After much sleeplessness and hand-wringing, I accepted an offer of employment from another company. It wasn’t that I hated my current job — I really liked the guys I worked with, I appreciated the fact our manangers were not cars-in-the-parking lot kinda guys — but I was feeling uneasy with working for a multi-national company, especially in light of rumors that there were plans to out source a portion of our of quality assurance team. The work had always been every so slowly morphing from software development to agency web development (rapid cycles driven by graphic designers instead of folks with any sort of technical saavy. Despite those things, I wasn’t ready to jump ship for just anything…

Then a friend emailed me, mentioning a position opened at his job (a small software shop specializing in human services software), and he asked if I was interested. Sure, I said, and off went my resume. Roughly five days later I had interviewed and had an offer letter in hand. Given the whirlwind nature of that, my inner Wembley came out, and I began to second-guess the decision (we, of course, have seen this behavior before). At the crux of the matter was the slightly longer, rather hilly commute to the new office, and the fact the office was not located downtown, and even in the city proper (it is in a small northern suburb). I took some comfort in the fact the office was not in strip mall hell, however, and I carefully balanced the location against the international scope of my current employer, and the suburb won.

So, in three weeks, I’ll be starting a new journey. I’m excited to be back at a small shop doing actual software development. I’m also excited to make a few upgrades to my bike for the hillier commute — in the end, hopefully I’ll have something like this, albeit with a front brake.

Other Stuff

This year’s Halloween alleycat has been announced — the Spirits of the Streets race will be Saturday October 29, starting at the dinosaur in Oakland. Can’t wait.

And, out of the corner of my eye — PA State House gets bill calling for constitutional convention. Really?

Posted on 23 September 2005