Shipped up to Boston

Because, “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” just no longer applies… I already did it almost nine months ago! And I didn’t go to find my wooden leg. It was to find a new job. But I didn’t find the job. It found me.

So, I figured I’d tell you more about it, nine months later, because I have come to realize that not everyone knows I switched jobs, not once, but twice within the past year! Let me get that out of the way first because many people only know about that switch.

Right about now last year I was shipping halfway up 128 after ending a long and insane daily commute to NH. No job is worth that headache, literally, and I made a switch within the same company to work in MA. This cut out approximately 120 miles of driving per day. Probably also a good hour and a half of personal time back too.

Anyway, my first day with that new group was probably the highlight of my three months there. It turned out to be their team building day and it was at F1 Boston. I did at least four races, which was way better than the single one we did for Joe’s BP. (Could we not afford more?)

After that first day, it was all downhill, I just didn’t really realize it at the time. Let’s leave it that I wasn’t given anything exciting to work on and some expectations about the job changed by the time I started. Not all work will be exciting, but I also wasn’t challenged by it or even utilized for what I bring to the table. Heck, I wasn’t even given the opportunity to code much never mind architect anything! Reading, research and some documentation was the order of the day. In the end, I produced a little proof-of-concept and that was only over the last two weeks.

So, while I was on my usual two week end of the year vacation, I received an e-mail from an old boss gauging my interest in coming back to work for him. It would be for a small company in Boston he had just joined in November. Well, I don’t mind being pitched, so one afternoon after work at the start of January I went in to town to hear what was what.

Now, have you ever had one of those too-good-to-be-true moments/feelings? Pinch yourself to make sure you were awake and all that? Well, after about 2 hours of talking, I left with just that feeling. In fact, it really woke me up to how awful I was still feeling about my then current position. I realized the commute masked other issues and it may not have been the only change that needed to be made. I found I didn’t enjoy what I was doing anymore and I needed a bigger change, and oh by the way, here is anything and everything you’d ever want if you had to make that change.

After getting over the initial euphoria of everything we talked about, I had to really give some heavy thought as to whether or not I’d really pursue it. I mean, it is a very tough thing to leave a very large company you’d spent just over 10 years with and built a good reputation and career for yourself for a very small company in an industry you are not familiar with. Hahaha… I’m kidding. Sorta. No, it really came down to a leap of faith that this would be best for me.

In the end, it came down to the fact I was more interested in being challenged by something new than any of the tangibles being thrown at me. The opportunity to innovate and work with my actual end-users to build applications they’d actually use was huge. The fact that I can show up to work in jeans and a t-shirt was pure cake!

That’s right. Jeans and a t-shirt. During the summer, it was shorts and sandels. In fact, I didn’t wear socks for two solid months this summer. Believe me when I say that this makes a difference. Being comfortable, you don’t mind working 50+ hours a week. I’d say this is even better than when I used to work from home with the 5 second commute and in PJ’s most every day. Comfortability — I made that up — but with the office camaraderie. Add on to that free snacks and drinks in the kitchen and we are almost talking Googleplex here. Okay, not that fantastical.

As for the rest, you can assume that the *normal* compensation was more than adequate. I was able to keep the same amount of vacation/sick time that I never seem able to use properly — yes, another two weeks off to end this year too — and I am still able to arrive later to the office than your normal commuter. This is nice as I hate people. I hate commuting with people anyway. Being packed on a subway is not my favorite experience, so I like heading in later to avoid the regular commute.

Now, I haven’t been riding the subway at all the last, um… six weeks maybe, because after the summer was over, everyone decided it was a good idea to save on gas by doing the same, which meant the garage fills up too early for me. To remedy this, I either need to get up earlier and commute like a regular drone or continue driving into town every day for a slightly higher expense in terms of money and time. Time only in that instead of being able to read for an hour each day, I sit in the truck on the highway reading billboards and bumper stickers. (The clock time is about the same.) I really miss the reading, but I might hate people more.

Back to the job, it has been excellent so far. Most of my team was part of a company-wide presentation last week. We were able to show all the work we have accomplished over the past year. (It as to cap off a year long effort/program.) For our part, everything we showed was accomplished in over eight months. The progression of the meeting was in sync with our progression in the work. Lots of little pieces being built on a solid foundation we setup at the start. By the end of the presentation you had a big climax, but we aren’t done yet. Therein lies the beauty. Our effort has all been very well received and in turn the demand has grown even more. I can see how the work we do impacts just about every person in the company and the company goals as a whole. I can’t even relate how big of a reward that is to me.

Oh, and then at the end, the CEO handed out everyone’s bonus for the year and we had champagne and cake. Not a bad thing at all. So that’s where the drunk at work joke stemmed from a couple posts ago. Not really drunk at work, but drinking one glass of champagne in the office is a nice way to celebrate your accomplishments, no?

Now, you have probably noted that I didn’t drop any names of companies or industries or people. If you know these things thru conversation, please keep them out of any comments you might leave here. I intentionally tend not to write about what I do for work for a couple reasons: 1:. coding is foreign to just about every one of you and this is not a coding blog and 2:. I don’t have to put stupid disclaimers anywhere that things I write here aren’t the opinion of my company and blah blah blah.

Finally, when you notice gaps in posting here, you know a little more why that happens. It is because I am happy at work instead of being too tired or aggravated to sit here. A good thing, yeah?