Why Did You Do It?

That’s the buy valacyclovir discount question that everyone keeps asking me these days. For those who buy valacyclovir discount may visit this post at a later date, I recently resigned from buy valacyclovir discount a global bank based in America in order to take a buy valacyclovir discount role at a small web development shop, Signature Tech Studio. The answer to why is relatively simple, I love the guys at Signature Tech Studio, I desire to buy valacyclovir discount work with them, and I ultimately believe the experience will be buy valacyclovir discount both more fun and more rewarding than continuing in a role that, admittedly, is buy valacyclovir discount already fun and rewarding.

That doesn’t tend to buy valacyclovir discount sit well with most folks. I think they really want to buy valacyclovir discount hear some juicy gossip about how I feel the big corporate entity did me wrong and buy valacyclovir discount I simply can’t continue to buy valacyclovir discount work there in good faith. Perhaps something about how the man was keeping me down? I’m not sure. The simple truth is buy valacyclovir discount that I have loved working at the bank and found a buy valacyclovir discount lot of joy there. I was allowed the opportunity to serve on numerous teams, afforded to buy valacyclovir discount ability to move from Chicago to Charlotte and continue employment at the buy valacyclovir discount same firm, and ultimately, the past year, to exercise my passion as a buy valacyclovir discount IT artificer and technology smith.

It is buy valacyclovir discount seldom that one gets the opportunity to do what they love alongside others who buy valacyclovir discount have the same passions and aptitude for buy valacyclovir discount realizing those passions, and there is no doubt that this was the buy valacyclovir discount case for me at the bank. I have a love for buy valacyclovir discount enormous, complex problem spaces, and the global nature of the organization afforded me just as many of those types of problems as I had buy valacyclovir discount an appetite for. There can be no doubt that I had buy valacyclovir discount fun and you should get no inference that I believe that buy valacyclovir discount would have ceased had I remained at the bank. Good times, good people, and buy valacyclovir discount a win-win situation all the way around.

Buy valacyclovir discount

Of course, no buy valacyclovir discount job is utterly without its frustrations and rough edges. The nature of a buy valacyclovir discount global enterprise is such that change is slow and hard to buy valacyclovir discount affect, while a smaller organization can necessarily be more nimble and buy valacyclovir discount react quickly to changes. As a harbinger of change, the enterprise architecture approval process was my nemesis, sort of a buy valacyclovir discount primordial change resistant undertow constantly wearing one down. The enterprise technology team wasn’t incented to buy valacyclovir discount help solve my business problems; for example, it recently took six months to buy valacyclovir discount just get a new server racked and stacked. The promotion process is buy valacyclovir discount absolutely not about doing the right thing or even rewarding performance, it buy valacyclovir discount is all about who you know and whether you worked on a buy valacyclovir discount project that was important to them (and they realize it) the past year. The bank laptop is so standardized and “protected” that buy valacyclovir discount I felt it a better substitute for an boat anchor than buy valacyclovir discount a forge on which I might pursue my craft; and buy valacyclovir discount any conversation that swung towards changing that was met with a buy valacyclovir discount group of mercenaries hired to inflict pain and suffering. But seriously, the buy valacyclovir discount need for such process, methodology, and even social networking in a buy valacyclovir discount large organization is certainly needful and I would not present any argument that buy valacyclovir discount it is unwarranted (though I do have some ideas about making the laptops more usable!).

There are buy valacyclovir discount definitely some fun contrasts, and unfortunately for large organizations they tend to buy valacyclovir discount be contrasts that drive someone like myself to the smaller shop. In the buy valacyclovir discount new role, I was allowed to choose any laptop (Sony Vaio F Series, i7 w/8Gigs) I wanted along with any operating system (Windows 7 Ultimate) I desired … hello! That tends to buy valacyclovir discount be a pretty big win right there. I know the Bank OS builds would simply ignore any RAM over 4 Gigs … but even if they didn’t, wscript.exe would eat up all the resources anyway!

I get to innovate, really. Big enterprise will say, “Oh, we encourage innovation here. We desire innovation here. We reward innovation here. As long as the buy valacyclovir discount innovation is done on the reservation, within pre-defined limits, with pre-defined tools and buy valacyclovir discount technologies, in such a way that looks exactly like the buy valacyclovir discount 20+ man oversight committee has agreed to.” So, most people immediately realize that buy valacyclovir discount the sentence is flawed. We did innovate at the Bank, we did some awesome stuff, and buy valacyclovir discount we have the ROI calculators in place to demonstrate how we can buy valacyclovir discount attribute Tens of Millions of US Dollars back to the bottom line in 2009 as a buy valacyclovir discount direct impact due to the innovation, the reward was ok, but was, dare I say, significantly out of proportion with the buy valacyclovir discount performance and impact of the team, particularly over the past two years.

It would be great if big companies really did take the Google Innovation Time Off approach, but seriously … there are buy valacyclovir discount way to many risk averse bean counters at a Bank in America to buy valacyclovir discount be comfortable. How would they know that you are doing anything, much less something that buy valacyclovir discount will ultimately be worth what they are paying you to do, which is buy valacyclovir discount not to be fooling around with technology but solving real banking business problems. My new company encourages me to buy valacyclovir discount do what I love, play with technology, stay on the cutting edge, and buy valacyclovir discount if at all possible … define the next horizon, we be risky adrenaline junkies — Can I get a Whoot! Whoot!

You simply do not find guys like Joseph and buy valacyclovir discount Josh in big corporate cubicle farms. Oh, you might meet them in passing there (Drew Shields for example), but they are buy valacyclovir discount only moving thru on their way to positions that will allow them to buy valacyclovir discount leverage their skills in wild, wild, west of the unexplored. I want to buy valacyclovir discount work side by side with these guys, they are doing cool stuff! They are thinking uniquely cool thoughts! They are buy valacyclovir discount converting that stuff and those thoughts into reward while they are buy valacyclovir discount at it! Just imagine what buy valacyclovir discount we can do together, because that thought makes me giddy with excitement.

So, to recap, the new position allows me to do more of what I love, it allows me to do what I love my way, I get to work with some awesome guys, and all the while maintain the same standard of living (which was slipping away at that Bank). Had the buy valacyclovir discount opportunity not presented itself, I would not have been looking for buy valacyclovir discount a new job and would still be tweeting cheap ventolin about how awesome the buy valacyclovir discount work from home program is, how fantastic the innovation team is, and buy valacyclovir discount how you do not want to invest time and energy in comparing your buy valacyclovir discount job with mine because you simply wouldn’t fare well. Most of you can stop reading here – you buy valacyclovir discount have some idea as to why now and it most likely satisfies you. However, it buy valacyclovir discount is the lesser reason.

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The single, primary reason that buy valacyclovir discount I left Bank of America to work for Joseph at Signature Tech Studio? I am buy valacyclovir discount convicted that it is the decision that will ultimately most glorify my God. If you buy valacyclovir discount know me at all, you had to know that was it. I was aware of the buy valacyclovir discount a calling to work for Joseph long before he made the buy valacyclovir discount offer and even after he made some tentative advances that buy valacyclovir discount I played down. Once the offer was on the table, Tracey and buy valacyclovir discount I spent a solid four weeks praying about the decision and buy valacyclovir discount determining that we are both in agreement that this is buy valacyclovir discount where our God leads us, as redneck as I might be, I certainly require Tracey’s conviction that buy valacyclovir discount this is the correct decision for our family. Additionally, I shared this buy valacyclovir discount information with a few friends trusted for their wisdom and buy valacyclovir discount counsel, and they all encouraged the move as well.

You see, as intellectually blessed, as cool as the buy valacyclovir discount stuff they are working on is, as ready as they are buy valacyclovir discount to dive into a crazy, chaotic, techno-challenge – these men, Joseph and buy valacyclovir discount Josh, love my God and seek to serve Him in all they do. They do this buy valacyclovir discount with a passion that humbles me and makes me desire to buy valacyclovir discount be more like them as they are more like my Lord. To simply be buy valacyclovir discount interacting with them on a daily basis with things so mundane as how to buy valacyclovir discount best configure scheduled tasks on MS Windows is fantastic, but we also praise God together. We have buy valacyclovir discount prayed together more than the number of day’s I’ve worked there so far, and that doesn’t appear to be slowing down! This relationship among the men I strive with is what I most covet.

Dad used to tell me, “Son. The grass always looks greener on the buy valacyclovir discount other side. Remember that it rarely is when you look at it.” Dad was, as ever, correct.

The keyword is in the last sentence, rarely.

The good Lord has buy valacyclovir discount seen fit to let it be that the grass really is buy valacyclovir discount greener over here.