world of good

I never thought I'd be so excited to say this... I got a new job. You are looking at the regional sales manager of World of Good, a fair-trade handicraft import company started by my friend Siddharth (whom I met when we hired him as an intern at Informix back in 1998) and his former classmate at the Haas School of Business, Priya Haji.

Wait, what? Sales? OK, I'll admit, it's a bold leap.

I majored in English in college. I often found myself answering the question, "So what are you going to do with that?," causing me to doubt if my $28,000/year education was buying me any marketable skills. I had visions of myself donning a paper hat and offering fries with that. (I now know that a liberal arts education was absolutely the best choice for me, but confidence was not always so high.)

Having discovered the joys of the VAX system in 1993, I spent an unfathomable number of hours in the computer lab fingering new friends across the country. I became a computer geek. My personal life revolved around 'talk' dates that overflowed my Day Runner. I failed freshmen macroeconomics. My friends almost ran an intervention. I got a job working in the computer lab so at least I could get paid to waste time.

In addition to great entertainment and a giant time suck, I also saw my love of computers as an opportunity to improve my typing skills, be an early-adopter of this newfangled technology and perhaps make myself more marketable after graduation. It worked out pretty well for me. I spent the seven years after college working for various technology companies. From my first job fresh out of college at Dataviz to my current contract gig at Siebel, I've always worked in high tech.

It hasn't been all bad, kicking it in my cubicle, living in Office Space, drinking the Flavia. I've been pretty happy. I've learned a lot. I've become 'tech-savvy.' I've had excellent mentors and brilliant co-workers who became good friends. I've partied like a rock star on free buffets and martinis, collected armloads of corporate schwag and anticipated the rounds of the Friday beer cart.

But the time has come for me to move on. My plush 3-day a week contract gig at Siebel will come to an end. I'll begin shadowing Priya on sales calls, getting versed on our products and target market. I'll be driving all over the Bay Area, scoping out potential outlets for our concept and keeping current customers happy. This opportunity gives me the chance I didn't know I was looking for. To meet new people. To help create and drive strategy. To do my part to invoke social change. To be truly excited about something.

This is scary. I may suck at it. Wish me luck.