Quitting a job is easy, but quitting a job when you are leaving your beloved team and people behind is much harder than I expected. 

Don’t get me wrong – I loved my job. I had been at the most recent software development company for a little over 7 years and I loved the work and the challenges. I’m one of those people who can never sit still and who sees challenges as fantastic opportunities, something my job and the company were never short of. And what’s more, I was surrounded with kind, smart and dedicated people. Their existence had always made the job more enjoyable and satisfying.

But stars don’t always align and situations do change. And when that happened, I was fortunate to have built a secure enough portfolio throughout the years that I felt comfortable to make a drastic call : It’s time for me to quit my full-time job and leave the corporate world. It’s a liberating yet a scary decision. Ever since I graduated 20 some years ago, I had always worked under the umbrella of some corporate job; And, at 48 years old, it seemed somewhat premature to give up a promising career that I had been building for more than 2 decades. 

One thought that comforted me however – was that I knew, or I believed, that my team would be fine. Supporting and coaching them to succeed had always been a key mission that I held dearly throughout the years. My team’s best interests, development and well being had always been a key factor in every decision I made and every initiative I planned. While I couldn’t exactly tell how my effort had been perceived or received deep in each person’s heart, or whether it was truly appreciated, I knew I had done my best. 

As the last day started approaching, my emotion started twirling as the reality of “quitting my job” started to seep in. Looking at the long list of familiar names and their respective avatars flashing with activities on my work chat channel, all of a sudden, I started to realize that after my last Friday, what had always been an easy click of a name to initiate greetings or chats on a daily basis would no longer be available. These people – my team, fellow managers, members from other teams, etc – would disappear from my daily routine.  Throughout the years, we’ve built not only comradery and respectful work relationship, but also friendship. I remembered even joking about how much more time I spent talking with my coworkers compared to my family. For 7 years, with this group of fantastic, fun and hardworking individuals…. 

“Hand-off Discussion. Oct 27, 2021 Wednesday 3:30pm-4:30pm”. A formal meeting invitation sent to me by a manager in our Quality Assurance department. For someone who had schemed up many surprise parties throughout the years, I smiled and found my eyes started swelling up. What a nice attempt, but seriously, a “hand-off discussion” 2 days before my last day? Did they think I was such a procrastinator or I had still more to hand off after multiple similar meetings last couple of weeks?

(to be continued)