Twenty Ten

So twenty ten has finally arrived. New year, new decade and.. new chapter of my life? After finishing my bachelor degree, I gave myself a 5 year plan: 5 years into my career, I will be living somewhere outside the province in Quebec. I consider the start of my career when I had my first professional job as a programmer at Gameloft, which places the start in January 2006. With the help of basic math, my deadline is up in January 2011, which pretty much leaves me to the end of this year to secure myself a job. 361 days remaining.

Do I still want to leave Montreal and live in another city? I will answer this with a big fat YES in a heart beat. 2009 was roller coaster year leaving a bittersweet after taste. I think I'm a point in my career where I'm ready to tackle something new and challenging. My current job is satisfying for the time being. The work environment is definitely a step up from my previous work place but the workload is, boring. I am learning new things and acquiring new skills which is always good, but if you think hard enough, you can find positive points in any working experience.

Am I ready to actually take that big leap? I am not quite sure. Sure there is a scary factor to jump into the unknown (which is a motivation on its own for me) but there is a part of me that doesn't want to leave my current workplace, mostly out of loyalty. Another part of me lacks the confidence to find another job. I fully admit I'm not the best coder out there and my experience is extremely scattered (I consider myself as a jack of all trade, master of none) which is good and very bad at the same time. I am very skillful at selling myself when it comes to interviews but asking me questions right on the spot is a whole different ball park. The realist (and pessimistic) in me tell me the market is terrible and chances of hiring somebody from out of town/province/country is slim to none. And another part of me is just too damn lazy to update the resume, write cover letters, searching for jobs, apply, etc. Once I convince that part of myself to unlazy itself, then I can do it. That should be one of my 2010 resolutions.