Change

The one thing that is constant in the world is change. And, although no major catastrophes have occurred to our family - knock on wood - this has been one of my hardest weeks to date.

It all began several weeks ago when I became acquainted with a fellow bus rider. The irony about our relationship is that we not only ride the same bus at the same time, but we also both get off at the same stop and walk the same half-mile each to our respective neighboring neighborhoods. And all of this occurred with out a single word spoken by either person. Usually, one would pass to the other side of the street to walk the half-mile as to avoid conversation.

With no good reason, this ritual has been carried out nearly everyday since arriving in the area in September. That is, until last month.

I was studying for an upcoming certification exam that proves I know ColdFusion, the programming language I use for work. Upon stepping off the bus at our stop my fellow rider whipped around and said, "so, are you a web developer?"

It turns out that he was also a ColdFusion (CF) developer in another department on campus. There started a friendly relationship where both he and I silently wondered why we waited so long to simply take the courage and say hello to a stranger.

Later, my new friend, Robert, let me know that the Information Technology department on campus was looking for CF developers. It wasn't that I was unhappy with my current job, but I have been growing increasingly apprehensive about the direction our project has been heading. We were working on spinning out of the security of the university and startup a business on our own. This position with IT would provide a much more stable environment. So, I applied.

Within days I got a callback for an interview before a group of campus IT Managers. And although he was not a manager, Robert was also on the panel. The interview went surprisingly well, and it was less than a week later that I received a call for a second interview. That, too, went very well and within 24 hours an email appeared in my inbox with a job offer.

It all happened so quickly, I wasn't sure what to do. I knew that I was feeling like a change was needed for work, and I also knew that I wanted to keep our family in the Cache Valley for a while longer.

After exchanging a few messages to settle the details, I received an acceptable offer just before my current boss was about to take our group out to lunch. We were celebrating the graduation of two of our student employees, and I didn't want to make the outing awkward; not to mention steal the thunder from the students and their accomplishment.

When we arrived back at the office my heart was pounding out of my chest. Quickly, I went to my cubicle to hang my coat and to gather my thoughts. I turned and made the walk across the floor to my bosses office and entered with a quiet knock, closing the door behind me.

Dropping the news to my boss and my fellow developer - we worked in a team of 2, with the addition of a student for the last 8 months - was so much harder than I expected. All involved knew that the decision for change wasn't personal, yet on a personal level I hurt.

Now I have two weeks to wrap up my current obligations before the transition. I'm not sure how it's going to be. I've never left one professional job to start another. I'm excited for the challenges my new digs will bring and how this step will benefit the shaping of my career, but until then I need to focus on what's in front of me.