Just back from wonderful travel visiting relatives around Jamaica. It was much-needed refreshment, and my first international trip since Sweden, back in the ‘before times’.
It was great to spend a lot of time with family. I specifically went to see my aged grandma, who is in her 90s but is still sharp as a tack and still going up and down staircases — bodes well for the ‘ol genome. When I complained about carrying some extra pounds, she chided me that I could use a few trips up and down some steps as well. The Greatest Generation rolls like that!
My intrepid hubby rented a car and drove around the island. Everyone, including me, was pretty impressed with his skills — next time I will definitely fly into Montego Bay instead of Kingston, and rent a car.
Perhaps Portland, Jamaica’s potholed roads are a good metaphor for a coding career.
(They are making improvements, but in the meantime here is a hilarious commentary on the lack of repair.) Driving those roads certainly make one question one’s life choices. But then there is a smooth stretch of pavement for a while, and all the struggle and perseverance seems worth it.
I made the really tough decision to leave the role I posted about. The company was great, the people were amazing, the kudos on my progress were good; even React was not as annoying as I’d remembered. It was just one of those weird miscommunications of expectations which sometimes happens, especially when both sides are well-intentioned and perhaps a bit starry-eyed. Once we realized what had occurred, there was some extra work involved for everyone — I personally was pulling unsustainable hours to keep up. Could I have rode out the tough schedule for a year? Likely at the cost of some health and home life, sure. But I think both sides also learned a lot for the better, and ripping off the band-aid salvaged some time and money for all concerned.
Knowing that I can do the job, ‘drinking from the firehose’ of web development and seeing leaps of improvement, is very validating.
So I’m again at a small fork in the road — should I forge ahead with another dev role, or should I take what I’ve learned and revisit the customer support/management-y realm. Before the Jamaica trip I was experiencing a lot of angst about it, but I’ve been reminded that a lot of people dream to have such decisions before them! My gut says to apply for both tracks and see what turns up. I think I shall sleep on it.