Technology & MSG

Some Big Changes at Work

Oct 8th, 2008 by Alex

I’m quitting my job.

I’ve had this unwritten rule that I don’t blog about work, but it was mostly due to the technical nature of it and the fact that I don’t want to write about work when I get home. But the following is more about how this change is affecting me and less about what I do. I think I’d have the same feelings if I were a carpenter, accountant, analyst, pilot, or anything else.

I’m not quitting, really. Well I am, but I’m not. Leaving would be a more accurate description…

For the past four years I’ve been working on two contracts. These two contracts provide for development of custom software applications. I’ve been responsible for managing firewalls, networking devices, and numerous systems that are used to support the development and production versions of the applications. I’ve gotten to work with many talented people during this time. There’s been a lot of cool hardware that I’ve gotten to play with. I’ve written a fair number of helpful scripts and utilities that continue to function today (and will probably continue to do so after I leave). I’ve been granted a level of authority and autonomy over system decisions that I’ve really appreciated. All political and physical matters included, I’m very proud of our system’s stability and what the two teams have provided.

Both of these contracts are in maintenance mode. There isn’t a lot of new development going on and while there are still problems to be solved, they aren’t the thrilling and technically exciting problems that we started with when the projects were more active. There have been many days where I haven’t felt challenged and that realization caused me to start looking for other opportunities. There’s also little place for me to go professionally from my current space. Little room for growth. Few opportunities to push the envelope.

Working for a large company has its perks. One of which is the ability to hop onto a different effort without having to pick up the want ads or worrying about changes in salary, benefits, etc. So I started looking around a few months back. For a while, none of the open positions looked appealing. Then something would come up with one of the projects and I’d forget about the job search for a week or two. This on and off-again approach has taxed me. I didn’t realize how much, but it’s left this uneasy feeling. A lot of it is that I had made the decision to leave, but I didn’t have anywhere to go.

There was a job that promised some continuing but stable travel time. The project itself was well regarded by the higher-ups and fully funded. The idea of traveling a bit on the company dime was pretty appealing, but after interviewing with some of the engineers it looked like I’d be inheriting a large mess of systems to deal with. Not that I don’t like a challenge, but cleaning up hardware that’s been previously been managed by many different Java developers isn’t my idea of fun. Again, it’d be work but not technically challenging. And it turned out I interviewed for the wrong job in the first place; there was no travel. A few days later I interviewed for the travel job, which turned out to be more maintenance mode than my current position. I was bummed, though it was reassuring to know that I’m still a marketable individual.

As like most job searches, the best opportunities come from who you know. Personal networking is an amazing thing. A coworker had heard through the management grapevine that I was looking for something and came over and talked to me. The project he’s working on is in need of a “utility man” to do a little bit of everything. Some scripting, some system administration, and whatever else was needed. It’s a small team, probably less than a dozen members, doing some really neat things. Though I’m familiar with the pieces they’re using, I’m unfamiliar with what they’re doing. This represents a new challenge for me. After interviewing with another guy on the same project I was sold.

There’s a lot for me to be doing. I’m not sure how involved I’ll be with the hiring of my replacement. We’ve had trouble hiring for positions like mine in the past, so I don’t even know if there will be one before I leave. I’ve got some things to get in order before I can transition over to the new project. Not that I won’t be available for phone consultations or visits if necessary, but the bulk of my responsibilities need to be passed off to my team.

Part of me feels that I’m bailing out on my current coworkers. Though I’m not leaving them with a mess, I’m sure that in four years I’ve quietly done a lot of little things to keep things flowing properly. I’ve been documenting a lot the past couple days, but I still feel like I’m going to forget something. I don’t want to put anyone out and I’m going to miss my office mates and the fun times that we’ve had. Not to suggest that the new job won’t have these things, but these people mean a lot to me.

Regardless, I’m glad I’ve found something new. Something promising. Something challenging.