The New Job

In mid-October I took advantage of an opportunity to leave Novell through a layoff, and in November, I took a job working for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I'd already been seriously considering a change, and had been passively looking for other work since July. The nice thing about leaving in a layoff was that I received a generous severance.

And, because of that severance, I had the luxury of not taking the first job that came down the pike, but I was antsy and so still started a new job sooner than I initially told myself I would.

I had several leads, and even several offers, so why the church? I suppose because I didn't receive any confirmation about taking the others, even though they'd have paid better, looked better on a resume, and have been closer to home. In fact, I couldn't feel good about those other jobs, no matter how hard I tried, so when and old friend and former co-worker called and asked me to apply for a job she had open, I thought - why not, and during the interview, received abundant confirmation that this was the job I needed to take. Pretty cool.

So why the church now? I'm not entirely sure as yet, but I do know that I won't be working any 60-70 hour work weeks in the forseeable future, and I've loved, loved, loved the opportunity to be home more with the fam, particulary as TK prepares to leave us for a few years.

The down-sides? I'm still trying to find some. Okay - I'm really not still trying to find down-sides though there were and are some minor difficulties from the adjustment.

The first? A commute. I've never had to drive for more than 15 minutes to reach my place of employment from my home. I know, a blessing. Now - I travel to Salt lake 3-4 days a week, and I have the choice of driving or taking the express bus. I usually drive (~45 minutes travel time), since it's easier to determine when I arrive, when I leave, who I sit next to etc., but the bus (~an hour travel time) isn't too terribly bad, and I'll probably end up riding it at least a couple of days a week.

The second? Coming to work and not knowing what to do every minute of the day. At Novell, I'd essentially been doing the same job for nearly 2 decades. I knew exactly what I needed to be doing every minute of every day, and what I could be doing even if I worked 24 hours a day. Now? I sit in the midst of a bunch of wonderful people I don't know, though that's changing slowly, and I'm still trying to get the hang of the tasks, who I should talk to, who I shouldn't talk to etc. I've been advised that I just need to "slow down" and take it easier, and that the what to do will come - I suppose that's true, but it's not my nature, so I'm trying to surreptitiously work fast, and on those days when I still find myself sitting at my desk wondering "what now", I read process documents - ugh.

Now - as to what I do.

At Novell I was a senior program manager - basically I was responsible for the day to day success of a major product, working with many directors, managers, and engineers. I was a process control and improvement whiz, and spent much of my day in meetings, meetings before I arrived at the office, meetings while at the office, and meetings in the evenings again from home. I generally spent 12 hours a day working during the week, with another 10 or 12 over the weekend, and that didn't count the email from the blackberry.

At the Church I am a release manager, and though as I said I'm still working out what that means from day to day, in a nutshell, I work with 2 large portfolios of projects that support and sustain the workings of the Church. So I still attend many meetings, and I still look at processes and how to improve them. The difference is that instead of wondering about how my product can help businesses be more efficient, I get to have a fabulous feeling that the work I do, and the help I provide, is furthering the work of the Lord, and will have eternal consequences. Can you see now why I want to work hard?

The bottom line is that I'm thrilled with my new job, I'm loving it, and I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing now. And I've just got to ask - how cool is that?

- jake