chip away at?

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All the thousands of faithful employees who were the heart, soul, and backbone of that company. I was one of them. By then I’d been chipping away at it for twenty-four years—twenty-five if you include my turn as a student engineer in Dallas. And I will never forget what that feels like, to be a salaried employee who’s just trying to do a good job and earn a fair day’s pay.

What does the phrase mean in this context? Is it a modest way of saying that the author had been working in the company for 24 years?

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@Nancy88,

"Chipping away at" means to do something bit by bit, as in chipping at a stone with a chisel when you want to make a carving. You can chip away at your homework by reading bits of it at a time instead of all at once, chip away at your housework, etc. But...

I don't really get how a person 'chips away' at being part of a company for 24 years. They're either a part of it or they're not; it's just not something you chip away at.

Strange usage of the phrase, in my opinion. Unless the writer's referring to him chipping away at being a faithful, long-time employee? And that would still be strange.

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@Nancy88,

it means they have been working steadily and patiently for 24 years.
they are not necessarily being modest about it.

need more contect, but it sounds like the company went out of business or laid off a bunch of their employees...

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@Mame,

Mame wrote:

"Chipping away at" means to do something bit by bit, as in chipping at a stone with a chisel when you want to make a carving. You can chip away at your homework by reading bits of it at a time instead of all at once, chip away at your housework, etc. But...

I don't really get how a person 'chips away' at being part of a company for 24 years. They're either a part of it or they're not; it's just not something you chip away at.

Strange usage of the phrase, in my opinion. Unless the writer's referring to him chipping away at being a faithful, long-time employee? And that would still be strange.

Consider:

"He was chipping away at the years remaining before he could retire."

That sounds okay to me.

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@Mame,

Quote:

I don't really get how a person 'chips away' at being part of a company for 24 years. They're either a part of it or they're not; it's just not something you chip away at.

The view is retrospective, Mame. What was seen as normal diligence is "now", after 25 years and a failed company ??? seen as something else, a long wasted slog.

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@Region Philbis,

No, the author is former Chairman and CEO of AT&T and GM, Mr. Ed Whitacre.

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@Nancy88,

Well he raked in a pretty nice pile of chips.

Chipping away, grinding it out, slogging it out, keeping at it....

All suggest diligence and perseverance.

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chip away at?

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