17 - Heart & Mind

I wrote the below post on 15th Aug 2011 for my now defunct personal blog post.

The contents are valid for any person who is looking for a job change.

FYI: I have moved from the 'template company' and back into our venture.

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17 years of my career, I have quit 6 jobs and currently on the 7th, and will quit anytime soon. The first two jobs took 12 years of my career, and remaining 5 jobs (including the present one) took 5 years. The third job took just 3 months, a complete misadventure. The sixth one a six-month own venture. So ignoring these two periods of 9 months, 3 jobs took 51+ months. Ok. I agree this historical statistics is not the purpose of the post. Let us focus on why this hiccup after a very steady period?

As there are two sides to every action. For a change of job also there are two, they are: 1) quit the job, 2) choose the job. Yes, it is simple. But this is the most difficult task, and more often than not, the mistake is in the basic. The action adds multi-dimension when clubbed with reason and organization background of the new company.

Lesson Learnt: Organization Profile: When I quit my first job in 2000, the reason for my change was simple: better job – seriously I wanted to move from programming to consulting. The second job was the green pasture in my profession. This was more than a darling in my diminutive career.  Still, am searching for a similar job. You may ask, then why did I quit the job. I didn’t quit the job, it is actually the other way. They decided to move away from the consulting line and focus on the product line. This shift resulted in me shifting the job.

Lesson Learnt: Old Financial Position: As said, the third one was a misadventure. Lesson learnt. It showed what to consider before choosing a job. It is not only your job profile that is important but also needs to check the company background and its financial strength if the company is revamped, DO check its earlier financial position and its impact on the revamped position.  I failed to do that. The old ghost caught up with the new company pretty quickly, the management had to take a very quick pit-stop and call-off the venture.

 Lesson Learnt: Internal Power: The fourth job was in a mid-tier company just started its consulting practice on the product that I have experience. As such was fully qualified to join this organization. I was fully involved in all the activities for the organization. I was enjoying the tasks assigned to me had full satisfaction during the first 6 months, had good visibility with the top management – an important thing to survive in this competitive world. Then came the lightning – got stuck in the internal politics. Without knowing the internal powers got sided with a group, which was soon losing its shine.  This group not only lost its operational powers but also lost its competitive edge amongst its peer product consulting group. Result – consultants started moving, and there was no resistance from the organization to retain any.

Lesson Learnt: Job Profile and Salary: The fifth job was a clear wrong choice made my few individuals. Like an average student, who chooses his or her higher education based on their friend(s) suggestion, I selected this job. This was one of the top 10 IT Company.  A brand name recognized and respected across the world. Actually, the pay package is one of the best in the world, pun intended. Till the day I left the organization, the payroll / HR took all the effort to explain how my total CTC was higher from the previous company but still having a lower take-home salary.

Before joining the organization, a routine query was asked to me. What did I want to do? I never thought that it is just a formality. I was asked to do jobs, that I envied doing it. I disliked the most.  Always enquire and if possible get the profile in writing from your new organization.

Lesson Learnt: Acceptance of working for a template company:  The seventh company was a pure consulting company the best in the world. It was a dream-like a situation to get a job. This company also had /has its internal power, but this time I was a little smarter, didn’t get into any side. Need to accept the fact that any grow(i)n(g)-up organization will have the ‘politics’.  All tasks were supposed to follow the global template made available. You need to fill-up-the blanks. I never had any ‘original’ contribution till date.

While quitting, go by what your heart says. While joining, go by what your mind says. It’s a fight between heart and mind. Enjoy professional life.