Déjà vu

Flashback 3 years ago.

The phone rings with Nick Weaver on the line. He pitches an opportunity to me, and next thing I know, I’m on a plane to Dallas to interview for an opportunity that took me to the next step in my career.

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a person pitching not just the next step in my career but a career changing opportunity. Next thing I know, I’m on a plane to Dallas for an interview.

Déjà vu.

I have learned a good deal (and still learning) over the past 8 years when it comes to my career and potential opportunities. When these opportunities present themselves, I sit down and evaluate what I am currently doing, what I want to be doing, and where I want to be in the next year, five years, ten years down the road, and whether my current job or the new opportunity will be the better path for achieving my career goals. I look at the risks involved, and what affects changing jobs will have on my life (I will say this, I do not do this for every opportunity that comes to me, only for the opportunities that I feel present a big enough change from what I’m currently doing)

In 8 years, I have worked for 4 different companies. Each opportunity presented itself as the next step in my career, but also came with varying risks. Whether it was accepting a contract-to-hire position with a large company that was only created as part of a multi billion dollar expansion that had not been approved yet, or moving 500 miles to work for a small, private company, or moving to the vendor side of the industry with a “startup”, the risks were weighed against the reward, and as you can see, the reward has, so far, paid off (though I did learn a thing or two about relocating for a position).

As I thought about what was presented to me with this latest opportunity, I looked back through my career and realized this is something I have done on a small scale in each position I have worked. However, it was never anything I was able to work on for a full-time basis. I began to question if I was up for this next challenge. Could I handle this opportunity on a full-time basis? Did the reward outweigh the risks? I also realized this would not only be the next step in a career, but also a career changing opportunity. Success with this opportunity would open many more doors in future years.

I will be honest, I had my doubts. Am I really ready for this challenge?

In recent years, there is a personal motto I fall back to on tough decisions. It is “Do not be afraid to fail.” I believe if you are afraid to fail, you will never let yourself take that next step to greatness.

And with that, I have decided after two and half years to leave VCE and accept a roll at VMware as a Sr. Engineer – DevOps Automation in Cloud Infrastructure and Services. It will be a great challenge and opportunity to work alongside Nick Weaver and the other rockstars that are a part of this team. I leave a great group of people at VCE. This decision was about not only progressing my career, but also challenging myself.

“…life is about opportunities, challenges, and empty-time between. And when presented with the right challenge you have to make the choice to abandon the comfortable and take on the unknown.”

Well said Nick, well said.

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