Adieu BS team

Friday was my last day in the GL Blackstone team. I will now be on bench and will have to wait for the next project. Leaving the current project after 2+ years evoked mixed reactions. I was happy that I would be free from the monotony and from a dickhead client; however I was also feeling kind of low because I will be leaving the team. The guys were great and I enjoyed working with them. Just like in any long relationship, there were times when things were little tense and there were times where everything was hunky dory. All in all, it was a good team experience.

I learned a great deal while working on this project ... this was my first big QA break. 3 years back when I decided to change my career path (from TW to QA), I never knew that I would be getting such a high profile project so soon. Thanks to my lucky stars, I was free at the right time. Both the QAs in the team had resigned and I also got free from my previous project just in time. Initially, things were bit rough since not many people trusted me as I was relatively new to QA field and the project (and the client) was little challenging. However, soon I took to the task like fish to the water. I worked really hard for the next 20 months. It practically became my life. I never had the time to do anything else apart from the work. I so wanted to prove myself that I can be a good QA. I think I did prove that I was good enough ... however all that hard work and pain in the arse kind of a client led to my burn out. For the last 6 months the poison was slowly and steadily started to engulf me. One fine day, I saw a stinking mail from client and I simply snapped. I decided that enough is enough and it was time to say to hell with it. I asked for my release as soon as I finished reading that freaking mail.

People do question my decision of quitting at the time when it was about to get even bigger. I was supposed to go New York for long term and had I continued, it would have catapulted my career to the next level. I left all this ... for one reason only – peace of mind. I know that if I am good enough I would get better things in life and career sooner or later. However I can’t loose my sleep and life over it. I work to live ... not live to work. To me, stuff like pride, self respect, and happiness are much more important. Anyways, no point in looking back and analyze what went wrong or what could have been. Life is too short to stop and think. Here hoping for better things in life ....