autographedcat

Today at 4pm, I walked out of my office.

For the last time.

About six weeks ago, a former co-worker caught up with me as I was out on one of my constitutional walks around the parking lot. He wanted me to know that his company might have a new position opening up that he thought would be perfect for me, and he knew I had been thinking of looking for a new gig. After listening to the particulars, I sent him my resume, and told him to let me know. A couple of weeks later, he pinged me back to ask me when I'd like to set up an interview.

Two weeks ago, they offered me the job, and I submitted my resignation to my current employer. This was certainly a surreal experience. I went to work for this company fifteen years ago, when it was still a tiny startup and the Internet was only just starting to explode. As I leave, it is a well established player in its corner of the market, and in no small part it's success is because of work that I've done for it. I'm very proud of what I helped to build, and it's strange to think that as of today, I'm no longer an active part of it.

But the truth is, whatever my frustrations with my job are, the biggest motivator for me is wanting to seek new challenges. I'm going to be working in a market sector that is, I think, going to be exploding over the next few years*, so it's an exciting time to be joining it, and while there's a certain satisfaction that comes from being at the top of the game and the guy everyone comes to for all the answers, there's also something to be said for getting into a new one and mixing it up with a new team where you have something to prove.

My 40th year has been one of great changes. Some of them good, some of them less so, but I'm certainly going to emerge a different person to the one I entered as. I'm looking forward to the future.