Some Job Updates

Back when I started blogging, first at Building-Tux.com and then here on Blogger, I wrote a lot about my job. For the first few years I wrote about supporting my employer's commercial cable modem customers and our optical transport network. After that I blogged some about doing ongoing engineering related to the cable modem service. After that, my focus shifted, in part because I didn't feel that I had much of interest to write about.

Seventeen years later, I'm still with the same company but several jobs later. For the past few years I managed the product engineering lab at our corporate headquarters in downtown Philadelphia. That was good data center management experience but I got burned out by the end of last year. Towards the end of 2016 we underwent yet another reorganization and I found myself in a new group with some opportunity for advancement.

As of a few weeks ago I'm no longer a lab manager. I'm now Service Operations Lead for our lab operations team. A big part of this is to help craft our new operations model in compliance with the ITIL best practices. I also have a supervisory role over a few very talented senior-level engineers. So far, I've been extremely busy and I've been enjoying it.

One thing I like in particular about the new position is its location. From 2004 up until earlier this month I commuted into Center City Philadelphia. Now I'm going to our office in Downingtown, PA, about a 25 mile drive. Yeah, I have to drive, but I'm not dependent on the SEPTA Regional Rail lines. And I never have to sit next to some fat guy who smells like cheese, or listen to obnoxious obliviots prattling on their cell phones while riding the "quiet" car during my commute.

Also, back in April I got my fourth US Patent, which was a nice feather in my cap. (I'm a co-inventor on all four.)