It’s been a while.

It’s been a while since I wrote something.

Life has changed a lot in the past two months.

I started a new job. There have been quite a few changes in life otherwise too.

New job.

The pros:

• Shorter commute
• Head of entire QA team
• The second female manager
• Really nice people
• Abundance of opportunity
• A line manager whose mindset matches mine in many ways
• Receiving a lot of respect from leadership team and given room to be honest
• An opportunity to grow into a probable role beyond QA

The cons:

Should I write the cons? Maybe I should as I can revisit this after some time.

• QA was dying a slow death
• Testing is only the SDETs responsibility
• Some underperforming people in my group
• Another intense project in yet another company with a 7 hour timezone difference
• Long hours (temporarily)
• A real need to fix and educate about the difference between managing and leading
• A drive to create a diverse work place

Emotional health.

Why am I writing about this? Especially when it comes to a new role?

It’s important to think about why we change roles. Most of us do it as they don’t feel challenged in their previous roles. Or are not given the trust they need to excel. Or don’t have the leadership which they would thrive with.

Most of us change with this hope.

If situations happen soon after though which shatter your confidence in finding any of the above, your emotional health takes a hit.

I am a people person. I love people management. It is a very challenging role but also enables me to help others keep that hope.

I have joined a group where this hope is lost in places. There have been too many instances of when history has repeated itself. Indeed, history is repeating for me too.

So how do I keep my emotional health alongwith helping others too?

I am trying to find out.