This post is about two weeks overdue.
The news – kinda old at this point – is that I’m no longer working at Factset Research Systems and have exchanged working for the finance bean-counting man to working for the social network web startup man. I’ve labored at Factset for 3 1/2 years, so while I certainly didn’t approach the decision lightly, the gravity of the entire ordeal did not dawn on me until the last moments of my old job, in between responsibility transferral and fond farewells. I’m only now starting to realize just how much I left behind.
There’s not much more to say about my previous job; any commentary I make now makes nary a difference and would simply be whining at a scenario I’m powerless to affect.
My new job, though, is a bit more interesting to talk about. I had spent my days at Factset working on the software layer that allows servers to create applications on the client; it’s traditional software development in an industry not known for its speed or mass appeal. Tagged, however, is a up-and-coming social network, which translates to building a lot of product using quick web development techniques; it falls in line with modern Web 2.0 stuff and what people talk about in the Silicon Valley.
I’ll save the inevitable comparison between the two software realms for another post.
I’m still trying to get used to the new job, and after being at it for two weeks I’ve grown familiar with the daily routine of BART‘ing into the city late in the morning, staring at a monitor for 8 hours in a wide open warehouse-like office, and coming back home amidst evening commuters and downtown shoppers. The pace is faster and decisions are executed with surprising speed, but the work happily revolves around the web technologies I was already interested in.
A new start for a new year. Let’s see if I burn out in three months.
congratulations!