I accepted a new job offer, signed the letter of appointment this week and will be resigning from my current job soon to serve a month of notice. While I am excited about the new opportunity, I feel sad to part with my great amazing colleagues.
I have been working in the current company for a decade and seen my salary more than doubled but plateauing. While I was thankful that this was my first job since graduation to help pay off my tuition loans, build up war chest for investments and grow my net worth, I was resentful in the past year as there were reshuffles and reorganizations that affected my job scope and morale to continue working here.
Here are the 10 reasons that I convinced myself to leave this company and take up the new job offer.
1. Loyalty is dead?
We now live in an era when artificial intelligence, automation and robotics are on the edge of replacing humans in performing our jobs. I believe that being loyal to one's company and job means nothing. Long serving staff were being exploited to plug in vacancies left behind by staff who resigned or retired instead of being groomed to take on challenging new areas or roles. While I continually upskill and learn new technologies to keep myself valuable, I do not expect the company to keep employing me for another 3 more decades just for the sake of loyalty even if my skillsets become obsolete one day. Working in one place for decades will no longer be the norm these days and in the future.
2. No Recognition
I have been playing supporting roles for projects that are not my own or second fiddle to colleagues in task forces. I am merely a resource being utilised to help others deliver successful work and claim accolades. Although I am being paid by the company to do the work, I am not producing enough visible work or contributions to the organisation when it comes to appraisals. As a result, my work performance has been largely average over the past decade. I do believe I am capable of delivering high quality work to help the organisation achieve significant cost savings and derive great value. I feel my real potential has not been unleashed with a vengeance yet.
3. Bypassed for promotion
Due to not being recognised highly for my contributions and achievements, I have been bypassed for promotion year after year. Even though I do not possess great career aspirations nor yearn for promotion in the corporate rat race, it becomes inequitable when peers of lower calibre putting relatively same amount of effort to do more visible work are getting better performance ratings and get promoted way faster than me.
4. Weak management
The middle managers in my organisation are indecisive and always hesitate to make firm decisions nor implement changes with hard datelines. Hasty decisions made were often short sighted to plug immediate gaps rather than with great foresight. I also feel that the top management are clueless and not forward thinking or pragmatic enough to lead the organisation to greater heights. Fire-fighting, finger-pointing and cover-ups on a daily basis have become the norm and strategic long term planning were merely paper affairs when the time comes.
I feel that I am not being mentored or coached after the organisation's reshuffle. There is no evident leadership displayed by my immediate supervisor. There is also an evident lack of proper communication, collaboration, participation and sharing of ideas among the team.
5. Stagnation
I am getting too comfortable being in the same role for a decade. I have been executing the same tasks for the same people. Going to office has become like going to another room at home. I am ending up gaining that 1 year experience multiplied 10 times and another 20 times if I stay on for another 20 years.
Challenging myself is the only way to keep growing. At the present job, there are not enough opportunities to challenge myself. I am stagnating while collecting monthly pay to fund my investments.
6. Not learning new technologies
My current company is using archaic and legacy systems developed decades ago by predecessors who have either retired or moved on. I do not have the opportunity to handle cloud computing, machine learning or any of the latest technology stacks. Hence, staying on will restrict my future career options and lower my market value.
7. No impact to cashflow
My new job offers at least the same amount of monthly cashflows as the monthly salary is around 3% higher. However, on an annual basis, my earnings may take a hit due to prorated bonuses and incentives. There will be no impact to my savings for fuelling investments to grow my passive income.
8. Opportunity for managerial path
The new job is a less technical role but gets to deal with newer technologies and more people. Although there are fewer chances to build up technical expertise there are more chances for exposure to new technology stacks and honing my planning and soft skills. The risk will be technology obsolensce and getting easier to be replaced but I am prepared for that because technical roles could also be outsourced or replace by robots in future.
9. No liabilities
Having no financial liabilities at this stage of life gives me peace of mind to take on risks in career options. I was even prepared to take a slight pay cut for a career move this year but lucky to have gotten an offer that at least match my current salary package. The other risk is moving on from a perm position to the new role which is contract based. As I evaluated that the benefits of making this move outweigh the cons, I decided to call it quits and move on.
10. Rejuvenation from a clean slate
I wanted to resurrect my career since I have got nothing to lose. A new job in a new decade during a health pandemic presents a fresh start of life. I was able to attend interviews through zoom and webex sessions barefooted in boxers while not in formal clothes. I will also be able to start work in a new "environment" which is the same spot from my bedroom due to WFH. This pandemic has presented opportunities never experienced before. By changing job I will be able to start off from a clean slate by learning, growing and evolving a portfolio from nothing to something greater, better and stronger than before.
Thanks for reading. As always, stay safe and strong. I wish all readers the best of health and wealth. Happy Niu Year.
With love & peace,
Qiongster
