Leaving the Cisco bosom...

My first official goodbye letter, leaving my first official "REAL" job out of college...
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This email was sent on Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Hello everyone –

It is with bittersweet feelings that I announce that this is my last week at Cisco. On one hand, I am excited to begin my new adventure. I am taking a project manager role with a small, mostly non-profit business development services company in Dhaka, Bangladesh. On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about saying farewell to all of the friends that I’ve made during my nine year tenure here at Cisco. Cisco definitely has been good to me and I appreciate all that I’ve learned here, both personally and professionally.

So, rather than say “good-bye”, I am saying “see you soon”! I’ll be back from my adventures in a year, and we all know how small the “valley” truly is…so I’m sure that I’ll be seeing you all at some point again!

I’ll be posting some pictures and commentary on a blog site during my year abroad. I depart for Dhaka on the 19th of October, so there won’t be much on the site until the end of October.

Please keep in touch! I’m on all the usual social/professional networking sites – linkedin, friendster...

See you all soon! Take care!


FAQ’s

Where is Bangladesh?
Contrary to popular misconception, Bangladesh is a small country of its own. It’s located on the northeastern border of India – between India, Nepal, Bhutan and (Myanmar) Burma. At one time it used to be part of India, but was separated from India as a part of Pakistan, becaming East Pakistan. Bangladesh later (with the aid of India) declared its independence from Pakistan and became its own nation. Read more about Bangladesh in the CIA Fact Book - http://sportsforum.ws/sd/factbook/geos/bg.html

What’s the weather like?
It’s hot, it’s humid – natural disasters are monsoons and cyclones.

How long will you be gone?
I’ve initially committed to a 12 month contract with this company. I’ll be home for the holidays at Christmas and perhaps another few weeks in June or July. Apparently, you can only be in the US for 35 days during a 365 working year, in order to claim tax benefits for working outside of the country as an ex-patriat.

Why are you doing this?
I couldn’t hold out for the 10 year gift any longer!! Just Kidding!! (That was Erik Giberson's line...) Actually – it was an opportunity that was made available to me by a friend who is currently halfway through her contract in Bangladesh. She needed a project manager and it was an opportunity that I would have regretted not pursuing. I think it’s going to be a great growth experience for me both personally and professionally, and so I had to take the plunge. Also – the work that the company is doing is very interesting to me, and I will learn a new subject matter…both the non-profit arena and business development services.