End Of An Epic Era ⇒
Next Friday is a big day for me as it marks the end of my almost five year stint at Epic Data!
It all began in the second week of August, 2001. Christine and I had just got back from our African safari and were planning to move to the UK in six months. The plan was that Christine would go back to Coast Hotels and I would find a contract gig programming. But instead of a short-term contract, I found a great job as eXpresso Product Specialist at Epic Data. In this role, I acted as the primary technical contact for all prospective customers who downloaded our trial. I also went on my first real business trip to Dallas, on Sept 9th, 2001. We all know what happened a few days later. Not a great introduction to business travel., eh?
In February 2002, due to various internal reasons, I was transferred into the Product Development group and became a developer. However, Epic treated me very well and involved me in many different projects, including corporate wide (involving a trip to the UK) training and developing our in-house knowledge management system. The whole time I was in development however, I was looking for a way to get more involved in the sales-side of the business and in October of 2003, my wish was granted when I became Epic's second Business Analyst. This job was awesome and I relished every minute of it; from going out with the sales guys on calls to delivering presentations and creating high level design documents. That year went by in a blur.
November 2004 brought yet another role change as I became one of 6 Solutions Managers. This time I kept the BA work that I loved and added project management responsibility, which I didn't love. But instead of just giving up I decided to give myself a year in that position to see how it evolved. Unfortunately, after a year I still wasn't as excited about being an SM as I should be and I began to explore other job opportunities. While the exploration was going on, I got transferred back into Product Development. And while I didn't really enjoy the work, I definitely enjoyed the team I was on, and I actually learned quite a bit.
In the last 5 years I have learned many, many valuable lessons and I leave Epic a much more knowledgeable person than when I arrived. I met and worked with some outstanding people and I hope to keep in touch with many of them.
I wonder what the next 5 years will bring?