Honing the craft.

My personal case for making a change now, before it happens to me.

The general rule of thumb on how often it is recommended to change jobs used to be every five years not too long ago. Nowadays it is closer to the one to three years range, as I just learned after skimming a few sites offering general career advice. I have been working at my employer Avaya for almost 12 years, and from this 12 years, the last 9 years - although, I have grown responsibility-wise - were spent in essentially the same position. Of course, this, in itself isn't the reason, or justification for moving on to the next stage of my career by leaving Avaya. In this post, I summarize my thoughts and feelings about making this decision for myself.

Changes happen sooner or later.

Quotes and proverbs like "Change is the only constant." are circulating the web, cafés and boardroom meetings. This is one of those no brainer, common sense seeds of truth, that I know I tend to forget on an ordinary day. No matter where you are, no matter what you do, the circumstances of your work and everyday life is in constant evolution. Sooner or later new trends, objectives, tasks will rise, while others will wane. Priorities are shuffled around. Maybe you like the change happening, maybe not. It is a gamble we have learned to accept and we adapt to the cards that have been dealt at the table. For many things in life we have no control over, this ability to accept and adapt is the best approach. But what if we are in a situation, where we can create a radical change ourselves proactively, instead of just waiting for it to happen to us, or waiting for the right opportunity to open up? After thinking about this really hard, I feel, that a "DIY" approach to change gives you more control and a positive psychological outlook, that can propel you towards your intentions and life goals more effectively. That is, if you are willing to take the risk.

In a comfortable place.

Everybody can list at least 2-3 things, that would be nice to change or improve about his or her work or private life. Maybe a change at work, like a layoff is already around the corner and you would need to take action, or the current workout schedule of none is raking up health risks rapidly. But it is still much easier to keep doing what you have done until now, because it is comfortable. And most likely habitual. I can't see into anybody's head of course, but I can give you my example and tell you why this was such a struggle for me.

Since my first day at Avaya, I have held various positions, starting as a technical support call center agent while being a postgraduate student in parallel, and gradually stepping up to the role of a senior support engineer, then most recently to the role of technical manager. On this journey, I have managed to learn a huge amount about technology, collaboration and the communication of complex problems to people.

I love my ex-colleagues at Avaya. Our core team, in many ways worked like a military unit: I've got your back, you got my back. We were always certain, that our teammates would do their part and we would make sure, that we do ours. It is a liberating work environment. This approach stemmed, both from the work culture of the core team members as well as the management style of our team lead. And who doesn't like being a part of such a great team?

Another kind of comfort has built up over time: more and more of the problems and situations that came up, were routinely solvable with my experience. There weren't too many challenges that required a lot of thought, apart from the occasional improvisation, that always remains the part of support work.

Finally, there is the financial stability that is provided to a recognized engineer and tech lead of a technology company. Our family has managed to live comfortably, while laying a financial foundation we can build our life upon. This is probably one of the hardest parts for most, I imagine: I know it was hard for me! Say no to the sum that arrives on your bank account regularly, almost no matter what. This influx of money affords you with lots of opportunities, if you use it in a smart way. (You still better keep an eye on how the company, or maybe even more importantly, how your business unit is doing though.) So why do I still think it is a smart move to give up on all this goodness you ask? Read on to find out.

Why make a change then?

It really boils down to two main areas of reasons for me: what are the elements of my current situation, that block my long term career goals and what do I want to spend my time with in the future, that do just the opposite.

The push factors

Considering my age and where I am on my career journey, the timing is probably just right: by now, the knowledge that I have accumulated gives a solid foundation, that can be easily built upon. At the same time, I am still young and energized enough to pick up on anything new, and be really good at it, with hard work.

As mentioned above, I was in a great work environment. Even so, there were some caveats, that hampered some aspects of my work life that I value as much as good collaboration, recognition and financial stability. First and foremost, my learning curve has plateaued. I have reached a point, where going deeper and learning more from a technical standpoint was no longer supported - there was no time for it - and also could no longer be validated by my role. Those issues, that required even deeper technical insight rather had to be delegated, so that I can focus on my core responsibilities. But those core responsibilities were things, that became second nature to me, so while quantitatively they were still challenging, I got used to them and fulfilled them almost on a habitual level. The problem with that is, that you can't learn much from those things; there is no real thinking, it is all automatic.

Another brake on my professional growth has been the inability to build an external network of professional connections, which simply was a result of the nature of my work: we work with external clients from around the globe and most of the time, the collaborations are short and focusing on a single problem the customer has. This made most of these collaborations a one time encounter. It was hard to make lasting impressions and build long-term relationships that reached outside the scope of my company role with such a setup. Also, since 99% of the customers are from abroad, it was especially hard to build up connections within my home country - of Hungary. Of course, there are repeat customers, where there is a bond and a lasting relationship, but I can count those on one hand.

Finally, for a long period of time, there was always some leeway to try things out in the lab and to experiment with technology not directly related to my day-to-day job. Apart from satisfying my curiosity, often times these activities have brought lessons, that I have used later when working on a problem on the job. Unfortunately, there were less and less such opportunities lately. With the rapid pace IT is moving with however, you can never know what knowledge, experience might become relevant for your job or business. Hence, you better keep your eyes open and at least know what is available and try out the ones, that seem potentially relevant in practice. Example: I never had a chance or the time to experiment with Linux containers on the clock, so I did it in my free time as it definitely looked like an infrastructure technology, that would be one of the dominant forces in the coming years. Currently Avaya is offering some of its products in a containerized environment on Google Cloud.

The pull factors

The are primarily three career goal scopes, that I want to focus on in the near future.

The first is technical skill development and specialization: I want to spend time on increasing the depth of my technical expertise and software development skills, while specializing in software delivery process automation from build to deployment.

The second scope is business development: I want to build my own software services business. To get started, my first step is to invest in the extension of my professional network and building of business relationships. Letting my voice to be heard is part of this plan, so I will create content about topics and problems I encounter, that feel interesting. You probably guessed it already, but writing this blog regularly will be my primary choice of medium for this endeavor.

The third is simply a lifestyle choice really; but it requires work if you wish to secure it for the long run. In the last 5-6 years, I have been working from my home office almost exclusively and it has worked for me tremendously well. It was a great thing, that my employer has supported this choice and it payed dividends. However some employers or customers might have some reservations about that, so I will keep working to constantly optimize my workspace and demonstrate, that this choice ends up being a net positive when it comes to results. This way, I can keep enjoying the way I work, no matter who I work with.

It's scary.

Letting go of established trust, recognition and stability is really hard, and all my parts fight against it. While at first it felt, that the urge to stay and choose the financial and career security of a regular employment scheme stems from logic and reason, with time I definitely identified it as an essentially emotional reaction. If you look at the Maslow pyramid, safety needs are there at the base of the pyramid, right above physiological needs. So this feeling probably comes from a very deep, instinctive level of thought and it is not the product of careful logic or discretion.

Sure, the income and recognition level I secured at my employer was higher compared to what I can reach on the short run, and there is a high chance of failure when trying the unbeaten path. However, provided a sufficient amount of financial reserves, what could really go wrong? As far as I am concerned, the worst that could happen is that by one year from now, I have burned some cash and have to take a job offer. Is that really so bad? Does it validate the anxiety that feels like a stone in your belly? I don't think so. I have decided to fight this feeling, as otherwise, my gut tells me, that I need to take on this opportunity, if I want to.

The single most useful thing I have done, that helped me to chill my worries quite a bit, and that will also increase my chance of success I believe, is that I have written a PLAN!

In this plan, I have identified some cornerstones, that can support me in reaching my checkpoints and provide a mental relief from worries. Also, simply the activity of writing down both challenges, threats and what I plan to do about them closed some loops, hence reduced my cognitive load.

My 5 cornerstones.

After careful thought and writing my plan, I managed to boil the whole thing down into five key elements, that are essential for successful execution for me:

1. We need to have a financial reserve we are willing to sacrifice, that provides our family for at least a year at our usual spending level (cutting any excess spending doesn't hurt of course).
2. Activities to be completed have to be defined in the plan on three different levels:
   • A high level, but focused plan, on what milestones and ultimate goal I want to achieve and by when.
   • A more detailed plan, that breaks down my goals into small tasks. These can be scheduled in a weekly and daily plan.
   • My goals afford it, so I structure the tasks in a way, that focus stays on a single subject on each day.
3. Curtail my activities not related to the project - eg. family chores, activities - to a designated hour or two hours within your day.
4. Have an accountability buddy or mentor I can check in with, at least on a monthly basis: I have picked my brother-in-law, due to his experience on both the technical side and business side of the software development vertical. He has a good overall understanding of this industry, which will help a lot.
5. At any given point in time, have a space at home or elsewhere, where I can work undisturbed and stay focused during my working hours.

The next things TO DO.

So, I have quit to fare new waters. What's up next? Luckily - as explained above - I have a plan to stick to. So for now, I will just follow it as closely as possible. In the first month or so, getting into the grooves of the roadmap will be the focus. Of course, no one gets it right straight away, so I am prepared for some fine tuning: I will monitor my progress, and take notes on routines, that don't work out as expected or could be done better.

Summary

This summary is an attempt to distill my observations and experiences in a short series of advises. As you can see, this whole process is work in progress for me and it is simply based on my own experience. So, please take this with a bag of salt. Remember: it felt that I have to make a relatively big shift in my career path, but everybody and every situation is different. For many cases, change can be achieved in small steps, by taking on small chances of job enrichment wisely. In fact, I have followed this method for some time, until I reached this point.

Change is inevitable. It is there in every aspect of life, including our careers. It doesn't matter, if it is about unexpected changes in the future, that are outside your circle of control or you plan to create change for yourself, it is very important to have some sort of a financial strategy. You need to be prepared in case your income drops as a result. If you choose to monitor your situation every now and then, to see if there is a chance to make a change proactively and you decide to execute on it, you will gain an overall positive stance in the process. So evaluate your push and pull factors occasionally, and if it looks like you need to make a move, create a plan to create laser focus in execution and to overcome natural anxiety. The plan gives a framework of control, which attacks the uncertainty and feeling of lax control anxiety feeds on. You can also let the plan sit for a few days and then read it. If it still sounds like the good direction, seek out the opinion of someone whose judgment you trust in the subject matter, and if all systems are green, execute with excellence.

Upcoming

As already hinted elsewhere, I plan to make content creation a habit and I will start blogging. Currently, you can expect one "update" post a week and I will also post if I trip into something I find interesting. A bit of a teaser on what kind of posts are cooking:

• Currently I am in the process of revamping my home lab, mainly moving everything into containers and I already bumped into some stuff I want to share.
  • Migrating my existing Owncloud deployment into the official Owncloud Docker stack (with some tweaks).
  • Single entrypoint ACME support in Traefik. :(
  • Creating a production oriented deployment environment for Boulder (the software Let's Encrypt is based on).
• The rudimentary engine I have created for this blog will undergo a revamp procedure and I plan to document the process.
• Lifestyle "hack" posts, that are also related to productivity.