Well, I don't normally talk about work on this Blog but every now and then I can make an exception. Today I turned in my letter of resignation to my current employer, giving them five weeks notice. Of course, a lot of that time is during Christmas break, so I made a committment to work even through Christmas time off to complete outstanding tasks I have been assigned to.
The reason I have decided to leave the company is because they are closing down the office here in St. Louis. They are moving the team to San Diego, where it is beautiful and warm and only occasionally on fire. We did discuss options where I might be able to continue to work for the company, with a combination of telecomuting and frequent trips to California, but we were unable to come to any specific terms of how that would work out. It was still a very generous offer though.
I have been with this company for four years, a very long time to stay with one game company. When I started, it was a relatively small operation and has since grown to be a huge corporation with many employees. I went through an awful lot of stress during these four years, but I also learned a lot. And, at all times, the work itself was always very good.
I have been offered a new position with a startup technology company located near Saint Louis University, almost all of the way downtown. I will go from having a 3 minute commute to over two hours a day sitting in traffic. This is going to be a major lifestyle change for me. The big advantage to working for a startup company is that if they succeed then you gain immediate and direct benefits from that success. I am looking forward to the challenge and am excited about working with such a fine group of talented engineers. I knew the company would likely be a match when I first went to their offices and found both a fooseball table as well as a ping pong table set up!
This is a huge life decision and one that I hope turns out to be very rewarding. It is kind of scary to embark on such a major change, but it is an exciting challenge as well. Once I am in my new job I may, or may not, post more frequently about my job situation on this blog. Of course, within the limits of my NDA I doubt I will really be able to say that much in the end.
One thing I can say, is my new employer is creating a piece of hardware for the game industry. I can't say what the hardware is, what it does, or any kind of details, but suffice it to say I am not going to work for a game company. My job will be to get developers from various game companies throughout the country to be able to take advantage of this new hardware. I think it is a really good match for me. One exciting thing is that since my company is in the business of selling hardware, most of the software I develop will tend to be, more or less, in an open-source environment. And I think that is really cool.
With the office being nearly downtown, I imagine I will be going to a lot more Cardinals baseball games next year. And that's not all bad. I don't mind the commute itself, I like to drive. It clears my head and I do some of my best work while driving and thinking about the problems of the day. What I do have difficulty with is traffic jams and congestion. So, this will be an excerise in zen thinking to find a peaceful and calm place when I am in those situations.
I have plenty of work to do with my current employer, wrapping up outstanding tasks and transferring my knowledge to my co-workers. Half of the office has already transferred out to San Diego so things have been generally pretty quiet around here lately anyway.
The reason I have decided to leave the company is because they are closing down the office here in St. Louis. They are moving the team to San Diego, where it is beautiful and warm and only occasionally on fire. We did discuss options where I might be able to continue to work for the company, with a combination of telecomuting and frequent trips to California, but we were unable to come to any specific terms of how that would work out. It was still a very generous offer though.
I have been with this company for four years, a very long time to stay with one game company. When I started, it was a relatively small operation and has since grown to be a huge corporation with many employees. I went through an awful lot of stress during these four years, but I also learned a lot. And, at all times, the work itself was always very good.
I have been offered a new position with a startup technology company located near Saint Louis University, almost all of the way downtown. I will go from having a 3 minute commute to over two hours a day sitting in traffic. This is going to be a major lifestyle change for me. The big advantage to working for a startup company is that if they succeed then you gain immediate and direct benefits from that success. I am looking forward to the challenge and am excited about working with such a fine group of talented engineers. I knew the company would likely be a match when I first went to their offices and found both a fooseball table as well as a ping pong table set up!
This is a huge life decision and one that I hope turns out to be very rewarding. It is kind of scary to embark on such a major change, but it is an exciting challenge as well. Once I am in my new job I may, or may not, post more frequently about my job situation on this blog. Of course, within the limits of my NDA I doubt I will really be able to say that much in the end.
One thing I can say, is my new employer is creating a piece of hardware for the game industry. I can't say what the hardware is, what it does, or any kind of details, but suffice it to say I am not going to work for a game company. My job will be to get developers from various game companies throughout the country to be able to take advantage of this new hardware. I think it is a really good match for me. One exciting thing is that since my company is in the business of selling hardware, most of the software I develop will tend to be, more or less, in an open-source environment. And I think that is really cool.
With the office being nearly downtown, I imagine I will be going to a lot more Cardinals baseball games next year. And that's not all bad. I don't mind the commute itself, I like to drive. It clears my head and I do some of my best work while driving and thinking about the problems of the day. What I do have difficulty with is traffic jams and congestion. So, this will be an excerise in zen thinking to find a peaceful and calm place when I am in those situations.
I have plenty of work to do with my current employer, wrapping up outstanding tasks and transferring my knowledge to my co-workers. Half of the office has already transferred out to San Diego so things have been generally pretty quiet around here lately anyway.
Comments