Looking forward . . .

. . . to the weekend.

. . . to starting my new job, probably in February.

. . . to going out with a flourish at Starfleet.

Yes, dear reader, I handed my notice in on Monday, first a call to my Manager, let's call him Mr Angry, followed up by a letter.  So far nothing from Mr A, but that may not be such a surprise for two reasons:

1. He is very busy
2. He did not seem to take it very well.

The latter could be construed as roundabout praise, but really it is much more to do with how it affects him personally, him being responsible for resourcing roles like mine.  With me leaving, it obviously leaves a hole, a hole that, how can we put this politely, is a little larger now that it was two years ago.  It's the beer you see, just can't say no.

I have also started to tell my work colleagues, who have, pretty much unanimously, been very supportive and congratulatory. 

I am now wanting to keep my end up at Starfleet whilst also keeping one eye on my new role, doing all I can to prepare for it, so hoping to get hold of lots of reading material.

On the home front, we have a lads' weekend, since LO is away for 3 nights meeting her friend from Cornwall half way, in Bristol.  It will be 3 days of retail therapy and three nights of cocktails for her I suspect. 

For us lads, it will be relaxing, going to get Maggot 1's bike, a Christmas present that is obviously not such a surprise, and doing the usual sporting endeavours in between.

Have a great weekend, and speak next week.

Nearly time to relax

I finally have my formal job offer from Nnn.  Now it really is "pi$$ or get off the pot" time.

The delay between the elation of verbally being offered it, and this formal step, has caused me to start asking myself some long hard questions.  This is the fluttering of a cautious man's heart rather than any fundamental issues.  Distilling it all down, it is really the fact that I do want a new challenge, but I am concerned what it is going to do to my home life, for my work/life balance, and the knock-on effect on the rest of the family.

In truth, I want change, and any change, even within Starfleet, is likely to disrupt this some.  However, sometimes our childcare challenges are on a knife edge.  Maggot 2 was ill, again, this week, and how would we manage looking after him if my new role requires me to be elsewhere, and I need to be in the office coz I am the new boy, and I also have less "in the bank" with my team and manager to do the "dodgy stuff" like that?

And . . . relax

Another week over.  Potential new job not yet sent out a formal offer, so I am in a holding pattern waiting for it to come through.  In the meantime, there has been an internal article on NN painting it not in the best of lights, which, I have to say, put the willies up me slightly.  I have since had a chat with an ex colleague who works at NN, to find out what it is really like, and he was able to confirm that it is a "nicer" place, that it is not so different from Starfleet, and that the work/life balance challenge is probably about the same there as here.

So not totally one thing or another really.  I also touched on job security, and again, NN is not so different to Starfleet, with routine announcements of job cuts happening alongside recruitment drives.  In truth, this is about (to quote a rather hideous phrase presumably thought up in the HR dungeons)  "de-layering", or to be less euphemistic, getting rid of the commoditised roles and dead wood, and adding to the fine young men and women further up the tree.  So, not sure that I am really any further forward in my overall assessment except that, there as here, the trick is to be climbing up the slippery pole quicker than the redundancy water is rising.

At home, we have the cup final on Sunday.  The team have not had training for a week and a half, so very much need it tomorrow, in readiness for the game, which is midday on Sunday.  Weather permitting, should be fun.

Have a great weekend, and speak next week.