It’s official. Today I received the letter in the mail. Beginning August 16, I have a new job. I am now a Network Operations Technician for Northland Communications. I am absolutely thrilled!
I’ve been a customer of many forms of Northland Communications over the years. Earl and I were users of their ISP, Dreamscape. At the old house, we had Oneida County Telephone for our phone service. At one time at work, we had Northland for our phone provider, and still use Dreamscape for our internet connectivity. I’ve worked closely with these folks. And now I’m going to be working with these folks.
I’ve been doing radio for the past 12 years. I’ve spent the last 10 years with the same company, save for the short stint in the restaurant biz in ’99. In many ways, my co-workers and the owners of the station have been like family. This was a very tough step to take and it was a difficult decision to make. I’ve been on the air, I’ve written and produced commercials, I’ve sat on billboards for charity, I’ve worked behind the scenes and I’ve fought with stubborn transmitters at three in the morning. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. But radio has changed in many ways over the past 10 years and quite frankly, I no longer have an interest in the industry. I want to listen to the radio to enjoy it, I don’t want to examine it for competitive purposes. And in my current position, I am a manager. I don’t want to supervise people anymore. My interests do not lie in management – I want to work with a team of like minded individuals in technology. I am looking forward to working with telephony customers. I am being one of the guys “behind the dial tone”. I can’t wait to take apart beepers and put them back together again. I can’t wait to add call waiting or call forwarding to a customer’s phone line. I’ll be working in an area of the company affectionately known as the heartbeat. Honestly, my heart races just thinking about it.
The next three weeks will be hectic as I train, train and cross-train others to do my current job. And then I’ll be in 100% learning mode.
The employment path ahead of me is the clearest it has been in over a decade. And I have to admit, I feel absolutely wonderful!
