Scared

Tomorrow is my last day at Union Pacific Railroad.  When I started working there I was 22 and just starting my last year of college, no kids, no mortgage, and I had just met a great girl. Life changes fast.

I've spent the last 7 years working at Union Pacific.  I like to break my time at UP into these general sections....

• 1 year as an intern in various accounting groups
• 3 years developing and supporting apps built in VB.NET, SQL Server, ColdFusion, and other software to support accounting processes
• 3 years working on SAP - supporting production payroll, being the payroll lead on a project, supporting AP and Treasury and working on a project to revamp the Travel & Expense application

Just by looking at those 3 brief lines, you can see that I was given opportunities to work on a variety of different projects using different tools. I'm very grateful for the opportunities I've had at Union Pacific Railroad and my reason for leaving is not because I'm upset with the anything - actually the opposite.

My reason for leaving is primarily a personal one. When you work somewhere for 7 years, you start to get a little comfortable - maybe too comfortable. I think you lose some of the motivation to do your best work. I reached that point at UP, and it didn't seem very fair to either UP or myself to stay there.

"You know, I think you try harder when you're scared... this is what has worked for me."
- Rocky Balboa (YouTube clip)

It might sound a little silly - but I want to be scared. I want to be a little uncomfortable - I think that's how we grow. And sometimes I think we either make a choice to be uncomfortable or life makes the choice for us and forces us to be uncomfortable and grow in a way that we don't choose and might not like. That might be true, but I'm more afraid if it isn't - which is why I feel it's time for me to move on.

Beyond that, I want to see something else. I've only worked at Union Pacific in my adult life, I want to see how another company does things, and especially how another company uses SAP.  I also want to expand my experience in the SAP Payroll space and become more of an expert in that area.

I guess I want the personal growth and challenges that come with the life experience of changing jobs, working somewhere else, and starting over from scratch - meeting new people and building relationships. I want to prove myself again, I want to feel a little scared.