Hard choices: back on the road

I'm having a Doug Burns moment.

Those of you in the Oracle blogosphere likely recall Doug going to work for Pythian (a top-notch remote DBA support company) for a bit. In the end, whilst he loves the company and still has a great relationship with them, he had to decide it wasn't the right place for him. I recall reading his post and thinking how important it is for each person to understand what works for them, even if means backing away from what looks to be a great opportunity.

I've left NextIT. I joined the firm because I wanted to be closer to software and (to be honest) because it didn't require any travel. They had some pretty hefty data design rework on their plates (right up my alley). It was fun, we knocked the old performance numbers out of the ball park, and I got to spend the summer at home.

But, at the end of the day I had to admit that I'm too used to change to stay in one spot any more. I like going into new customer sites, understanding their data management problems, and figuring out how to help them. I like not knowing what challenge I'll be working on six months from now, and love learning new technologies and business processes. Where some find new challenges to be draining, I find them energizing. That variety truly is the spice of my life.

Long story short, I've returned to IBM. I'll work in data management as a technical specialist (translation: presales engineer) for Optim, a recent acquisition formerly known as Princeton Softech.

Several aspects of this role appeal to me. It's a more technical role than my last IBM position -- allowing me to still "geek out" from time to time. I'll travel again, but with a higher percentage of regional trips, where previously they were mostly trans-continental.

Last, but most important, I'm positioned squarely in the data management space. I get to work with issues in data growth, governance, and security/privacy. Heck, I even get to talk about development and test processes (as they relate to data). How cool is that?

There's a soft challenge here as well. A few years ago I blogged about the importance of honest consulting, before becoming a consultant myself. I like to think I carried those principles into my consulting engagements. Now it's time to carry those same principles into pre-sales. I know it can be done -- I've known sales engineers who placed the customers' long-term needs higher than a quick sale -- and look forward to the opportunity.