Last week was my last with the NCC Group. Despite the turbulence of the last couple of years, I will look back to the last 7 years with pride, and a bit of nostalgia.

I would be lying if I claimed that uncertainty in the transitional period ahead isn’t a source of stress for me but uncertainty is also a necessary condition for any creative endeavor, so turning the page fills me with excitement about the new chapter rather than with fear.

I am planning to take a couple of months to reflect and refocus before making up my mind about my next professional endeavour. As a part-time artist, I know how important is to take a step back to look at the big picture, before each stroke. Novices tend to stick their nose on the paper while painting — master painters paint from afar, with their eyes rather with their hands.

To everyone who stays with the company, I hope the storm leaves you unscathed. To everyone who like myself finds themselves at the crossroads–savour the moment; seek clarity; make the most if the transition. A change that is forced upon one’s professional life is an opportunity in disguise.

As a closing note, here are a couple of souvenirs from the NCC years (FortConsult is a special part of that, so it deserves a post of its own):

– The NCCCon Dublin 2016 shirt: it was the first NCCCon I attended. It was so weird to see everyone wear that t-shirt I had hand drawn a few weeks before. 

– A colleague, and a good friend, taking a nap during a break onsite in China. So many great memories from working onsite around the globe!

PS: You’ll notice that the NCC ninja’s hands on the NCCCon t-shirt are a bit messed up. There was no AI involved: there was no DALL-E or stable diffusion in 2016; that was all thanks to Inkscape badly tracing the original hand-drawing (and me failing to notice soon enough 🤷):