Been using UNIX since the late 80s; Linux since the mid-90s; virtualization since the early 2000s and spent the past few years working in the cloud space.
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Education
B.S. Psychology from Pennsylvania State University
Generally, I update my resume after I've completed enough of my first project to have something of note to add to said resume. It's not necessarily with intention to actively look, but it's silly not to leave a hook in the water and be willing to listen to anything new/interesting.
Still, I don't jump nearly as frequently as I did 20 years ago. Last couple jobs have been pretty decent from a "work on my own terms" standpoint. Makes the bar to "greener pastures" a bit higher.
Been using UNIX since the late 80s; Linux since the mid-90s; virtualization since the early 2000s and spent the past few years working in the cloud space.
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Education
B.S. Psychology from Pennsylvania State University
Combination of things. I've been in the IT field since the mid-90s. I've found there's a couple of priorities that are important to me in a job:
Is it interesting enough that I'm engaged more than I'm bored
Do I like/respect the people I work with …and can I learn something from them
Does the job pay me enough that I'm able to save for a rainy day/retirement/etc.
When I was young, single and not burdened by a spouse, mortgage and pets, I tended to weight the first one most-strongly …and was lucky enough that doing so also tended to come with good compensation.
Where I live, commuting is a nightmare (seriously: at my primary job site, if I arrive before 0600 and leave before 1430, I can cover the 8mi commute in about 13 minutes; if I'm even a half hour later than those two bookends, that 8mi commute becomes 40+ and that doesn't even factor in rain, let alone ice or snow). Travel jobs used to be a nice alternative to that. However, with wife and pets, travel jobs also meant significant time away from spouse and pets that have all-too-short of lives. Plus, TSA and ever-shrinking airplane seats makes travel not nearly so appealing as it used to be. Bonus: the past ten years have generally afforded me a fair amount of work-from-home opportunities - further reducing the appeal of travel-job vice a slog-to-work-every-day job.
Once you reach the point where you've been able to save for rainy day/retirement/etc., a jump in pay doesn't necessarily mean a jump in quality-of-life. And, if you're changing from short commute and/or work-from-home, moving to a long commute over toll-heavy roads means that pay-jump has to be fairly large so as to net-out.
I used to base some of my job-hopping on organizational brokenness. When I was single, it was "I'm tired of this shit: bye". However, I've had a couple jobs as a consultant. That gave me the opportunity to see a lot of organizations - a few days to a few months at a time - throughout North America and parts of Europe. That opportunity clued me in to the fact that every place is broken in one way or another - pick one that you're able to tolerate.
Much as I learned the "all orgs are broken" thing, I also learned the "change isn't always better" thing. Especially when it comes to team chemistry: if you're able to find a good team to work with, it can make a lot of other problems seem like background noise. If the team you work with consists heavily of dead wood, it can make other problems with a given job more noticeable. Right now, I'm with a good team.
Both my wife and I have chronic health issues ...so medical coverage is important. And is part of why the cynical part of me assumes that businesses' antipathy towards socialized medicine is less to do with potential direct costs than not being able to hold people hostage by way of an attractive benefits package.
At any rate, all things factored together means that each potential jump involves a more and more complicated calculus. And, right now, I'm fortunate enough that the bar for enticing me away is fairly high ...but as I alluded to in my initial reply, it's still always good to keep looking at options.
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Generally, I update my resume after I've completed enough of my first project to have something of note to add to said resume. It's not necessarily with intention to actively look, but it's silly not to leave a hook in the water and be willing to listen to anything new/interesting.
Still, I don't jump nearly as frequently as I did 20 years ago. Last couple jobs have been pretty decent from a "work on my own terms" standpoint. Makes the bar to "greener pastures" a bit higher.
Why do you not jump as much? Is it you're already financially secure, getting older, good benefits, like the routine? Or something else?
Combination of things. I've been in the IT field since the mid-90s. I've found there's a couple of priorities that are important to me in a job:
When I was young, single and not burdened by a spouse, mortgage and pets, I tended to weight the first one most-strongly …and was lucky enough that doing so also tended to come with good compensation.
Where I live, commuting is a nightmare (seriously: at my primary job site, if I arrive before 0600 and leave before 1430, I can cover the 8mi commute in about 13 minutes; if I'm even a half hour later than those two bookends, that 8mi commute becomes 40+ and that doesn't even factor in rain, let alone ice or snow). Travel jobs used to be a nice alternative to that. However, with wife and pets, travel jobs also meant significant time away from spouse and pets that have all-too-short of lives. Plus, TSA and ever-shrinking airplane seats makes travel not nearly so appealing as it used to be. Bonus: the past ten years have generally afforded me a fair amount of work-from-home opportunities - further reducing the appeal of travel-job vice a slog-to-work-every-day job.
Once you reach the point where you've been able to save for rainy day/retirement/etc., a jump in pay doesn't necessarily mean a jump in quality-of-life. And, if you're changing from short commute and/or work-from-home, moving to a long commute over toll-heavy roads means that pay-jump has to be fairly large so as to net-out.
I used to base some of my job-hopping on organizational brokenness. When I was single, it was "I'm tired of this shit: bye". However, I've had a couple jobs as a consultant. That gave me the opportunity to see a lot of organizations - a few days to a few months at a time - throughout North America and parts of Europe. That opportunity clued me in to the fact that every place is broken in one way or another - pick one that you're able to tolerate.
Much as I learned the "all orgs are broken" thing, I also learned the "change isn't always better" thing. Especially when it comes to team chemistry: if you're able to find a good team to work with, it can make a lot of other problems seem like background noise. If the team you work with consists heavily of dead wood, it can make other problems with a given job more noticeable. Right now, I'm with a good team.
Both my wife and I have chronic health issues ...so medical coverage is important. And is part of why the cynical part of me assumes that businesses' antipathy towards socialized medicine is less to do with potential direct costs than not being able to hold people hostage by way of an attractive benefits package.
At any rate, all things factored together means that each potential jump involves a more and more complicated calculus. And, right now, I'm fortunate enough that the bar for enticing me away is fairly high ...but as I alluded to in my initial reply, it's still always good to keep looking at options.