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.
sffilk
Mazal tov to you. Best of luck in the new endeavor.
catsittingstill
Wow. Congratulations and best wishes to you in your new job!
valydiarosada
It sounds a good step to take. I hope it works out well. All the best!
billroper
Congratulations! And good luck with the new job.
eoforyth
I wish you all the joy of new challenges *hugs*
ladymondegreen
Congratulations and good luck!
alymid
congrats on the new job -- and yay! for getting out of the old one with your wits intact!
*hugs*
joyeuse13
Awesome! Good luck!
hms42
Good luck with the new job. I hope it works out better than you expect.
porpentine
Congratulations! Here’s hoping the new gig turns out to be everything you’re hoping it will be and more.
snippy
I hope it’s everything you want it to be. Congratulations on having the courage to make this change.
the_gwenzilliad
Congratulations, sweetie. Mwah.
gorgeousgary
Congrats on the new gig and good luck!
tibicina
I hope your new job ends up being as perfect for you as your former co-worker thinks it is. It sounds like it will be awesome, in all the great and slightly scary aspects that word encompasses.
thnidu
Good luck and best of progress with the new job!!
anaisdjuna
Pretty wild, yo! Rock on! What are you going to be doing?
annonynous
There seemed to be some unhappiness and dissatisfaction leaking out from around the edges of a number of your LJ entries for a while now. I hope your new adventure will replace the unhappiness and dissatisfaction with happiness and satisfaction at how you are meeting the challenges of your new position.
Ann O.
infobits
congrats!
heathrow
How exciting! I wish you all the best!
sraun
Good luck!
sweetmusic_27
Holy crap, wow!
tollers
Congrats on the new gig! 🙂 I hope it’s everything you hope it will be, and more!
markbernstein
Good for you!
filkerdave
Wow, congrats! That’s very exciting news!
What sector will your new gig be in (since you asterisked it, but didn’t follow up? 😉 )
ljgeoff
Also curious about the asterisk!
Rob Wynne
See my reply to Dave. 🙂
Rob Wynne
Heh. The asterisk was intended to reference a comment to this effect:
Long-time readers of this journal will realise that I rarely discuss work, and never in great specifics. This is for generally obvious reasons and will continue to be my policy.” 🙂
But to generally answer the question, the new job will involve the handling and processing of electronic documents in the healthcare sector.
ex_serenejo
There we go. 🙂
surrdave
No-one will accuse you of being a job-hopper. I think you’ll love it--I changed jobs last year with a similar attitude, and it’s been everything I hoped.
phoenixpdx
Conga-rats all around! Here’s hoping it works out wonderfully well for you.
tigerbright
Best wishes, and yay for new adventures!
ldwheeler
Congratulations and best of luck! Serendipitously, I read this post about 10 minutes after hitting “SEND” on the first portfolio I’ve sent out in … a long time. The first of many.
joecoustic
Congratulations and I wish you well with the new job and new challenges :).
My 40s have turned out to be an entire decade of transition and change in some small and some incredibly large ways (as you can probably tell). It’s an amazing ride and one I don’t think I could have handled earlier but I’m finally growing accustom to treasuring what assurances and ritual I can and eagerly wondering what my future holds as well :).
hitchhiker
congrats 🙂
eiblyn
Congratulations! Both on the new job and on having the courage to seek out new adventures. Comfort has its place, but can very easily stagnate. So go you!
dbcooper
Awesome news! May the new gig prove rewarding and challenging (but in a good way).
ex_serenejo
(I’ll have to check the other comments to see if you resolved the footnote asterisk, but for the moment let me say mazel tov and best of luck on your new gig! I know you’ve been wanting to make a change for a long time.)
little_cinnamon
Go you! May it turn out to be a happy and exciting place. 🙂
kk1raven
I hope your new job works out well for you. I think new challenges are important for maintaining mental health.
lothie
*hughughug* Yay!
grey_lady
How exciting! New challenges are good. *hugs*
jodimuse
Just wishing you SO many fantastically good things in your new job. Congratulations! Yeah…. 40 can be a pretty interesting year … 🙂 Enjoy it, Rob. You deserve every success. *hugs*