Running Towards Pleasure

Three years ago found yours truly job hunting. I landed a really cool position very quickly as a business analyst for a global electronic components manufacturer (Tyco Electronics). That position quickly led to a great opportunity to work on the company web site (and eventually the position of Usability Team Leader). I had been working on web stuff for most of my career, so it was a logical move.

I loved the work I was doing, very much.

The environment on the other hand, was, at times, difficult...

On more than one occasion I said to my wife that I never seem to come home from work in the same good mood that I have when I'm going in - life is too short and we spend too much of it at work to be in a place that you don't love. There are things that I've done that I feel have improved the place, including building some "great mojo" (as my boss called it) for the Usability Team.

So, I was very excited when I got a call about a month or so ago from a former boss at a large, well-known, consumer packaged goods company - he had just gotten some additional head count, 4 new positions to be exact, one that I would be perfect for. So we met for coffee one morning and he shared his thoughts on this job he was creating and asked if I'd be interested. I was.

I went through the interview process back on July 17th and about a week later I was offered and accepted the job.

Despite the fact that I was less than happy with certain aspects of my current job, going back to this previous employer is all about running towards pleasure. I only worked at the company for two years, before leaving to work at a startup, but I'm super excited to go back. Interestingly, I've been back as a consultant with the company 3 times since I've left, so I've kept great relationships with most of my former coworkers.

My new job is Project Manager for Web Applications, basically running the web projects for both internal and external applications - I was a developer in the group when I left the company back in 2001. One of the really exciting aspects of this opportunity is that the company is looking for ways to improve innovation & collaboration throughout the enterprise, and I'll get to play a role in how that is accomplished.

There are a number of people that I'll miss from Tyco Electronics, especially Teresa (her personal site) and Jeremy (his personal site)... they're both extremely talented and the three of us just clicked, we really did have great mojo. Another person I'll miss is Bob, my boss. He brought an incredible mix of caring, discipline, and innovation to the table.

I start my new job tomorrow, but have already begun to dive into a couple of the projects the team is working on... so, time to get back to work. I want to hit the ground running.

Comments

[Rich Hauck]

Congrats! Dave told me, and that "consumer packaged goods company" is very lucky to have you :)

[Jon Strande]

Rich,

Thank you! That is very nice of you to say! I appreciate it!

Jon

[Paul Bearne]

Very well put.

I spotted this in my RSS feed http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=hEQH6SYf3BG9V1UXJxOy0Q&_render=rss

Paul

[Jon Strande]

Paul, thank you!

That pipe works pretty well, huh?

[Mike]

Jon,

Congratulations! Does this mean that The Cash Register Principle will be making a return?

Good things couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

Mike

[Mom/Jeanee]

Hope the new job is going SWIMMINGLY!! BIG QUESTION??? Did YOU get a 300 page iphone bill?? (email response, please, as M is not certain how to get back to this site on J computer!! - thanks!)