On Friday of last week, I handed in my notice to let my employers know that I would be leaving the company in one month's time. This action is a milestone indicative of plans that have been underway for over a year.
I try to be a fairly risk-verse person, and as a result, I do my best to avoid counting my chickens before they have hatched. Going to school to pursue law is not a decision to be taken lightly, and they system helps ensure that by putting into place a number of hoops that the potential candidate needs to jump through.
About 18 months ago, Bay and I took a trip island for brunch in Nanaimo. Brunch was nice, but the real value was the opportunity to talk to each other about where we both currently felt in our respective jobs. The end result of this trip was that we came back with a concrete set of next steps to act upon in order to making something that had previously only been fanciful into a reality. Bay made the decision to return to school to get an MBA, and so, came home, registered to write the GMAT, studied for the GMAT, and began stressing out about the GMAT.
I began the process of looking into what it would take to start writing the LSAT, what entry requirements existed, and figuring out how to break the news to my parents (further education is no doubt exciting, but it does come with a hefty price-tag, of which we would no doubt be hoping to borrow some money from Mum and Dad to make ends meet).
Writing the LSAT was no peach, and I guess they make it fairly excruciating to weed people out. Although I've got plenty of experience writing tests under a time limit, I was not used to this format. I found myself writing as fast as I could and scrambling to get every question completed in time (and correctly), only to put my pencil down, take a breath, and be told that our time was up and we needed to move on to the next section. By the end of that day, I was exhausted and didn't want to consider what it would mean if I didn't get a reasonable grade and had to rewrite.
Fortunately my score was pretty good, and my undergraduate GPA was also good. I wrote the admissions officer at UVic to ask if she felt my chances were reasonable that I would be offered a position. It was with a big sigh of relief that I checked my e-mail last Summer while we were in Nova Scotia and read that if I had correctly calculated my GPA, I would most likely be receiving an offer.
That is a massive if, so I probably spent the next three months recalculating it over and over to make sure that I wasn't mistaken. When you hear things like that, your mind starts to play games with you. Bay and I were willing to move to Vancouver or out East to pursue school if that was necessary, but it would be nice to stay in Victoria for at least a few more years. I didn't have any choice but to wait to hear from UVic, and to begin preparing applications for other universities in the meantime.
In time, I did receive an e-mail from UVic letting me know that they were in fact offering me a position to start Law in the Fall, and that I could stop shaking and sweating. Huzzah!
After that, it was simply a matter of hurry up and wait. It is never easy to sit still when you have a new pursuit and direction, and this is especially true for individuals like myself, that thrive on growth and overcoming challenges. The remaining months of work have been difficult. Not because the work itself has been challenging or hard to accomplish, but because I know that I have reached the end point for my interest in this path, and that I have a new path to pursue.
That brings us full circle back to the beginning of this post, as I have now provided my notice of departure, and am tying off all remaining loose ends. Five years is a very long time to be at one company, and I'm not certain whether or not I will find myself in a similar position again. It is almost impossible to accurately ascertain that until you actually come face-to-face with the same situation.
During my tenure here, I have learned a great number of things. Many of them related to the various aspects that make a software project come to fruition, but also many related simply to the act of effectively managing both projects and people (and believe me, the majority of project management is about managing people, not the project itself). I've also learned a good deal about HR, both good and bad.
I've met some good friends through work, and have learned a large number of skills that I'm confident I will be able to apply in whatever field I eventually end up working in (GTD anyone?).
It is difficult to say whether or not I will return to the role of managing projects in the future. I know that I have a knack for the role, and possess many of the innate skills that are needed to effectively manage a project, but, my biggest concern would be that I be able to find new aspects of this kind of work that continue to challenge me. Regardless, I'm not the sort of person to mentally shut doors on anything, and if an opportunity presents itself that I think will be rewarding, I will be willing to go for it. I don't really know of any other way to live life.
Revealing the fact that I'm returning to school to pursue Law has been met with an interesting range of reactions. Many of my closer friends usually say "Ah yeah, that makes sense" (with the implication that I argue too much and am generally a heartless prick - maybe I'm inferring that). People that are not particularly close with me, or with which I have a strictly working relationship, generally react with "Really? That's a big shift!". I suppose that in some ways it is, but the ability to discern what rules we are currently constrained by, and how we can operate and find a solution within those rules is really the crux of both the project manager and the lawyer. The rules just happen to be defined differently (one by competing business and political interests, the other by codified laws and our bill of rights).
For those curious, I am initially drawn to intellectual property law, and for a number of reasons. First of all, I think that my background will serve me well in this field, as I have a good deal of experience not only with managing and directing efforts in this realm, I also have a very strong understanding of the entire procedure, from start to finish (requirements, all the way up to implementation and delivery). This field of law is also particularly interesting these days, as our technologies are opening up more and more doors every day, and challenging existing copyright laws that have previously been bound and determined by some fundamental principles (such as "reproducing something like a book is difficult to do, and thus not an offence that will be committed frequently").
I think that's a sufficient update into my professional life. Next up is an update on dancing. Keep it locked.
I began the process of looking into what it would take to start writing the LSAT, what entry requirements existed, and figuring out how to break the news to my parents (further education is no doubt exciting, but it does come with a hefty price-tag, of which we would no doubt be hoping to borrow some money from Mum and Dad to make ends meet).
Writing the LSAT was no peach, and I guess they make it fairly excruciating to weed people out. Although I've got plenty of experience writing tests under a time limit, I was not used to this format. I found myself writing as fast as I could and scrambling to get every question completed in time (and correctly), only to put my pencil down, take a breath, and be told that our time was up and we needed to move on to the next section. By the end of that day, I was exhausted and didn't want to consider what it would mean if I didn't get a reasonable grade and had to rewrite.
Fortunately my score was pretty good, and my undergraduate GPA was also good. I wrote the admissions officer at UVic to ask if she felt my chances were reasonable that I would be offered a position. It was with a big sigh of relief that I checked my e-mail last Summer while we were in Nova Scotia and read that if I had correctly calculated my GPA, I would most likely be receiving an offer.
That is a massive if, so I probably spent the next three months recalculating it over and over to make sure that I wasn't mistaken. When you hear things like that, your mind starts to play games with you. Bay and I were willing to move to Vancouver or out East to pursue school if that was necessary, but it would be nice to stay in Victoria for at least a few more years. I didn't have any choice but to wait to hear from UVic, and to begin preparing applications for other universities in the meantime.
In time, I did receive an e-mail from UVic letting me know that they were in fact offering me a position to start Law in the Fall, and that I could stop shaking and sweating. Huzzah!
After that, it was simply a matter of hurry up and wait. It is never easy to sit still when you have a new pursuit and direction, and this is especially true for individuals like myself, that thrive on growth and overcoming challenges. The remaining months of work have been difficult. Not because the work itself has been challenging or hard to accomplish, but because I know that I have reached the end point for my interest in this path, and that I have a new path to pursue.
That brings us full circle back to the beginning of this post, as I have now provided my notice of departure, and am tying off all remaining loose ends. Five years is a very long time to be at one company, and I'm not certain whether or not I will find myself in a similar position again. It is almost impossible to accurately ascertain that until you actually come face-to-face with the same situation.
During my tenure here, I have learned a great number of things. Many of them related to the various aspects that make a software project come to fruition, but also many related simply to the act of effectively managing both projects and people (and believe me, the majority of project management is about managing people, not the project itself). I've also learned a good deal about HR, both good and bad.
I've met some good friends through work, and have learned a large number of skills that I'm confident I will be able to apply in whatever field I eventually end up working in (GTD anyone?).
It is difficult to say whether or not I will return to the role of managing projects in the future. I know that I have a knack for the role, and possess many of the innate skills that are needed to effectively manage a project, but, my biggest concern would be that I be able to find new aspects of this kind of work that continue to challenge me. Regardless, I'm not the sort of person to mentally shut doors on anything, and if an opportunity presents itself that I think will be rewarding, I will be willing to go for it. I don't really know of any other way to live life.
Revealing the fact that I'm returning to school to pursue Law has been met with an interesting range of reactions. Many of my closer friends usually say "Ah yeah, that makes sense" (with the implication that I argue too much and am generally a heartless prick - maybe I'm inferring that). People that are not particularly close with me, or with which I have a strictly working relationship, generally react with "Really? That's a big shift!". I suppose that in some ways it is, but the ability to discern what rules we are currently constrained by, and how we can operate and find a solution within those rules is really the crux of both the project manager and the lawyer. The rules just happen to be defined differently (one by competing business and political interests, the other by codified laws and our bill of rights).
For those curious, I am initially drawn to intellectual property law, and for a number of reasons. First of all, I think that my background will serve me well in this field, as I have a good deal of experience not only with managing and directing efforts in this realm, I also have a very strong understanding of the entire procedure, from start to finish (requirements, all the way up to implementation and delivery). This field of law is also particularly interesting these days, as our technologies are opening up more and more doors every day, and challenging existing copyright laws that have previously been bound and determined by some fundamental principles (such as "reproducing something like a book is difficult to do, and thus not an offence that will be committed frequently").
I think that's a sufficient update into my professional life. Next up is an update on dancing. Keep it locked.
It's exciting to open new chapters in life like that. I'm sure school will be both fun and interesting. There's something about university life that is just so exciting. Hopefully you won't be too bogged down with school work to continue hanging with the men.
Ah yeah, it makes sense. AND it is a big shift.
I can't cite any sources for this, but it's been said that many people stick with what they know at around age 30. They stop progressing job wise and settle for the career path that they are in regardless of what it is or what their potential could be. I'm not sure what causes this but looking around I see it a lot.
I am glad that you are not settling for the status quo and are seeking new areas of growth. Not that there was anything wrong with what you were doing, but I tend to think I know you fairly well, and I believe you enjoy a good challenge.
For what it is worth, I am finding that being a mature student rocks. Life experience brings all sorts of tangibility to theories and concepts that may otherwise be very abstract. That, and a bunch of stuff that actually happened during our lifetimes is being referenced in post secondary cases. That part is pretty cool.
Glad you got into UVic!