A few months back I made the decision to leave the relative comfort and security of my permanent role and head into the world of contracting & consulting. Whilst a big decision and change for me, it is something that I’ve long wanted to do at some point during my career when the time was right. Don’t get me wrong; I could quite easily spend another 10 years where I am now as they are a great company to work for and the software they develop makes a difference to people. I’ve been given a lot of trust and freedom over the years and space to be creative. They have invested in me time and time again and looking back I doubt that I’d have found my SQL server passion anywhere else as I barely touched SQL prior to joining where I am now. Going back a decade I was little more than a good general IT “handyman” and master in nothing.

But I’m also ambitious and embrace change. I like the somewhat unpredictability of not knowing exactly where [if] I’ll be working over the next few weeks. I like the opportunity to meet many and varied professionals in all areas of IT to both learn from and hopefully mentor some as well. I want to see how other organisations approach data related problems and what solutions are designed to meet their needs. I’m hoping that during gaps I can develop my brand and name in the community via a whole host of different means. In the world of exponential data growth, cloud technology and ever more consolidation/cost reduction projects I’m loving being a SQL professional.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that I’ve a heck of a lot to learn about the contracting world and being a consultant but hopefully I’ll get up to speed pretty darn swiftly and not make too many mistakes along the way. I’ve a few grand plans and ideas longer term but need to see how the next couple of years go. My last day of permanent working for the foreseeable future is the end of July and to be honest, I’m actually quite excited about it all. My first 3 month contract is pretty much all confirmed and will start 1st Aug, so I’m lucky to be able to go from perm straight onto my first contract without any gaps. I’m also lucky to know many good IT professionals whose opinions I really respect that I can have a beer with and get sound advice from along the way. Everyone I have spoken too have supported my change in career and rationale behind it. Some say that I should have done it sooner!.. only time will tell…

Enjoy!…