I'm leaving Critical Mass

I’ve been at Critical Mass for 8 years, 1 month, and 5 days. That’s a long time to be a one place. I never thought I’d be here that long. Two years, max, and I’d move on. (Heck, I was originally supposed to go with Chris to teach English in Japan. A part of me still regrets not having done that.) But my time has come. It’s time to leave.

Well, kind of leave, anyway.

Late last year, I caught wind of a plan that was evolving to start up a new office. The office was meant, among a couple of things, to provide inexpensive labour to help with our increasing cost of operations. Such are the joys of the Canadian dollar being roughly on par with the US dollar — no cost advantage being north of the border anymore.

So this would take us south of the border. Really south. Like, south-south-south-south-south-south of the border. Specifically, Costa Rica.

Technically, I’m leaving Critical Mass Canada. This company is legally separate, so yes, I’m playing very liberally with the term “leaving”. For the record, I’ve signed a new contract, so no, I haven’t actually quit. (I’m a lifer, and I damn well know it.)

I hadn’t planned on making this announcement until sometime next week. There were pseudo-official communications plans, and rollouts, and knowledge transfers, etc. But the cat ran out of the bag today, and well, I’m just freakin’ tired of being quiet. So here’s my loud announcement to the world!

So why am I going? One part of my career goal in this industry is to understand it as best I can. And one part that I’ve always had a problem understanding is the offshore experience. I wanted to get my head wrapped around it. What better way than to set it up?

It also resolves another life-goal of mine — work in another country. And not the United States or the United Kingdom — that’s just cheating. It’s too easy. I mean a country where you don’t know the language, don’t know the customs, and you have to adapt. Merely slipping from one pair of comfy shoes to another doesn’t give you the experience. Learning to walk in high-heels is a challenge. And I love a good challenge.

I will be posting everything about this experience to this blog, so those of you interested in how all this goes, please stay tuned!