Hi guys,
Thought I'd post a follow up to this thread. My boss will be moving to the offshore office in the next few months. His family will be moving with him. It's pretty good for him career wise as well as the cost of living is so cheap out there so it doesn't hurt to move on the Aussie income and live at 1/3 or less living costs.
I have been given the opportunity to lead my own stream of software quality assurance for a major phase of the project. The experience is going to be really good as I will have the opportunity to lead 3 to 4 staff from the offshore office. I wouldn't mind a business trip there for a week or two just to meet the staff. This is the upside. While two of the other "major" streams will be driven by two guys overseas (who got trained in the deep end in Sydney for 6 months with us in 2011). They are good I have to admit. But I have the advantage of having been groomed here and I believe I am going to make sure that I do some great work on it so the difference is clear between Sydney vs. Offshore.
However the downside is, it leaves two of us perms in Sydney (besides 1 contractor). We used to be 15 in Sydney, 3 in the overseas office and now we are 3 in Sydney and like 15 in the other office. It is a major shift.
It has got me thinking about my long term career. I don't want to be in an industry that is undervalued - where software testing is quite undervalued. I am very much into process improvements and promoting ways to improve efficiencies not only for myself but for the wider team. I think I can do so much better in another industry where there may be better mid to longer term options. Though I do intend to leave corporate in around 8 years time frame. I cannot imagine leaving where I am for another place for yet another software testing position. I just can't see myself doing it for too long as it has already been 5 years and now it's time for change.
The good thing about where I am, the workplace is very supportive of career change. I am going to explore options in IT Audit and Risk Management in general. I think I will enjoy it. Especially as software testing is essentially a risk management activity. Plus I even saw a role perfect for me on the internal careers page. I am going to start networking and finding out about it actively so I can make a transition within 12 months and by that time my project phase would be complete. And although I have been assured of the long term "safety" of my role, you can never really trust the corporates.
What do you guys think about audit? Anybody been into IT Audit? I think once I can make a transition and get the right experience, it will open SO many doors for me!
