Today marks my first year anniversary of my current job, and frankly, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Between whiny customers, sometimes-clueless coworkers, having to work a different schedule every month, the mention of possible lay-offs, and having to work Christmas Eve, its been a heck of a ride.

Yes, I’m still bitter over the Christmas Eve thing…NO, I don’t plan on letting it go anytime soon.

In any event, I got a raise (4%) which was nice, and my manager also dangled the carrot of getting out of support in front of me. They’d rather have experience stay within the company instead of just walking out the door. We’ve had a few code monkeys escape from the cage lately (mostly to Rackspace, I hear) and so they’re probably playing “prevent” defense right now.

This company is particularly sensitive to turnover because they make a niche product. The technologies they work with are so inherently different that finding someone with expertise in all of them would be nigh impossible, in my opinion.

Anyways, the odds of my leaving have dropped somewhat. If I can get out of support, I will definitely hang around for awhile longer, if nothing else, to get some more experience and maybe land a certification, which would make me much more marketable should I decide to leave.

Or should I say when I decide to leave? 😉