Hombre
04-12-2015, 10:20 PM
Two and a half years ago the family and I made a big move. We moved away from Oklahoma and my job at Verizon, and went to Microsoft in Washington. Together we had lived in Oklahoma for 17 years, and I'd spent the roughly the same amount of time at Verizon. At the time it was a super tough decision. We had family, and friends, and work-friends...a strong life foundation had been built. But, we came to the decision that a move was needed for two reasons:
- One the job market and opportunity just wasn't in Tulsa. I was lucky in my early career to work for some great people in the industry (Telecom) at a time when big data, and technology was still growing. I took a lot of lessons during that time and always felt like I was learning, our own BBP played a major role in that growth. But something changed along the way and I no longer felt like I was growing in the last 5 years. The combination of no longer growing my skills and limited upward mobility really pushed me over the change edge.
- Two my wife and the kids had never lived anywhere else. Washington gave us an opportunity as a family to have new experiences, take in different scenery and activities, and live among people who live life in a different way or have different view points.
All in all the move was a fantastic one. As a family we have done a lot more camping in Washington (summer months are great). We also just came back from Oregon, where Cade (Son) and I learned to surf where they filmed Point Break. Both kids are fully integrated in school, and Kenzi (daughter) will be a full time college student next year as a 16 year old.
Microsoft gave me something I hadn't had in a long time and that was the opportunity to learn. The first year was stressful, I was definitley behind, but really that made it more exciting. I spent the last two years in some really cool places (Singapore, Japan, Korea, Istanbul,Prague,Paris,Amsterdam,Macau,Hong Kong) and learned more about fiber, IP network, and finance than I wanted to at times. The whole experience has been awesome. I have zero complaints!
With that said its again time to take a chance. Tomorrow I start with Facebook. Although I'm siting in Silicon Valley today my home base will still be in Washington, and I'm happy about that. I'm looking forward to this new challenge, and couldn't do it without the support of my family.
- One the job market and opportunity just wasn't in Tulsa. I was lucky in my early career to work for some great people in the industry (Telecom) at a time when big data, and technology was still growing. I took a lot of lessons during that time and always felt like I was learning, our own BBP played a major role in that growth. But something changed along the way and I no longer felt like I was growing in the last 5 years. The combination of no longer growing my skills and limited upward mobility really pushed me over the change edge.
- Two my wife and the kids had never lived anywhere else. Washington gave us an opportunity as a family to have new experiences, take in different scenery and activities, and live among people who live life in a different way or have different view points.
All in all the move was a fantastic one. As a family we have done a lot more camping in Washington (summer months are great). We also just came back from Oregon, where Cade (Son) and I learned to surf where they filmed Point Break. Both kids are fully integrated in school, and Kenzi (daughter) will be a full time college student next year as a 16 year old.
Microsoft gave me something I hadn't had in a long time and that was the opportunity to learn. The first year was stressful, I was definitley behind, but really that made it more exciting. I spent the last two years in some really cool places (Singapore, Japan, Korea, Istanbul,Prague,Paris,Amsterdam,Macau,Hong Kong) and learned more about fiber, IP network, and finance than I wanted to at times. The whole experience has been awesome. I have zero complaints!
With that said its again time to take a chance. Tomorrow I start with Facebook. Although I'm siting in Silicon Valley today my home base will still be in Washington, and I'm happy about that. I'm looking forward to this new challenge, and couldn't do it without the support of my family.