September 19th was my last day of work at (company a). As I looked at my desk, now empty, I felt a strange sensation. It wasn’t regret, happiness, nerves, or nostalgia…but some odd combination of them all.
Most employees at (company) didn’t even know I was leaving that day until I sent my final goodbye email. I told my boss who went to his boss and HR, but for the most part, a limited number of people knew. Robin knew, Aaron knew, and Ryan knew. I kept it low key; no need to introduce more drama into a workplace filled with a plethora of it.
During the previous few weeks, I had been quietly scoping out other employment opportunities. In a chance encounter with a roller hockey buddy, he told me that he was leaving his position at (company b) to work for Lockheed Martin, and that (company b) was looking for a good IT guy. He asked me for my resume, which I happily provided, and waited.
I started at (company a) about four years ago. I was originally a part-time employee assisting Modo with the Broadcast portion of the company’s technological resources. I was still in college, and my internship with Comcast had just ended when Modo approached me asking if I was interested in working for his company. His co-worker had just quit, and he was having a difficult time managing everything on his own. He couldn’t take days off or go on a vacation as he was the only IT resource at corporate. Seeing as my source of income had just come to an end, I agreed to come in for an interview. Leaving out a bunch of superfluous details: I got the job offer fairly quickly and thus began my tenure.
I didn’t dislike (company a), nor was I unhappy while I was there. The degrees of freedom offered by the position and the cool attitude of most of the people made work fun for the most part, as long as there was something to do. Sure, a lot of the time, I was dealing with minuscule user issues that were “urgent emergencies”, but the rest of the time was either free time or project time. In reality, I could do what I wanted, come and go as I please, work from home if I needed to, and my drive was fairly short (minus I-76 traffic, of course).
I didn’t dislike my co-workers, despite some differences in how we did things. There was always a difference in what was considered “best practices” between Core and corporate. For the most part, while discussions would get heated over stupid shit, nobody held a grudge (well..hopefully, I can only speak for myself) despite both sides being stubborn and insistent.
For the most part…life was good, but; it was time to move on. My position never really had any kind of official title. I was the jack of all trades; the everything IT bitch. If it lit up, made beeping noises…hell, if it used electricity, it somehow fell under my domain. I felt that it was time for a change…to move into a position that has more clearly defined goals and responsibilities…something that (company b) offered.
To the peons at corporate: Was cool hanging out and talking to you on a daily basis. You will be missed…and I still owe you donuts.
To the towers peons: Good luck…damn, you’ll probably need it (your words, not mine!)
To the peons in Austin: Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
