wolfgang ziegler


„make stuff and blog about it“

A New Chapter

June 30, 2022

Yesterday was my last working day at Dynatrace. Saying goodbye to friends and colleagues is never easy and for me it takes some "alone time" to really process a life-changing event like this.

For that reason, I decided to treat myself to a whole day of doing that - focussing on this new chapter in my life and processing the changes that are about to happen. I went on another closure walk (like I did 5 years ago when I last switched jobs).

The whole hike on Strave

Only this time, this walk was way more demanding than 5 years ago. This is due to the fact that we relocated to a new house during that time. So instead of walking 12 kilometers like the last time, I decided to walk those almost 55 kilometers.

I am not gonna lie - it was brutal! It was around 30° C and the air was sticky and humid due to the heavy thunderstorm the day before. Those thunderstorms also had caused some extra challenges for me along the way.

Fallen trees blocking the trail

But anyway - it was a really rewarding experience.

For the most part of this hike I went along the Pferdeeisenbahn-Wanderweg, which is a historic trail where a horse-drawn railroad had been operating in the 19th century. The trail is remarkably beautiful.

Pferdeeisenbahn-Wanderweg sign

For sentimental reasons, I started my hike from the location of the old Dynatrace office where I spent most of my "on-site" working time. The last two years I was working from home exclusively, which means I had not spent a lot of time in the new office overall.

Passing through the place where we lived previously (Gallneukirchen) was also a nice touch even though I do not have the best memories of this chapter of my life. But anyway, it matched the theme of a "closure walk", so I decided to stop and have breakfast there.

Breakfast in Gallneukirchen

The next break was in Neumarkt, which meant I had already covered more than half of my route.

Beer break in Neumarkt

At around 5 PM I arrived in Freistadt where I treated myself to a delicious Pizza 🍕 at Pizzera da Elena which I can highly recommend!

Pizza in Freistadt

The next two hours until I arrived home were rather painful (blisters and general soreness) but I pulled through.

When I arrived at home shortly after 8 PM - all exhausted and sweaty - this welcome package from my new employer was waiting for me.

Welcome package from Elastic

This was a really nice touch and coincidence since it somehow makes the job transition metaphor (remember, I started the walk at the Dynatrace office) perfect!

Looking forward to new challenges now!