Soon to be a Personal Program Manager, too!
I guess I'm on the "every other month" posting schedule here. Maybe that's just the natural rhythm of things and I shouldn't feel bad about it. Then again, just this week, two of my TAP partners asked me if I was planning to blog more often. And the answer is, yes, I'm *planning* to blog more often, but the reality just doesn't quite work out that way.
So what am I busy with this week? Well, for starters, I am transitioning all of my duties to a few other people on my team. That's right, folks, I am moving on to another team at Microsoft. While I *love* managing the Speech Server TAP program, it hasn't been great for the work/life balance side of things. That wasn't really Microsoft's fault as much as my own. I need some time to focus on some personal stuff (like the 25+ pounds I've gained since my wedding last May - where the heck did that come from???).
For the past few months I've been fantasizing about what it would be like if I had a long weekend every week. I envied the few friends I have who are working part time (mostly due to new babies) or have taken significant time off from working altogether. And then it occurred to me: I could change my work schedule if I wanted to.
I was raised to always focus on education, so I could get that great job to pay for all my material needs, and work hard there to advance through the company and make more money, to secure mine and my (hypothetical) childrens' futures. So I worked hard in 16+ years of school, and 7+ years of working in the technology industry. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely paid off. I'm happy with my success, my house, and the new car I was able to buy. I don't think too hard about buying that $3 chai latte at Starbucks or a new pair of cute unnecessary shoes every few months. And in general, people seem to like the work that I do, so that's good.
So it was a little weird for me to think about cutting back, both on my career trajectory and on my salary itself. I'm the typical geeky overachiever. I expect to get As in all my classes, and to do everything as perfectly as I can, and always have my eye on that next promotion, etc.
But you know what? When I really thought about what *I* want, it's simple. More time to myself. A job that I love, just from the day to day perspective. I don't really *want* to be a VP, and I definitely don't enjoy playing the "game" to get more visibility, toot my own horn, etc. Obviously, I need to make enough money to pay the bills and save for later, and still buy the occasional pair of cute unnecessary shoes. But really, that's not much.
So I had a serious discussion with my husband a few months ago about hypothetically working part time and how that would impact our financial situation. We've been incredibly lucky/blessed so it turns out we'll be just fine even if I scale back. I'll need to make fewer trips to Starbucks, and we'll need to eat at home more often (which is better for us anyway), but those small things are worth me getting a couple of days a week back to myself.
In typical overachiever style, I've already got a list of what I want to do with those extra 2 days a week. Lots of home organization projects, sorting out the remodel of our living room, and finally getting to the gym 5 days a week like I should. Not to mention adventurous outings around Seattle with my 2 dogs. And I will learn how to be more "wifely", you know, like cooking meals, learning how to sew buttons back on to shirts, and stuff :)
So starting next week, I'll be taking a new job on the System Center Configuration Manager (product formerly known as Systems Management Server, or SMS) team, as half of a jobsharing arrangement. Two of us will be Program Managers for the SDK. Besides being able to work part-time, I'm really excited about the role itself. It's the most technical position I've had at Microsoft. Which means I'll get to learn a bunch of new stuff and increase my geek quotient even more. Woo hoo.
But it's always sad to leave a job that has been so good to me. I'll miss my teammates on the Unified Communications Application Server team (formerly known as MSS). I regret not being around until we ship our product but I'm glad I got to be a part of the process. The good thing is that I'll get to see everyone at the Holiday Party since my husband is on the same team.
I'd like to give a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to all of my TAP partners who made the last year the most fun of my entire career. You guys are a great bunch of partners and customers and I hope you'll keep in touch. I'll buy you a fancy Starbucks coffee when you come to Redmond, so definitely take me up on that, ok?
And yes, Marshall, I will try to blog more often on the new team, thanks for the encouragement.
