Choices…

2010 is coming to a close and like always I like to write a few things about what I’ve learned this year. And no, im not writing this in a foreign country this year. I promise to do so next year…in China.

Career
When I was coming up in my career a developer said something along the lines of, “There is no such thing as stability. Even if you’re a good developer they will let you go to save a dollar. Remember to work on something you enjoy”. For the last 11 years I’ve worked at very stable companies and have been fortunate enough to interact with some of the best and brightest individuals in the software industry. This year I had a choice to make. Continue to be unhappy with what I was doing or find something that made me happy.

Large companies do pigeon whole you into doing one thing and only one thing. If you need to modify a web server there is an ops team, if you need to create a database theres a DBA for that, and on and on. I missed the days when i was doing everything. So, I moved on from working with Yahoo. I gave my resignation in the beginning of November.

While at Yahoo a close friend mentioned to take a job that I would be passionate about. She mentioned to wait for the right position to come along and not accept the first thing that came my way. I accepted a position which felt right for me in both the technology as well as the personnel. I accepted a position at Riot Games. The decision was not easy at all.

Family
With the decision to leave Yahoo another decision had to be made. Stay in Northern California or move back down to Los Angeles. I decided on the latter. My parents are not getting any younger and I did not wish to have a family in San Jose. I want to settle down in Los Angeles with my family close by. I realized I do not want to receive a call late at night about someone being sick, in the hospital, and feeling like I cant simply drive 10 minutes to see them and possible help. I’m also soon to be an uncle and I don’t want to see my nephew/niece grow up via facebook. In the 3 years I’ve been in Northern California and the amount of travel I’ve done I’ve realized that my family matters to me. All of them, even my cousins which I’ve never seen for a while seem closer now.

Other matters
The hardest choice I had to make was realizing something. To this day I have to say its been the hardest choice and the most confusing decision I have made in my entire life. I’m currently sitting in a loft for one. A month ago I shared an apartment. The consolation? I’m realizing that growing older also means making harder and more difficult choices about where you want to take your life and how you plan to be happy. I cant say that I’m currently happy but I can say that sitting here looking out at Los Angeles there are million and one doors now open. For now though, I want to stay indoors and hibernate in my cave. 🙂

Armando Padilla – On…The first step is the hardest.