The Moore’s

We had a great three days. We found a great new bar cal Tony’s Island Bar where We hung out for a while. In the meantime tone of our neighboring fire departments came in and got mildly rowdy…

Here’s Jen & Jarod looking happy…
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Then I walked around a while and looked at some equipment.
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We’re off to Wildwood without the kids for the first time. Looking forward to a couple of days of unbridled fun with 10,000 of New Jerseys most selfless people.

Its a little after 7 AM and I’m listening to the giddy sounds of the kids getting ready for their first day of school. Katie is going into 8th grade and Victoria 5th. Somehow we have managed to keep them both excited about going back, starting fresh and the excitement of learning. Or, maybe its just the excitement of change (any change). They certainly seemed to have a fantastic summer this year. A new house with new things to do may have contributed, but they are happy and giddy today in a way that only a return to seeing friends and teachers can create.

In a few weeks (or days) the happy mornings may give way to cries of “Do I have to go to school?” but for today its a great way to start out!

WOW, I have been an IT professional for almost 20 years now. And Although I find this thought alternately depressing, scary, unbelievable and exciting, I have somehow managed to avoid the future for all this time. My definition of the future is that horrid 7 letter word “Manager”. Somehow I have managed to eshew project plans, budgets, deliverables, production support and everything associated with “ultimate” responsibility for much of this past 20 years. I’m not saying I haven’t spend my share of weeks working over 120 hours. I think anyone in IT this long has had their share of those. I’ve also had time where I had to support the clients from hell. But overall I have managed to shift responsibilities often enough that I never had to settle down and get upset about what I was doing or where my future lay. The last 3 years at my previous employer were closest to driving me insane and out of IT, but not because of anything bad that happened but rather because of being lost in the soup, so to speak.

Now I have a new job and I really rather like it, and the company. It is definitely different than anything I have done before, but some of what this job entails really distresses me. Not a frightened scare out of your mind way, but rather because it seems I am on the trail I have feared traveling more than anything else in my career. The management trail. However, at this exeact moment it really seems unavoidable. As an industry observation I believe that their is now an inevitable downward spiral that has been created by IT offshoring and that this is going to continue to force many people (not just me) to make the management decision. Now, and for the foreseeable future, the other option is to find some entirely new vocation. I see evidence of this everyday with friends and past co-workers switching out of IT.

Since I still enjoy this field enough I am not going to give up on it quite yet. It isn’t whether or not I have given real thought to getting out of IT altogether, as I have, but the jury is still out on this one and only time will tell. In the meantime I have options.

Anyway, my real point is that I am not sure I really want to do all this responsible management stuff. Somehow watching the people that work for me or planning and evaluating their careers doesn’t have the same allure that working with new and exciting technology has had. Developing Project plans that rely on the strengths and foibles of others scares me. A future of constant politicing in order to make sure everyone (or most people) stay happy is a daunting challenge. One that requires a certain dexterity and savoir faire that I am not sure I possess. Its a grand game, one that I am naive at, and in fact I’ve been rather blissful in my ignorance for it for all of this time.

Why would I want to change? That is the question, and I am still contemplating the answer.