I have tended to jump around from job to job during my career to date, but I've found that each job is an improvement on the last job. I may not be in my dream job right now, but I have a relatively stable job during a scary economic time, and to me that trumps all right now. Also, for me, being able to have a social group at work to grab beers with, or play softball, is a huge benefit. I may not always enjoy what I do every day but I really enjoy the people I do it with.
Growing up I always wanted to be the head of some company; I didn’t want to have decisions made for me, I wanted to make the decisions. At the age of 28 I begun that ladder climb, and was asked to manage a team. I found that being a manager meant that I missed out on lots of social activities (who wants to hang out with their boss, right?). I also found that people tend to take their job frustrations out on their manager, and the manager has to be calm in the face of that frustration. One day, after a member of my team tore me a new one, I decided that management wasn’t actually for me. I applied for a new role in my company, and a year later I can say it’s been one of the best career decisions I have ever made.
It’s kind of scary realizing that what you wanted to achieve in your career wasn’t exactly all it’s cracked up to be once you began to achieve it. However, being scared to make a change that could make you much happier will only harm you in the end.
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