I Started A New Job!

This week brought some much-needed relief—I was hired as a full-stack developer after more than a month of searching! I was previously laid off at the beginning of February due to downsizing, which was unfortunate since I genuinely enjoyed the company I worked for and the projects I contributed to. That said, I’m really excited about this new opportunity and the challenges ahead.

The Job

While my official title is Full-Stack Developer, I’ll also be taking on two additional roles: Level 2 & 3 Customer Support and Product Implementation. My main focus will be building and maintaining the company’s marina management software, primarily using React and PHP.

However, the additional responsibilities bring new challenges I haven’t tackled before, which I’m eager to take on. The customer support side won’t involve much direct interaction with customers but will focus on troubleshooting technical issues and bugs within the company’s CRM/POS system.

On the development side, working with and building a CRM and POS system is entirely new to me. Up until now, my experience has been in web development, so this will push me outside my comfort zone in a good way. Additionally, the company provides a WordPress plugin that I’ll be contributing to. While I’m familiar with WordPress, custom plugin development is another skill I’ll be picking up along the way.

To prepare, I’ve been brushing up on PHP and Symfony over the past few weeks, making sure I’m not completely blindsided by this side of the job.

The Perks

Travel!

I’m really excited about the opportunity to travel for this position. After working from home for the past two years, I’ve definitely felt a little stir-crazy—despite my best efforts to get out of the house and touch grass.

During go-live season (January through April), I’ll likely be traveling a couple of weeks each month to help customers set up and train them on the software. However, since it’s already the end of March and I’m still getting up to speed, I probably won’t be traveling much until next year’s go-live season.

The Non-Perks

Travel.

As exciting as traveling sounds, it does come with some challenges. I’m a father of four, and my wife is currently in nursing school, so me being away will add some stress to our already packed schedules. That said, my wife is an absolute rock star, and with the help of her mom (who will assist with the kids and their school routines), we’ll make it work.

Wrapping Up

This week has been full of excitement, and I’m looking forward to everything this new role has in store. There will be plenty of challenges to overcome and new experiences to dive into. I’ll be writing about it all, so stay tuned!

Side Note

I also rebuilt my portfolio website this week! Even though I still need to add some new projects, I think it turned out great. Let me know what you think!

See you next week!