Ever left a good job? 2

[mepelectricalguy]

I am currently in this situation. Current company is good, stable, good co-workers/boss, decent pay. It is MEP consulting (commercial and pharmaceutical design), and recently I've decided that at some point I want to get back into the larger scale power engineering from my previous job (designing power plants/utility substations). Recently I've been approached by my old boss to return (top 5 ENR engineering firm designing power plants). I've also been approached by a former co-worker about applying for a position with the local large utility company in their nuclear division. Both jobs are what I would enjoy more, larger scale engineering of powerplants and substations. Problem is, I've been at my current job for just over a year and until being approached hadn't considered leaving so soon. I know I do want to get back into this other industry eventually, so part of me says why wait? But it just doesn't feel quite right, I guess because I left my two previous companies after seeking other positions (1st one because wanted to try something different, second one because didn't like the area/geography). I've never been pursued, and would hate to miss out on a good opportunity.

Has anyone ever left a good stable well-paying job after being approached by someone (former boss, co-worker)? If so, what helped in your decision?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Yup ... my last job in England. The office manager of the company I worked for was Canadian and his wife was English. They broke up & he went back to Canada. About a year later he phoned up the office & let me & a co-worker know that interviews were to be held soon (in England) for positions in the company he was working for in Canada. If we interested we were to attend & let the interviewer know that he had recommended us. Well, we were both offered positions and accepted.

The timing for me was not the greatest ... I had bought a house just under a year ago and my wife had just given birth to our third child. The first time our parents got to see our son we had to tell them we were emigrating. Well, that went down like a Lead brick, but I knew an opportunity like that would probably never be handed to me on a plate like that again.

Within 2 years, the company I left went under. Sometimes you just have to take the chances that life throws your way ... they often arise for a reason.


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[GregLocock]

I left a job I really enjoyed, in a nice part of the country, that was well paid, to go to a job that I didn't enjoy, in a country where I knew no one, that was less well paid.

Glad I did it as it turns out.



Cheers

Greg Locock

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[Beggar]

I've left many jobs and it's always been for the same basic reason: They've either been going under or done gone down.

That said, CorBlimeyLimey's statement that you need to grab the opportunities that present themselves if they are aligned with your personal and professional ambitions.

Truely great opportunities present themeselves only rarely. I've talked to a couple of guys who decided, because of timing, to forego better opportunities that ended up never being matched again.

Carpe diem.

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[ctopher]

I recently left my job of several years. I loved the job, but not the company, or the commute. I went to a much bigger corp, more pay, better benefits, hardly any commute. I feel I sort of went back in time in the software I use, but they are giving me the opportunity to change it by year end. I miss very much the work I did, but once I bring it into the new company, I will be ahead where I was before. Sometimes you have to take chances and go for it (and work hard).

Chris
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[Ashereng]

Yes.

More money is good.
Better experience is good.
More opportunity to do what I want to get into later is good.

The fact that I am pursued doesn't really come into the decision making. If it makes sense for me, then I go.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
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[electricpete]

I would say one factor to eliminate from your decision-making process is guilt. Everyone understands your primary responsibility in job decisions is to yourself and your family. If it means your existing company gets a little bit of a raw deal... they'll get over it. Your coworkers will understand.

As I see it the big factors would be that you have an opportunity to take a step forward in terms of the direction you want your career to go. That opportunity may not always be there.

The risk would be that you leave a known stable manageable situation into a new situation that is less known. If for whatever reason the new situation is unstable or not what you thought it would be... you may end up looking to change again within a short period of time. Only then your resume will look just a little more like that of a ping-pong ball.

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[ScottyUK]

I left the best job I ever had to get out of London. It was a wonderful mix of development and consultant work - the kind of job where you went in to work on the weekend because you felt that you were being paid for your hobby. Unfortunately for me I didn't settle into the London lifestyle: it is a place that you either love or hate - there is very little middle ground. I hated it, so I left after trying to adapt for two years and headed back north. Looking back it was a good move - my old group has been absorbed into a another department, and my old building has been levelled. As CBL says, things happen for a reason.

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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

 

[electricpete]

In my personal experience, decisions to change have not been good.

My best job ever was in 1994-1996. In late 1996 I applied for another position within the same company/plant which I got. Unfortunately I ended up hating that position. Couldn't go back to my old position, so started looking oustide.

First job outside was lured in by very big $ consultant job in same local area. Only problem was consultant work was not nearly as regular as I needed and in fact total $ was much less than I needed. I started looking again fairly desparately at that point and 6 months into my consultant job I moved my family across country to a new job. This new job was great from a job standpoint...only problem was my wife hated the area and gave me an ultimatum: if I was still there at the beginning of next school year, she would not be there with me!

So back to the job search again. Landed me back at my first plant (after 3 job changes in 2 years). No pay raise. Got my vacation reset back to new-employee levels. New resonsibilities so I had to start my learning curve from scratch. I'd have to say at that point I had spent 3-4 years involving 3 job changes and two moves and was roughly back where I started. Needless to say, if I could do it all over again I never would have made that first job change. In my case each job change triggered some new unexpected factor which motivated me to change again. Now in this position I've been there 6 years... won't likely change again unless I have looked very closely at job stability (problem with consultant job that didn't have enough work), job satisfaction (problem with second job at my first plant), location that I like AND my family likes.

That is probably not the normal experience. I think most people have positive experience with job changes. Just my story. My best advice was the first sentence of my first post: don't let guilt about your obligation to the company be any part of your decision.

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[mepelectricalguy]

Thanks for all of the input. I would say that electricpete has hit on the major point for me, guilt. Leaving my company right now would leave them in a big lurch, as I am the only EE and I am managing a couple of projects that are all electrical. If I left, I don't know who would take over. I have some time to decide and think it over.

Another sticking point, is currently I am with my 3rd company in 5 years out of school. I don't regret any of the job changes, as I have been able to gain experience at a much faster rate for almost every type of electrical engineering, and I now live in an area of the country that my family loves. And it also allowed me to decide what type of engineering I'd like to do for the rest of my career at an early stage (5yrs). It doesn't seem to have hurt me so far because I have never had a difficult time finding another job, and both people recruiting me know my career history.

Thanks again for all of the input.

 

[ajack1]

Usually the only way to get a better job is to leave a good one; unfortunately the usual way to get a worse job is to leave a better one.

Of course there are many factors in what makes a better or worse job, some of which are unknowns. Will the company show all time high profits or losses in a couple of years time, will your boss leave just at the right time for you to move up the ladder, will you like living in a big city/ rural area, who knows.

As engineers we make daily decisions based on strength verses weight and quality verses cost and so on, so you would think we would get it right more often than not.

Can personal happiness have a formula applied to it? I doubt it.

 

[blackthought]

"Has anyone ever left a good stable well-paying job after being approached by someone (former boss, co-worker)? If so, what helped in your decision?"

Yup that's what my other thread was about.

I was approached by a former co-worker to interview for a job, and I got the offer. I finally decided to take it. I'm in a different than situation you because I am only a couple of years out of school, don't have a family, and this is my first job change. Typically, I'm not a risk taker but I decided to just go for it and jump ship. It was an agonizing decision. I also dealt with the issue of guilt but after I approached a co-worker/friend who I trust about the idea of me leaving, he said don't let guilt cloud your decision, and do what you got to do. Companies don't make decisions about your job with guilt on their mind, so why should you?

 

[epoisses]

What about the trouble you will put the OTHER company in by not taking the job?? ;-)
Come on, you can't take the whole world's problems on your shoulders. Organise your life, your company will take care of its own interests.

I too left a good job... for a better one.

 

[MadMango]

Does my adolescence count as a job? I know it was work for my parents.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
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[RobWard]

>>>Companies don't make decisions about your job with guilt on their mind, so why should you?<<<


***OFF TOPIC RANT BEGINS***

Actually, we do. Time and time again I read that, but some companies do care for their workforce. We bend over backwards to help our employees (extra time off when needed, interest free loans, free financial advice, changing working hours to suit etc)
Believe it or not we're not just here to screw employees and treat them like dirt.
In another thread people are advocating lying at an interview, knowing that they'll leave the job after a year.
Thanks.
There's nothing we as a small company would like than investing thousands of pounds and countless man hours training someone up, only for them to leave after a year so we can do it all again.
As a small manufacturing company we try very hard to make the working environment as pleasant as we can, given the constraints that exist.
We would only ever sack someone or make someone redundant if we felt we had explored every other opportunity available.

However, we likewise wouldn't want to hold anyone back from something that they felt was a great opportunity, and have let people leave in the past having let them know that if they ever needed to come back, then we would do all we could to find a position for them.


***OFF TOPIC RANT ENDS***

Sorry for the interruption.
Normal service may resume now.


Rob

&quot;I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go past.&quot; Douglas Adams

 

[blackthought]

You actually proved my point. I didn't say that companies are here to "screw employees and treat them like dirt.", but I implied that they make rational decisions to let go of people. In that regard, they don't let "guilt" cloud their decision making.