Over the past 15 years IT has taken many twists and turns.. As has my career.. 5 years ago I was the IT manager for a large accountancy firm. Prior to that, I was a project manager… But then my career took an unexpected twist when I met my wife, jacked my job in and moved to Switzerland where I could not speak any of the languages.. More than that, my house is so far into the back of beyond I thought my days would be ended picking Apricots.
But then my best friend put me in touch with his boss, who was looking for someone prepared to work from home and manage their helpdesk.. Which I did, thanks to the marvels of VoIP and a fast internet connection.
So for the last 5 years I worked from home.. The pay was pretty poor, but with no travel overheads and commutes, that wasn’t important.
Until about a year ago when I spotted an ad for a job that looked like they’d plucked my CV from a job site and said.. “We want this guy”.. It was just within commuting distance, so I went for it.. And got it.. My income doubled and apart from an hour and a half commute each way every day, things seem rosy..
But I’m not an IT manager, I’M a DBA and a developer.. Quite an unexpected turn around, but one which I must admit, makes ma a lot happier than the politics involved in IT management.. It’s certainly not what I was expecting, but it is much much more satisfying as a job.
So I’m wondering if I’m the only one with no real career plan and everyone plans their next career move intricately, or if most people are like me, and follow their noses and end up where they are through a mixture of pure chance and happy coincidence.