November of 2016 marked five years of my work at Liquid Analytics. On New Year’s Eve in 2011 I wrote:
Breezing through your day at work is a recipe for stagnation. Any spare brain cycles you have at work should be spent on thinking about how to improve yourself and your project. The biggest lesson for me from 2011 is that change is good. Change forces you to step out of your comfort zone — and expands it. Change is an opportunity to learn about yourself and what you are capable of.
I start 2012 with an exciting new job at a startup. The decision to leave a steady Wall St. job of almost seven years to go to a small company was not easy. However, I am not the kind of a developer who could be happy simply breezing through my day. I like challenges. I like solving problems. I like reading technology publications and learning new skills.
My professional resolution for 2012 – and beyond – is never to allow me to stagnate.
Here I am, five years later, starting the New Year with a new challenge.
Over the five years at Liquid, I’ve experienced a period of tremendous personal growth. I had to wear many hats, and I influenced many things. I was challenged to learn and grow, sometimes faster than I was comfortable. Margins for error have not always been thick. However, in December of 2016 I made a decision to move on. I joined the ADP Innovation Lab in Roseland, NJ as Chief Architect.
I learned long ago what my dream job should be. Almost 17 years ago I interned at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. It was then when I realized what the outline of my dream job should be.
If the current product is version N and the company is working on version N+1, I want to be laying the groundwork for version N+2 or N+3. It wasn’t always possible, but every job I held so far took me in this direction.
When an opportunity to join ADP Innovation Lab as Chief Architect came up, I pounced on it. There is a lot of untapped potential in improving the lives and experiences of anyone who works for a living and gets a paycheck. ADP offers me a real opportunity to innovate and influence many lives in measurable ways. While my past jobs offered opportunities to help thousands, at ADP I can help millions.
I am happy to start 2017 with a what looks like a dream job and a new personal challenge. I look forward to being pushed outside my comfort zone and expanding my horizons. On this note, I wish my readers a Happy New Year! Let 2017 bring more personal and professional growth and open new doors of opportunities.
The Dulin Report 