A double-backward somersault through a hoop while whistling the "Star-Spangled Banner", again.

 Long, long ago, in the dim reaches of the memory of modern humanity, way back in the yesteryear of 2015, I made a comment to my friend and cousin, “Hey. I think I might be ready to look for a new job.” 15 minutes later, he’d sent three emails on my behalf to different recruiters and the next day I was having lunch with Cassandra Faris, the recruiter for Improving back then. A tech screen with Doug Mair, and an executive screen with Mark Kovacevich later, and I had a provisional offer.* I went to the Christmas party before my start date, and my wife has never let me forget that I let her show up to that event in a sweater instead of a formal dress. I worked at Grange, I ran a project, I lent a hand at Hannah Media, I helped with another project, I went to SafeLite, I ran a project, Covid, I worked for Encova, I did some pick up jobs for Houston, I did some other work for Houston, I helped on Donatos, I worked with a cool pet insurance company out of Cleveland, and now I am moving on.

Coming to Improving was easy. I left my old job to spend more time with my 2 year old son, who I was seeing for 20 minutes a day. If you’re a parent, risking your happiness for your child’s happiness is second nature. You do it a thousand times a day without blinking, so it was very easy to say “Yes, I’ll take a risk working as a consultant if it means more time to see him.” Fortunately, that choice paid off both for his happiness and my own. I’ve learned and grown as a developer, as a leader, and as a person at Improving, and I will carry what I learned here with me wherever I go. Thank you, all, for being a part of that growth.

Leaving Improving is hard. The opportunity I’m taking with Quantum to be their manager of Data Platforms moves my career in the exact direction in which I hope to grow. But it is still a much harder choice to make. Here’s hoping that it pays off as well. If you ever get stuck on a database problem or if want to contact me for some other reason, petry.aaron@gmail.com will pretty much always work.

All that said, on Star Wars day, May the Fourth, what could be more appropriate than to quote Douglas Adams?

*Notice that after hiring me, all the people involved in this story either no longer work for Improving at all or are not in the Ohio office today. I don’t think that is my fault, but I have no evidence either way.