shinzu.blog

So let me talk a little bit about the decision making process.  First off, some background of where I work.  I entered the workforce about 3 years ago without knowing anyone at the site.  The first two years were spent learning how to survive in a big organization.  I learned how to make new friends, how to move up the corporate ladder, how to navigate through politics, how to be a leader.. etc.

By the third year though, many of us began to notice the negative things about the site.  One thing is that if we worked really hard we didn’t get rewarded proportionally.  It’s like if you can work 80% instead of 110%.. why work 110%?  Also the amount of process at work was nearing the realm of overkill.  Process is one of those things that if not balanced can really kill innovation and creativity of an organization.

However… there were many positive things about the site..  I really loved the friends I made at the site.  Life was very comfortable.  I was collecting a steady paycheck, hanging out with friends at happy hour, and taking nice vacations every couple of months.

In addition to the good friends, I was working on international programs so I had daily interactions with Europeans and people from North Africa.  One thing that I love is to learn about new cultures, customs, and how people do things in other parts of the world.  For instance, we had many ‘musical exchanges’ of ‘media’ which was interesting.

With these international programs also came the opportunity to travel to Paris for 2 years or North Africa for a short period of time.

Then one thing happened that sort of shocked me.  One of my close friends left the company without a job lined up.  He told me that the work place was draining his soul to speak so he just had to leave. 

After that departure, I was shocked, but still kept working.  Then soon enough, there was a departure.. followed by a departure.. followed by a departure..

The reality is.. no matter how much you love your work friends, they aren’t going to help you in your career growth.  You may stay at your job because of the people, but staying in your comfort zone is always a dangerous thing.  Staying in your comfort zone can make you complacent and put you at risk if your environment happened to change (layoffs happen, or otherwise).

In the midst of all this, some of us have been working on a prototype of our site and actually got it done.  Then came the next decision.. should I quit to pursue this venture, or wait for the most opportune moment to quit (getting full funding is the most opportune moment).

Then I began struggling with some big decisions.. Should I go to Paris for 2 years.. or pursue a venture that could actually succeed out there?  Both are awesome options but totally take me in two radically different directions.

I started pondering what would happen if I just quit and chose to work on this full time.  The reactions I got were interesting.  From the friends who already bailed from the company, they were like “go for it!”  But many people said “it’s too risky”.  And that statement is one I thought of for a while.

Risk.. what is risk?  It’s all really relative to what you view it as.  When we do risk analysis, we often look at it more at an emotional perspective than a practical perspective.  What I mean is that most of the time, the risk is overblown because our fears, comfort, emotions get a hold of us.

What I had to do is to cast aside the emotional side of risk and look at it in a very practical perspective.  And that was very difficult to do.  After many days of thinking.. I realized my risk wasn’t that great.  I don’t have a family.. a mortgage.. or any excessive debt.

Now come back to the present.  To resolve the Paris issue.. my friend put it very eloquently.  “If Bill Gates had the chance to go to Paris instead of start Microsoft would he?  If Michael Jordon had the chance to go to Paris instead of go into basketball would he?  If Tiger Words had the chance to go to Paris instead of golf would he?”  So from that line of thinking.. I knew the decision I had to make.

I consider this decision to follow one of my dreams.  I know the future will have the potential of failure or success, but knowing I made a decision in something I really believe in is good enough for me.
 
Milestones in Dan’s Life
10-8-1981 – Dan is born
June 1999 – Graduated high school
July 1999 – Landed a job at the school district
Sept 1999 – Started UCI
July 2003 – Graduated UCI
Sept 2003 – Got a job at ray-o-vac
June 2005 – Came out of the closet
July 2005 – Dated the first guy ever
Oct 2006 – Resigned from ray-o-vac……