I gave notice on Monday and October 27th will be my last day. Having spent almost two years working the same job, I felt more and more that it simply wasn't working for me and I didn't see my job or that feeling changing in the future. I wasn't improving my skill set and I had little opportunity to apply the ones that I had. I wasn't learning or growing in a field that demands both.

After all of the excitement of Aaron's arrival quieted down, I spent some time thinking about and looking at other options. I did a bit of interviewing. I turned down one offer, decided not to pursue another possible offer and didn't make the cut with a third company. None of the possibilities really excited me.

In the end, I have decided to take an entirely different direction: That of the contractor / consultant. I think that I am getting a good start by loosely partnering with Dewaard and Jones. I have known Bob for 3 years and have always enjoyed working with him. Bob wants to move into more of a sales, design and architecture role which has opened up a coding role for me. I think these two roles should complement eachother nicely. I will also be working with Rob Schripsema and Dick Dewaard.

In addition, I plan on putting time into a couple of web based business ideas of my own. Things that I have wanted to try for a while but I never was able to put the time into them. My new position should give me a little bit more scheduling flexibility and provide me an opportunity to balance these different priorities.

I know that there is more risk in this new venture but the near zero risk of my previous job was driving me crazy.