This week is the culmination of five years at a company at a crap job, where I did get a promotion once, but that promotion was in essence the same job as was previous. This week was the last thing to change in my life in the last year. This week, I got a new job. I am now a Business Analyst, in the same company as always, but in a drastically different position in which I no longer have to take phone calls! YAY! I now get to do what I’ve always liked about my previous job but didn’t get the opportunity to do near enough, problem solving.
I like my last job quite a bit initially, at least until they started adding phone lines to my department which had very little to do with us. And these lines, while sometimes tolerable were one of the main things that drove me away. I’ve told more than one person that had they not done that, there would have been no way in hell that I would have accepted this position. Not that there is anything wrong with this position, but I just loved the old one that much.
One of the main reasons for that is that this position could potentially be a temporary one. The project that I am working on is only a project for the next 9 months. After that point, they could review the work that I have done and decide that they don’t want to keep me on and let me go. That is scary as heck to think about. However, the Business Lead in the area assured me that they don’t usually do that and they can’t think of any time that they have had to in the years that they worked here. Generally what happens is that once on project is over, you move to a different project. This I understand, but the concern is still there!
I realize that with this job, I need to hit the ground running. I want to prove that I was worth bringing in and that I am worth keeping around every minute that I am here. And hopefully when the end of this project comes, they not only move me to another good project, but potentially a better project with a better position. I do look at this particular position as a stepping stone to better ones.
It is nerve-racking to say the least and I find it hard to hit the ground running. This first week is doing nothing but training with a group of a dozen other people who are joining my team. The others are all fresh out of the gates so I do have a step up on them. But I don’t do well in large groups and so though I do have a knowledge advantage, I have a social disadvantage. It certainly didn’t help that they have all been in training a week longer than I have been. In the next couple of days I intend on trying to put myself out there more, so cross your fingers.
But this is it, there is little else that can change in my life at this point. Over the last year I have had my roommate move out of my household, I bought a condo, changed cars, changed hair, lost a cat, gained a cat, had a friend go off to prison, had many people leave my life from work, and I’m sure I’m missing other major changes. The last major change in my life that I was waiting on was my job. And finally that has changed too. Considering that I wanted to leave my previous job for about 3 years now… it is about time.