As most of you have probably figured out by now, I recently left my job of nine years to work with a new company here in the DFW Area. A lot of people would have thought it strange to change jobs in the middle of a down economy, but not really, it was more like a transition from one established company to another established company.

As for the routine on-boarding with every company, this time it was totally different. There were no new people to get to know, I’ve known everyone I’m working with for quite some time. The entire team had everything ready for me the day I arrived; office, computers, phones, etc. They made it absolutely painless to hit the ground running.

And there is a lot to be said about going back to work in an office. We have what Scott Hansleman would call a “two pizza” development team. Its a small team, but just big enough to be really collaborative. I get to talk with other developers face to face making our collaboration much more effective since we can scribble something on a whiteboard or walk through some code or bounce ideas off of each other when we are looking for the best way to get something done. I’ve missed out on this for some time, trying to collaborate over a telephone and a desktop sharing session is good when you’re a virtual team, but is is no substitute for being there in person. And all of the developers at my new job are well worn; seasoned; developers with probably even more experience than me. We all come from different backgrounds making what we bring to the table even more beneficial to the rest of the group.

There is also a clear delineation between my work life and my personal life. Being able to leave work at work and enjoy time away from the office is really rejuvenating. Each morning I feel refreshed and excited to get back to the office. It was funny, on my first day I asked one of the guys what were our normal office hours and he chuckled and said “Nobody is here to look over your shoulder and make sure you punch a time clock. You can come and go as you please. Just remember to make your deadlines and be on time for meetings, other than that you’re on your own.”  This free spirited way of treating people as adults is a big change of pace compared to the big corporate world of tracking your time and making sure you meet your billing quotas. I forgot how much that used to weigh on me.

This job is actually a new challenge for me, I have to learn the ins and outs of Objective-C, Cocoa and iPhone Development all in a very short time because we’ve promised to deliver an on-line ordering app for the iPhone by the end of the first quarter of 2010. But, heck, I love a challenge and I love learning something new!