Within 24 hours of announcing I left Mocra, I received many, many job offers and it astounded me. It astounded me that I was so wanted by people from around the world.
They came from near and far and I ended up picking a 3 month contract with GetUp in Sydney. I loved what I did at Mocra, but I love what I do at GetUp more. Both Mocra and GetUp are superb and really, really passionate about what they do.
I started on 22nd February and I’m still working there. What was originally a “3 month contract” has now turned into an 8-month contract, with the possibility of being extended even further than that. I’ve taught the team Ruby on Rails the best way I know how (inspired by Dr. Nic & my experiences at Mocra) and we’re rockin’. Still. I get up (no pun intended) in the morning and go “I have to go to work” not “[groan] I have to go to work.” At least, most days.
Then in April, shortly after I return from Scotland, I get contacted by Manning Publications who ask me to be a co-author for no book other than Rails 3 in Action. That morning I bounced off the walls. Overjoyed is an understatement. Think teen girl at Justin Bieber concert and you’re getting about a tenth of the way there. I love writing and I love teaching.
So I took that job up too, along with the GetUp job. It’s been a while since I’ve juggled two jobs (since my Coles/PHP freelancing days) but I’m handling it surprisingly well and I think it’s mostly in part to the awesome teams I work with for both of them.
But by the end of the year, there’s a huge chance that I’ll be done with both of them. I will have taught the GetUp team a lot of what I know about Ruby on Rails (and they’ll have taught me some too!) and I will have finished and published the book.
So then what? Well, that part’s up for debate.
On one hand, staying in Australia would be great because I have a lot of friends here and I’m generally well-known to get work if I need it. But you could apply that to the other hand too.
The other hand, I’m famous “online”. I even have a shirt that says it. I could probably get work anywhere in the world, and I’ve received a couple of offers from places like the US, Denmark, Scotland and London. But, these are all development-only jobs. I much prefer a decent mix of teaching and developing, or maybe even both at the same time. I feel by teaching new people that they will go out and teach more people. If I’m developing, I’m not widening the pool of available developers and not helping the community grow. This is something I really want to do.
What I’m looking for in a job isn’t full-time development. My ideal "job" is going around the world teaching people about proper Ruby on Rails development and about proper Agile development.
I want to be able to teach people. To watch them grow. For them to say ‘aha!’ when they finally get a concept. For them to teach me new things. For us to develop something really great.
For now, I am happy working at GetUp. If they want me to stay on longer then I’m very inclined to say yes. If they don’t, then it’s been fantastic.
My contract with GetUp runs out at the end of October. 3 months from now.
If you want me to help your team now’s the time to let me know.