A Bittersweet Departure

This March would have marked my 10th anniversary at NG. Oh man, how I wanted to write about all the stuff that had been going on at work and my efforts to find something new, but being that blogs are much more in the open now, I thought I'd keep it off the internet. Now it is safe to say though since I've already served notice, that I'm leaving my first job since college to start working for D i r e c T V.

I can't believe I've been here this long. It's a bittersweet feeling. When I first came here, I just needed a job. I had no significant experience to speak of. This was my very first interview and then I was offered the job before anyone else could call me. Since I was pretty poor at the time, I took it. Even then, I never expected to be here this long. I figured the max would be 5 years since I would be fully vested at that point.

Over the years I got to work on a couple of cool things, my favorite being a project that involved working with compressed video and film/TV production. Unfortunately, that came to a close rather abruptly. I don't think I ever got over that. I was really crushed when it was cut. Since then I worked on many different military projects. Some were fun and others were really, really boring. If you're curious about how bad it can be, just check out the beginning of this blog where it seemed all I could write about was how I hated working here (more about that in a later post). It seemed though that the fun stuff was always short lived and even though it was fun, it still didn't compare to the old days of working on a product for the entertainment industry. That was real fun.

So I decided a little over a year ago that it was time to leave. I really needed a break from defense work. I just didn't care for it at all anymore and that really hurt my motivation. So why didn't I quit back then? Well, being engaged during that time meant I needed a certain block of time off relatively soon. I didn't want to get a new job and automatically start working out vacation with the hiring manager. Also I didn't want all my negotiating power to be focused towards getting time off for my honeymoon. It also didn't look good to my future in-laws to be unemployed when I got married either so that option was out as well. In January, I applied for a job with D i r e c T V and got an interview. The process took about two months and finally they gave it to an internal candidate after having like 3 interviews. So we decided to take our awesome Mediterranean vacation instead and I'd resume the job hunt when I got back. I honestly didn't like much of what I saw in the job market. The cool jobs never pay enough and the well paying jobs require too much travel. Then D i r e c T V contacted me and wants to know if I want to interview for another position. Anyways, long story short, I got the job and I like the opportunities in this one much better than the last one I interviewed for. Despite all those disappointments to get here, I trusted in God's plan and He provided this job instead. Awesome!

It's so crazy to think of leaving to work at another company. This is the only job culture I've ever known. I've become so comfortable here. There were periods of years that I was miserable cuz I didn't like what I worked on, but that comfort of being around so long was still greater than my desire to leave. Then it became the curiosity of working somewhere else in a different job culture for a different purpose was too great to stay for the comfort factor. I really hope the next job has a good work/life balance. I think that's the best thing about working where I was, but even if it isn't, I'll at least be happier working on stuff that I like. My last day is July 18 and it sure is coming fast!

I just can't believe it...

I QUIT!!!