Early in my career, I greatly enjoyed my role as a combination software tester / technical writer. I loved playing with the hardware and software, finding bugs, writing user manuals and help systems, and collaborating with the developers and other testers and writers. I felt energized every day and no two days were the same.
Eventually, as sometimes happens when an employee stays with the same company for a long time, I became the manager and then director of the testing and writing teams. Though I found personnel management rewarding in many ways, I sometimes missed the feeling of accomplishment that comes with submitting defects and publishing user content.
In June 2024, my happy, productive, accomplished team shrank by four as part of a companywide workforce management (WFM) action. Paradoxically, we still had to meet our product development schedules to get new offerings ($) to our customers. Managers, now with fewer direct reports and more free time, were asked to pitch in.
For the past few months, I've been testing software and designing its online help. Feeling rusty with regard to user content development, I signed up for a seven-course program to earn a Google UX (User Experience) Design Professional Certificate. I'm creating this website to showcase what I've learned and using this blog to document the journey.
WFM and its turmoil aside, I'm thrilled to roll up my sleeves and get reacquainted with our products and try to understand how our customers will use them. I'm 100% engaged and energized. Every day feels fresh with potential. I haven't felt this happy and productive at my job in years. So, I can't help but wonder, could it be time for a change?
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