Well, like all things, everything must come to and end. I've submitted my resignation from IBM and will be working for a smaller company. Unfortunately, my boss didn't call me at home and offer me a corner office and start throwing a bunch of number at me to get me to come back. Bummer. But such is real life.
IBM is a great company, a big company, and makes big changes in the world. There's a certain feeling of satisfaction in seeing Chandler sitting at his desk at his "large multinational corporation", taking a drag from his cigarette, and seeing an IBM PS/2 Mod 50 in the background. There's a certain prestige in knowing that everyone out there knows of IBM, or hearing it spoken on TV, in sitcoms (Cheers), in songs (Mr. Roboto), etc. In being a member of a team with locations in over 100 countries; in being onboard the company with the largest number of US patents issued, year after year after year; in being part of a company that invented the business PC, the IBM Selectric typewriter, FORTRAN, RISC processing, hard ("winchester") disks, SQL, and the first company to build both the hardware and software to successfully beat the best chess player in the world, as well as a host of other things that changed the world, including getting Microsoft off the ground.
Sometimes, however, large is not necessarily best for everyone. The jockeying for work so you can get more work so you can get attention so you can get a pay-raise so you can get a promotion is not for me. Dealing with yoyo managers, (managers who come on board your project, change your life forever based on things they don't know the history of, then leave for something better, in another division or location, all within a year or so) is for the birds. Forgoing all your dreams for the success of "the team" is sometimes not in one's best interest.
I won't miss the red tape, either. Or the badges.
Besides, I got a pay raise out of the deal.
Soooo, I leave this Multinational Corporation for a what I hope to be a better opportunity, and more fun. I'll probably be absent for a while, until I can find a new newsserver, and get comfortable in my new digs.
Carry forth all- Til later~