This might come as a bolt from the blue to some people, but trust me, I've had this on my mind for a while. I've had this nagging feeling since about November that while my job is fine for now, it's not a company I want to be with long term.
It would be in poor taste for me to use this platform to rant about every little thing I don't like about my job, but i do have a couple of big reasons. One being that the advancement opportunities that I was told would be available are not near as common as I was led to believe. The second being that I felt like I was constantly putting out fires because of inefficient workflow management instead of being proactive to provide the best. I can do that for a while, but it was wearing on me. The company was just not what i needed in a long term job. I knew that there must be a better fit out there.
Over Christmas, I started shooting applications to other labs to see what was out there. Sure enough, within a couple weeks, I got a response. Not only did they want an interview, they wanted to interview me for two positions because of my qualifications.
The interview went well. As I mentioned in my last post, I slay at job interviews. Usually, if I can land an interview, I get a job offer. As I was escorted out, I was told that they had a few other people to interview and that I would hear from them in the next couple of days. I walked out feeling good, hopped into my little Sentra, and heard a song on the radio that hasn't left my head since. "Burn the Ships" by For King and Country. The metaphor comes from when Captain Hernán Cortés landed in Veracruz to conquer it. He ordered his men to burn the ships so they couldn't go back, they had to take the land. I'm not a huge fan of the whole conquest thing, but the metaphor is useful. Burn the Ships, no going back, into the unknown. It's also a good song.
The interview ended at 8:30. I took a break at work around noon and pulled out my phone to see an email from the place I had interviewed at. An email with an offer. In four hours. The door could barely have closed behind me before they decided they wanted me. I now had a decision to make.
I do like my current job. My coworkers are wonderful and I do like a lot of the tasks I do every day. I make enough money to live quite happily and I like my working hours. The company is trying to improve and major workflow changes are coming. Maybe that will make this place better than my new offer. I could stay with this known quantity. My ship.
I told my manager I had an offer that I was considering, as a courtesy. I like my manager, and didn't want to completely blindside everyone. It was hard to work because my mind kept going back and forth, weighing the pros and cons, wondering if something better was out there and I should wait. When I got home, I do what I always do when I have a lot on my mind.
External processing. It's where I talk it all out to someone and they tell me to do what I already want to do, I just need to make sure there isn't something else I should consider. Who is on the receiving end of this depends on the exact situation. This one was a job for my mom. So I called my mom and gave her the verbal equivalent of a wall of text detailing my feelings on my current job and the offer. She ended saying that I knew what I needed to do. Yeah, it's true. Mother knows best.
"Burn the ships, cut the ties,"
I accepted the offer. It was time to draft a letter of resignation. I waited to hand it in until Friday, so that my two weeks would end on the last day of January, and the new job would start right at the beginning of February. Nice and neat. But man, walking into the supervisors office with that letter was ten times harder than walking into the interview. It was my point of no return. Once this is in, the countdown begins.
"Send a flare into the night,"
I handed in my letter and started telling my coworkers. There were two general reactions from two different ilks of people. The ones at the bottom of the totem pole with me were excited to see me moving to something better, and some even asked where I had applied because they were thinking of leaving too. Those higher up in the company, who didn't have the stressful, frantic workflow generally were like "You're leaving? Why?" To be fair, I'm a cheerful person and don't complain often, so it wasn't obvious that I wanted something more. I had a couple of people say that they were sad to see me go because I was good at my job and they liked working with me more than most of my coworkers. But I knew that I must go.
"Say a prayer, turn the tide,"
My second to last week has given me opportunity to use my exit in a positive way. The lab hired a new manager that whipped another lab into shape, so maybe he can rework our lab to make it more efficient. He had round table meetings with everyone who works in the lab to see what is happening vs. what corporate has told him is happening.
My round table was great because is was able to say all of the things I think the company could improve to someone who can do something about it. And because I'm almost out, there could be no negative repercussions! Not that I was planning on staying anything too crazy, it was just nice to know that there wouldn't be simmering resentment to deal with. I like my coworkers, so I wanted to leave them with the best chance for a better situation than the one that made me quit.
"Dry your tears and wave goodbye"
I have struck the match and the ships are burning, I'm going into my last week, then I start my new job! My next post will hopefully be about my new work, so stay tuned. And if you know it's time for you to burn some ships and take that first step into the unknown, do it. You can't explore the new world of you stay in the ship.
"Step into a new day
We can rise up from the dust and walk away
We can dance upon our heartache, yeah
So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships
And don't you look back"
Lyrics: "Burn the Ships" by For King and Country
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