The end of an era

Friday, November 25, 2011 marks the end of an era for me. After 11 years, I will no longer be an employee of The FaQtory. It has been a long road, at times incredibly fulfilling, while at other times, ‘challenging’ to say the least. I’ve learned so much there; starting as a Junior Designer and ending as a Creative Director & Account Manager, plus a member of the Management Team.

Today is going to be bittersweet. Don’t get me wrong, choosing to leave was absolutely the right decision for me… I’ve been feeling for some time that I’ve reached a plateau and I’m super excited about where I’m going because it will give me the chance to stretch my skills even further. But I will be sad. Most of all, I’m going to miss the Creative Team there so very much, and am expecting lots of tears today. They are like my second family.

So what’s next for me?
Well, I recently accepted a position with the University of Manitoba in the Marketing Communications Office. I have been hired on as one of the Client Relations Coordinators and will be working closely with the various faculties. I’m not going to go into more detail now… I haven’t started my new job yet, and this post is meant to be more of a goodbye to The FaQtory.

My last two weeks have been an interesting experience. For the first week, other than people knowing I was leaving soon and occasionally coming in to chat about that, work just felt like work. I had projects on the go and was focused on those. This week has been a mix. I’m still finishing up projects, but I’ve also been contacting my clients to let them know the news, cleaning out my office, etc. It’s starting to feel real now.

I have to say that emptying out my office was a cathartic experience. I think most folks, when they leave a job, clean out their desk drawers and take their personal belongings home. I did that too, but also took most of the furniture because over the years I had brought a lot of my own stuff in. So after taking everything out, all that was left was the filing cabinet, garbage and recycling bins. Oh, and a whiteboard on the wall. I had to move my computer to another office because there was no desk left. You can get a sense of the emptiness in my cheesy thumbs-up photo above.

This is what my office used to look like. I painted it myself, built my own stand-up desk and put it all together. It was really nice to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted with my space.



Today there will still be work to do. I still have a few things on my to-do list, plus my timecards to fill in… but I’m hoping to have lots of time for last visits. We’ve got a goodbye lunch planned, plus drinks and pool after work and whatever other surprises The FaQtory may have in store for me. As long as I don’t have to make a speech, I’m cool with that.

For The FaQtory folks that will be reading this, thanks for being great friends as well as co-workers. I had my favorite clients and projects over the years, but you were what kept me there for as long as I stayed. I will miss you, so please keep in touch! This is for you. Yes, click that link and please enjoy more evidence of my being a geek (with a side of film grain). Thanks again and I wish all of you peace, calm and bliss as well as lots of creative energy. Remember to breathe once in a while. Life is too short.