Three years… already. I still frequently feel like a newb, and I am still in awe of the talent, resources and overall cool stuff I get to work on, with, or help design. It’s been a great run so far, and so much blue sky exists above us.
I think it’s also a good time to clarify a quickly worn-out cliché, now being overused by “influencers” and LinkedIn wanna be’s.
Not everyone changing jobs is fleeing a bad manager, employer, situation.
Sometimes an employee simply wants a change.
Sometimes an employee wants to change career paths.
Sometimes that dream offer comes along, and a decision must be made.
This recent trend to declare every departing employee as a disaffected failure of management or employment policy/culture is disingenuous and lazy, in my humble opinion.
Was it my former manager? That will be a funny discussion the next we have lunch (which is frequently).
Was it a breakdown in culture? I’ll ask my wife, she still works there.
Was it a lack of opportunity and future progression? I hope not, I effectively sent my youngest son there as a replacement earlier this year.
Or was it the opportunity to stop talking about desktop computing futures and start steering them?
The chance to do something new and exciting, and return to my inner childhood “inventor”?
All things SAS didn’t offer, but not through any failing of their culture or policies. I took a drastic left turn, and it was no one’s fault.
Frankly, my former employer was extremely accommodating through the process. Since then, we’ve had several impromptu (and sometimes unofficial) partnership wins.
So let’s put down the broad brush and stop painting workplace migrations as a sweeping failure of management, culture, and/or policy.
If you want to know, you’ll need to be more granular in your approach by asking the individuals.
Spoiler alert, I think you’ll find it’s not nearly as negative as some are suggesting.
