I have changed my career path, not radically but significantly enough. Previously, I had been an ETL Architect, consulting at Fortune 500 companies and working with Ab Initio, Oracle, and UNIX. However, about 6 months ago I moved out of my long-time comfort zone and into something new.

I now am a Sales Engineer working in the Data Warehouse Appliance space. I know a lot of people say that they are satisfied with their career or that they enjoy what they do. I feel sorry for these people. I absolutely, positively the best job in the world with one of the best companies in the world.

I LOVE MY JOB!

Being an SE isn’t for everyone, but it certainly is for everyone who likes to deal with complex situations where you rarely have enough information to act decisively and have the urgent need to act decisively. IT is for anyone who likes to deal with people as much as with technology and it is for anyone who has the vision to see the world from both the eyes of a business person, an analyst, a programmer, a DBA, a system administrator. It takes an interesting mix of empathy, vision, and technical excellence that you don’t really need for most cubicle jobs. It is easily as technical as my most difficult consulting engagements, but significantly more fast paced and exciting.

Look for more in the future.