Congratulate Me

In two weeks I’ll be starting a new position in my department. I’ll go from “Programmer Analyst” to “IT Project Leader.” That essentially means I’ll do project management instead of programming. I’ve done project management work on a limited basis at previous jobs, but this is the first time I’ve stayed with one employer long enough to transition into it full-time (in the .com heyday, it was actually unusual for anyone to stay at a company more than 2 years, but those days are long gone…). Given our upcoming 6 month trip to Japan, I actually didn’t apply for the position at first. But we ended up with a less than inspiring candidate pool, so I decided to apply, and made a case for remote project management. I’ve had some experience with this, working with the Massachusetts Medical Society when I was at HighWire, in California.

I’ll be working part-time while we’re in Japan. And I’ll work at night, so I can be online for part of the east coast workday. Our Tokyo apartment has a fiber optic internet connection, so - assuming the ISP is halfway decent - I can be effective remotely by using SkypeIn, NetMeeting, instant messaging, etc. I’ve heard good reports on Skype from friends, who say they’ve had good connections using it to talk to people in Tokyo and Shanghai. Using it in conjunction with a local number in Philly, my clients can call me in Tokyo without making an international phone call. I’ll have a couple months to build relationships in-person before we go at the end of the year. That should provide a sufficient foundation to maintain the relationships while I’m working remotely.

After 10 years as a programmer I’m ready to start exercising some different brain muscles, so I’m looking forward to starting.