Wanted to give everyone an update on a post I made about a month ago, Life Changing Decisions. Short summary, I was at a cross-roads with making a decision on to retire or not. I made a decision – I am going to go ahead and retire from Intel. Timing of when this will completely happen is yet to be finalized, but I have till 1/3/2011.
This was not an easy decision for many reasons. I have been working for Intel for over 28 years. During that time, I have grown up, learned a lot, raised my family, traveled to places I know I would not have traveled to and have met some amazing people. I have put in 28 years at one company. Something that in today’s world, just does not happen that often. I was 22 years old when I started, just out of college and was looking for some stability for me and my new family. I guess I found it.
For entertainment value, I thought I would put in the stuff that I will not miss…
- Meetings, Meetings, Meetings and more meetings – I hate to count up the hours that were spent in meetings. Sometimes we had meetings to prep for meetings. Sometimes we had post meetings on the meetings. In order to get work done – you had to schedule a meeting with yourself on your calendar.
- Email! I don’t know what has happened over the years, but email had become the number one way to communicate. Yes, it beat out meetings. Why? Because you usually got one to five emails around the meeting. The email’s I will not miss – did you get my voice mail (now our voice mails go to our inbox), those that come from the person that sits in the cube next to me, reply to all blasts – asking to be removed from the distribution list and my all time favorite ones – an email asking if we can talk!
- Processes… To say that I have seen an increase in processes over the years – that is an understatement. Some are completely necessary, I get that. Others, well let’s say some people have jobs because of them.
I will miss stuff as well, like:
- The people! There are some amazing people that I have met, worked with and helped out over the years. Without them, I know I would not have had as much fun as I had. Would not have gotten much done by myself. Would have hated to sit in my cube – waiting for the next meeting or email.
- Experiences and memories that I have. Even those that are not so good. They shape us into who we are.
- My usual parking spot… I started in 1982 in the Chandler CH2 building.. Looks like I will end my time in Chandler CH2 building (I have had stops almost in every building in Chandler and some in Oregon). I joked when I came back to CH2 about 5 years ago, I started parking in the same spot in 1982. Well, maybe Intel can put up a marker on my parking spot!
I am excited and nervous about the journey that I am about to take. I am not going to stop working.. I just will be doing it somewhere else.
Dammit, Steve! One of the attractions of moving back to Arizona was having you around. What am I gonna do now?
Seriously, I can’t wait to see the first chapter in the “new journey”…I’m sure it’s going to be fun!
@Jeremy – thanks! I will be still there till 1/3/2011 (or so – depending on when the journey begins). We still have all the great social networking – just will have to be outside the firewall.
I am looking forward to writing about my experiences along this new journey. Should be fun!
We will miss you Steve! What are you looking forward to in the post-Intel life?
@Nisha – Since I have worked most of my adult life at one company, I think the thing that I am most looking for is…. The excitement of something new. I have had a lot of wonderful and exciting experiences. I hope to broaden those experiences with new ones!
I am excited to take my experiences and knowledge, share it with different folks in totally different setting. I am reminded many times of the old t-shirt slogan – “Been there, done that! Here is the t-shirt to prove it.” If I had a nickel for everytime – I had that moment over the 28 years – I know I could officially retire worthy! I want to experience different stuff.