Update

Well, it's been a LONG time since I posted, and ALOT has happened since then. I'll just stick with the big announcement.

After 3 years with Infoglide Software I am leaving to join a Utah-based company called Corda. Infoglide is Austin-based, so working for a company based halfway across the US of A isn't anything new. If anything it will give me a chance to see another part of the country and perhaps get back into photography and running again.

Both Corda and Infoglide are small companies (around 50 people) so there's no big change their either; I'll still have an opportunity to shine and bring big things to the company.

Corda develops custom dashboards. Basically these dashboards sit over top of a company's data and allows them to see that data in various ways (charts, graphs, spreadsheets) in various levels of granularity. This allows them to make better decisions faster, so you can see why it's a hot item right now.

So...why did I leave?

I've come to realize you need 3 things to be happy with a job. You need to enjoy: what you do, who you do it with, and where you do it. I've been hitting only 2 for 3 since I returned from England. My commute puts me on the road for nearly 2 hours every day (well, Monday through Thursday -- I secured a 4-day work week) and that is unacceptable.

This new job will start in Crystal City, which is about 35 miles closer to my house and it metro-accessible. This should allow me at least an extra hour every day for other things.

I've been trying to get back into programming (Java, in particular) and Infoglide helped me with that by sending me to some classes, but they just couldn't give me the amount of Java-based work to solidify those skills. Corda's product is all Java and much of the custom code I write has a chance to make it into the core product. So...basically I'm getting paid to learn more Java.

What's great about getting paid to learn more Java is that I'm getting paid MORE to learn it. My big fear previously was that I'd have to take a pay cut. The fact that I'm helping them in other areas makes up for my ignorance with Java. In fact, I'm getting an 18.5% increase in base pay with an additional $10k if I meet all my objectives (which would equal a total of 30% increase in pay), so I'm uber-psyched.

So, in closing, I'm getting paid MORE money to learn MORE Java CLOSER to home, with an opportunity for MORE responsibility. It's a win-win situation, really.

I hope this finds all of you well. Perhaps this time I'll keep my promise to update this more regularly.

Best wishes.