Last Day of Work

Well after 7.5 years at Global Crossing, I finally got around to submitting my resignation today. It was a hard decision to make and it took a lot of soul searching to come to the conclusion that I needed to move on and fully concentrate on MIT. About 2 months ago I approached my boss Mike and let him know my intentions to leave right around this time-frame; I wanted to give an extended notice, not only because I wanted to adequately train my replacement but also because the semester would start heating up.

As it happened, I feel like I left on my own terms and in a position of relative strength. There are more things I would have liked to have on the way out the door, but overall I'm happy how it turned-out. Mike also said that if I ever wanted my job back, I needed to just ask. That's an amazing compliment.

As I look back on it, my time at Global Crossing taught me many things, chief among them: how to be a savvy operator at work. For example -and I shared this with a friend yesterday- from here on out, I'm going to be VERY careful what I volunteer for at work. I've seen other people (and this has happened to me as well) get roped into a job and were forever known as the go-to person for that terrible, on-going problem. Secondly, I'll be sure never to assume a leadership role in a group that's outside the core competency of the organization it reports to...particularly if it's severely understaffed; because when head-count is added, it typically goes first to the core competency groups. Lastly, there are things that I want to get out of my career and unless the jobs at my next employer that fit into that frame-work, I'll be sure to pass on them, within reason of course.

Now, at age 38, as a father of two girls, husband to a beautiful wife, having sold all our cars and houses, and in the face of all this future uncertainty, it's time to get on with the business of Grad School full-time.