Okay, so in parts I (link), II (link), and III (link), I complained about the beginning of my career. In this post, I’ll delve into the middle part of my career and maybe not spend so much time on each specific job. There are so many that it’ll just fly by…

During the beginning of my career, I worked on finding my niche. Normally, the middle of the career involves going deeper into that niche and becoming more expert. That’s what started happening actually. Unfortunately, I fell into a niche that would quickly go by the wayside in terms of demand: Windows desktop development and Silverlight. The release of the iPhone led to an exodus to mobile platforms. And Apple later killed support for third-party browser plug-ins like Flash and Silverlight on iOS.

I didn’t jump on the mobile train right away. Not that I thought it was a fad, but I just didn’t need a smartphone. I still don’t, really, but it’s damned convenient. Anyway, this meant that I didn’t jump into mobile development early on. I kept plugging away at my skillset, not realizing it would essentially be obsolete in a few years.

My next job involved working on a Silverlight app for the US Army. That lasted 8 months. I didn’t particularly care for the work or the environment since I felt isolated and excluded. Plus, I had an opportunity to, guess what based on my history, go back to my very first employer working on the same team I worked on before. However, this time I went back as an independent contractor. By the way, pay your taxes every quarter or save up more money than you expect for the IRS the following April. That lasted a little less than a year. I then went to work a contract-to-hire job that lasted 5 months, and I didn’t want to convert to full-time.

Next, we come to another high point in my career: LLamasoft. They’ve since been acquired, but I worked on software that helped optimize where companies put their warehouses. I didn’t particularly like this job either, and they let me and 5 other people go, all on the same day. Good thing I was already looking for another job. This job too lasted about 8 months.

I’m glossing over a lot of sour grapes since none of these employers were embroiled in legal cases that I know of. Suffice it to say that there were reasons I didn’t stay, not all of them good reasons to leave. However, my career would take a big turning point for the better with my next job: Domino’s.

I think I’ll be able to wrap up my job history with the next post, then, after that, what probably should have been the only post necessary: reflections. It’s a process.

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