So, in about 30 minutes I will be heading off to my first ay at the new job.
This is going to be a big change for in a lot of ways.
Yes, it's back into the fortune 500 world I've been in for most of my career (either as contractor or as a direct employee or both), and it's still IT; other than that, it's a big difference.
For one thing, this is the first "9 to 5", sitting in the same office every day type job I'll have had in 7 years or so... And really, most of the other jobs I've had haven't been long term in the same company, they've been consulting engagements lasting as long as a year, sure (and technically this is a consulting engagement as well, but it's a permanent staff replacement thing renewed annually) but rarely was I going to the same office every day etc...
Even when I was the CTO of a startup, we were a consulting company, and I spent most of my time going between client sites.
By that reckoning, I haven't had a full time direct office job since 2000 (as chief security architect of another startup).
But I haven't even worked in an office with other people on a regular basis since 2005. I've been working at home (I do have a home office), and spending most of my days on conference calls.
This is also a change for me going back to operations. I've been doing mostly design and architecture, high level implementation, and policy work, for the last... I think 8 years since I was on an ops contract?
Not that I'm not capable in operations, or even particularly rusty (I've kept my hand in, and run my own systems and systems for small business clients etc...); but it hasn't been my official job in a while.
It'll also be the lowest paid I've been since... I think 1999?
And of course, it's going to be the first time I've had any real sort of a commute since I lived in California in 2000 (it was only 7 miles, but it was a 45 minute commute most days).
At 1:15 to 1:30, it's also going to be the longest commute I've had since that few months where I lived in Quincy (a few miles south of Boston), and was commuting to Marlborough (40 miles west of Boston); way back in 1999.
The last few years whenever I was so frustrated or irritated I wanted to smack somebody up side the head, I could always joke to myself in a ha ha only serious kind fo way "well, actually, they DO pay me enough for this shit".
That is no longer the case.
Not that I mean to sound negative here.
I'm actually really looking forward to this.
I'm thrilled to get my hand back into operations, where actions actually have results, and results matter. I like the new co-workers I've met, and my new boss. I like the company I'm working for, and at the very least the company I'm contracted to is an interesting challenge.
Wish me luck.
