I came home from delivering Christmas cookies Monday night to find a message on the answering machine (side note: I am one of about 4 people that still have a ‘land-line’). My first impression was “WTF?” but then I checked the Caller ID and it was from a company I had interviewed with the Friday prior, and apparently I passed muster and they wanted to make me an offer.

I called the company back this morning and they made an offer which was very agreeable (just over a 22% increase in pay) and so I typed up a letter of resignation during lunch, designating Christmas Eve as my last day…

Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be complaining too much about working on Christmas Eve this year.

I gave The Boss (and his The Boss) the news, and they both congratulate me, wishing me well and understanding why I am leaving.

I’m not too sure about that, because in this case (unlike the last time) this has nothing to do with money. Granted, I will be making more at the new job, (which is nice) but the reality is that 1) I’m worried about job security 2) I want to go back into programming full-time, and 3) I am sick of tech support and never want to do this crap again as long as I live.

In any event, now comes the excitement of doing New and Interesting things and meeting new people going to a new office and all that fun stuff. I can’t wait.

I get emails from recruiters every so often about jobs. One of the fun parts is trying to read between the lines to figure out what the job description really means. After all, if the job is going to suck like a Hoover they aren’t going to SAY so, because then no one would apply for it. So much like someone trying to sell a car or house with ‘personality’ they try to make the faults look as pleasant as possible, for example:

• Flexibility, not require too much structure to program
You will get no help at all.
• Team player, willing to go above and beyond the call of duty
You will be doing other people’s work as well as your own.
• Flexible on hours
We will work you until you drop dead.

I don’t think I’ll be applying for this one (the money sucks anyway). Color me just a little jaded, I guess.

The company I worked for laid off some people today…including a (now former) cube-neighbor in Tech Support. I’ve been through that myself, and its a pretty crappy feeling to have the rug pulled out from you like that…I told her “Good luck” when we said goodbye.

I had a bad feeling something was going to happen when the president of the company said we were “breaking even” a few weeks ago. The girl who was let go was hired after I was, but for that fact, I probably would have been the one tossed on my ear.

Its dead quiet in support today…I don’t really feel like cracking jokes myself. Of course, we had a meeting where everyone was assured that “everything will be fine” by the higher-ups, but I’m not sure I want to stick around to find out. After all, I’m probably the next one down on the list…

Things are quiet at the ol’ support desk right now. REALLY slow. I’m-about-to-fall-asleep-in-my-chair slow. No crashed servers, or corrupt databases, or nimrods who can’t figure out that our stuff doesn’t work on Vista Home…just quiet, save for the incessant yakking of the sales weasels. Its nice because I’m not being bothered by pesky people, and it also means that stuff is working, but geez, its boring as heck.

The downside is that the days just drag on, and I can feel the fluorescent lights slowly sucking the life out of me…there’s just gotta be something else out there.

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? 😉