You Don't Want Every Job
You can't be all things to all people in relationships or in your job. The "fun" part is figuring out where you can be the best you.
Photo by Victoriano Izquierdo on Unsplash
A reminder: You don't want to date everyone and you don't want every job. (I'm not going to say more about the dating part, so don't worry about this going off the rails that way.)
I was catching up with a friend/ex-colleague recently and they told me they were at the beginning of a job search. I asked why they were leaving their current job and they said they were tired of having to cut so many corners in the code they were writing. A few days later they mentioned a phone screen and I asked how it went. They said they didn't think it went well since they said they were looking for something new because they didn't like their current job's lack of development quality control. They thought that sounded negative.
"But you *are* leaving because you don't like your current job's lack of quality control, right?"
"Yeah, but I should sound positive."
"If that place doesn't have an emphasis on quality and you got hired there, wouldn't you be stuck in the same situation?"
"Well, yeah..."
"Exactly. You want to work for a place that wants to create quality code. If this is that kind of place, you saying that is only a net positive. If this isn't that kind of place, you don't want to work there. You may get ruled out, yes, but that's not a bad thing."
They replied as if I'd said something clever. I just reminded them of what I said at the beginning of this post, that you don't want to work everywhere.
Whether it's job searching, navigating your career, or even dating, over time you will likely realize you have preferences, needs, dealbreakers, and nice-to-haves. Maybe you're tired of writing bad code. Maybe you need better separation between work and home life or to work remotely or back in an office. Maybe you need more of a challenge, or less of one. Maybe you can't work somewhere not aligned with your values. Maybe you need more time for family or creative pursuits. Maybe you just need something new. The details are something you need to understand, articulate, and interrogate to take not just take a step, but to take the right step.
Practically, that might mean a conversation with a manager or higher-up, making a lateral move, or making a larger career transition. That might mean you have to rule out companies or roles that might have once been promising. That might mean you have a strong list of questions to bring up in an informational. Regardless, respecting your own wants and needs should pay off in the long run and it’s worth putting in that effort.
If you need help determining your professional wants and needs working with someone else can be helpful. I love to help with this sort of exercise but if that investment doesn’t make sense even enlisting a friend can be a huge resource. Sometimes you need outside perspective to point out things you already know or organize them in a new way. Feel free to set up a free introductory call if you’d like to talk things over.