There are certain things in life you can and can’t plan for. Retirement, you should plan for it… Rainy day fund, why not? Looking for greener grass in terms of work, sure… starting your first day at work(or at home) with a full covid-19 lock-down, no way! I guess the first question on a sane person’s mind would be “Do I still have a job?”, especially after reading the grim statistics of global unemployment rates increasing. It would be logical to assume that as a software developer we wouldn’t have to worry (we can work remote, there is enough work, it’s a skill shortage etc.), BUT the economy works like a stack of domino’s (Warren Buffet’s words not mine), if one part of the economy falls it is super likely that our domino would be next.
Anene phoned me (and Peter mailed me) a few days before my start date. They sent me tons of information around Dariel’s plan during lock-down via virtual on-boarding, provided me with the tooling I need to do my work and put my mind at ease with a growth plan for the next few months. This is where the age old “knowledge is power” statement rang true… Communication from Dariel’s side covered all the uncertainties around the pandemic and painted a picture of what my first days/months at Dariel would look like.
Now I understand that not everyone is this lucky and I feel for the people who are struggling, but it shows how important it is to choose the right company (and I chose this one because it felt right). We also have to remember that we’re not only working from home, we’re working from home during a crisis. It can take a toll on your mental health and having one less thing to worry about is amazing. Did I choose the right time to start? Most people would say no, I would disagree, NOW is always the best time to make a change and I my case, I’m damn lucky I made the right one.