The best jobs I ever had were the new ones – every new one. Since college, I've had 16 different jobs with 11 employers, and on the first day of every new job it felt like the best job ever. The first week is magic; make a wish and it is fulfilled: a special desk chair, a new dictionary, a really cool staple remover . . .
The answer to every questions I ask comes with an exclamation point.
Can I re-design the website? “Sure!” How about we start a weekly newsletter, I can edit it. “Go for it!” How about we convert everything to touchscreen apps. “Great idea!”
Then comes month two when the foolish enormity of my bravado becomes apparent and I realize that Superman, Green Lantern and Steve Jobs combined could not fulfill the promises I've traded for the honor of having a new stapler.
In a few days I'll become the head of the IT/IS department for an entire county. The data under my control is measured in terabytes. We have servers with 16 multi-core processors capable of sifting through tens of thousands of records in nanoseconds.
I'm getting a new X-Pad, mobile Wi-Fi and the self-inflicted expectation that I will do nothing less than revolutionize document management, video conferencing and remote customer service; and usher in a new era of transparency in government.
The challenge has some quirks. The county consists of an odd collection of islands where high-tech entrepreneurs retire and Luddites take refuge. A place where the latest Gen wireless technology is considered mandatory by some, while others protest any new source of radio waves is a threat to livestock and human health. Not surprisingly, cell phone coverage and high speed Internet is as unreliable in the county as a brother-in-law's lawnmower.
Nevertheless, my 17th new job looks like it's going to be exciting, challenging and fulfilling. Maybe I've been around this block a few times, but whenever I walk into an office and breathe in that new job smell, springtime blossoms in my soul.
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