Qu-IT-ting my job

I finally changed jobs! I am not an English teacher anymore.

Not that I disliked being an ALT. Not at all. The freedom and lack of responsibility were great. I managed to get a lot of unrelated work done in the years that I was working. I learned programming, game development, released my first game on Steam. All while supposedly working. Desk warming at its finest!

But I had to say goodbye to all that. I got an opportunity that I simply could not refuse. I started work in IT. Albeit for a school, so I am not completely free from the educational system. But it is a whole new experience!

So I had to quit my job. And that was an experience and a half. Since the guy I was replacing was moving pretty soon, I had to move quickly. So I asked the teachers at my school for advice. And they told me that the way to quit was to go from the bottom up. I.E, talk to the teachers, then the vice principal, the principal and then the board of education. So I did that. BIG MISTAKE. Since I was a lowly ALT, I was apparently supposed to talk to the BOE first and have them spread the news throughout the schools without me saying anything.

I don't know about you guys, but that sounds a bit like betrayal to the nice teachers I have been working with for years and years.

So the BOE was not happy. And I was in a pretty unhappy position myself having to have to break the news that I was quitting to three separate schools. But it had to be done.

So I had a meeting with the big boss. And I could see his frown, as he was pretty mad that I was quitting suddenly and had the audacity to break form and inform my schools before him.

But we had a nice, slow, calm conversation and I was pretty honest with them about why I was quitting. And the frown slowly faded into a resignated smile.

Luckily I had a bit more than a month of paid leave, so the 30 day quitting period was not an issue. Plus, as I reminded myself again and again, the BOE would not think twice about letting me go if it proved to be mildly beneficial to them. So I had no ethical dilemma. Just feeling a bit sad leaving a place I had called my workplace for five years.

And a world of computers and problem solving awaits!

So remember everyone, if the opportunity arises, jump on it in the most haphazardly way possible. Whatever happens, you will look back at this experience and laugh… probably.