Yesterday was my last day at MicroFocus. I should say official last day. (I had been on long-term disability for over a year and hadn’t actually been working with them for a while.) Here’s what I wrote in my final MicroFocus email to say thank you and farewell:
Dear Colleagues, Friends, Supervisors, and Mentors,
It is hard to believe that one can stay at a place of employment for over 20 years. Yet Bondi-SilverStream-Novell-NetIQ-MicroFocus was such that dream job — allowing me to have interesting and challenging assignments, opportunities to lead as well as follow, room for growth and exploration, avenues to pursue latest technologies, personally-meaningful HackFest projects, an ideal work-life balance especially when requiring leave (maternity x 3 and, of course, short-term then long-term disability), and most of all, an environment of energized, motivated, intelligent, capable, and FUN mentors, supervisors, colleagues, and friends.
Although I know in my heart, everyone would be more than supportive of my schedule as I continue maintenance cancer treatments, my greatest concern about returning to work would be letting anyone on the team down. So I humbly thank you for so much for so many years and wish you continued success in your career and personal endeavors.
To be honest, my favorite part about working with many of you, is catching up on your kids’ lives – grown children with children or software engineering careers of their own and/or jet setting the globe, high school graduates, activist chefs, competitive marching band members, soccer stars, choral softball sluggers, and more! So don’t be a stranger,
Bess
While I’ll miss my friends and colleagues at work, I’m excited to venture into the freelance world as a website developer for small businesses, authors, and nonprofit organizations.