Where do we go from here?

My post of a week ago, combined with the upcoming end of my current contract in December, has set me to thinking. What do I want to do for my next job?

I’ve been watching the Lotus Notes job blog for a month or so now, and seeing mostly admin jobs or XPages jobs, neither of which really appeal to me. And it has now been a full 12 months since I last did any real Notes development. So although my career has been distancing itself from IBM for some time, I think I have to admit that the break is now truly complete. While I’m open to finding a Notes job, I just am not seeing it as a realistic next move.

So then I look to SharePoint. I’ve said it before – SharePoint just is not fun. I’m not a fan of the technology, despite my career in it. Neither am I a fan of .NET. And I don’t really enjoy server architecture, so the configuration/deployment jobs don’t appeal to me either.

So what DOES appeal to me?

I did have one epiphany through all my thoughts. First, let me share some of the thoughts….

1. My true satisfaction throughout my career has not been about the technology, but about the process improvements that technology enables.
2. I have been less satisfied with projects in which I build a new app from scratch than the ones where I inherit a frightening disaster of code, and have the opportunity to fix it.
3. While I have loved the startup work that I have done, the emotional stress of startups diminishes the actual satisfaction gained from working in them. Also, the startup world these days is way too internally focused, trying to build the next killer social internet app, and not doing much that is “real” to my every day life.

So what would be my ideal next move?

I want to join a large, product-based global company, that is in the midst of chaos and pain in their software/applications world. I want to be given the chance to dig into their pain points, at all levels, from front-line support to enterprise architecture and everything in between, determining root causes of the pain, and defining the actual business drivers behind all the applications and technology. I then want the authority and resources to devise and implement fixes to the chaos.

I am not sure what the job title would be. I could see this role being a director-level position, setting roadmaps and guiding a large organization… but it could also be an individual contributor role, focusing on key areas that are critical to the business. I would prefer the leadership role.

So my next steps actually become clear at this point. Now that I have focused my goals a bit, I can stop looking at job boards, and start instead asking around to find companies that fit my scenario. I can stop sending resumes to HR, and start having frank discussions with IT leaders about how I could personally help them.

I’m not sure exactly where I will end up, but hopefully come January, it will be somewhere satisfying.

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