Hi everyone,
I'm a programmer for a big corporation, and I love what I do. I've been programming for about 8 years, and I've progressed from writing small web apps to designing systems used by dozens of full-time employees.
I've switched jobs a few times in my career. I've worked as a contractor, a self-employed consultant, and as an employee. I've developed in a number of languages and on a few RDBMSs, but my favourite combination is C# with SQL Server. Things have been going pretty well for me, and I've seen my opportunities grow with my experience. However, I'm suddenly confronted with a decision, and I'm trying to work it out.
I started at my current company about a year and a half ago. Since then, I've learned some new technologies, met some cool people, and worked on some great projects. My boss is great, and he's put me in charge of our small team a few times while he was on vacation or on the road. I really like my position, but when I saw an internal posting for a job in the Enterprise Architecture group about a month ago, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to apply. I worked with a Technical Architect from Accenture when I was first starting out, and he had a big influence on me. It's a role I've always thought would be interesting; Designing ways for systems to change the way a company does business.
I gave a presentation on SOA during the interview, and it went pretty well. My references checked out, and it looks like I've got to make a decision. I need to find out some more about things like salary and talk to my boss, but I'll have to make up my mind early next week.
I can't wait.
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I think it's important to look at a few factors when you're making your decision.
ReplyDelete1) How important is the financial compensation to you? One of the big problems with todays job market is the work-life balance. Moving into a position where the demands could be greater may mean less time to live your life. One way to make up for this is to be in a job where you really enjoy what you're doing. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, sometimes it's those around you who begin to suffer.
2) You seem to be at a point in your career where you have to really start to figure out what it is that you want to do in the future. Do you want to stay as a developer and become a technical expert in given technology? Or do you want your voice to be heard when it comes to the how an application is going to be used and designed. You almost have to give up on caring about how something gets done as long as it gets done the way you want.
3) I always find that the right time to move on, or move up, is when you feel as though there is no growth potential for you in a given position. You are at a point where you either feel as though you can do your bosses job, and do it much more effectively, or you come in and do the same exact thing everyday and you can't stand not learning.
All of this being said, there are times when you receive a golden opportunity. I'm not saying that the position you may be going for is a golden opportunity, but it's important to know what it is that you want to do, for you, to be able to recognize the right path to take.