So, how's the new job?

I've been asked a few times, so here's the somewhat genericized version suitable for web publication.

To review, I left my job of 7.5 years 11/05 to join a friend's one-person company focusing on usability. My task was to do requirements work while developing additional expertise in the realm of usability. 2/06 we merged with another company, believing that would fast-forward our long-term plans. For a while that appeared to be working, but we were minority shareholders in the merged company, so had no say when the company direction changed to not include usability, requirements or software development. So 2/07, I was unemployed and started focusing on finishing the basement.

Unemployment was a very wonderful time, but it didn't take long for me to get really antsy, so I started looking. Boy, it did not take long. I quickly found out that there were many wonderful avenues to explore, so my priority became narrowing down my choices - a very good problem to have. I ended up turning down the job that I initially thought would be my dream job, which was indeed very difficult to do. After much deliberating, my current job won out, and it is indeed living up to expectations.

Being in the programming and business analysis fields my whole career, I had never really encountered a job that was challenging, worthwhile, and allowed me to put family first. I had great jobs, but that last point was always lacking. There were always deadlines, crunches, cranky customers, emergency changes/fixes, and often a need to rush through the current project and get onto the next one. I'll never forget being told that I'm "burning through hours at an alarming rate" - because I was working around 50 hours per week, and getting 50 hours of accomplishment done. Don't get me wrong - I've had a lot of fantastic experiences in my professional life. My life had changed, and it was time for something different at work.

In my new job, there is much to learn, and many technical challenges, so that part is as good as ever. The people are just unbelievably nice - and I've worked with good folk before. The company is a non-profit, so we are not chasing venture capital, are not beholden to shareholders demanding quarterly results to the detriment of long-term viability, and are not looking to be bought out. Don't get me wrong, any company needs cash flow to survive, but there's no sense of sacrificing anything and everything for the almighty buck. The company grows slowly and prudently - we're not stagnating, but will not grow unless we know we can sustain the new size. It's refreshing.

The work week is 37.5 hours. No kidding. You're expected to work during that time, but when time is up, go home. Knowing that I will be home for dinner with my family is priceless.

I'll close with two quotes that really help sum things up. One person told me the place is like "all the best parts of having a state job, but none of the down sides". That is pretty accurate. The benefits are great, but the pressure is to do good - not the impossible. The other quote, as I was later told, came after my interview: "if he accepts this job, he'll appreciate it". How true. In my 20's, I would have just seen this as a job, but approaching 40, I recognize this as a GREAT way to work my last decade or two into retirement.


So, to succinctly answer the question, it's going great!