How's the new job?

Overwhelming. For a blogger not to blog for a while, something is definitely up. A bunch of you have been emailing questions about leaving my last company. You've also been asking me how the new job is going. (If you don't know where I went, email me and I'll tell you). Read on you'll get your answers.

PS, once acquired by the Big "O" was never same. There was a mass exodus of excellent consultants, not to mention really awesome friends. Everyday, there would be another "Delete If You Don't Know Me" email. After 7 1/2 years and receiving the "Outstanding Contributer" Award last year, I thought, "This isn't so bad. I guess I could get used to being bought out by our number one competitor."

I was wrong. Great project managers that I used to work for jumped ship or were let go. The ones were left juggled a few projects at a time and had no backbone to handle really tough clients.

The client were different too. They no longer seem to listen to the consultants and the talent, value, past implementation experiences and expertise we bring to a project. Customers seem to only look at the bottom line and how expensive the rates were. I was no longer an individual contributor, I was just another number. I was, for the first time in a time, very unhappy.

I looked for a sign and I got one in the mail: my new O-badge. It was time to go.

Thanks to my friend, I got a call from DC. After many phone calls, grueling interviews and an extensive background check (they forgave my Accordion affiliations), I was hired into their Los Angeles office. I am now part of their Human Capital division. In other words, I'm doing the same thing, but for a different and much cooler company.

How does one know if you're venturing into another chapter of one's life? New chapters in books are subsets of the continuing story. Today, I am in new surroundings. A stranger in a new frontier. I am networking and making friends everyday. I am challenged.

When people ask me, "Well? How is it?" I emphatically answer, "It's different." Not in a bad way, but I am definitely out of my comfort zone. To other's I've simply said, "It's like holding on to a tornado!!" I am a software implementer by trade and to step back and be part of the bigger picture instead of being immersed in the battlefields of go-lives... well, the change is a breath of fresh air.

Some things still stay the same: I still travel, can't get away from that. I also have the option to work in my home office. (I set-up a WiFi network at my house for my brother and me). I also have a base office in downtown L.A. - the building is pristine and beautiful! There is a Starbucks on every street corner. Scary, huh? Best of all, I get to have lunch with Mylene.

Other things are different: I don't have a manager, I am responsible for my own career. I am learning so many things. My co-workers, most who I have never met except in email exchanges, are fantastic and very helpful. Work can come from anywhere, I just have to be open and prepared to lend a helping hand.

Volunteering is a BIG corporate initiative with this company. I haven't volunteered since college, so this really warmed my heart to hear this! There are women's initiatives, corporate buddy-program, homeroom discussions, and social get-togethers. I've even joined the office book club and am the website moderator.

So if I have been quiet about the new job it's only because I wanted to see if all this was too good to be true. Well, suffice it to say that it's all good and all true!