moving on

A couple of days ago I got the news that most tech people don’t want to be hearing at this time…”we are terminating your contract”….stunned and shocked, I was pretty much in a daze for the next couple of hours. Then followed the joyous part of having to break the news to my wife, not something to look forward to. Strangely enough though we were both a little amazed by the reaction to the news, we both had a feeling of relief and optimism. I have to be pretty honest in that the year and a half I had spent with the company I had struggled to settle in, however the last couple of months had been pretty good.

So the big question was what to do next? We had moved countries to take up the opportunity in the first place, our daughter was settled into school and making freinds (not to mention being fluent in the language), and we had gotten into the lifestyle. After talking things through we decided that we didn’t want to return to England and that I need to find something here that would make this work. So with that I move from out of a job to a feeling of optimism and looking forward to finding the next step toward being really happy.

This brought up another question….what would I really be happy doing? Well the one thing I have been on about for quite a while now is to go it alone and work for myself, no longer putting in the long hours, nights spent coding, and stressing about delivery deadlines for someone elses benefit. Now is the perfect time to set myself up and free myself from the office.

So this is my plan…..Like any good job hunt it starts with making sure you have an up to date CV. Then it’s on to recreating my ‘personal brand’, cue LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, and checking google search results for my name. This last part is not something I have ever done much of, something a bit vain about it really, but when it comes to hunting for work in the IT spectrum people are going to be looking at my online profile for hints as to what sort of person I am. Thankfully everything looks good, partly due to another person with a very similar name and a much higher profile than mine.

So after a couple of days where am I? The CV is up to date….LinkedIn is done and a bit more complete than what it was…I now have an up to date profile on Elance….and with this post I am getting back into blogging.

Unfortunately blogging is something I have always struggled to perservere with, guess it has a lot to do with having a busy job and a life away from work. This hasn’t really left me with a lot of time to blog about what I am up to or my observations. However now that can all change, with my new incarnation as a freelancer I am able to make a solemn vow to anyone who might happen to find this blog….I will provide relevant and interesting content on a regular basis that will not waste people’s valuable time.

So I am now actually looking forward to doing the next post and hopefully some positive info on feedback and potential work that my new ‘personal brand’ has helped me procure…..

For anyone in a similar situation keep your chin up and a positive outlook on life…you now have the opportunity to do something special.