Jumping Ship

Last Friday I gave my resignation to my current employer, the proverbial 'fuck off, good luck without me', if you will. It was quite the satisfying experience. Earlier that morning, I received confirmation that the final piece of a counter-offer I had stipulated as contingent upon my acceptance had been met, sealing the deal for me at my new company.

I had been contemplating a move out of my current job for a few months now. Nothing serious, just perusing the job market to see what's available and get a gauge of what I'm worth, particularly in light of recent events that have resulted in my company's future to be very uncertain, and word that the market is very good in my particular industry. I occasionally go through this ritual of applying for positions I have no serious interest in taking, but go through the process just to hone my interview skills and to see how far I can go in the interview process.

This time around, the seed that was planted was not from a job posting, but rather though a past co-worker who needed help building a new department. I took him up on meeting the hiring manager, simply to entertain the idea, and three weeks later, I got a call with the offer. Considering I wasn't originally really thinking about leaving, this posed a real mental battle between staying put where I was pretty much content, versus taking a new opportunity that doesn't come around very often. Having the HR manager on vacation enabled me to spend two weeks weighing the decision to stay or go. My head felt like it was in a friggin vice, much like that scene in Casino.

Most people I think would consider this a no brainer- a similar job with more responsibility, a nice promotion and even nicer salary bump. But the fact was that I was in a cushy job and within a certain comfort zone, and I essentially would be putting myself outside of that zone voluntarily. What would the people I'd work with really be like? Do they work crazy hours? Are their bathrooms nice? Ultimately, I decided to take the risk, confident that it would take me at least another four to five years at my current company (if they're still standing), to be in the position that I would be entering into. And if it didn't work out, so be it- the job market is decent enough for me to find something else in a reasonable amount of time. Life's too friggin short, right? Go big or go home.