Today is V-Day. V for Vaccination. I’m getting my first jab of a Covid-19 vaccine today. The End is Near. Literally.
The pandemic has forced many changes on society, a roller-coaster of emotions and changes. In the name of pandemic, freedom rights we had taken for granted were taken away from us in order to protect ourselves and others from an invisible enemy.
As the covid-scare fades from the public mind, new and old agendas surface. But I don’t mind a brief moment to catch my breath after years with Brexit, Trump, and Covid. It’s ok with me if life gets a little boring for a while.
Not all changes forced upon us were bad. I for one will keep working remotely, corona walks, and the joys of living close to nature without a crazy commute high on my personal quality-of-life priorities. But I also look forward to travel internationally again and to show my kids how the world can be when you live in other corners of the planet.
The end of the pandemic will not be a reset but a roll forward. A new chapter. For me also on a personal level.
Sabbatical
The last one year I have worked for SimCorp as a remote consultant on the cloud transformation of SimCorp Dimension. It has been great to jump in and work fully remotely with familiar faces and familiar systems and create structure and set direction.
I’m proud of what my teams and I have achieved the last year. In a very ambitious undertaking, with 25 years of production code, changing fundamental truths of the product, SimCorp now has a solid foundation on which to close gaps and add features rapidly and deliver a great version of SimCorp Dimension optimised for Cloud deployment.
With people returning to the offices, working remotely as the only person in the team is less attractive. But more importantly: I feel my job is done. I set out to create a clear picture of the situation and what could and should be done and made decisions and consequences clear to the wider range of stakeholders. I could lean back and enjoy an easier time. But that is not who I am.
So I’ve decided to take a sabbatical and enjoy the summer with my wife and kids and to work on my own projects for a while. Go travelling. Publish games. Learn new tricks. Let’s see how long it will last, I’m in a privileged position to take my time before jumping back into a full time job. When the right next challenge comes along, I will get on the train again.
Ad astra per aspera.