Earlier this month was my last day at a job I've been in for almost 5 years. I started in the role only 1.5 years out of college with practically zero experience and leave my team (after some luck and lots of hard work) as a Senior Manager who was in many ways responsible for the day to day responsibilities of 10-15 people on any given day. That is "not your typical" jump in a large and conservative company and it has been a great ride to say the least. Saying goodbye to a job I'm leaving voluntarily is really hard and awkward. My day-to-day routine and the people I see and talk to more often than any friends or family (weird and depressing thought, huh?) are suddenly not going to be part of my day-to-day life. I will really miss most of my team members both in the US and India, everyone has been incredibly supportive, helpful, and hard working. It's especially awkward to be leaving people behind with the general understanding that I'm leaving to pursue newer and more exciting opportunities and yet they will be left behind with the same old challenges. Everyone has their own unique situation, but in some cases, many of the reasons that I'm moving for also apply to my team members, but I can't just outright say that.

Here are some other random observations:

Saying goodbye to team members you've worked with for 5+ years over the phone and/or video conferencing because they are thousands of miles away in India really sucks. Super impersonal and cold
One takes for granted what they know until you start to do knowledge transfer and you realize what others may not know. Ouch
Being a "lame duck" manager isn't so much fun as suddenly you can't make the decisions that you are used to making on a day-to-day basis
Over the past five years I've probably spent about $5+ million of my firm's money in the large projects I've delivered
Transitioning away from being a Subject Matter Expert and a "go to" guy for answers to being the new guy that knows nothing will be a really humbling experience that I've already started to mentally prepare for
My new job will be the first job I've ever started where I go into the job having a key set of competencies/skills that I will be expected to know from Day 1 and not just learn on the job. Let's hope my assessment of these skills matches the expectations of my new employer