Goodbye Banking, Hello Catering

Well, I finally took the plunge. I’ve left my old job at {{SwissBank}}, and have joined a technology startup: QAChef. I’m incredibly excited by this move. QAChef is a very small but interesting company that I believe will make a huge impact in a niche business (commercial catering).

Why this move?  Well…

Just over a year ago I published an article called “The Joy of Work“. I talked about what my values and principles, what I bring to my work, and what I want to get out of it. My mission. That article was the result of a long period of introspection, with Andy Parker helping me a lot with the thought processes behind my mission. The act of writing that article crystallised my needs, and made it clear that my old job was not helping me achieve those needs. I needed to find something new. However, did didn’t act straight away. A major move from England to Australia with my family meant that I didn’t want add too much other disruption, as there was too much stress involved with just that change (setting up a new life in a new country is hard!). I’m thankful that my previous employer was able to support me in my move. The fact remained, though: there was a fundamental disconnect between my personal mission and the culture and operation of my previous company.

Enter QAChef. My friend Andy Palmer had recently started work as CTO there. I had met Andy at XTC in London, and knew that we shared a similar philosophy on methods and mindset of software development. Andy mentioned that he was “looking for someone to join his team, did I know anyone?” As it turned out, yes! The next step was a chat with David Cox, the founder of QAChef. He was able to explain his vision for the company with clarity and excitement, which made me incredibly keen to join.

So, as of this week, I’ve been working at QAChef. It’s not without challenges, as anyone who has worked in a startup knows. I’ll try and share more details here in the future. Stay tuned!