A fantasy letter to my current employer

The intention of this post is to create a picture of a not so distant future for me, a path and the goal I want to reach. To reach a goal it is best that you can describe who you want to be and how you want to live.

A projection of still necessary changes.

The company will be called XXX. Coworker names will be anonymous. Cities I will just call city A B C and so on

The farewell email to my coworkers

Hi *

As most of you will know, tomorrow is my last day at XXX. Those who are still in the company from the day I started working here, may have noticed the changes I have been through since then. Those who do not know it and only know me a short while, I will try to summarize and give you an idea of the past me.

I moved from city G to city H just for to work at XXX. The promise to work in the technical field I wanted desperately to create a future for me was given back then by 2 managers who are for some times are no longer part of XXX. I was highly motivated and anxiously looking out to work with my new coworkers. I pictured them to be technical professionals at a progressive IT Service-Provider. Work was my life and over the years I had neglected so much personal relationships because of that. Moving from city A to B to D to E to F to G and finally to H took its toll on my private life.

Working at XXX was a constant process to disillusion me. Years of failed projects lead to loosing fun in working at all. Not in technology, but in working. Some will call the phase I went through mid-life crisis. They may be right, but I will call it the eye-opening period of my life past my 20s.

Working in general over the last 25 years led to selling out my identity and even worse selling out my political and personal beliefs. Sometimes, I was feeling more like a fraud, then the person I was long ago and the person I wanted to be. Those goals in my youth and early adulthood were mere stories anymore to be told and reminisce over. Over the years I manipulated myself in thinking that work because I liked the technical side of it, was enough to lead a happy life, or at least to create a satisfying state for me.

What were the deciding factors, besides losing the fun to work?

A lot of people over the years at XXX made major contributions, but of course I want to thank the general organization for the lack of transparency. I could not have done it without that factor and consequently propagation of it.

Contributors (internal)

1. For me to understand what the root cause of hierarchical problems are, it needed all the management hierarchies at XXX. I want to leave nobody out here because you all contributed so much to my experiences and the resulting acknowledgment and understanding
2. The one-team FOO who outperformed themselves with showing such strength and endurance in stoicism and ignorance. Thanks for this. Without you, I wouldn't have learned the power of stoicism and how to endure the sheer endlessness of bad management decisions. Props to you guys!
3. The one coworker, which I will call just Erich here. Looking back at important people in my life, he is definitely in the Top 10. Without Erich, I probably would have lost touch with my politics and social side. The relationship also let me discover certain knowledge which was prior ignored by me and new ways of thinking. He made all this possible here. Thanks so much

Of course, I cannot leave out the development in our society and politics.

So, what did really change over the last 1.5 years?

• Stage 1: The minimalistic consumer approach. Reduced buying consumer goods to an absolute minimum. Also reduced the amount of trash I produce
• Stage 1: The minimalistic technical approach. Reduced my online activity. I got out of centralized toxic social media. Reduced the hardware I use and with that reducing my energy and climate footprint. No TV and Hollywood Movies anymore. No news from major newspapers. No pointless online forum discussions
• Stage 1: The meaningful pastime approach. Reading more books. Writing more about my thoughts and reflections. Increased knowledge in scientific fields
• Stage 2: The more real social life approach. Increased commitment in helping people in the direct neighborhood. Joined political action groups. Increased offline discussions
• Stage 2: The reduced costs of living approach. No unnecessary spending, which includes phone, internet, online subscription for anything. Reduced rent for apartment
• Stage 3: The fun jobs approach. Found a new job which has a good work-life balance. The company has fewer hierarchies and a non-profit approach. It does not matter that much how much money I earn

Now that I am at the end of stage 3 I am happy writing this to you. I could not have done it without any of you. I appreciate every one's effort and wish you all the best for your future.