I was in Vegas for Pubcon, which was both a wonderful learning experience and also a thought provoking event for myself.  As I tweeted at one point I had a realization that at this point in my life I am going to have to commit to a career path.  For the last 8 years I have been bouncing between online marketing(SEO/SEM) and IT work.  This has worked well for the mostly small businesses that I have been employed by because they got two roles filled by one person.

I feel I have done good work in these hybrid positions and always provided value to the companies, my current position included.  Though I have found that with my kids getting older I am not able to dedicate the amount of time I had in the past to keep up to date in both disciplines.  I wouldn’t say it is causing my work to suffer, but I am definitely behind the curve in testing new ideas and platforms.

That being said, I really want to get back to doing GREAT work.  The only way at this point in my life that I think I can do that is by focusing on one of the paths.  This will allow me to excel at that path and keep a healthy work/home balance with the wife and kids.  The problem moving forward is I love doing both online marketing and IT work.  I need to weigh the paths and the destination to figure out what will be best for myself and the family.