“Changing was necessary. Change was right. He was all in favour of change. What he was dead against was things not staying the same.” — Masklin (Terry Pratchett, Diggers)
Today marks the end of a moment. The end of an era. The end of my employment with an organization that has seen much change itself in recent years.
I came to this company nearly five years ago, almost as an act of desperation. Where I was previously was clearly failing, and couldn’t (or wouldn’t) offer me what I was looking for as the next step on my career path — a move out of SDQA and into IT/Systems. In hindsight, it turned out to be the right choice. My old team was laid off within six months, and only a subset of the people I worked with are still with the company.
I came to this company with a 100 mile, each way, commute. For the first six months of my employment I would wake up, spend two hours on the road, work for eight hours, spend another two hours on the road and then sleep until it was time to do it again. But it was worth it — I enjoyed the work I was doing, I liked the people I was doing the work for, and I enjoyed the company of the people I was doing the work with.
This job saw me purchase four cars, move house once, and expand the family by one baby. This job saw my salary increase to more than twice what I started at. This job saw multiple levels of promotion, far beyond what I had hoped when the journey began.
Today marks the end of this moment. The end of this era.
I’ve backed up my critical data, I’ve cleaned my laptop and my desktop, I’ve given away the projects that needed to be transitioned and also the personal items that I’ve chosen not to take with me.
I’ve shared my secrets, I’ve said my goodbyes, I’ve wiped away a couple of tears, and walked out the door with my access badges on my empty desk.
I’ve marked the end of the moment, the end of the era. The sun will soon set beyond the horizon, and I’ll be celebrating with my family at a nearby restaurant.
Soon, Monday will come. The sun will rise, and I’ll drive to a new location. I’ll quell the butterflies as best I can, and I’ll meet a new team of co-workers. I’ll struggle (but eventually succeed) in learning their names.
I will have a brand new set of challenges, and I will rise to meet them.
It will mark the beginning of a new moment. The beginning of a new, and hopefully just as long-lasting era.
I’ll try to keep you all in the loop.