17:31 Friday, March 03 2005

FREEDOM

Today, i turned in my 2 weeks notice, and tendered my resignation. The past year was really a nightmare, and thankfully i managed to find an amazing opportunity literally over the past 2 weeks at a prominent hardware company in Silicon Valley.
For the paltry few who read my ramblings here, i'm sure you're wondering how come I've been largely silent about any of this, and its because my current (and soon to be former) employer discovered my blog about 7 months ago, and i'll just say that it didn't go over too well, and leave it at that for now. Perhaps in a couple weeks i'll go into greater detail over the past few months.
I was really dreading today, because I didn't know how my announcement would be received. Surprisingly, it went about as well as I could have hoped. I can't say that leaving it a pure joy moment though. If there is such a thing as a 'convenient' time, this is surely not it. We're still without a replacement for Derrick, and now my departure really leaves the department very very thin. Thankfully Doug is very understanding of my choice to leave, and I think if anyone can pick up the torch, and carry it, it will be him.
As for today's events its both sad and touching that for the first time in a very long time, I felt valued & appreciated. All of a sudden people were telling me how important I was, and how much of an impact there would be once I left. Quite a few people asked me to reconsider, but unfortunately, its well past the point for that. What was interesting, and perhaps telling, is that most people assumed that I was leaving solely due to my poor relationship with my manager. While that certainly was a significant factor, it was not the only factor. I'll likely go into more detail on this in the future, but for now I'll just say that my choice to leave was impacted by several factors.
So the next 2 weeks will be interesting. Doug is on vacation next week, which means that I'm flying solo all week, plus I'm on call for the remaining 2 weeks. I guess my last 2 weeks are going to end in much the same way as they've been for over a year. Crazy, chaotic, frenzied, and often painful. At least better things are coming up for me next month.