Friday, April 22, 2011

Reconnecting to the past, work edition

One of the amazing things about my job is that I've been with my company (minus a 3-month hiccup) for nearly 12 years now. In that time I've lived on both sides of the US, worked on 3-5 software products (depending on how you count my projects), held at least three or four different titles, had half a dozen amazing mentors, and gone from the most junior person around to an experienced design practitioner. I've worked with hundreds of people in many countries, learned entire new industries and fields, and been able to grow my skills and knowledge a ton. All while with one company. And this isn't really unique to me. A lot of people stay with my company for long periods of time.

So, given the way my company holds on to people pretty well, I think an extra fun thing about that is how people from past positions, past offices, and past work can come back into my up-and-coming projects. People I worked with 11 years ago, and haven't worked with in the last 10 years (although Facebook makes for an easier keeping-in-touch!) are now people I get to talk to and work with again. They have new and different roles, I have a new and different role, but we get to build on what we already know about each other. And that's just really neat.

It also gives me pause to thank my young self for not getting into too much trouble! :)

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