I’ve made it official last week on my LinkedIn profile. It’s been interesting to see the different comments I got after my LinkedIn status change. But what’s really exciting is the journey and the story behind it.

I have worked for Pythian since November 2008 – started out as a SQL Server DBA until eventually moving on to become one of their senior principal consultants. They were responsible for helping me and my family migrate from Singapore to Canada. I have had the privilege of working with the smartest and brightest data professionals in my entire career, exposed to some of the most challenging and complex environments and worked on different projects not directly related to SQL Server – Hadoop, SharePoint, System Center, Citrix and VMWare to name a few. I can say that I have been on stable ground in my employment since the day I joined. So, you might ask, “Why leave, then?“

I had difficulty finding the right words to explain the real reason why. Probably because throughout my and my family’s life journey, we’ve pursued things that are very hard to explain, things that don’t make a lot of sense. Like moving the entire family with two toddlers from Singapore to Canada with less than US$3,000 on hand in the middle of a global economic crisis. Or giving away my training registration when I myself don’t have the resources for travel and accommodation. It took me some time to craft a departure email that I sent out to the whole company. Here’s a snippet from that email.

I’ll be the first to admit that taking risks – whether big or small – is scary. Heck, I am scared as I step out of my comfort zone. But I guess I’ve trained myself to exercise my faith and rely on God despite having to deal with the unknown. Experience tells me that the best is yet to come. I just need to be ready when that happens.

So, what have I been doing just a week after leaving Pythian? I’ve put on the hat of an entrepreneur and started my own business. This isn’t the first time I’m doing this, having had two failed start ups under my belt. I wished the first two succeeded so I can brag about them but the experiences I’ve learned from starting and running businesses have helped me become a better consultant and service professional. Paul Vallee (Twitter | LinkedIn), executive chairman and CEO of Pythian, once commented to me that I am a teacher. Indeed, I love to teach and educate others. I love to empower and help others become better at what they do. I believe that is my ultimate purpose and that is what I’ll be pursuing in this new chapter in my career. I’ll be focusing more on training and education, creating and delivering content – both technical and non-technical – to help technology professionals grow in their career. That doesn’t mean I won’t be doing consulting work anymore. It just means that I’ll be doing more of what I really love to do.

What about you? Have you been waiting to pursue something that will force you out of your comfort zone? I’d like to hear from you.