And just like that, my time at Dealersocket has come to an end. Tomorrow, I will be starting a new job. We will see how that turns out. In the meantime, I suppose it's worth noting my present sentiment. I joined the company almost 2.5 years ago. Hence, this company has, thus far, been the company where I've stayed at the longest. However, these two years have seen many events. Now is the time to chronicle them all. Let's begin with a prelude.
I had been looking for a new job for a while. I did not like my situation at the time - the combination of a long commute and bureaucracy had taken all my patience. A recruiter contacted me, and scheduled an interview for me. He was quite forceful in insisting that I wear a suit, which I reluctantly agreed to. I had the interview, where I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were people who were very much on the same wavelength as I was. I had a good feeling, but didn't want to jump to conclusions. I went home. The next day, during the afternoon, I was woken from my nap by a call from the recruiter. He was not able to get me the rate I asked for; instead, he got me even more. That was the start of these great two years. I resigned from Sabre, and started as a contractor at Dealertrack.
I was extremely happy with my boss and co-workers, except for one guy, who didn't stay around for very long. I was put on a project to make the application available for Canadian dealers. For half a year, we worked diligently, plowing through the stories, adding features, etc. Then, the only other developer on our two-man developer team left. That made me a little sad. As the Canadian project wound down, my team merged with the other team my boss was the boss over, and for about another year, life continued happily for me. I went to work, interacted with a supportive boss, got work done, and enjoyed life.
Of course, nothing is permanent - neither happy nor distressful times go on for a long time. About a year ago, our company was sold to Dealersocket, and our team was disbanded. Our boss went to Dev Ops, while the rest of us got split out and put on all the various other teams. It was not what I would've preferred, but I "dealed". The new team I was put on was quite a strong team, technically speaking, so life was still easy. I could be productive, and stick to myself. My new team members were also very nice and accommodating, and really tried to bring me into the team. If life had continued that way, it's possible I would not be starting a new job tomorrow.
However, it was announced in April that the office would move to Irving. That would be the start of my job search, which, also interestingly, has been the longest time I've been looking for a job. The increased commute would be the last straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. Even though I had plenty of time to find a new job, I was taken aback by how sparse the opportunities came. I think, throughout these five months that I've been searching, I've only had three opportunities where I interviewed. Fortunately, one of them liked me and hired me. Thus, a new chapter of my life starts.
It was no coincidence that this place was where I stayed at the longest thus far, in my career. My time here had really been the most pleasant time I've had. Even though there were definitely things that caused some friction, the pros of working here have always outweighed the cons, albeit the lead has been constantly shrinking. However, at the same time, I don't hesitate to enter the future, as I believe my new job will further my career.
