My last day at BEA Systems was Friday 01/23. It had come to the point where I was relatively bored with what was going on (I'd been working in the same basic code for about 1.5 years), and so had started sending out resumes and contacting my "network nodes" for interesting opportunities. Over Christmas week, I interviewed at, and was made an offer by, a small financial services company.

I started at my new job last Friday. the new gig is downtown, rather than in the DTC, which represents a return to a significant commute for me. I'll be doing software development, as usual.

So far, my impression of the company is that it has all the hallmarks of a great small company - the freedom to do what makes sense at any particular time and a group of tightly-knit folks that have a lot of ownership in the product.

There are the traditional small-company downsides, as well - the processes and other development knowledge in a company like this tend to be passed along as an oral, shared, history. This tends to be tough on a new person coming in (like me). I have to remain an infant and be handheld until I gain experience in each area, rather than sequestering myself and reading documentation to get the basics.

Of course, back on the upside, is that fact that a small company can be more agile, and adapt to new practices more easily than a large organization. That's partially why I was hired - to help change (and hopefully improve) the processes and approaches that are currently in place, where it makes sense. The business side is totall behind these changes. It should be fun, and I'm looking forward to it.