So my old job wanted me back.
Yeah. Go figure that. The job that I had for a little over six years called me frantically last week. Apparently, a salesman WAY oversold on something that had a hard due-date of mid-December, and they were bringing people in from all around the country and even hiring new people to come down to the Atlanta office to come make this happen. Something like 35 people they said. They wanted to bring me in since I wouldn't have to be trained.
Unfortunately, I already *have* a full-time job, so when they said that it would take 4-6 weeks to complete it working full time and we only really had 3-4 weeks, that was kind of a red flag. They also didn't seem to want to meet my asking price, so I would have had to lower my hours at my current job (taking less pay) AND not make what I'm worth at my old job, so I would be losing money in the end. I think they realized this too, because when I emailed them back and said I don't think I could devote the resources for the task, they very quickly said "OK, no problem" as if they already determined that was the case right after I walked out the door.
But it was nice seeing the office and people again after a year. They moved just after I quit last September, and were all shocked that I had never been in the new office before. So I got the tour. Apparently the new owners of the company "does not believe in" cubicles, so there are only desks. You can see, and hear, all the people working all the way down to the other end of the office. And all the computer monitors are clearly visible to anyone. On the flip side, the new owner REALLY loves Ping-Pong, so there's a Ping-Pong table in the new "break room" (something we never had before we were bought.)
Made me feel wanted, though. Good to know I was able to leave there on good enough terms to be asked back at times. I just didn't want to have to return to a high-pressure environment where I have to go into an office every day when I'm used to working from home four days a week and having a generally low-pressure environment. Also, it's a lot different psychologically to work on software people WANT to use rather than what they HAVE to use. It always sucked at my old job to be real proud of something I worked on, only to have the client hate it thoroughly because it was a security measure that got in the way of what they wanted to do, but not allowed to. It worked perfectly and beautifully - and that's why they hated it.
Going to see Jonathan Coulton tonight. Should be fun. I wish I had a Weighted Companion Cube to take him to get signed...
Unfortunately, I already *have* a full-time job, so when they said that it would take 4-6 weeks to complete it working full time and we only really had 3-4 weeks, that was kind of a red flag. They also didn't seem to want to meet my asking price, so I would have had to lower my hours at my current job (taking less pay) AND not make what I'm worth at my old job, so I would be losing money in the end. I think they realized this too, because when I emailed them back and said I don't think I could devote the resources for the task, they very quickly said "OK, no problem" as if they already determined that was the case right after I walked out the door.
But it was nice seeing the office and people again after a year. They moved just after I quit last September, and were all shocked that I had never been in the new office before. So I got the tour. Apparently the new owners of the company "does not believe in" cubicles, so there are only desks. You can see, and hear, all the people working all the way down to the other end of the office. And all the computer monitors are clearly visible to anyone. On the flip side, the new owner REALLY loves Ping-Pong, so there's a Ping-Pong table in the new "break room" (something we never had before we were bought.)
Made me feel wanted, though. Good to know I was able to leave there on good enough terms to be asked back at times. I just didn't want to have to return to a high-pressure environment where I have to go into an office every day when I'm used to working from home four days a week and having a generally low-pressure environment. Also, it's a lot different psychologically to work on software people WANT to use rather than what they HAVE to use. It always sucked at my old job to be real proud of something I worked on, only to have the client hate it thoroughly because it was a security measure that got in the way of what they wanted to do, but not allowed to. It worked perfectly and beautifully - and that's why they hated it.
Going to see Jonathan Coulton tonight. Should be fun. I wish I had a Weighted Companion Cube to take him to get signed...