When To Change Jobs 2

[LIGWY]

When do you know if you are ready to change jobs?
Money?
Working atmosphere?
People in your office?
Organization?

 

[Ashereng]

Yes.

I have changed jobs for all of those reasons - and more.



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

I have been with the same company for 6 years and just recently one of my bosses wife is the new secretary. She has no experience in at all with this position.

I do not know if it is a sign to move on or just an adjustment period and she will eventually move on.

 

[ctopher]

There are a million variations of reasons to change. Depends on you and your lifestyle.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-05)

 

[ccor]

I use the following signs:
-work negatively affects my attitude in my home life
-flat learning curve
-no promising vision of the future with company
-the work / projects are no longer meaningful to me

 

[Maui]

ccor, with the exception of your last sign you described just about every job that I've had since college.

Maui

 

[LIGWY]

I am also uncertain if I do go to change what direction to go.

We are so small I do everything from utiltiy work (public)
Design structural steel and foundations
Building Official for a small community

I enjoy my time off to spend with my family and my weekends for sure

 

[BJC]

Money and money.
Are you gaining experience and knowledge that makes you worth more?
Have you worked 5 years and gotten 5 years of experience or have you worked 5 years and gotten 1 years experience 5 times?

 

[LIGWY]

Lately I feel like I am going through the motions?

 

[whyun]

Once you make enough money to support your lifestyle and family without having to put overtime.

With the exception of few, I believe once the above criteria is met, many people can ignore things like no vision, no learning curve, annoying coworkers, etc.

I've changed jobs for many reasons others have mentioned. I'd like to add "unfair management". Which can include many topics such as:

1. Promoting an unworthy candidate out of favoritism.
2. Giving difficult problems to those who are able without appropriate compensation. Those who aren't able gets just about the same pay and workd on the easy stuff.
3. Giving more work to those who work faster without appropriate compensation. Slow employees just gets less work and gets paid about the same.
4. Inappropriate distribution of bonus.

So far in my career, I've learned that no organization can be both FAIR and EQUAL.

 

[GregLocock]

Wow, I usually change jobs for positive reasons, not negative ones.

I guess it depends if your glass is half full or half empty. Well, mine is usually under the beer tap. It seems to have a hole in it.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[HVACctrl]

Here is my list:
- when the department or company just doesn't meld together. Ie, people don't work well together, have negative attitudes, are cynical and exhibit "back-stabbing" actions.
- when it becomes obvious that even those who have been there for the long haul are just being leveraged for all they're worth and not properly compensated. At one company where I worked, the yearly raises were little to nothing across the board. The story always was that sales weren't good enough that year. But the sales groups BLEW tons of money on entertainment, partying, buying and outfitting a mini-bus for tailgating, elaborate golf outings and trips, etc... Sound like we know why there weren't enough sales, huh?
- when it becomes obvious that there are no real career advancement opportunities.
- when companies ask for more and more and give less and less respect.
- when there is just less interest or challenge in my work.

Ed

 

[foxbat1979]

My two cents:
- When you don't consider you work to be challenging anymore
- No or insufficient carreer advancement opportunities
- Bad atmosphere
- Difference of opinion with management about your (future) work, or the direction in which the company is going.

Sr. Design Engineer
Solidworks 2006/DBWorks 2006 user
Special electric motors & centrifugal fans

 

[sms]

I'm with Greg, the moves I have made were for the opportunity to do new and interesting stuff. So far each job I have had has been better than the last. In 22 years I have changed three times.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[PSE]

All the above look to be good factors in determining whether or not to change jobs. Bottom line though, only you can make the decision. In my experience, making the choice was sometimes difficult but once done, led to no regrets.

Regards,

 

[kchayfie]

when the urge to move gets stronger than the desire to procrastinate you know you've waited too long

 

[GregLocock]

sms. In theory all my moves have been for good reasons, in practice two out of the 7 were, in retrospect, a triumph of optimism over probability, although both of those jobs actually taught me a lot, and one of them got me my current job in a weird way, which has been terrific.

I think I have been fairly 'lucky' in my career, but the biggest dose of 'luck' was getting a full time internship out of school. Which wasn't luck at all, it was a lot of work to get that.

Cheers

Greg Locock

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[MedicineEng]

Up to now, I only changed job once 4 years ago(I am still a young boy, with 7.5 years working experience)and it was not because I was not happy, but the challenge that my new job presented to me was simply irresistible (new country, new culture, new lifestyle, different climate, different language)...

Whara life!!

 

[epoisses]

same
nothing as exciting as a complete change of life

 

[plasgears]

Change jobs when:

- there is corruption from the top down;
- your salary history is not keeping up with recent grads;
- the company tolerates the unqualified in engrg mgt;
- the atmosphere is make or break like in aero;
- your competition and boss are unintelligible idiots.