October. This entire month has been more or less been focused on one core thing. What to do with my career. The end result is that after two and a half years, I’m quitting Kaboodle. Not an easy decision, considering it was a job which had built up a lot of friendships, was a position I was good at, and was excellent for photo ops. The ultimate decision was in how I want to proceed in life – as a designer or an engineer. At Kaboodle, I was hired as a designer, but due to my coding abilities, I worked myself into an engineering role. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to put a larger focus on design, so I’m going to a company who wants me to do just that.
As of next month, I’ll be starting at Plaxo/Comcast, as a User Interface Designer. I’ll be digging back into design full time instead of spending most of my day buried in code, which is definitely something I’m looking forward to. The whole “fresh start” concept is a major force at play too. The team there seems pretty solid, and I’m looking forward to getting scared, nervous, and ultimately growing as a designer again.
I am certainly sad to leave behind Kaboodle, but at the same time I realize it’s time. The company is changing and it’s not one I fit into anymore, not that I was ever a particularly good fit for the company to begin with. It was a great opportunity and experience as a whole, but there is always a time and place to step aside and let the next generation take the reigns, and that time for me is now.
