Always look on the bright side of strife

​ The time is 4am and I can’t sleep as I think it’s finally ‘sunk in’ that I no longer work for WDS. It’s an odd feeling that I think can be best summed up as sadness, however really it’s cocktail of emotions.

The office I was based at in Poole has been closed down, therefore making my role redundant

I joined after leaving a job in investment banking and taking a paycut (and therefore potentially a risk) as WDS sounded like a fantastic opportunity for learning, work life balance, challenge and general enjoyment.

I found myself taking time to re-evaluate this decision, and believed blogging about the positive aspects may aid me. I also thought it may raise interesting questions, or that any newly found clarity may help others in the same position in some way

My notes included the following:

• During my 4 years we got to work on projects with input from XRCE and PARC research centres. This also gave us hands on experience of machine learning (now becoming a sought after attribute)
• We learnt agile practices (including pairing and TDD (test driven development) from some of the most experienced eXtreme Programming practitioners in the entire country.
• We worked with some exceptionally good developers who’s pairing ability taught me skills that are important in day to day life, not just when at the keyboard
• We worked on projects that were delivered to multiple household names in technology and were even considered by some of the largest technology organisations in the world
• We faced challenges in both recruitment and retention with the likes of Google, eBay and Amazon hiring some of our developers
• We were supported in personal learning with group studies, regular off site days, PhD support and conference attendance
• We worked in an office where you could play table tennis and share beer/pizza with the CEO
• We worked in an environment where the only limitation was your personal ambition

I could keep adding to this list. But I think looking back it quickly became really obvious that despite the sad ending the decision to join the team it was 100% the correct one. This however wasn’t my main realisation reading through these notes.

I mostly noticed that I haven’t been thankful enough to those who gave me this opportunity, and everyone who made all of the above positives happen. It wasn’t the bricks and mortar that made these things occur, it was the people within them.

Cheers People!!!