Turning the Page

Tomorrow is my last day as a full time IT consultant and at my current client. I am excited about what lies ahead for me and am happy with the progress I have been able to make in laying a solid foundation for this tremendous move. At the same time, it is sad to reflect on what I will not be doing for my project, my team, my company, my friends.

I have always believed that being a bridge between the business and the technical parts of an IT team is an undervalued yet hugely critical part of my role. My job title usually involved something about QA, testing, business analysis or management even when I spent my time quite literally sitting side by side with the developers. My hope is that I have left behind people who are inspired to ask the questions that they feel need to be asked, even if no one else is saying them, and who know that they are capable of building more than a minimal acceptable IT system.

It is hard to do IT well. Computers are truly dumb machines; making them jump through hoops to be even reasonably intuitive takes far more than many will ever realize. It is not surprising to me that many seem to regard programs as some kind of magic and those who understand them as some slightly alien kind of being. I take my hat off to all of those who will continue in my former occupation, because I do know what it takes and I do appreciate all of your efforts. I will miss you, but it is time for me to go to my next chapter.