I can finally say that I have started a new role today at work. Saying I have moved roles isn’t new. I have done so on average about every 1 to 2 years over the past 14 years at Thomson Reuters / Refinitiv / LSEG. This change feels different. Since as far back as 2018 it became clear to me that I wanted to do more in the Security area of Technology vs the Operational area that had been working in. Since then I have tried to spend as much time as I could personally and professionally in the security area with my main role still being operationally focused.
In 2020 right before COVID-19 hit I applied for a role in a Security Architecture group. The timing was not good due to the pandemic. At the time i was a bit disappointed however it worked out in the long run. A few months later another role presented itself that was still in Operations (Reliability Engineering). It was however a good career progression for me. I wouldn’t have thought to go out for it until prompted. Advise from that is listen to people you trust.
Flashing forward to this year I was interested in a role that came up. I was talking to my previous manager about it. She was very encouraging and gave me some advise i did not initially act on. A few months later I approached someone doing a similar role I was interested in. I was looking for advise on what I could do to beef up my skills so I could apply for the role. The response I got was I should just apply. So I did.
I got the offer in late July. I have been transitioning with ever increasing amounts of time in the new role since August. Today is the first day I am full time in the new role. It is a bit anticlimactic since i have been spending most of my time in the role for most of October.
What is funny to me is the role is very different in many ways however at the core is still the concepts of DEV SEC OPS. It is just approaching the problems from a different angle. That is overly simplifying things a bit How i go about my work is vastly different now. There is also so much to learn however that is the fun part.
Now I need to start explaining to people what a BISO is and stop explaining what Reliability Engineering is. I do have some confidence now that my wife will stop telling people (very incorrectly) that I am a project manager.