A New Chapter

Chapters can span hundreds of pages, sometimes only a few, but that does not make them any less significant to the story. After only 11 months of service as data mining manager for the country's top loyalty program, I decided to turn in my resignation. It was a high-stakes / high-rewards kind of job: one where I had a voice, where I could establish myself as an innovator and rub elbows with some of the industry's I.T. elite - but when you're a husband, a father, and a breadwinner there are things you simply cannot lay on the line - your health, your family time, and your sanity to name a few.

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I lead a kick-ass team, and for a while we seemed to overcome every challenge that was thrown at us - overlapping projects with ridiculous deadlines , difficult people, office politics, turnovers and lack thereof - something had to give, and the first was my health. For the first time ever in my entire life, I was hospitalized.  

I contracted a bad case of HFMD. Hand/Foot/Mouth Disease is a self limiting viral infection fairly common in children, manifesting as blisters in the throat, palms and soles of the feet. My son had a mild bout with it 2 weeks before I did so I'm guessing I got it from him, but adults should be fairly resistant to it - unless of course your immune system is compromised by something, such as stress. Strike #1.

While eating and walking around was hell, I could work on a computer just fine, so I called the office requesting for permission to telecommute. The response was "priceless", both figuratively and literally - "you are allowed to work remotely, but without compensation". What?  Here I am with my throat and feet on fire, heavy antibiotics dribbling into my arm, getting ready to pull a 10-hour workday from the goddamned hospital bed just so projects don't lag, and I'm not going to get paid for it? Nope. Strike #2.

Roughly a month later, I'm cleared by the office clinic to go back to work. I received no sick pay for my absence as the company refreshes leave credits every November and this happened in October. As expected, the projects have lagged, and I was hoping for some sympathy and understanding. There was none. The team did everything it could to cope during my absence, but when one department is pulling the weight of two amidst deeply rooted office politics, things are bound to head south. Strike #3

And head south I did! - by that I mean I went and landed a job at a giant technology company located in Laguna, just a stone's throw away from my soon-to-be-completed house. It was all I could ask for: to be able to work close to home for reasonable hours, grade A compensation and a somewhat flexible schedule, topped off with the opportunity to travel and study at the company's expense. I signed the offer and filed my resignation the very next day. I'm out!

Today marks my 17th day at my new job, and I've been enjoying every minute of it. I'm still learning the ropes and it will be a while still until I can be really productive but the people are great, the HR is phenomenal and the projects look very promising. I might even be headed over to the US again next year for training so that's something to look forward to as well. In the mean time though, I'm just happy I get to go home with the sun still up.

I do miss my old team, the spacious and private office, the ergonomic chair, the powerful PC, the title, and that feeling that I could actually be somebody someday - but when I think about it, the only somebody I aspire to be is a good husband and dad, and just a plain old otaku on a maybe not-so-tight budget. I think I'm heading in the right direction.

it's been a while!

Stay tuned for more frequent updates, and keep building plamo!


PS: I'm looking for Statistics/ IT majors with reporting and analytics or plant automation backgrounds to join the team. Technical skills that would be a plus: SQL, SAS, Tableau, Ignition, Python. If interested please contact me via email or facebook and I'll fill you in on the details.