Goodbye Telligent and Thanks for all the fish!
The only constant in life is change. Change comes to us every day in many different way. Some times they are big changes like a death in the family, the birth of a child and sometimes they are small, subtle changes like the change in the tide or the swift change in the direction of the wind in summer. It is our nature to change and evolve as much as the body continues to look for stasis, the world tries to continue to remind us that the only constant is change.
Last Friday I was let go from Telligent during the unfortunate RIF and in that time I’ve had a LOT of support from my community. That community was Twitter, which ironically was where I learned about some of he layoffs before my time came.
It was certainly a sad day for me. Just that we were talking about all the work that I was about to begin and it was sad to shift focus from the items that I knew that I was about to knock out of the park to looking for the next thing. But, there in lies the truth about life. We are meant to change and I’m happy to do so. Change means being uncomfortable. Change means being daring. Change means learning something new. I expect that Telligent has learned a lot this weekend and in that time grew as a company while getting smaller.
It’s never easy to let go of top talent, no more so is that apparent when everyone under your employ is “top talent”. People think there are evil reasons why some people get caught in the cross hairs but the truth is usually much more simplistic: Sometimes change needs to occur in order to prosper.
I believe that there is no such thing as “losing a job”. A former mentor of mind said that when it comes to life and work there are 3 states.
- Working a Job.
- Having a Career.
- State of Being.
He would then say: “There is nothing wrong with any of them, but you’re always in just one.” I never understood quite what that meant. I think I do now.
My state of being is “software artist”. I’ve defined what that term means for me and there is no doubt that I will continue to exist in that state no matter what company I work with and what problem set I encounter. I look at this as the next step in my journey. I can’t wait to meet new people with new ideas; with big problems to solve.
I wish Telligent all the luck in the world. I know they are seeing results. After all, the work that I did there helped them at least gain some recognition and legitimacy behind the firewall and even if that code goes away, the impact of it will live on without me. I’m proud of that and the work we did together as a team. It’s with an open spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship that I take my leave as a Telligenti in search of my next canvas to paint.
