Employer Change

This Blog Post was originally published on adagia.org.

I have been eight years at my current employer. In September, this will change. And, no, I didn't get crypto rich (yet) or win the lottery.

Back in March, my current employer was bought by an American Holding. The buying was announced just before most people went to grab lunch at 11 am. At 10:30 am, all employees got a Teams Event invitation titled "Update on the Situation". Everybody was confused. Did we go bankrupt somehow? Are mass terminations on their way?

We didn't go bankrupt but got bought by an American Holding. That message was delivered in a four-slide short presentation from the Management Board. You saw in the faces of every employee who had a webcam on that they were confused. A few questions were raised though most of my coworkers were just speechless. I was too.

Three years back, there was a rumour that we might be bought by a large customer. Back then, all four of the Management assured that the company will never be sold. Money can change people. Everybody has a price tag.

However, on that day, I was so confused about what had just happened that I started to look out for new opportunities again. I wrote exactly one application for a company that just started to look for people like me (senior nodejs devs). I was baffled again. One job application, and they even want to pay what I demanded.

I resigned on 30th May. My manager (who is one of the four on the Management Board) was speechless. For the first time, I knew him in eight years, he didn't know what to say. And I am a little gleeful. Eight years of hearing "your opinion doesn't matter" (because you're 10 years younger) delivered a relieving moment for me.

I'm not looking back in anger. Most of my friends work at that company and I will be missing them, but I'm not moving to a different city, so my main living point will stay at my current location. But it is strange to think about not working with people anymore you worked with for eight years.

Will it completely change my life? Probably. Instead of 40+ hours a week I'm only going to work for 32 hours (basically a 4-day work week) and I will be in homeoffice full time. I'm going to visit the new employer next Thursday to collect my shiny new MacBook (so I can dig into Source Code beforehand). The office is only 305 kilometres away (per direction). Luckily I'm driving electric and it will only cost me 20 to 30 euros. And before you say, that's a long drive. Yes, it is, but I will only be in the office every 8 or 16 weeks. Also, the stay in the city where the office is located is paid. So I don't have to pay a hotel or Airbnb.

I'm already looking forward to the new challenges that await around the corner. And I'm very excited to finally work inside the cryptocurrency sector, although it will only be in processing taxes for them. :)

The only thing that worries me a little bit, is what will I do with the extra day every week? But I'm sure opportunities and new activities will arise before I even notice it.