10 Year Anniversary

It is the 10 year anniversary since my company bought out the previous company in Seattle, so there was a celebration event and a lot of bigwigs from the main office in California here today.  This included my former manager when I left before, who is now director of my group.  So she has gone from being my manager to being my manager’s manager’s manager!  I’m not jealous – the director position has been a particularly troublesome one with lots of turnover, and is particularly demanding and stressful so I don’t envy her.  I think it is more of a reflection of my lack of career growth.  And, honestly, that is fine with me – I do not want to stray too far from my comfort zone, I’m not ambitious, and I don’t want or need the stress of a more managerial position.  If anything, I would prefer to have even less responsibility – which is why I might consider going into contracting work in the future.  It didn’t work out before when work took over my life (as is prone to happen in the States, where people work longer hours and take less vacation), so I will do everything in my power to live my life how I want and on my terms.  I’ve got another 30 years of this to look forward to, so I have no intention of burning out now!