I was lucky enough to get a 1099 contract doing data extraction type work for a former colleague. I've also cashed in many of my stock options. This will be helpful keeping the house running while I wait for my new customer's payments to come through.

I am also being exposed to much smaller companies and more hands on work. I feel renewed and invigorated by the chance to use my brain and a myriad of my skills to solve problems that are pain points for my customer. I look forward to leveraging my experience to help put my clients ahead of where they want to be.

I'm doing some things on the side this weekend to sharpen my Ruby skills. I have a form/data driven web page to build so it will be a good opportunity for me to produce something cosmetic that people will use and emphasizes my ability to solve problems. Most of the real work I do is on the back end but front end work is what gets noticed. I am taking the approach of find a way to display my work through a front end web page. All the processes I build will tie into a operations web page that shows things running.

Anyway, with the stock options I've sold and money I am making now and 1099 situation I am in, I can invest what would otherwise go to taxes in deductible retraining and reinvention of myself. I am working for myself now and am in the best situation to showcase my abilities. Let's see how long I can keep this going. With the last title I held, I can always go back into a corporate situation at a manager level. To go back, I would probably be looking for a smaller company Director level job. For now, I will build a vision for how I can keep working on my own. Build a good story. Build a portfolio of my core skills and a facade of the display/application type skills that people notice.

If I can't do it with all the cards I have in the deck now, I will never be able to do it. As a colleague of mine said... You work on it and work on it... and try to make it go POOF! Meaning... build a business that succeeds.