets! Keep the cells green or else! Heavens if there was a yellow or red cell on Excel.