5 Years Already

Jan. 6 was my five year anniversary at RedCastle Resources. It's been a great job and I've been lucky to be in situations to learn so much and feel like I'm a contributor to the success of the company. Even after 5 years at RSAC, I'm still one of the youngest guys there. There are a few web guys and an intern who are younger, but of the remote sensing professionals, I'm still the youngest.

My first project at RSAC was a programming in ArcObjects / VB one that took me about 6 months. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I knew more about ArcObjects than anyone else, so even at my fresh-out-of-college status, I got the job.

I started working on emergency fire support in August, 2003, and have really been managing the program by myself since then. This has been where my greatest growth has been. It's been a great remote sensing learning experience, good dealing with end-users in the field, putting on training, and being able to travel quite a bit to various places around the West.

My experience hasn't been perfect. Like most companies, we have plenty of baggage. There are some people who have no right still working there, mostly due to their complete lack of work ethic. I'd expect this from "tenured" federal employees whose only goal is retirement, but not necessarily in our contracting company. Every once in a while, some people should be asked/forced to move on.

Luckily, I enjoy my work enough now that working is rarely a chore, but actually enjoyable. It's good to work on projects that have immediate and actual use for end users.