Next week I’ll be leaving Lo-Fi Art to start working for YouGov Polimetrix (aka PMX). For the past couple of years I’ve been consulting with Chris Pitzer mostly as a Python web developer specializing in Django. It will be sad to stop working for a company I own with a friend, but I’ve been working part time for PMX and am excited to work for them full time.
There are many reasons for my decision, but I should make it clear that it has nothing to do with Chris! It has been great working with him, and I’m glad we get to continue to share office space even if we’re working on different things. There is plenty of client work stacking up for him to do as well, so I’m not bailing on a sinking ship.
So why am I leaving Lo-Fi Art?
The biggest reason is probably stress. I’ve just stopped enjoying client work because if I’m not stressed about getting the current client done on time, I’m stressed about finding the next client. If its not one of those two things, I’m probably stressed about when the next check is coming in. How much was it for again? Wait, did I already get that one? Argh! On top of that I’m terrible at managing money. While Chris does a great job with the company books, that doesn’t keep me from screwing up my own (don’t even ask me about how my tax return went this year).
On top of that, contracting gigs just have a lot of overhead. For me overhead is anything that keeps me from writing code. I really don’t enjoy writing proposals and meeting with clients to discuss (or often: haggle over) implementation details. Its not that I don’t like people. I love people! But I like working with a team more than a client.
Some people really thrive in the consulting world. I think its just taken me years to realize I’m not one of those people. I could see returning to consulting someday, but I can’t imagine it would ever be back to the 2-4 week projects I currently spend most of my time on.
Why am I joining YouGov Polimetrix?
I’ve been a consultant for PMX working on the BrandIndex project for over a year now, and it was getting to the point where I needed to either commit or focus purely on Lo-Fi work. It was a really hard decision, but in the end PMX just gives me the opportunity to do what I love. I work in a fantastic team* with lots of fun technology in an organization that places high value on their IT resources. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah, a steady paycheck. That was a plus too. 
* Some of the dev team at PMX: Jamie Turner (@jamwt), Christian Wyglendowski (@dowskimania), Eric Larson (@ionrock), and Robert Brewer (fumanchu on irc.oftc.net).
