Left Justified
FeedsMoving to Melbourne
∞ | October 16, 2006 | Category: Site News
Last week I had to make one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever faced — to leave a job I truly enjoy and move away from the area I’ve called home for my entire life. The process feels a little like pressing the ‘reset’ button on my life; while I will stay in contact with friends here in Queensland and I have friends where I’m moving, everything else will be completely different. Crazy.
The past two years at Griffith have been brilliant. I’ve learnt an incredible amount and will always be grateful for that opportunity. The team I’m leaving behind are fun, smart and supportive people; all of whom I’m proud to call friends. Between daily games of hacky-sack and countless office pranks, the people I work with made every day enjoyable; regardless of pressing deadlines, demanding clients or anything else that may have reared its ugly head. Despite this, the time had come to mix things up a bit, tackle new challenges and seek out new experiences.
So what has tempted me to step out into the unknown? An opportunity to that was too good to pass up; an opportunity to be immersed in cutting edge web technologies, working with great people for a company that totally Get It. As of the 15th of November, I will be joining SitePoint as a technical editor. To quote an Australian quasi icon, I’m Excited!
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If you’ve got any tips, hints or general advice for someone moving to Melbourne (inc. a good removalist company I’ve got to get my bonsai down there :-/), I’d be grateful if you leave them in a comment.
Have Your Say
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I’ve found that if you put your bonsaii in one of those green wheelie bins they normally end up at the right place.
My congratulations! This is a great move in both senses.
Woah! Scary stuff!
Good luck!
My advice for the removalist is to use a small guy - the large companies charge through the roof.
Look for someone who actually admits that your stuff is covered under his insurance and he doesn’t need to charge you extra.
I’d recommend the guy I used to get to Brisbane from Adelaide, but he’s Adelaide based… doesn’t seem sensible…..
(I am wondering just where Cameron thinks the Bonsai should end up???
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Congratulations! I am jealous.
But you deserve it and I am sure you will fit in at SitePoint really well. Keep us updated!
:-)
That’s awesome Andrew - congratulations! Those Sitepoint people know talent when they see it
Welcome to Melbourne! When I moved here from Perth it was scary and exciting and turned out to be the best thing I ever did.
It’s a brave thing to uproot yourself, but I know (and hope) you will find it everything you dream of!
good luck, Andrew. Very exciting to move to a new city and start over. Sounds like a great opportunity
Thank you all for your kind words
@Cameron: Don’t diss the little trees!
Congratulations Andrew!!
-Jay
It’s a scary thing to do
What really surprised me was that the first few days weren’t actually exciting or fun, in fact they pretty much sucked arse. We were utterly exhausted and didn’t know where to find *anything*.
Friendly locals are a good thing to have - people who won’t mind answering stupid questions like “what the fuck is the number for pizza down here?". We had no phone book or internet connection for the first few nights. Mug people for a phone book if you have to
All the practicalities aside… enjoy the ride. It is insane, it is scary, you probably won’t quite believe what you’ve done. But you are moving to an awesome city! You will discover new things every day.
…and you’d better have a spare bedroom by the time the comedy festival rolls around
OH! Nearly forgot. On day one, get to a bookshop and buy “Cheap Eats". Use it
5 years ago I packed up all my stuff, left a great job as a senior designer, and traveled 2000 miles from Chicago to San Francisco with no friends or family out here… and it was the best thing I ever challenged myself to do. Congratulations, enjoy the adventure, it’ll mature you years ahead of the norm - I’m glad you didn’t pass up a great opportunity like this, you earned it:)
This sounds like a great move for you, and it’ll keep you from becoming stagnated by the same environment… like Brady, I know this from experience.
I’m absolutely sure you and your bonsai will be fine in Melbourne– just remember to keep in touch with us Americans too
Hi Andrew,
You certainly have made the best decision! It is so nice to have a friend move to Melbourne instead of Sydney! [Apologies to Ben!]
Look me up - I’ll show you around!
Cheers,
Gian
Andrew!!! I’m sure you’re going to knock the socks off Kevin and the crew. Its seems everyone I know is movin’ to “sunny” Melbourne. Ben is right I have lived out of that book. Just don’t be to proud to ask the locals all those stupid questions. Congratulations you deserve it.
Congratulations! The job sounds great and I know you will be working with some fantastic people. The move may take a little more adjusting, but it you are still relatively close to Sydney.
Yes, well done Andrew. Even though it is inevitable that some time after you have hit the reset button, the defaults will click back in, my policy is that choosing “OK” as opposed to “Cancel” is always the way to go
You’ll love Melbourne, it’s awesome!
Glad to have you on board, Andrew. The SitePoint staffers are pretty friendly people
U r leaving mate
, now who’s going to control our crazy clients running web servers from under their desk 
Welcome to the team!
Good Luck with your move!
Woot Woo! SitePoint! Yay for you! !! Your news is so good I can only think in exclamation marks!!! Best wishes from one still inside the university sector.
:-(
Wow Andrew! Thatīs great news! I am totally excited, sad and jealous all at once! Congrats on getting the awesome job but Iīm sad to see you leave Brissy too.
Sometimes, you just gotta jump out of the comfortable and the secure and do something different. Iīm sure you wonīt regret it
The only tip that I have for Melbourne is buy a warm jacket mate. Itīs cold down there!
Andrew, you should have no problems transporting your bonsai - I’ve never seen a fiscus just snap; if you’re driving down just put them on the floor of your car and just keep an eye on them as they’ll wilt pretty quick if you stop on the way for lunch. Mine survived a house move (although it was only 10 minutes away) - but some didn’t survive our border collie …
Hi, Andrew
I would like to ask your permissions and conditions to make a port of your Site an an hour Tutorial example.
My Idea is to to port your Template for the CMS Textpattern, using your HTML and CSS and provide alternate Graphic files, and then make it publicly available at the Textgarden Resources Site.
Please let me know, what you think.
regards, marios
Successes to you on a new place and successes in work.
Taken over by the dark side, Writing for Microsoft.NET
There’s still hope up here (Unix, PHP n Oracle) We r waiting