Change for the sake of change

Or really just dealing with boredom.

It looks like I might be making a job change this winter. Having been here for 8 years makes me kind an anomaly in the high-tech community of Seattle. I don't like to change jobs. I don't like the culture of high-tech companies that mandates a job change to get a reasonable raise. I would like to think that we are all rational human beings and can be reasoned with about things like cost of living increases and raises commensurate with promotion and title. Experience, however, has shown that this is not the case.

The genesis of my last job change was New Years Eve 1999. Any one in the IT fields knows that this was the most boring non-event in history. For those that missed the hype, or have conveniently forgotten, this was the Y2K disaster evening. Absolutely nothing happened, and I chatted with friends on LambdaMoo for the evening and watched as folks to the east signed off one at a time. With this considerable time to think, I considered what I was doing in my current position and what I wanted out of it. My conclusion was that I had effectively worked myself out of a job and should plan to move on to something else. My director was rather surprised at my letter of resignation, but handled it well. From that point I gave myself six weeks to find something else.

Using my theory that it is almost always who you know, I tracked down a recruiter from a previous job and found that he worked at a fairly new company here in Seattle and was having fun. That sounded interesting enough to get my resume, and two interviews later I was here at my current position. That was April 1st, 2000.

This time, there has not been a night of introspection followed by a leap of faith. In this case there is a company that wants some one with my talents and they have tracked me down and asked for an interview. And so after weighing the costs of leaving the current comfy haven, I have said yes and will interview in Bellevue next week.